Touhou: Journey to the Smashing Beyond
by Game2002
Summary: Life was going normally for 11 inhabitants of Gensokyo until they are transported to a foreign world all of a sudden one day. Little do they know that this is only the beginning of their biggest adventure yet. Touhou/SSB crossover.
1. Prologue

AUTHOR'S NOTE

What you are reading now is going to be my largest project currently, though I'm unsure if it will be as big as Rise of the Negativities.

This story is inspired by Specter24's One Piece: A Smash Adventure. In fact, I talked with him about this a lot through MSN and got his approval, though it's not like he's going to turn it down in the first place even if I don't talk with him about it.

Originally this story was supposed to be a Negima crossover. Those who read Adventure in Gillax Island should have come across sneak previews of the story and there was talk about a young boy. That boy is supposed to be Negi, but now that the idea has been revamped, those previews no longer hold true.

The reason for this sudden change is because Negima characters are lacking decent amount of capable fighters. Combined with my declining interest in the series (not because it's getting worse, mind you), I ultimately switched it for the next best thing—Touhou Project.

Since this story is inspired by Specter24's, there will be several plot elements that are very similar to his. However, there will still be new twists not to mention all new elements that you will surely enjoy, so please refrain from jumping to conclusion that this story is a bland rip-off of One Piece: A Smash Adventure. Please stay with this story until the end and you will realize that there are enough differences to make you entertained.

Also, while I may not expect you all to be familiar with the Touhou series, it is still best that you try to attain a certain amount of knowledge regarding it. I can't spoon-feed everyone all the time, so it would be nice for you to find out some things yourself first. There is a Touhou Wiki site where you can get such information, so you might want to check it out. Just type 'Touhou Wiki' on Google and then it's in front of your eyes!

This story may or may not reach the same success as One Piece: A Smash Adventure, but I still hope that it will be a story that you will enjoy.

Without further delay, let us begin the story then!

* * *

Gensokyo

A world that had been hidden from civilization for about a hundred years…

A world where time did not keep up with technology…

A world where mystical beings exist in harmony with humans… most of the time…

It was a bright and sunny day when the most unexpected events in the life of our heroines begun…

* * *

Shrine maiden Reimu had no time to rest. She had to get busy and prepare for the upcoming festival that was to be held at her shrine.

It was a festival held a few times each year to celebrate… Actually, there wasn't much reason for this festival other than to gather together the inhabitants of Gensokyo and have fun.

Nevertheless, it was a festival that people looked forward too. Reimu was especially looking forward to this, because this was one of those rare instances where she will get many people at her shrine to offer donations. Just thinking about her donation box being filled up with money was making her happy already.

"Reimu!" A tap came to the shrine maiden's shoulder and Reimu turned to see her friend Marisa. "Daydreaming, are you-ze?"

"Marisa…" she said. She continued to mopping the floor while talking with her. "Are you here to help?"

"I'll see what I can do-ze," Marisa replied. "You're the only one here currently, so I might as well drop in and give my friend some hand!"

"Thanks," Reimu said. "Suika just has to run off to have fun of all times… She just doesn't understand the importance of this festival!"

"I know, it's important because…" Marisa looked back and glanced at the donation box just outside of the entrance, "you're begging to get richer…"

"Don't just stand there," Reimu said to her. "Hurry up and do something useful, like moving the things for me or something."

"Okay, okay," Marisa said with a chuckle. "Let me see what you have in there that needs a hand-ze." She walked across the floor and into the next room, leaving behind shoeprints as she did.

Reimu looked at the shoeprints with an annoyed face and then looked up at Marisa, but let out a grumble before wiping away those newly-made shoeprints.

* * *

After some time, work was done and Reimu sat down in front of the table in the living room to take a break. "Phew… It's all done…" she said while pouring herself some tea. "All that's left is to wait for the others to come and set up there own stands for doing business. Hope the festival goes smoothly today.

Marisa, who was sitting on the other side of the table with her chin resting on it, said in a casual manner, "Oh, don't worry-ze. It's not like Tenshi is gonna whip up an earthquake or Utusho making a nuclear explosion all of sudden. Worst case scenario, a storm ruins it." Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door to the yard being slid open, so she turned to see that it was Aya. "What are you doing here? It's not even time for the festival yet."

"A reporter has to be on time always," Aya told her. "And it can't be helped that I'm the fastest in Gensokyo, so I always reach places a long time before certain events should happen. So how's everything? All set up and ready to begin anytime?"

"About ready," Reimu replied. "All that's left is to let the others come and start their own business, and then the festival can start around evening."

"I bet you can't wait for your donation box to be full, right?" Aya asked as she came in and sat down onto the tatami. "I wouldn't be betting on it if I were you. You didn't earn more than 50 yen in the last festival."

"It's better than none. Think like an optimist and things will surely look bright."

"That's the spirit-ze!" Marisa commented. She reached her hand forward to grab one of the oranges on the plate. Suddenly, a mechanical arm extended forward and snatched away the orange that she wanted, much to her surprise. "Eh?" They all turned to the door and saw Nitori standing there with the mechanical arm coming out from her back.

"Hey everyone!" she greeted cheerfully. "Neat, eh?" She turned around to show them that the mechanical arm was coming out from the side of her green backpack. "With this, you can grab whatever you want from a long distance!"

"You and your strange inventions…" Reimu grumbled.

"Hey, science isn't strange! It's really fascinating once you go deeper into it! Speaking of which, I just set up my stand at the front door selling all sorts of neat little gadgets that I invented." Placing a finger underneath her chin, Nitori started naming the things that she could think of. "Let's see… There's the extending boxing glove for punching someone from long range, a rocket-powered pogo stick, a propeller cap…"

"If you mean the one where the buckle on your chin will come loose midflight, then I suggest that it is best you take that off the shelf-ze…" Marisa said, not wanting to remember a certain accident that happened before. And I won't be telling about that either.

"Don't worry; it's fixed already. At least I'm sure it won't happen again… Mind if I come in and take a seat before the festival begins?"

"Suit yourself," Reimu said to her while taking a sip of tea from her cup.

Shortly afterwards, the sliding door slid open and Sanae was seen standing behind it with her arm behind her. "Hello!" she greeted with a friendly smile.

Reimu lowered her cup and said to her, "What are you doing here? And coming in from the front door, nonetheless…"

"Sorry if I came in without asking or knocking," Sanae apologized. "We just wanted to tell you that we set up our stand at the front gate already."

Suwako's face suddenly popped out from behind Sanae's back and said, "We're holding a tadpole catching game! You catch them, you get to keep it!"

"Yeah, though Kanako insisted snakes originally until I told her that more people are scared of snakes than adoring them."

"Of course! Frogs may not be as strong as snakes," Suwako added, "but they're definitely more adorable and popular!" Suddenly, something struck her mind and a panicked look appeared on her face. "Speaking of frogs… I better make sure that ice fairy doesn't show up…" She hopped off from Sanae's back and rushed down the hall, heading for the front door..

"I thought Cirno only freezes frogs, not tadpoles," Marisa thought.

"Well, there was one instance where she froze a pond full of tadpoles…" Sanae explained to her. "You can imagine how unhappy Suwako was to see the frogs dying at such a young age…"

"Um… Excuse me…" said a new voice. Everyone turned to the backyard and saw Reisen standing there with a basket strapped onto her back. Holding up a package of medicine, she said, "This is the latest medicine that my mistress, Eirin, created… The effects of this are…" And she proceeded to explain using long scientific terms that nobody could possibly understand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… In short, it makes you feel like you're on drugs," Reimu said, cutting her explanation short. "No thanks. Your master always makes the most unpredictable drugs and I don't want to be her white lab rat."

Reisen let out a sigh and said, "I understand what you're trying to say…" She then shifted her eyes left to right while sweating nervously, hoping that Eirin isn't around here in fear that she hears this and brings down punishment onto her.

Suddenly, Alice appeared from the hallway with Shanghai following her in the air. Marisa waved to her and said, "Alice! Nice to see you!"

"I've got my stand set up," she said.

"Good to hear! What are you doing?"

"A shooting game," she replied. "And in response to adding more originality, the targets, which are all dolls that I've made, will shoot back and knock you out if you can't dodge them."

"Targets that shoot back… I've never heard of that kind of shooting game…" Reisen commented.

"There's a kind of game in the outside world," Alice explained, "where targets do shoot back, albeit not physically. I think it is called video game or something. Anyway, think of this as a realistic version where you will get hit. Don't worry; you won't die. At most you'll only get a bleeding forehead."

"That's just as bad…"

"It's not like we can't move around to dodge them," Marisa reminded Reisen. "You shouldn't be worrying about that of all people. Shooting and sniping is your specialty after all! But then, it's our specialties as well."

"Well, what do we have here?" said another new voice. This time Remilia came in from the backyard with her servant Sakuya in tow.

"Geez… Why is almost everyone coming in from the backyard…?" Reimu grumbled.

"Oh, is that something wrong? I can come in and out from wherever I want," Remilia said. "You do come to my mansion whenever you want to also, don't you?"

"Marisa does that more often, so blame her."

"So what's up? Shouldn't you be able busy getting ready for the festival?"

"It's all ready already. I'm only in charge of preparing the place for all of you. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Nothing much, but I just want to drop by to say hello and hide from the sun. You know it's not very good for my health."

"So do you have anything in specific in the festival?" Marisa asked Remilia.

"At first I didn't have any plan for that, but then I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to earn a bit of income for our household," Remilia replied. "So I've decided to put some of our more expensive household products on display." She turned to Sakuya and said to her, "Show them the silverwares used by the royalties of the 16th century, Sakuya."

"As you wish, master," Sakuya said, but then she realized that something was wrong. "Uh?"

"What is it?"

"Um… Mistress Remilia… It appears that… I forgot to bring it…" the maid replied nervously.

"What? Didn't you carry it with you the whole time?"

Sakuya started to think back of what happened to the briefcase that she was originally carrying. "Let's see… I had it in my hand when we left the mansion… And then…" Then she hit her palm. "That's it! I must've left it in the garden when I went to check on the jasmines I've planted some days ago!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and go back to get it!" Remilia told her.

"Sorry for disappointing you, master. I'll go and claim it at once," Sakuya told her. Immediately, she turned to leave and took off into the air.

Remilia let out a sigh and said, "Sigh… She normally never forgets things."

"Oh, come on," Marisa told her. "She's human after all. Every human being makes the same mistakes!"

Suddenly, a hand poked through the paper material of the sliding door, and then a blue eye looked through it from behind. Reimu slammed her hand against the table and stood up shouting, "Hey! Who's there?"

Cirno popped out from behind the door and said, "Hi! Surprised?"

"What's the big idea going around poking holes in someone else's paper door?"

"Oh, it's just a little joke," Cirno told her cheerfully. "You don't have to be so mad!"

"Do you like it if I go to your house and do the same thing for the heck of it?"

"I don't have a house, so there are no paper doors for you to poke holes on. Haha!"

"Mistress Remilia!" shouted yet another voice. Remilia turned to the backyard and saw the gatekeeper of Scarlet Devil Mansion, Meiling, flying down from the air and landing onto the backyard. She walked into the shrine and handed her a briefcase. "Mistress Remilia, you forgot this at the mansion's garden, so I brought it here for you."

Remilia took the briefcase from her and look inside and saw several valuable silverwares. "This is the one that Sakuya was supposed to bring! Did you meet her on the way here?"

Meiling shook her head. "No, I didn't meet her at all on the way here."

"And I sent her back to get it… Oh well, she'll probably come back soon after learning about this. Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome, master!" Meiling said while bowing down politely.

"All right, get back to your post."

As Meiling was going to leave, Youmu suddenly showed up at the backyard and asked the people in there, "Excuse me, but have any of you seen Master Yuyuko?"

"She isn't with you?" Reimu said.

"Well… We were on our way here when she suddenly smelled a pleasant odor, and thus she rushed in this direction before me. I figured it must be either Mystia or someone else setting up a food stand and she smelled it."

"Oh boy… Imagine the hilarity that ensues afterwards-ze," Marisa joked.

"She's probably at the front area," Reimu said, pointing in that general direction.

"Thanks," Youmu replied. "I'll go and find her now." As she turned to leave, bright light suddenly shined down from above, nearly blinding her. "What the?" She placed one arm over her eyes and looked up to see the source.

Suddenly, the entire place started to rumble and this made all eleven of them stand up onto their feet in surprise. "What's happening?" Sanae said in shock.

Outside the front of the shrine, the people who were busy setting up their stands over there also witnessed this strange phenomenon. From their point of view, a large vortex glowing with bright white light was above the shrine and it was shining down the massive column of beam that engulfed the shrine entirely.

"What is happening to the shrine?"

"Where'd that beam of light come from?"

"Alien abduction?"

"Is that so?"

The beam of light became thicker and thicker until one could not see through it. Such is the case with the inside as well. The ones who were inside the shrine could no longer see the scenery on the other side of the wall of light, and then the entire place started rumbling.

"What is happening?" Aya cried.

"I don't know! Something like this has never happened before!" Reimu said.

The whole place then tilted and tumbled around slightly, making them fall over onto the tatami and rolling across the place along with the furniture. During the midst of the chaos, Reimu slowly crawled up to the porch to take a better look outside, but she could not see anything through the wall of light. When she looked down, she saw that the shrine had been taken off of the ground and was slowly ascending into the air. "The shrine is rising?"

Eventually, the ground was no longer visible and the wall of light started to swirl around them as if they were inside a tornado. The shrine also stopped tilting and tumbling, but instead seemed to bobble up and down as if there was no gravity.

Back outside, the viewers continued to watch the beam of light that was shining down on the now invisible shrine. Eventually, the light thinned down until it disappeared, as well as the vortex that was originally in the air. As for the shrine itself, there was no more sight of it. Only the storage house was left in its place.

The onlookers were all dumbfounded at what they saw just now as well as the disappearance of the shrine. "The shrine… It disappeared…" Yuyuko said in awe.

"What happened?" Sakuya said as she rushed into the scene, and she asked Suwako who was standing next to her. "What happened? The shrine was here just now, wasn't it?"

"It just disappeared…" Suwako replied. "A beam of light came down on it, and then it was gone… Sanae is still inside the shrine too…"

"That means…" Sakuya turned to look at the shrine. "Mistress Remilia! Mistress Remilia! Where are you?"

Everyone ran to the imprint on the ground which was where the shrine originally stood, but no one could interpret what they saw just now.

The Hakurei Shrine, as well as eleven people who were inside, all disappeared without a trace that day…

* * *

A Game2002 Production

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_TOUHOU PROJECT_

_JOURNEY TO THE SMASHING BEYOND_

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Their journey begins next chapter…

* * *

Perhaps this prologue seems a bit rush in the way the eleven starring Touhou characters get gathered together, but then this is a prologue and it is supposed to get things ready for the actual story, so things shouldn't be dragged out.

I will give short bio as well as descriptions for the 11 starring characters below so you can get the idea on how they are like.

**Reimu: **Dark red eyes, black hair, wears large red ribbon in hair, often carries a rod with many paper seals attached in streamers. Wears a red and white dress remotely similar to a shrine maiden's outfit with detached sleeves leaving her shoulders uncovered, and a yellow neckerchief.**  
Bio: **Main character of the series and as the sole maiden of Hakurei Shrine, she is often called upon to investigate strange occurrences in Gensokyo. Due to her laidback attitude of doing things, she doesn't really get good impressions from other people.

**Marisa: **Golden eyes, blond hair, a braid on only one side of her face, carries a bamboo and straw broom. Wears a black witch's hat with a white ribbon, and a black and white outfit with a white petticoat.**  
Bio: **Secondary main character of the series and a good friend of Reimu. Has a disagreeable and self-confident attitude, but sometimes straightforward. Likes to steal things, especially books, but always claims to be borrowing them for an extended amount of time.

**Youmu: **Her human half has dark blue eyes, short silver hair, carries a katana with a cherry blossom insignia and flower attached, and a short Japanese sword. Wears a dark green and white dress with several ghost insignias along the edges and breast pocket, and a black ribbon placed off-center on her hair. Her ghostly half is a formless phantom as large as her human half. The two halves are always seen together. During her Last Word, her eyes are red.  
**Bio: **A strange hybrid between a phantom and a human, Youmu exists in the form of the physical female body and a ghostly phantom that stays close to the body at all times, both acting as one entity that shares what they sense with each other. She serves as Ghost Princess Yuyuko's bodyguard and gardener, and is also a very skilled swordswoman fighting with two swords at once. She is deathly afraid of ghosts, yet isn't afraid of her master who is also one.

**Alice: **Orange eyes, short blond hair. Wears a light blue dress with pink ribbons, black boots, and a red ribbon in her hair.**  
Bio: **A magician with skillful use of dolls. Though she is a loner with a somewhat cold attitude, she can still be very kind and caring to other people.**  
**

**Shanghai: **Blonde hair and blue eyes. She wears a long dark purple dress with a white apron and white shoulders, and matching dark purple shoes. There is a large red bow in her hair and a smaller matching bow around her neck  
**Bio: **An automated doll that follows Alice all the time, but is incapable of speech.  
**Note: **She does not count as a separate character in this story.

**Meiling: **Aqua-colored eyes and long, scarlet hair. Her green beret and dress resemble traditional Chinese clothing. Her beret has a gold star on the front with the Traditional Chinese character "龍" that is read as "long" and means dragon.  
**Bio: **The gatekeeper demon of Scarlet Devil Mansion. Despite falling asleep often, she does her job well and wakes up if anyone tries to intrude the mansion.

**Nitori: **Blue hair and eyes. She wears a blue hat blue dress with lots of pockets for tools around the hem of the skirt and her upper arm, and a dark aquamarine backpack with a golden key on the strap in front of her.  
**Bio: **A kappa who is skilled with mechanics and is one of the few scientific nerds in Gensokyo.

**Cirno: **Aqua-colored eyes, hair and icicle-shaped wings. Wears blue ribbon, light pink blouse and blue one-piece skirt.  
**Bio: **An ice fairy who is very confident of her abilities, but is better known for her stupidity. She enjoys freezing frogs and watching them thaw out, though the frogs may end up shattering into pieces instead.

**Reisen: **Red eyes, long light-purple hair and long rumpled rabbit ears. Wears a black business suit over her shirt. Her left suit-collar is decorated with a crescent moon-shaped insignia, and there appears to be paper or business cards poking out of her left shirt pocket. Wears a beige skirt.  
**Bio: **A lunar rabbit who escaped from the moon to Genoskyo in order to seek refugee from a Lunar War. She has the power to drive people crazy with her eyes, but despite having such ability, she's one of the few sensible characters in the series to take things seriously.

**Remilia: **Red eyes, short light-blue hair, pair of black bat-like wings on back. Wears a light red mop hat and dress, with bright red trimming.  
**Bio: **A 500 years old vampire who has the reputation of being one of the more dangerous and powerful inhabitants of Gensokyo. While her attitude is self-centered and bratty, it is possible to befriend her. Being a vampire, she is sensitive to sunlight as long as she doesn't spend a large amount of time under it.

**Aya: **Red eyes, semi-long black hair. Wears a white blouse, a black short skirt, and a red Tokin (cup-shaped hats). Also noteworthy is her black crow wings on her back that can appear and disappear at will.  
**Bio: **A tengu news reporter who is the fastest in Gensokyo. She tends to exaggerate her news reports and even make things up, not to mention take embarrassing photos of people. She doesn't get good impression from others because of this.

**Sanae: **Wears a blue and white outfit similar to a shrine maiden's with light blue polka dots and stripes covering the blue areas. Has long light green hair, and dark-green eyes. Wears a snake-shaped hair accessory wrapped around her hair on one side, and a hair clip shaped like a frog's head.  
**Bio: **A shrine maiden from the outside world but moved into Gensokyo when the Moriya Shrine, which she lives in, was transported to aforementioned place by the goddess Kanako. Normally portrayed as a kind and loving girl, she has a great passion for exterminating demons.


	2. Fantasy Land of Mushrooms

And the real story starts now…

**Chapter 1  
Fantasy Land of Mushrooms**

* * *

All was peaceful and normal at Toad Town. The Toads were walking around doing their stuff and usual business as well as chatting and playing with each other.

In summary, it was a nice and peaceful day.

The Shine-Rank Tailor Store was doing business like always. "Get out of here! We don't allow poor people like you to come in and shop here!" the fat shopkeeper said to the commonly-dressed Toad.

"So mean… I'm gonna report this to the court!" the Toad cried as he ran away.

"Nya, nya! Come back when you're a little richer!" the shopkeeper said while sticking out his tongue.

CRASH!

"What was that?"

Several Toads were shocked by the sudden sound of crashing. They all gathered that store and looked up at the roof just as the shopkeeper came out. "What's the ruckus here?"

"Look! There's a house on top of the store!" one of the Toads pointed out.

"What are you talking about?" The shopkeeper looked up at his store and to his surprise, saw that the Shine model which was on top the roof had been indeed crushed by a house. "What the heck?"

* * *

Reimu got up and rubbed her eyes and shook her head to get back to her senses. She looked around and saw her guests laying all over the tatami, but they were getting up one by one. "Whoa… What a ride…" Marisa said. "I wonder what that was all about-ze…?"

"Is it over?" Reisen asked.

"Seems to be the case…" Reimu said. "Let's go outside first and see if anything else happened." Ignoring the door that normally led to the backyard, she went into the hallway and headed for the front door.

"Hey, where are all the trees?" Cirno brought up as she looked out the backyard door.

Reimu walked out from the front door and the first thing she saw was the sky. A question mark appeared over her head as she witnessed this strange sight. She was expecting to see stands being set up and several inhabitants of Gensokyo moving around being busy, but what she saw instead were clouds and not to mention mushroom-shaped buildings in the distance. She walked up to the front porch where the donation box is and then looked down from there, and gradually, her eyes widened more and more until she yelled out loud, "WHAT IN THE WORLD?"

"Reimu!" shouted the voice of Marisa. She rushed over to Reimu along with the others and the witch tapped her in the shoulder. "Reimu! You won't believe it! It seems that your shrine is currently on top of something!"

"I found out about that just now!" Reimu told her. "Look!" She pointed down and the others all looked down to see several Toads down there looking back at them.

"Mushroom… people…?" Alice said with an odd expression.

"Um… I don't think this is anywhere near Hakurei Shrine…" Sanae pointed out.

"I don't even think this is Genoskyo anymore…" Remilia added.

"Wow! I've never seen living creatures like these!" Aya said excitedly while snapping shots from her camera at the Toads. "This is such a great scoop!"

The shopkeeper moved back until he could see the people up there and shouted as loud as he could, "Hey you! What are you doing up there with your house? Get off of my store at once!"

"Your store?" Reimu said curiously. "Um… Look, we have no idea how we ended up here in the first place! We are totally lost and confused about our surroundings too!"

"I don't care! This is my store and you've just damaged the mascot up there!"

"Shines didn't originate as mascots for you!" a random Toad told him.

As the shopkeeper continued shouting at them, Reimu turned to her friends and asked, "Um… What do we do…?"

Marisa simply shrugged as she had no idea what to do also. "Maybe we should go down there and talk with them in a better way…" Youmu suggested. "It's not easy if we talk from here."

"Yeah, let's just get down there first," Reisen agreed. "We need to find out what this place is. It can't be possible that we just end up in a foreign place all of a sudden."

"Oh well… No other method then…" Reimu sighed. She then jumped off the front porch hoping to float down slowly, but instead, she dropped straight down and fell into a bush which soften her landing and prevented any fatalities. "OW!"

"Whoa! You sure are daring to jump down from there just like that!" a random Toad commented.

Reimu got up and dusted the leaves off her clothe and said, "What? I was supposed to fly down slowly! But…"

"YAAA!" Marisa suddenly crashed down with her broom next to Reimu. She wasn't as lucky as she hit the road instead. She got up again seemingly unharmed and rubbed her butt saying, "Ow! How come I didn't fly?"

As Reimu was wondering how they weren't able to fly like they normally could, the shopkeeper walked up in front of her and said loudly, "Listen, young lady! You get that house of yours out of my store's rooftop at once!"

"I told you already that I have no idea what happened!" Reimu explained to him nervously. "Just a few seconds ago my shrine was built on grass, but it suddenly popped up here after a column of light shined down!"

"I don't care what story you have to tell me!" the shopkeeper shouted back. "And look at the clothes you're wearing! How very old fashion and unstylish! You people have no sense for fashion at all, don't you?" He pulled up a part of his clothing and boasted, "You see the fine texture and fabric of my clothes? Only sophisticated people like me are suited to wear something like this! I bet you don't even have the money to afford a good pair of socks! Haha!" Suddenly, Remilia, with her parasol held over her head using one hand, dropped down in front of him and lifted him up by the collar. "Hey!"

"You better watch your mouth, fatso!" she said in an annoyed voice. "A boastful bastard like you doesn't fit with those so-called fine clothes that you are wearing!"

"Let go of me… Or else I'll call the cops…"

Reimu grabbed Remilia's hands and forced her to let go of the shopkeeper who quickly backed away in fear. "We better not cause a ruckus," Reimu said to her. "We don't know where we are and it can be troublesome if we get into trouble with the law here."

"I never liked rude and boastful people like him, hmph!" Remilia said.

"Says the person who boasts about her strength and wealth…" Marisa said under her breath.

"By the way, Reimu, how come didn't slowly float down earlier?" Remilia asked the shrine maiden.

"I said earlier that I wasn't able to fly," Reimu told her. "Even Marisa couldn't fly with her broom!"

"Is that the case? Yet I can," Remilia said. She flapped her wings and hovered above the ground slightly, much to the amazement of the bystanders.

"Look! She's floating above the ground!"

"She has wings!"

"Perhaps it's because we rely on our wings to fly rather than your own method flying," Aya said as she lowered onto the ground with Cirno accompanying her.

"Having wings makes you the strongest!" Cirno claimed.

Just then, Toads dressed as police officers made their way over to the place and the bystanders quickly made way for them. "Excuse me," one of the police officers said. "We would like to ask you a few questions regarding… your sudden appearance…"

Reimu let out a sigh and thought that this was going to be a long day.

As the crowd gathered in front of the tailor store, a certain person appeared and asked the Toad at the back of the crowd. "Excuse me, but what is going on here?"

The Toad turned around and was surprised to see the person, and immediately bowed down. "Princess Peach!"

Upon hearing this, all the Toads immediately moved asides and all bowed down in presence of the blond princess dressed in pink—Princess Peach Toadstool.

"You can all stand up now," Peach said to them kindly, and they all did.

After standing back up, the same Toad said to her, "Some strange people popped up with their house on top of the tailor store. The police are interviewing about this matter."

"I see… That's something I've never heard of before…" Peach thought. "Maybe I should go see these people myself."

Her chancellor Toadsworth said to her, "Be careful, princess. Those people may be foul characters."

"Don't worry; things won't be as bad as you say," Peach told him before advancing through the path in between the crowd.

The police officers saw the princess coming, so they made way for her as well. Peach walked up to Reimu and the others and waved and smiled kindly to them. "Hello! Welcome to Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Mushroom Kingom?" Reimu said curiously. "Is that what this place is called?"

"Very fitting if you ask me-ze," Marisa commented as she looked left to right at all the mushroom people and architecture.

"I am Princess Peach, the ruler of this place," Peach explained to them. "I'm sorry if the citizens frightened you somewhat. It would appear that you not from around here."

"Truer words cannot be said…" Reimu said with a sigh. "We have no idea how we ended up here in the first place. It all happened so suddenly…"

"That's quite surprising to hear. How about you and your friends come over to my castle and then I will treat you? We can talk more about this over there."

"But princess!" Toadsworth protested. "What if they…?"

Peach didn't give him the chance to finish speaking however. "Don't worry, Toadsworth. I'm sure they are nice people. They're simply lost lambs that got separated from the place they come from. It's obvious they would be scared and confused out here, so we must treat them with kindness and make them feel welcomed." She looked at the shrine and said, "As for their house, we'll have the crane come and bring it down."

Reimu looked at the friends and said, "Well? What do you think?"

"No other idea," Remilia said with a shrug. "Might as well take advantage of everything we have at the moment."

The situation was soon settled. The crane was eventually summoned to remove the shrine to an empty field just so that the shopkeeper can stop bickering. As for Reimu and the others, they were following Princess Peach and Toadsworth down the path leading to the castle. This also gave them the perfect opportunity to get a better look at the scenery around them, and they are without doubt very amazed at what they were seeing.

"Ooooh! Everything indeed is mushroom-related here-ze!" Marisa commented when she saw all the Toads, mushroom-shaped buildings, and Goombas.

Alice looked around and saw Bob-ombs walking casually on the grass. "Are those automated toys or what?" she wondered.

Nitori looked and saw Cheep-cheeps on sitting on the grass chatting with random Toads. "Wow! A talking fish that can breathe on land!"

Reisen noticed a Toad walking towards a pipe that was sticking out of the ground. The Toad jumped into the pipe but never came back out. "Okay…" she murmured to herself. "My eyes aren't going crazy on me, aren't they…?"

Sanae looked up and noticed that the clouds had eyes and she could've sworn that they were looking back at her and even blinking. "And I thought Gensokyo was strange when I first moved there…" she said. "This place is even stranger…"

Aya took a lot of photos nonstop as she followed her companions. "When I get back, I'm going to make on heck of a news article! Hoohoo! I can't wait!" She noticed a Paratroopa. "Hey, a flying turtle!"

"Not surprising since Genji can fly too," Reimu reminded her, "and without wings."

After a bit of walking, the group eventually arrived at the main gate and then went through it, heading for the castle itself.

A pair of guards was standing in front of the gate and one of them had a frog next to him. The guard on the right looked at the frog and said to his partner, "Nice pet!"

"Thanks!" that guard said. "His name is Wart! I've been looking after him since he was a tadpole and he's grown attached to me! He's the best friend I've ever had and is even more faithful than a dog!"

The guards noticed the princess and thus opened the door to let her and the guests in. They entered one by one, but Cirno, who was last in line, stopped in front of the door and looked at the frog. "What's the matter, little girl?" the left guard asked her. "Go on in!"

"Frog!" Cirno suddenly exclaimed. She placed a finger near the frog, and in a flash of whitish-blue light, the frog was encased in a block of ice, and then she went into the castle.

Both the guards were surprised to see this, especially the frog's owner. That guard fell to his knees and picked up the frozen frog and started crying. "WART! WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO YOU! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!"

* * *

**BGM: Peach's Castle (Super Mario 64)  
**

The inhabitants of Gensokyo looked with awe at the beautiful interior of the castle. It was without doubt one of the grandest sight that have ever seen.

"Wow! This place is beautiful!" Sanae exclaimed.

"It's even nicer looking than Scarlet Devil Mansion!" Marisa commented.

"I admit," Remilia said, "it does look grander than my mansion."

"Come on in!" Peach said to them. "If you feel like eating anything, then let us go to the dining room and have a meal!"

The princess led down through the corridors and the servants Toads were all standing at both sides, bowing down to pay respect to Peach and the guests. "Heh! Makes me feel that I'm an important guest!" Marisa thought happily.

As they went down the corridor, they had the chance to glance at the paintings on the walls that depicted famous figures in the history of Mushroom Kingdom (including Mario himself but not Luigi) as well as the garden which was visible through the window.

Peach eventually led them to the dining room that consisted of a large rectangular table with several chairs set at the side, and the butlers and maids were all in their positions ready to serve the guests. "Have a seat!" Peach said to them. "I'm sure you will enjoy your meal!"

"Hooray!" Cirno said happily. She immediately rushed on ahead and took a seat for herself.

"Hey! Don't act like this is your own house!" Reimu said to her. "Sorry, princess… She tends to be very immature."

"Oh, that's not a problem!" Peach told her. "Little kids like her tend to be energetic. It's nice to see someone cheerful like her!"

* * *

Soon afterwards, the inhabitants of Gensokyo were enjoying their meal and were almost done with it. "This is the most delicious meal I've ever had!" Marisa said in between mouthfuls.

"I'm sure Mistress Yuyuko would like these!" Youmu said. "But then… Maybe it's a good thing that she's not here…" She visualized the thought of her mistress inhaling everything into her mouth like a vacuum cleaner.

Reisen picked up a mushroom with her fork and stared at it for a while, and then spoke to a chef who was standing at the side. "Excuse me, but does your kind also eat mushrooms?"

"Of course," the chef replied. "They're the greatest delicacies you can find around these places! Why do you ask?"

"Um… Nothing…" Reisen resumed with her meal, but thought of something in her head. "Mushrooms eating mushrooms…? I can't imagine this…"

"I don't believe I've gotten to know your names yet," Peach asked, trying to start a conversation. "This would be a perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other."

Reimu wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "Yeah, we haven't yet. Anyway, I'm Reimu Hakurei, and I'm the shrine maiden of the shrine that showed up in your world all of a sudden."

Marisa raised an arm and said cheerfully, "I'm Marisa Kirisame, and I'm just an ordinary witch-ze!"

"Remilia Scarlet," Remilia said while drinking from her glass of water. "And I'm a vampire, enough said." Pointing to Meiling who was sitting next to her, "And she's the gatekeeper of the mansion that I live in."

Meiling stood up and bowed down saying, "Nice to meet you! I'm Hong Meiling at your service! And if my name is too hard for you to memorize, just call me China!"

"Nice nickname!" Peach commented, and then she looked at Remilia. "You're a vampire?"

"What? Never seen one before?" Remilia asked her.

"Um… Yeah… I've heard rumors of them existing… But then, the world is such a large one, so you'll never know."

Youmu then stood up next and introduced herself, "I'm Youmu Konpaku. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Peach said. "And what's that white thing flying around next to you?"

Youmu looked at her phantom half and said, "This is my phantom. You see, I'm half-human half-phantom, so I exist in two different forms, but despite this, we both act as one person and share together what we experience."

Hearing this, Peach became curious and somewhat confused. "Half-human half-phantom?"

"Her species is one of the mysteries of our world," Reimu told her. "So don't question about it too much."

"Right…"

Cirno stood up on her chair and said out loud, "I'm Cirno the ice fairy, and I'm the strongest from our world!"

"Yeah right…" Marisa said under her breath.

"I'm Reisen Udongein Inaba," Reisen said next. "Just call me Reisen!"

"Nice rabbits ears!" Peach commented.

"These are my ears."

"Real ears?"

"Yes, I'm a lunar rabbit."

"Oh my! I didn't know there are rabbits living on the moon too!"

"I am Alice Margatroid," Alice simply said. "I'm a magician and my hobby is making dolls. And this is Shanghai, a doll that I made and animated using magic." The little doll lowered her head to give Peach a greeting.

"It's so cute!" Peach said with a slight giggle. "So you work as a magician and doll maker?"

"No, I'm only a doll maker," Alice explained. "Magician refers to a race of demons specializing in magic."

"Oh… So you're not human?" Peach asked, and Alice nodded in response.

Sanae was the next to introduce herself, "I'm Sanae Kochiya! It's a pleasure to be… invited by a royalty like you!"

"I'm Aya Shameimaru, the tengu news reporter!" Aya said cheerfully. Holding up her camera, she asked Peach, "Mind if I take more pictures of you? It's rare opportunity to meet royalties like you!"

"I'd love to!" Peach said. "Maybe I should make-up a bit more?"

"Ignore her…" Reimu told her. "You don't want to know what she might do with those pictures afterwards…"

Lastly, Nitori introduced herself. "I'm Nitori Kawashiro, a kappa! And by the way, the cucumber dishes are really delicious!"

"I'm glad you like it! They're made by our best chefs and also imported from Beanbean Kingdom. Their vegetables, especially beans, are one of the highest qualities in the world!"

"So…" Peach then asked, "What brings you here to Mushroom Kingdom?"

Reimu answered, "Like we said earlier, we have no idea at all. We were in the shrine chatting when suddenly a beam of light came down and transported us to this place. And by the way, have you heard of the place called Gensokyo?"

Peach shook her head. "I'm afraid that I've never heard such a term."

"I figured as much…"

"Looks like we're really not in Gensokyo anymore," Aya told Reimu. "But that doesn't sound so bad if you think of it. We get the rare opportunity to tour around other places!"

"And what if we cannot go back to our world?" Reimu reminded her.

"I'm sorry for the problems that you've encounter, but I'm afraid I'm not help myself either," Peach said. "But perhaps there is…"

"Hey! If you're a princess," Cirno interrupted. "Then you must get kidnapped by evil warlocks often, right? That happens in fairy tale books often!"

"It's not nice to interrupt," Nitori told her.

"That's all right," Peach said. "But it's true though. I do get kidnapped constantly by a villain named Bowser who lives in an area not too far from here. But luckily, our national hero Mario is always ready to rescue me when that happens!"

"He must be your prince on a white horse," Marisa said. "Ooooh, how romantic!" She imagined Mario to look like a typical handsome prince riding on a majestic white horse.

"You can say that, heehee! He's really a great person! I can't imagine how our kingdom will be like without him! There is peace all around here thanks to his heroic efforts! Now getting back to the previous topic… I was saying that there might be someone who can help you on this matter."

"Who?" Reimu asked.

"Merlon the wizard," Peach replied. "He's one of the wisest people around here and knows pretty much everything that is happening. I'm sure he will be able to explain some things to you."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I think this is quite a bit for the first chapter. I'm really excited about this story that I started it before my planned break was over, which lasts at least up to February. But it's not bad start this story early either, right?

Yes, this arc so far is following the same formula as One Piece: A Smash Adventure, but believe me when I say that it will also be quite different at the same time. I hope you have the patience to stay around until new elements show up!

**Next chapter: Words of the Wizard**

**Trivia:  
**1. The frog named Wart is an obvious reference to Wart from the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2.

2. There was a debate among fans on whether Meiling should be called by her Chinese name or her Japanese name, Kurenai Misuzu, and one user from the website 2ch suggested that she be called China, and that nickname became popular. ZUN confirmed in an interview that "Hong Meiling" is the correct pronunciation, but the nickname "China" still remains popular.

3. In some official material, Alice's dolls appear to be able to act and talk independently, but according to her in the information book Perfect Memento, she has yet succeeded in creating an independent doll, and was suggested that Alice just controls the dolls and pretends they are alive for her own amusement and for showing off.


	3. Words of the Wizard

**SBS Time!  
Retasuika: **Why are they visiting only Mushroom Kingdom?  
**Game2002: **Check out Specter24's One Piece: A Smash Adventure to get an idea on how the story will progress. And yes, I remember you are and I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern! One last thing, no boys came with the Touhou girls.

I didn't expect this many reviews in just two chapters (one if you don't count the prologue). It really hypes me up to pour out chapters faster! Hope you all enjoy everything that you will soon be reading!

**Chapter 2  
Words of the Wizard**

**

* * *

**

A group of six consisting of Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Reisen, Youmu, and Aya traveled down the path that led from the castle back to Toad Town. Reimu held up a map in her hand that had the location of Merlon's house shown. "According to the princess," she said, "he lives very near the castle. In fact, it's just next to the main path that led to the castle."

"Then that makes the map rather pointless, don't you think?" Reisen said to her.

It didn't take too long for them to arrive back in Toad Town and find Merlon's house, however, they found that the door was locked and there was no response even after knocking it. There was a note on the door too.

Reimu took down the note and read from it, "I am currently visiting my friend Chakron in Plack Beach. If you need to meet me urgently, then please find me in Plack Beach."

"Okay… Looks like he's not home…" Marisa said. "What do we do-ze?"

"We'll just go to Plack Beach then," Reimu said, sticking the note back onto the door.

"Why don't we just wait for him to come back?" Sanae asked.

Shortly after she said this, a Toad passed by and said to them, "If you're looking for Merlon, he went to visit Chakron at Plack Beach. If I remember correctly, he's been gone for almost the whole day already. Plack Beach is down the southern exit of Toad Town and is about a twenty minutes walk from here."

"Thanks for the info!" Aya said to him, and then she faced her friends. "Well? Want to go?"

"Let's just go and get over with this in a hurry," Reimu suggested.

* * *

While the six of them went to find Merlon, the other five inhabitants of Gensokyo chose to stay in the castle instead.

A Toad butler led Remilia and Meiling into a well-decorated guest room and said to them, "You can use this room to rest if you want to."

Remilia stepped inside and looked around. "Not bad; I like it."

"Please press the pink button over there if you need any help," the butler told her while pointing to the obvious pink button next to the bed, and then he took his leave.

Remilia walked up to the bed and sat onto it. She stretched her arms into the air and said, "It's time for my siesta. Go and do whatever you want, Meiling."

"Like what?" Meiling asked her.

"Just take your free time or stand at the door if you want to. I don't care. This isn't Scarlet Devil Mansion, so you're free to do as you wish."

"Thanks, mistress!" Meiling said happily before leaving the room. She closed the door and stood in front of it. "Hmmm… So what do I do? I think I'll just stand here and keep the mistress safe." And stood firmly with crossed arms in front of the door she did.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cirno and Nitori were walking out in the castle garden, sightseeing the beautiful scenery.

"Hooray!" Like a little kid, Cirno ran through the flower field with her arms high in the air, scaring the butterflies from the flowers

Nitori bent down next to a lake and looked at the fish swimming around. A mechanical arm came out from the right side of her backpack and reached into the water, picking up a fish. They both stared into each other's face for a while and then the fish said, "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing… Just curious…" Nitori said before putting the fish back into the water. "Fish really can talk in this world! Hmmm… Maybe I should invent something that can make animals talk after we go back."

She got up and walked around the place and then noticed a stone statue of a star. She walked up to it and tried to read the inscription on the base of the statue, but the words were blurry for some reason, so she couldn't make out what it says. She turned to call Cirno over and pointed at the inscriptions. "What do you think this says?"

Cirno narrowed her eyes at the words and then said, "It reads 'L is Real 2401'."

"Really?" Nitori looked harder at the words, but came up with a different conclusion. "I think it writes 'Eternal Star'."

"No, I'm sure it writes 'L is Real 2401' on there."

"I could swear that I see 'Eternal Star' instead, and it makes more sense considering that it's a statue of star."

"Sorry, but as the strongest in Gensokyo, I say that it writes 'L is Real 2401'."

"Oh really? What do you think it means then?"

"It means that there are 2,401 real L's in this world. Simple as that!"

"…"

* * *

As for Alice, she is quietly reading books in the bookroom. Another one of her hobbies is reading.

* * *

The other six girls finally arrived at Plack Beach after about twenty minutes of walk from Toad Town. First thing that they saw when they arrived at the beach were large tooth-like structures embedded all over the sand. "Funny place…" Marisa commented.

"This whole world really is a strange one…" Reisen thought.

"Okay…" Reimu said, looking left to right. "According from what we've learned, this guy named Chakron lives on the highest rock of Plack Beach, and the only high rock I see is…" She looked to the left and noticed a towering rock that reached way up into the sky, almost reaching the clouds. "There…"

Marisa looked up and shielded her eyes with her hand to avoid taking in direct sunlight. "Woo! It's a tall one-ze!"

"I can easily fly up there in an instant!" Aya said.

"But please keep in mind that the other five of us here lost the ability to fly," Reimu reminded her. "So you better not rush headfirst into things by yourself all the time."

"All right; I'll accompany you as you go step by step up the rock."

The six of them made their way to the bottom of the towering rock, and there they saw several steps and cliffs that led to the top. "Do we have to climb up from here?" Sanae asked.

Reisen walked up to the wall, and she lowered her legs a bit before pushing off into the air and landing onto the top of a cliff with no problem. "Rabbit are natural born jumpers, so this isn't an issue for me," she said.

Reimu and Youmu both jumped up onto the same cliff as her as well. "And not a problem for us too since we train our bodies regularly," Reimu said. She watched as Aya flew up to their spot. "And her…" The four then looked down the cliff and saw Marisa and Sanae having a hard time trying to get onto the lowest cliff.

Marisa stood on top of Sanae's shoulders and tried to climb up onto the cliff while Sanae gave her best push from below, but ultimately, Marisa failed and fell down on top of her instead. "Ow!"

"Um… A little help here-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Get off me…" Sanae cried.

"Looks like this won't be easy…" Youmu thought.

* * *

Luigi was humming the Mario series main theme to himself as he walked down the path leading to Peach's Castle. He eventually arrived at the front door of the castle and both the guards greeted him. "Hello, Mr. Luigi!" they said.

Luigi waved at them and said, "Hello! Eez da princess inside?"

"She is," the right guard said. "You can go on in and see her if you want to."

"Thank you!" Luigi then noticed the frog, which had defrosted some time ago, next to the left guard and said, "Nice frog-a!"

"He's my pet, Wart!" the guards said happily, but then his attitude slowly changed. "Just a moment ago, I thought I was going to lose him forever. If he was gone, then my purpose for living would be gone as well… My entire life has been devoted to the wellbeing of Wart, and imagine how my life would be devastated if he was gone… I was filled with fear when he was in crisis earlier, and I could almost see him struggling against the grim reaper for a moment… I prayed for his safety and couldn't stop crying the whole time… It was without doubt the darkest time of my life… Imagine your friend struggling against life and death just before your eyes! How would you feel when you see something horrible like this? You cannot possibly imagine how I was feeling during that time! My heart was filled with fear, sadness, and nervousness… I thought I was going to lose my best friend forever… I was about to lose all hope to live until the guard on the right told me to use warm water. Thankfully, Wart managed to live through in the end, and I was filled with joy again. It was as if I emerged from the cocoon like a butterfly and took off happily into the air. The happiest moment of my life has returned again and I cannot be any happier than this. Wart is back with me once again and I have not lost my reason to live! But…"

He suddenly started jumping up and down, throwing tantrum. "I HATE LITTLE GIRLS! ESPECIALLY ONES WITH BLUE HAIR AND DRESSED IN BLUE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH!"

His loud voice frightened the frog and it quickly hopped away. Seeing this, the guard went after it. "Wart! Don't run from me! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!"

Luigi and the other guard watched with odd expressions as those two left. "Um… What's-a with him…?" Luigi asked.

"Nah, it's nothing big," the guard replied. "The princess invited some guests to her castle, and supposedly they are from another country or something like that. Or so I heard…"

"Really? I'll go in and see them then," Luigi said before entering the castle.

He marched down the castle and greeted the Toads one by one. As he walked down the corridor that contained portraits of famous historical figures on the wall, he noticed the lack of his portrait. "Well… Go figure… They respect-a Mario more than me anyway…"

He went up a flight of stairs and continued down the hall that would eventually lead to Peach's room, but then came across Meiling who was still standing in front of the door with her arms crossed.

Luigi walked up to her and noticed that she had fallen asleep in a standing position. "Never seen her before," he thought as he continued on his way. "Must-a be a new person that-a they hired."

"Look out!" shouted a voice suddenly. Before Luigi could react however, a trolley that had Nitori and Cirno riding behind and on top of it respectively crashed into him from behind and Luigi was forcefully pushed down the hall at high speed.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed at the top of voice.

Cirno stood up tall despite the high speed traveling and punched the air saying, "Faster! Faster! This is fun!"

"I think we better stop now! It's going too fast!" Nitori said. She reached for a lever that was behind the trolley and pulled it, but nothing happened. "Um… I think the brake isn't working… Should've double-checked it…"

"SOMEBODY STOP-A THEEZ THING!" Luigi screamed. The trolley went down the hall at high speed and all the Toads quickly jumped out of the way. Unable to stop, the trolley came closer and closer to the door at the end of the hall, and then it crashed into the room.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Alice was still reading book when this happened, but luckily she wasn't in the way of the trolley. The modified trolley crashed into the table and pushed it all the way to the wall before the both of them finally stopped. Poor Luigi was pressed by the nuts painfully against the table but Cirno went flying out of the window instead. "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

CRASH!

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW!" That was some random cat crying after the crash was heard.

Nitori fell back from the trolley and sighed with relief. "Good… It stopped… Better put more effort into it next time…" She went up to Luigi who had passed out face first on the table and tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Please refrain from making loud noises when I am reading," said a voice that sent chills down her spine. Nitori turned around to see a pissed off Alice staring at her and all around her were dolls floating in air and armed with sharp weapons and guns.

"Um… Sorry…" Nitori said nervously.

Peach then showed up into the room. "What was that noise just now?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Reimu and the others were halfway up the rock, but due to excessive climbing, they were starting to feel tired, except for Aya who flew.

Reimu jumped up another cliff and bent down and panted heavily. "Boy… That was tiring…" She looked up and tried to look for the top of the rock, but had a hard time trying to see it. "And the top is still invisible to us…"

Aya landed next to her and said, "Perhaps I can carry you all up there and make things easier?"

Marisa struggled to climb up onto the cliff and said, "You should've… thought of this… earlier-ze…"

"Yeah, why didn't you bring this up earlier?" Reimu said to the tengu. "With your strength, you shouldn't have problem carrying the five of us at once!"

"Heheh… Sorry for not thinking of this earlier…" Aya said. "All right, I'll see what I can do."

Having decided on this, Reimu and Marisa each grabbed Aya's hands while she was staying airborne, and then the other three grabbed onto her legs as tightly as they could. "Can you do it?" Sanae asked.

Aya flapped her wings as hard as she could and managed to move upwards despite carrying five people at once. "Ugh… It's a bit heavier than I thought…" she said. "How much do you weigh?"

"Wrong question!" Marisa protested.

"Just kidding… It's not really that heavy for me. All right; we're going up there with a blast, so hold still!" Aya said. Immediately after she said this, Aya shot up into the air at a fast speed.

It took only a few seconds for Aya to make it to the top of the rock, and as her speed was too fast, her five comrades lost their grip and fell off, landing onto the surface roughly. Reisen got up and rubbed her head saying, "Ow! You didn't have to go that fast!"

Aya landed and said, "We're up here now! You should be thankful! With the fastest person like me around, you're bound to get to anywhere in a blink of an eye!"

"And that's exactly what makes you an annoying person…" Reimu grumbled while dusting her clothes.

Youmu walked up to the edge of looked down, and the sheer height between the bottom and the top made her tremble a bit. "Whoa… It's quite a drop from here… We better be careful…"

"Well, now that we are here-ze," Marisa said. "We should be looking for that guy named Merlon. Where is he?"

"Maybe over there?" Sanae said, pointing to two people who were visible across the place. They fixed their eyes on those two people and walked up to them. When they got closer, they saw that there were a hooded man with a moustache and a purple octopus-like creature standing upside-down on his hands.

"What brings you here?" the octopus creature said. "It is rare that I ever get visitors here, and I must applaud you for your stamina and determination to climb all the way up here instead of using the warp pipe."

"Warp pipe?" Reimu said curiously.

"Most people would simply use the warp pipe to get up here," the hooded man said, pointing to a pipe to the side. The girls looked at the pipe and saw that it led all the way to the bottom.

"Um… How come we never noticed that…?" Reisen asked.

"Yeah, imagine how much time and energy it would save us if we had spotted that earlier…" Youmu said.

"But still, it is quite amazing to see youngster like you having the patience to climb up with your own strength," the hooded man said. "My name is Merlon, and this is a good friend of mine, Chakron."

"So you're the person we're looking for," Reimu said.

"Yes, and I assume that you have a lot to ask from me, right?" Merlon said, "such as how you ended up in this world."

"How do you know that?" Aya asked.

"The stars hide nothing from me," Chakron replied. "It is my duty to be aware of most things that happen in the world. For hundred of years I have remained in this place and lived with the stars."

"Wow… You don't get bored in a place like this-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Boredom only applies to people who lust for the earthly treasures," Chakron told her.

"Okay…"

"So anyway…" Reimu said. "Since you know what we are here for, would you mind telling us the answers to everything?"

"You need not to ask anymore, young maiden," Merlon replied. "I have the answers to the mysterious occurrence that befell you and your friends. Please take a seat and listen to what I have to say to you. Now tell me: Did you arrive here from a vortex that shined down a beam of light?"

"Exactly," Reimu nodded. "And then the next thing we knew, the entire shrine was on top of a building in this world."

"Ah, I figured as much, except for the building part..." Merlon said. "The thing that brought here is in fact the World Light."

"World Light?" they all said curiously.

"It is a very special kind of transportation method used by Master Hand," Merlon continued explaining.

"Master Hand?" they all said again.

"Guess I should explain to you this first…" Merlon cleared his throat before continuing with his explanation. "There exists a world somewhere in the universe called the Smash World, and that is where Master Hand and his kind reside."

"Oooh… I better jot this down!" Aya said with interest while filling up her notebook.

"Master Hand… That's some name," Youmu thought.

"Of course, it's a very fitting name for him," Merlon told her. "He's a giant white hand after all."

"A giant white hand?" Reisen said. "That's all? Strange…"

"So you're saying the light that brought us here is Master Hand's doing?" Reimu asked.

"Yes," Merlon nodded. "You see, Master Hand held a tournament before where he gathered several capable fighters from all over the universe. These participants were brought together to engage in friendly battles in order to strengthen relationship between worlds."

"Sounds interesting-ze!" Marisa said.

"People who entered the tournament have become well known figures ever since. The fact that the light came down on you must mean that Master Hand acknowledges your capabilities and wishes for you to join the tournament. One of the representatives from our world is Mario."

"Mario? I think the princess mentioned about him being the national hero."

"Yes, even Princess Peach herself participated in the tournament."

"Really? She doesn't look like a fighter at all, what with claiming that she gets kidnapped by some guy named Bowyer, I think he's called, all the time."

"She may not look like it, but if need be, she packs quite a punch in combat too! However… one should be instantly be transported to Smash World itself afterwards and not here after riding the World Light…"

"What does that mean?" Reimu asked.

Merlon pondered for a while and then said, "Maybe something isn't right with the World Light? That's the first time this happened though. Tell me, was there anything else that you witnessed during the transportation process?"

"Asides from a bit of tilt and tumbling, nothing else."

"Tilting and tumbling? Now that's strange. According to firsthand experience, the transportation process goes smoothly as if you're riding an elevator."

"What's an elevator?" Youmu asked.

"A kind of transportation device that the outside world use when traveling between floors of tall buildings," Sanae explained to her.

"Even if it is a large object being transported, there should not be any shaking," Merlon continued. "It would appear that something really is not right with the World Light…"

"Great… We get caught in some strange light that was supposed to bring us to this Smash World, but we ended up in the wrong place instead and most of us even lost the ability to fly…" Reisen grumbled.

"You lost the ability to fly?" Merlon said curiously.

"Yes, all of us here has the ability to fly back in our world," Reimu explained. "But we were unable to do so after arriving here. Only the ones that have wings can still fly, like her." She pointed to Aya as an example.

"I think I can conclude that the World Light is indeed broken," Merlon concluded, "because the powers of the person should be brought over entirely as well. I have heard that the transportation process can be dangerous in the way that if it is not done properly, one may lose something precious such as his or her memories and emotions."

"Whoa… Scary…" Marisa commented.

"So what do we do?" Reimu asked. "We're trapped in this world with nowhere to go…"

"Fear not, I believe there is a way to fix this," Merlon said, "but I will have to look deeper into it first."

* * *

Things had settled down back in Peach's Castle. Luigi, Peach, Alice, Nitori, and Cirno were all sat down at the bookroom talking with each other.

"So a beam of light-a suddenly came down onto your shrine and all of you were transporta over to theez place?" Luigi asked, and they nodded as response. "Wow, then you really must-a be caught-a by surprise."

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem so bad," Nitori said, looking around the place. "It's nice to get to see other places. Back in our place, we always stayed in our own world and never went outside in fear that the people outside not taking us lightly."

"Then I hope-a you enjoy your stay here! Maybe I should-a take-a you to see Mario sometime."

"You said earlier that you are his younger brother, right?" Alice asked.

"Yes, and he eez da most well known people here," Luigi told her. "He eez a great-a hero who saved Mushroom Kingdom as well as otha places all da time! Too bad I'm not-a as brave as him…"

"That's not exactly true," Peach told him. "Remember the times where Mario was in trouble and you took the responsibility of rescuing him? You did a great job during times like that!"

"Yeah, that's-a true. But-a still, I'm nothing compared to my brother…"

* * *

Back at the front door, both the guards were still doing their duty. As for the frog, it's placed in a fish tank to keep it from running anyway.

The guard on the right side yawned and said, "Gee, it sure is boring around here..."

"Mah friend," the left guard said, "This peace is what all true gatekeepers strive for!"

"I wish something would happen now."

Moments after he said this, a large shadow loomed over them. Both the guards looked up and to their surprise, saw a massive ship with propellers, engines, and sails flying in their direction.

They were struck with shock as they recognized very well what that thing was. "That's… that's…" the left guard cried, "That's Bowser's airship!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Readers of Specter24's story can see the obvious changes here, and you can tell that things are starting to heat up in the next chapter! There will also be appearance of certain characters that will alter this arc even more than the original, so look forward to it!

You might be wondering why Luigi speaks with Italian accent here and never did in my mainstream SSB stories. I want the portrayal of the characters here to be as close as possible to their origins, hence the reason for that here. I didn't give Luigi the accent in the mainstream series because I originally forgot to give him one in my first story, so in order to keep things constant, it became stuck that way.

**Next chapter: Attack of the Turtles  
**


	4. Attack of the Turtles

**SBS Time!  
JakeCrusher: **I hope there will be new worlds not in Specter24's story.  
**Game2002: **I'm sure you definitely won't be disappointed!

**Aurora Corona: **There is no use for multiple exclamation points.  
**Game2002: **This is done on purpose in order to emphasize the level of intensity of the phrase.

**Chapter 3  
Attack of the Turtles**

* * *

**BGM: Airship Theme (Super Mario Bros. 3)  
**

The arrival of the massive airship made the Toads in the courtyard run around with great panic. The cannons equipped onto all sides of the airship started taking aim and firing Bullet Bills (complete with the familiar 8-bit sound effect). The bullets crashed onto the ground and the castle, sending flames into the air as a result and everyone was screaming their heads off.

Aboard the airship, eight anthropomorphic turtles with spiked shells looked down and they were cheering and shouting with joy at the sight of the destruction.

"Haha! Look at those little whelps run!" said the one with sunglasses. "What sissies they are!"

"Now they shall witness the true power that we possess!" boasted the one with large clump of blue hair.

As they cheered on, an even larger spike-shelled turtle appeared from behind. The eight little ones turned around to face him and all saluted at his presence. "Well, it seems that our plan is going smoothly," said the big one—Bowser. "Hahaha! Let's see Mario try to rush here to save the day! Okay, guys! You know to do, don't you?"

"Yes, pops!" they said simultaneously.

"Good! Let's get started then!" Bowser then turned around to face four additional turtles that had bandanas with eyeholes strapped around their faces. "Koopa Bros., it's your move now! Go and keep the gatekeepers busy!"

The Koopa Bros. each gave a thumb up while striking a pose and said, "You can count on us, Lord Bowser! We're the coolest after all!" Then the four of them went and jump off the deck.

Down there, the Toad guards were still running around like frightened lambs. That was when the Koopa Bros. fell down, all of them landing on their feet perfectly, except for Yellow who fell on his face and ate dust instead. "Intruder alert!" one of the Toads cried.

"Haha! Behold our coolness and be afraid!" Red, the leader of the bunch, said while pointing at them in a striking pose. "Only fools would dare defy us, the one and only Koopa Bros.!"

* * *

The chaos that went on outside could be heard all the way inside. Toadsworth rushed into the bookroom with great panic and said to Peach, "Princess! Bowser and his minions have attacked in their airship!"

"Oh my!" Peach gasped.

"Mamamia!" Luigi cried. "And Mario eezn't even here!"

"Bowser? You mean the evil warlord who kidnaps you all the time?" Cirno asked Peach, who nodded in response.

"The guards are trying to keep some of them from entering the front door," Toadsworth said. "But chances are that they may even come in through the ceiling or the window! Please go and hide until Master Mario comes to aid!"

"Don't-a worry! I'll protect-a da princess no matta what-a eet takes!" Luigi said. He got in front of Peach and got into a kung-fu stance. "Nobody goes through da great-a Luigi that-a eez me!" Though his legs were wobbling violently...

"If you are willing, we can offer a hand too," Nitori said. "Don't look at us like this, but we are capable fighters ourselves too!"

"But you are our guests," Toadsworth said. "It is not right for guests to…"

"Don't say that," Nitori said as she walked past him and out of the room. "I'll go out there and see what I can do! The others can stay here and protect the princess!"

"Thanks for your help, but…" Peach said.

"Don't mention it," Alice told her. "You offered us kindness, so it is a matter of fact that we pay back with kindness as well."

Cirno stood just outside the room with her arms crossed and said, "I'm the strongest! Nobody can ever come into this room without besting me first!"

* * *

Meiling was still asleep despite all these noise. Nitori came up to her and tapped her in the arm, waking her up. "Uh? Did I fall asleep?" the gatekeeper said.

The door behind her opened and Remilia came out rubbing her eyes. "What's with all those noise? I can't sleep peacefully like this!"

"It seems that the person named Bowser is invading this place," Nitori explained to them. "I'm going out there to see if I can help."

"Oh really?" Remilia said, and then she looked at Meiling. "Why don't you go do something about it too? It's better than to stay here dozing off, isn't it?"

"Um… You're right…" Meiling said. "Okay, I'll see what I can do! Let's go!" And she ran down the hall with Nitori while Remilia yawned and went back into the room.

* * *

Outside, the Toads were trying to best to fend off the Koopa Bros. with spears, but the mushroom people were no match for the agility and skills of the ninja turtles.

"Take this!" a Toad yelled, trying to plunge his spear into Black, but the turtle jumped up and stomped him in the head before knocking him out with a karate chop to the back of his neck. "Ow!"

"Haha! You're no match for my 1337 karate skills!" Black said.

As the Koopa Bros. continued to beat up the Toads, the front door opened and Nitori and Meiling came out to look at the scene of chaos. They also looked up and saw the airship hovering above the castle. "Whoa! A flying boat! Awesome!" Nitori exclaimed.

Meiling looked at the Koopa Bros. who had their attentions turned to them as well and then got into fighting stance. "I will not allow intruders to have their way here!"

"Hey, who are those girls?" Green asked.

"I don't know," Red said. "Lord Bowser never mentioned anything about people like them."

"They're probably nameless lackeys that aren't worth mentioning," Yellow said. "Let's beat them up like we did with everyone else!"

"Oh, they're looking down on us," Nitori commented, though she didn't look offended in any way. "I pity them for thinking in such a way already."

Without a warning, Black ran in their direction and jumped into the air with one arm raised, ready to perform a karate chop. "Take this! Hiya!"

He fell towards Meiling, ready to hit her, but the gatekeeper suddenly thrust her right arm diagonally upwards, right into Black's abdomen and sending him back through the air. "OOF!" Black fell on his shell in front of his comrades.

"Whoa! Looks like that girl can fight!" Red said. "But nevertheless, there is no way they can beat us all at once! Let's get them, bros!"

They helped Black get back up and all four of them ran towards Meiling. When they were at range, Meiling spun to perform a roundhouse kick that connected into Red from the side, and then all four of them were kicked away.

KICK!

"Ow!" Red collapsed onto the ground with his friends and then slowly sat back up. "Ugh! Looks like she really packs a punch…"

"Want some more?" Meiling asked them in an intimidating manner.

"Looks like we can't beat her if we confront her directly!" Green said. "We need to come up with a strategy. We're ninjas after all!"

Red placed his hand under his chin and thought for a while. "Okay! Let's use a smoke bomb to blind her, and then we'll attack her while she's coughing and trying to find her way around! Classical method, don't you think?"

"I don't think you're supposed to say it out loud…" Yellow reminded him. "Now they've heard us!"

"Not like it makes a difference!" Red took out a black ball out of nowhere and hurled it at Meiling.

She got into defensive stance as the ball landed in front of her legs and exploded into a cloud of thick black smoke. The Koopa Bros. immediately rushed forward and into the smoke, ready to clobber her.

POW WHACK KICK SLAM WHAM PONG BAM!

And all four of them flew back out of the smoke with injuries all over their bodies. The smoke cleared to reveal Meiling unharmed. "That won't work on me!" she said.

"They're really all talk and no brawn," Nitoi commented. "I really pity fighting someone like them."

"We don't need your pity!" Red said in frustration. "I'll show you that we are not just talk!" He turned to his comrades and said, "Get ready, bros! Time for our special technique!"

"Right on, Red!" the other three shouted. Yellow withdrew into his shell and allowed Green to jump onto his back and withdraw into his shell, and then Black got on top of him and did the same. Finally, Red hopped onto the top of Black and withdrew into this shell as well. The four of them begin spinning in the same direction simultaneously and as they built up a speed, an aura of yellow, green, black, and red was formed around them in the likeliness of a cyclone.

Seeing the pillar of shell moving towards her at a high speed, Meiling valiantly rushed forward with her right arm pulled back. A bright rainbow aura immediately formed around her fist as she threw a powerful punch at the incoming danger. "Spiral Light Step!"

Her fist and the turtle shells came in contact with each other, and as the aura of both sides clashed, colorful sparks were let loose into the air. Both sides struggled to push to prevail against each other, but it became clear that Meiling was slowly overcoming her opponents. "Hiya!" With a loud cry, she thrust her arm fully forward (almost fell over herself too) and Green and Black were sent all the way into the air. Red cried as he fell onto Yellow, and then Meiling delivered a roundhouse kick charged with rainbow energy and sent the two of them joining their airborne comrades.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The Koopa Bros. flew across the sky and landed somewhere in the distance on the other side of the castle wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"That should teach them!" Meiling said, flexing her right arm.

Suddenly, there was a loud stomp as something dropped down behind her. She jumped back and turned around to see the newcomer—a big fat turtle with swirly eyeglasses. "Whoa! Here comes a big one!" Nitori said. "Can this be Bowser himself?"

"I see that you have beaten up the Koopa Bros. whom I taught how to fight," the big turtle said. "Guess I'm going to have to beat you up myself then in order to please Lord Bowser."

Meiling got into fighting stance again and said, "You won't beat me!"

"You think so, little girl? I'm the biggest and strongest Koopa around here, Kent C. Koopa!" the turtle claimed. "I'll show you that my size and muscles aren't just for looks!"

* * *

While the fight went on at the courtyard, Peach and the others remained in the bookroom for their own safety. "I hope everything is all right out there," Peach said.

"Don't worry!" Cirno, who was still standing at the door, said. "Meiling and Nitori are strong, though not as strong as me (plain lies)! Nobody will be able to get through them or me!"

Suddenly, the wall where the window was burst open and everyone was shocked and moved to the other side of the room and looked to see what happened. From the smoke, one could see eight figures jumping into the room.

Luigi raised both his arms in a karate pose and said, "Who goes there? You're not-a going to capture da princess unless you beat-a me first-a!"

The smoke cleared and the eight figures walked forward to reveal themselves, and Luigi and Peach instantly recognized them. "The Koopalings!" they gasped.

And indeed it was. All eight Koopalings were present before their eyes. From left to right: Larry, Wendy, Morton, Lemmy, Bowser Jr., Ludwig, Iggy, and Roy.

"Surprise!" all them said with arms raised.

Out of fear, Luigi ran to hide behind Alice and trembled violently. "You say you know how to fight-a, right-a? Then… do something!"

"You people aren't going to do anything to stop us!" said a louder and rougher-sounding voice. Immediately, Bowser showed up himself outside riding on the Koopa Clown Car, and then he jumped out of it and into the room.

"Bowser!" Peach gasped.

"So that is Bowser?" Alice asked. "Such a vile-looking beast…"

"Bwahahaha! Too bad Mario isn't here to help you!" Bowser said. "I'm going to capture you like I always do!"

"And Mario is going to come and beat you up again!" Peach reminded him. "You won't succeed, Bowser! It's the same thing over and over again!"

"Who cares? I do whatever I want and could care less for that prince on a white horse of yours!" Bowser replied. He pointed at them and said to the Koopalings, "Get them, my children!"

"Yes, pops!" they all said. With the exception of Bowser Jr., the other seven Koopalings got out wands and waved them in circles before shooting out fireballs of varying colors.

The colored fireballs struck the floor before them and exploded into colorful smoke that quickly filled up the room, causing Peach and the others to choke and cough.

"Haha! Now's my chance!" Bowser said. He quickly ran towards the wall of smoke and reached his hand inside to grab Peach, but he pulled out Luigi instead. "Huh?"

Luigi smiled sheepishly and waved at him, but then Bowser flung him away into a bookshelf.

CRASH!

Bowser turned to the smoke to try another attempt, but suddenly a laser beam shot out from the smoke and struck him in the body, blasting him backwards. "Ow!" He fell on his shell but sat back up again. "What was that?"

Alice came out from the smoke with Shanghai, who was armed with a rifle, next to her. "You're not going to expect mercy from me, monster," she said coldly. She pointed at Bowser and Shanghai moved according to her master's will, aiming the rifle at Bowser and firing a laser beam.

"Whoa!" Bowser quickly moved aside and managed to avoid the laser. "Who are you? You dare mess with the great Bowser that is me? You're going to get it then!"

The smoke cleared and Peach and Cirno were seen running down the hall, and so Bowser called out to the Koopalings, "Don't just stand there! Go get the princess!"

"Yes, pops!" The Koopalings traveled together towards the exit, but Alice stopped them.

"Don't think you're getting pass me!" she said. She got out a card and with a wave of it across the air, several dolls popped out of thin air, all them armed with various kinds of weapon.

The Koopalings stopped in their tracks upon such a sight, and under Alice's command, the dolls charged forward. The Koopaling placed their hands over their heads and quickly ran back as to escape the wrath of the dolls, but Bowser was not pleased. "Useless!" he said angrily. "They're just dolls that can… fly… A little fire and then they're down! Like this!" As demonstration, he opened his mouth and let loose a stream of fire much to Alice's surprise.

Majority of the dolls were caught in the way of the fire and were burned down, but Alice managed to get some of them to move out of the way as well as herself. The Koopalings used this opportunity to rush by her and down the hall.

"Come here, princess!" they shouted.

Cirno was holding Peach's hand and took her down the hallway as fast as she could by flying. "This way, princess! Come with me!"

When they were nearing the stairs though, a hooded turtle suddenly popped out of thin air before their eyes. "You're not going anywhere, princess!" the turtle said.

"Kamek!" Peach gasped.

Kamek turned to the stairs and waved his wand in its direction, releasing a combination of triangles, circles, and squares. These three shapes merged together and instantly created a large yellow block with dotted eyes which blocked off the stairs.

Cirno and Peach gasped in shock, and they looked back to see that the Koopalings have caught up with them. "It's a dead end for you, momma!" Bowser Jr. said.

Hearing this, Cirno became surprised. "You're his mom?"

"That's only what he thinks!" Peach told her.

"We've got you now!" Ludwig said as he and the others closed in on Peach.

"You're not laying your filthy hands on her!" Cirno said. She grasped the air as if there was something and cold air swirled around her hand until an ice saber was created, much to their surpise.

"Wow! How did she do that?" Larry asked in amazement.

Gripping the ice sword by its hilt tightly, Cirno jumped at the Koopalings and swung horizontally, forcing them to move back. Ludwig pointed his wand at her and shot out a fireball which struck the ice blade, instantly melting it. "What?" Cirno cried. Before she had the chance to do anything else, Roy walked up to her and punched her across the face and into the wall. "OW!"

CRASH!"

"Cirno!" Peach gasped. Suddenly, the Koopalings charged at her and then lifted her over their heads and they all shouted happily while rushing back to the bookroom. "Let me down! Help!"

"Nyeheheheheh! We've got the princess!" Kamek laughed, following the Koopalings. "Lord Bowser will be most pleased!"

Cirno slowly sat back up and rubbed her face. "Ow… That hurts…" She stood back up and dusted herself. "But I must stop them from taking the princess! I'm the strongest after all, so I must keep my words!"

Back in the bookroom, Bowser easily swatted away the dolls when they attempted to stab him with the knives that there holding. Another doll showed up from behind and swung down a spiked mace onto his head. Though Bowser took the blow to his head directly, he wasn't fazed much from it and spun around, breathing fire into the doll and burning it. He turned to Alice who had a couple of more dolls around to her and said, "You're starting to annoy me, girly!"

"Pops! We've got the princess!" shouted the Koopalings as they rushed back into the room.

Seeing this, Bowser was very pleased. "Good! Hand her over to me!" The Koopalings threw Peach over to Bowser who caught her by the body and then rushed towards the Koopa Clown Car which was hovering outside on the wall, and Peach hit Bowser in the side of the head over and over and struggled to get free.

"Let go of me!" she cried.

"You're not going anywhere!" Alice said. She was going to summon more dolls, but Cirno rushed past her and towards the villains.

"I'm not done yet!" she shouted.

Bowser whipped out a Bob-omb after jumping into his ride and hurled it at them, but Cirno flew onto his head and caught him by the horns. "Hey! Get lost!"

The Bob-omb's eyes flashed and the body rumbled. Sensing danger, Alice quickly jumped out of the room before the bomb exploded.

KAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion tore down the doorframe and the walls around it, resulting in debris blocking the way inside. Bowser, still with Cirno holding onto his horns, and Kamek managed to use this opportunity to fly back onto the airship while the Koopalings used the anchor's chain to climb onto the deck.

"Get lost already!" Bowser shouted as he shook his head to get the ice fairy off.

"Let go of the princess first!" Cirno said. As she held onto Bowser tightly, white light came from her hands, and then the Koopa king's head started to freeze over until his whole body became frozen.

Eventually, the Koopa Clown Car fell onto the deck with a crash and Cirno got off from the frozen Bowser. "Haha! I'm the strongest! Now you know why you shouldn't mess with me!" she boasted.

Morton suddenly shoulder bashed her from behind and sent her shooting into the airship's cabin.

CRASH!

"Ha! Got her!" he said.

"What a troublesome kid!" Kamek said. "Guess we'll take her along with us, whoever she is..."

* * *

While all those were still happening inside the castle, another battle was still taking place out in the courtyard as well.

Meiling ran towards Kent and did a flying kick at him. "Hiya!"

Kent withdrew into his shell and ducked down and Meiling flew over him instead. When Kent got back up, Meiling spun around and punched him in the shell two times before landing a spinning kick. The shell was a tough one and Kent did not feel a single pain. He spun around and swung a fist at her, but Meiling blocked it with her arms and then did back flips to get some distance from him.

"That doesn't hurt at all! Girls can't punch as hard as men after all!" Kent mocked, which didn't make Meiling too happy.

"Oh? How about I use something else other than fists?" said Nitori's voice. Kent turned around to see Nitori approaching him with a bucket of water in her left hand. She placed the bucket onto the ground and then reached one hand into it, making Kent wonder. "I bet this is the first time you're seeing something like this!" Nitori said before bringing up her arm, revealing that she managed to pick up the water as if it was solid matter.

"What? How did you do that?" Kent asked in surprise

"Controlling water is my specialty!" she said as she swung the glob of water at him, making it take the shape of a whip when it came down onto his head. Even though it was water, it still struck Kent in the head as hard as an iron pole.

CONK!

"Ow! How can it hurt?" Kent cried, rubbing his head.

"You better believe that it can!" Nitori said. This time she thrust the glob of water forward, making it extend forward like a pole and thrusting him in the belly with a powerful force that made him slide back.

"Argh! I'm angry now!" Kent growled. He withdrew into his shell and spun at a high velocity while moving in her direction.

Nitori moved out of the way and then hurled the water at him, and the glob of water broke down into smaller particles before speeding across the air. "Kappa's Pororoca!"

Kent was still in shell when he was hit though, so the water projectiles were no effect on him. He got back out and laughed. "You cannot do anything as long as I'm in my shell!"

As Meiling and Nitori were wondering what to do next, footsteps were heard approaching from behind. Suddenly, a figure jumped over them and covered them from the sunlight temporarily. They watched with curiosity at the newcomer that landed in front of them, and this newcomer didn't waste any time in rushing into Kent. Kent couldn't react in time when the person jumped at him, kicking him in the face rapidly. Kent held his hand over his nose and then moved back, crying in pain. "Ow! What the?"

The person fell back and revealed itself to not be one person, but two. It was a man with a moustache dressed in red shirt and blue overalls and he was riding on top of a green bipedal dinosaur. The man raised a fist into the air and said cheerfully, "It's-a me, Mario!"

And the dinosaur made in incomprehensible noise. "Yoshi!"

"Argh! It's you again, Mario!" Kent growled angrily.

"Mario? So that is the person the princess said is the hero of this country?" Meiling said curiously.

"Not a big surprise that someone like him would show up here," Nitori said. "But still, it's cool to see a big shot like him standing before our eyes! Even though we've never seen him before…"

"You're not going to prevail this time, Mario!" Kent said to the plumber in red. "In fact, you've come a bit too late to save your precious princess! Even as we are speaking, Lord Bowser is on his way to kidnap her. In fact, he should be done by now!"

As soon as he said this, the airship which was hovering above the castle started moving away. "The airship is leaving!" Nitori said.

"Haha! Looks like I was right!" Kent laughed. "You've lost, Mario! The princess is no longer here!"

"At least-a I can beat-a you!" Mario said. He jumped off from Yoshi and ran towards the large Koopa to fight him.

The overweight turtle swung a fist at him, but Mario swiftly ducked down and then did a powerful jumping uppercut into Kent's chin, so hard that the turtle was sent flying backwards onto the ground.

CRASH!

"Doh… Down in one hit…" Kent groaned. Like most turtles, Kent couldn't get up by himself after falling on his back, and so Mario grabbed him by the tail and displayed remarkable strength by spinning in circles, dragging the much larger opponent through the air.

"Wow! He's stronger than he looks!" Meiling commented.

Kent cries at the top of his voice as Mario built up the spinning speed, and then the Italian plumber let go of his grip and the turtle was hurled all the way over the castle wall, still screaming.

"Ciao!" said Mario, waving his hat in the direction Kent flew. And then the turtle landed somewhere in the distance.

!

Meiling and Nitori ran up to Mario and Nitori said excitedly, "Wow! That was awesome!"

Mario turned to them and said, "Are you two all right-a?"

"We're all right," Meiling replied. "But he said that the princess is taken already!"

"Right-a! We betta go and see eef everything eez all right-a inside first-a!" Mario suggested, and then they rushed into the castle.

* * *

Back on the top of the rock in Plack Beach, Merlon was done talking with Reimu and the others and was ready to leave. "It's about time that we return to Toad Town," Merlon suggested. "I will let you know if I found a solution to this problem, so take your time to enjoy your stay here. It's not everyday that you get to visit other worlds!"

"Whatever you say," Reimu said. "Hope you can find a solution to this soon."

Marisa looked at the warp pipe and said, "So we're using that to go back down and then walk by ourselves back to Toad Town?"

"That is no necessary," Chakron, still standing upside-down, said. "You will travel with your mind instead."

"Ah, I like that!" Merlon said. "It is without doubt the most convenient method of traveling!"

"Travel with your mind? What are you talking about?" Reisen asked.

"Look into the sky and stare at the stars," Chakron explained. "Imagine the place that you want to go and be very determined about it. You will then travel with your minds."

"Um… That doesn't make any sense…"

"Trust me, it works!" Merlon told her. "Just try it!" He looked up into the sky and the other girls followed him, even though they were skeptical.

They all stared at the clouds that were high up in the air and said in their minds that they want to go to Toad Town.

For several seconds they stared at the sky, but when nothing happened at all, Reisen lowered her head again and said, "What is this all about? There's… Wait a second…"

The girls looked left to right and to their amazement; they were back in Toad Town and in front of Merlon's house!

"Wow! We're back in Toad Town just like that?" Aya said in surprise.

"This is… impossible…" said Reisen, still not willing to believe this.

"Hey, anything can happen as long as you're in another world-ze!" Marisa told her. "Just get used to it! Be happy that we don't have to go through the forest and the plain encountering all those strange creatures again!"

When they faced the path that led to Peach's Castle, they saw ambulances rushing down the path at high speed. "Ambulances?" Sanae said curiously.

"Hey, I've seen those on newspapers about the outside world in Rinnosuke's store before," Aya said. "They're called 'cars', right?"

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Merlon said in a worried tone. "Perhaps we should head over to the castle and see what is happening…"

"I agree too…" Sanae nodded. "The sight of ambulances always means there are people injured…" And so they quickly headed for the castle.

* * *

When they arrived at the castle, the first thing they saw was the wrecked courtyard and the ambulance drivers were busy placing injured Toads onto stretchers and taking them into the ambulances. Merlon walked up to a random Toad and asked him, "What happened here?"

"It's horrible!" the Toad told him. "Bowser and his minions attacked in an airship and laid waste to this place! What's worse is he successfully kidnapped the princess!"

"My biggest fear came true after all!"

"Wait a minute…" Reimu said. "Bowser is that evil guy who kidnaps the princess all the time, right?"

"Yes," the Toad nodded.

"Whoa… Look at the damage done…" Marisa said. "He must be very powerful to do something like this-ze…"

"Actually this was done by the Bullet Bills launched by the airship," the Toad corrected her.

"What's a Bullet Bill?" Youmu asked. The Toad pointed to a dud Bullet Bill that was stuck into the ground not too far away. "What's that…?"

"Looks like something Reisen would fire, but much bigger," Aya commented.

"We better head inside and see if the others are all right," Reisen suggested. "If that Bowser guy succeeds in kidnapping the princess, then what does that mean of the others? Maybe they are beaten up by him as well!"

"Nah, they're not the kind to fall so easily," Aya assured her. "Maybe except Cirno…"

"Now if you'll excuse me…" the Toad said. He then walked away and called out loud, "Wart! Where are you? Come out if you hear me!"

He walked past Yoshi who was standing there staring into blank space with a smiling face. Suddenly, a croaking sound could be heard coming from him, and this made the Toad stare at him. When there was another croak coming from Yoshi, he grabbed the dinosaur by the neck and began strangling him. "LET GO OF WART AT ONCE!" Yoshi opened his and coughed out the frog onto the Toad's head, and there it continued with its croaking.

The girls and Merlon quickly rushed into the castle and made their way to the top floor's bookroom. The debris that was blocking the way to the bookroom had been cleared off and their friends could be seen inside along with the Mario Bros. and a crying Toadsworth.

"Waaaaaaa! Why must this happen?" Toadsworth cried bitterly. "Princess! Princess! I'll never be able to see you again!"

"Eetz all right-a," Mario told him. "I'll go rescue her again. Eetz always like-a theez!"

"Yeah, things neva change," Luigi said.

Reimu came into the room and asked, "So… I assume that the princess kidnapped?"

"It's as you say," Remilia said to her. "And the national hero arrived too late to do something about it." And then she pointed to Mario. "Too bad I was asleep throughout the whole ordeal; otherwise things wouldn't turn out like this." This made her friends give her an annoyed look.

Marisa looked at Mario and said, "You mean this is the hero that they called Mario? He looks nothing like how I imagined him to be…"

Mario looked at them and said, "Hello! Who are you?"

"These are the rest of our friends who went to find the wizard named Merlon," Alice explained.

"That would be me!" Merlon said, raising his hand.

"Oh yeah, you told-a me about-a eet," Luigi nodded. "So did-a you learn anything from him?"

"What-a eez theez all about-a?" Mario asked, confused.

"Guess I betta explain to you first-a about-a theez…"

And thus everything regarding how the girls got here, the World Light, and Master Hand's tournament were explained to everyone who didn't go see Merlon. Mario nodded since he understood the whole story. "I see…" he said. "So you came here using da World-a Light-a, but eet eez broken and you ended up-a here instead… Neva thought-a da World-a Light-a would be broken…"

"And I heard that you joined the tournament held by Master Hand?" Reimu asked him.

"Yes! Eetz called da Supa Smash Brothuz tournament! I was known as one of da best-a fightas there!"

"I joined the tournament too!" Luigi said, pointing to himself proudly. "But… I didn't fare too well… Always at the lower end of everything…"

"And you wouldn't-a believe eet, but-a Bowsa wuz also in da tournament," Mario added.

"He is too?" Alice said curiously. "Why would someone like him be in the tournament? He would just ruin things."

"But-a Masta Hand-a eez more powerful than him, so he wuz able to subdue Bowsa and force him to play along-a with da rules."

"Ayayaya, this Master Hand guy is starting to sound interesting!" Aya said. "Can't wait to meet him to see exactly how powerful he is!"

Marisa looked around and said, "By the way, where's Cirno-ze?"

"Hmmm? She was here a while ago before you came," Alice said. Shanghai came in front of her and started waving and flailing her arms around the air as if trying to say something. Alice nodded as if she understood the doll and then explained it to the others, "Shanghai says she knew what happened."

"You're controlling the doll, so you're just putting up an act…" Reisen said with an odd expression. "You already know what happened, right?"

"It seems Cirno went after Bowser when he was trying to escape with the princess," Alice explained. "She was not seen again afterwards, so I would assume…"

"She got captured as well?" Remilia said. "That's what you expect from someone the likes of her."

Toadsworth suddenly threw himself onto Mario's shoulder and said with a face full of tears and snot. "Please, Master Mario! You must rescue the princess no matter what! I'm begging you! You must do so fast before tragedy befalls her!"

"Eetz not that-a exaggerating…" Luigi mumbled.

Mario nodded and said, "Okey-dokey! I'll go and rescue Peachy!"

As he was taking his leave, the Gensokyo inhabitants faced him and Reimu said, "If you don't mind, we're willing to lend you a bit of hand. After all, our friend is kidnapped too, so I don't see why we should stay around and not do something about it. Plus, it helps kill time while Merlon tries to figure out the solution the broken World Light."

"Yeah! We know everything there is to know when it comes to combats!" Marisa said. "You can rely on our help to get things done in a jiffy-ze!"

Mario smiled and nodded. "Okey-dokey! Eet would be great-a eef there eez help-a! Thank you very much!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The Koopalings make their grand appearance in the story! The release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii was without doubt a fanservice to everyone who want to see them back in action after a six-year disappearance since Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. It's definitely something worth rejoicing over!

On the side note, you should spend some time listening to Touhou soundtracks. They are perhaps some of the best soundtracks in the history of video games!

**Next chapter: Voyage to the Fiery Castle  
**


	5. Voyage to the Fiery Castle

**SBS Time!  
Souldin: **It seems strange that the girls would reveal their species so specifically.  
**Game2002:** I think they would want to let people to be aware of the fact that they're not human and are something else, that's why I made it like that. Okay, Meiling didn't say anything about being a demon herself, but let's pretend that she did bring this up when they were explaining things to Mario.

I think it would be interesting for me to bring up the matter of how I've chosen the 11 characters out of the massive cast the series contains. The series contains many overpowered characters, so I had to purposely choose ones that aren't too powerful, but at the same time not too weak. Reimu and Marisa are obvious choices since they are the main characters. All the others fit pretty well with the not-too-powerful-but-also-not-too-weak concept. There are a lot to choose from, but I chose the ones that are my favorite. So yeah, the chosen characters are pretty much based on favoritism. Among the ones used, Nitori is probably the least popular, but I'm actually a fan of her.

Okay, Remilia is perhfaps the most powerful of the bunch here, but compared to the "god tier" characters in the series, she's actually quite tame. Souldin pointed out that he had hoped to see Suika being among the eleven. Unfortunately, Suika is considered a "god tier" character due to her monstrous physical strength and the ability to change sizes at will, from the size of an ant to the size of a skyscraper, and her cloning technique doesn't make things any better, albeit the clones are much smaller than her.

It should also be noted that except for Nitori, all the other characters I am using have appeared in the series' fighting game spin-offs. She was planned to be in one of the fighting games, but got scrapped due to time constraints.

**Note: I made a mistake in the previous chapter. Meiling's attack that she used to counter the Koopa Brothers' special attack is called "Spiral Light Step". "Radiant Rainbow Fist" is another move that involves a series of rapid punching. It's been corrected.**

**Chapter 4  
Voyage to the Fiery Castle**

**

* * *

**

At first glance, it would appear that the Mushroom Kingdom was a lush, green place that was always cheerful. Such was not the case entirely as there was one particular place that had a gloomy atmosphere. It was place willed with jagged and unfriendly-looking rocks as well as pools of molten lava.

In the middle of the largest pool of lava was an island where a majestic and impressing-looking castle was situated.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the castle was that the main body was made to resemble Bowser's head, with his opened mouth serving as the main entrance, almost giving one the vibe that they were stepping into the jaws of the Koopa King.

On of the four corners of the castle where watchtowers that reached several meters into the air and they sported green roofs that resembled spiked turtle shells. On top of 'Bowser's head' was a larger tower, larger than the four watchtowers combined, that reached even higher into the air. There on the peak of the tower was where the flag of the Koopa Troop was erected—a pitch black flag with the red detail-less face of Bowser printed onto it.

Within the castle, a noisy celebration was going on. The Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Boos, Dry Bones, and several other members of the Koopa Troop were dancing, drinking, and enjoying their time.

Bowser himself sat on his majestic throne laughing with joy and Kamek stood to the right of him, ready to offer him another serving of wine. In front of the king, the Koopalings entertained everyone with their playful antics.

It was a time of joy for the villains as they were successful in their raid against Peach's Castle.

"Bwahahaha!" Bowser laughed. "This is such a good day! Everything went according to plan and Mario never showed up! Poor guy must be grieving over his loss already!"

"Sooner or later he's going to come and reclaim the princess again," Kamek reminded him while pouring him another cup of wine.

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper!" Bowser said before drinking from his cup. "So what if he does come? We'll just beat him up like always. But if he does make it away with Peach, we'll just come up with a new plan and go after her again, and then again and again and again and again…"

Hearing this, Larry bent close to Ludwig and whispered into his ear, "Pop's losing it..."

"Yeah…" Ludwig nodded in response. "We shouldn't disappoint him this time. That Mario will pay for sure!"

Bowser took another drink and then sighed. "Oh well… That's life for you, but if you can't beat it, then you've got to live with it. Anyway, let's look on the bright side of life! Look in front of your eyes and behold the prize that we've tried so hard to obtain!" He held up his hand at the large cage that was situated in the middle of the room, and within the cage was Peach and Cirno.

Peach grasped both hands against the bars of the cage and said, "You won't get away with this, Bowser! Mario will soon come and defeat you, and then he'll rescue me like always!"

A Koopatrol turned to Bowser and said, "Actually... what she says is true…"

"Oh, shut up…" Bowser growled. "I don't need you to remind me about that… But today I'm going to make sure the opposite happens!"

"Oh really? Where does this sudden confidence come from?" Peach asked, as if trying to mocking him. "I bet it's going to end up in the same way again!"

"And don't forget that I'm the strongest around here!" Cirno spoke up suddenly. "You guys are no match for me once I get out of the cage!"

A Koopa Troopa walked up close to the cage and taunted her. "Oh really? You're inside the cage unfortunately, and what can you do anyway, little girl?"

Cirno gave him the answer by firing a white beam out of her palm. The beam struck the Koopa Troopa and in an instant, he was frozen in a block of ice. All the people around him opened their mouths and widened their eyes in shock and then quickly backed off from the cage as far as they could.

"…" Bowser couldn't find anything to say, but then he did. "Place the cage somewhere that will keep us safe from that girl at once!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Mario was ready to head for Bowser's Castle to settle things once and for all (not really). He did not travel alone though. Not only did his younger brother Luigi tagged along to prove his courage, but the girls of Gensokyo tagged along as well.

"We'll take-a da short-a-cut that-a will lead-a uz to Bowsa's Castle in a second," Mario explained as he led to the way. "Eet haz been constructed in order to make traveling much-a easier. Luckily he neva found outta about theez, I think-a…"

Marisa bent close to Reimu's ear and whispered to her, "Both the brothers have a strange method of talking. Don't you think-ze?"

"You're not any better yourself…" Reimu reminded her.

As they traveled down the single path, a random Toad walked by them and greeted them. "Hello, everyone!"

"Hello!" Mario greeted back, taking off his hat as well.

"So you're going to find Bowser, beat him up, and rescue the princess again?" the Toad asked, and Mario nodded. "Well, what's new? Hope you do well like you always do! I'm sure you can do it even easier with the help of your new friends!" He looked at the girls for a few seconds and then said to Mario again, "You know, looking at that girl in red and white clothing and that green-haired girl somehow reminds me of you two brothers."

"Hmm?" the Mario Bros. was initially confused, but then they looked at each other for a few seconds and then observed Reimu and Sanae before figuring out what the Toad was talking about and chuckled slightly. The girls were confused at what the joke was about however.

"Anyway, let's-a go!" Mario said. He led them off the road and towards a pile of bushes. Pushing away the bushes, he revealed a blue warp pipe that was hidden there and explained, "Theez warp-a pipe will take-a uz to where Bowsa's Castle eez immediately."

"So we have to travel through the pipe ourselves until we get there?" Reimu asked.

"No, you only have to jump-a inside-a and then you will be transported to that-a place in a blink-a of an eye."

"Um… How does that work…?" Reisen asked.

"Just-a jump in and you'll see," Luigi told her. The Mario Bros. both jumped into the pipe afterwards. The girls looked at each other with skeptical expressions, but then they shrugged and decided to follow suit.

They jumped down one by one with Sanae entering last. It was complete darkness when she went into the pipe and she felt herself falling, but suddenly it changed into rising upwards. A split second later, she emerged into the air and landed next to the warp pipe on both feet. She looked at the environment around her and saw that it was no longer a friendly green environment, but rather, a brown unfriendly environment. "So this is where Bowser built his castle?" she asked. "Looks gloomy…"

"Yes," Mario nodded, and he pointed to the castle which was visible in the distance. "Ova there!"

"Ayaya! Impressive-looking architecture we have there!" Aya commented.

"We've been here several times," Luigi said. "And sometimes we end-a up wrecking his castle, but he always rebuilt-a eet, so the appearance change from time to time."

* * *

A lone Koopatrol was on top of the southwestern watchtower doing his duty. He yawned out of boredom and then looked through the binocular for anything new, and that's when he saw Mario's company approaching from the distance. He quickly reached for a nearby microphone and said loudly into it, "Mario is seen approaching with his own army!"

The broadcasting reached throughout the whole castle via speakers and everyone was up on arms in an instant.

In the throne room, Bowser gave out orders by shouting into a microphone "Well? What are you standing there for? Get ready for battle! And my children, if you are hear this message, get to your posts already! We're going to put Mario in his rightful place today! Heeheeheeheehee!"

* * *

Mario and his group had arrived at the bridge that leads to the castle. "This place gives me the creeps…" Sanae said, trembling slightly.

"That's-a how I feel when I first-a came here," Luigi told her. "But now I've gotten used to it." But his legs were also trembling...

"Let's-a go!" Mario said, punching the air. They all followed him across the bridge and approached closer and closer to the castle.

"You know," Reimu said suddenly, "If we are entering enemy territory, shouldn't they be getting into defensive position and either repel or attack us?"

"Bowsa neva really take-a theez into account-a," Mario told her.

"That may explain why you always manage to rescue the princess-ze…" Marisa commented.

The short trek across the bridge was a successful one and they made it to the front of the large wooden door. Mario tried to push it open, but to no avail. "Ngh! Looks-a very heavy!"

"How do you usually go inside?" Reimu asked him.

"Da door wasn't theez heavy all da time…" Luigi told her. "But-a sometimes he opens da door for uz."

"I'm really convinced that this Bowser is a goofball for opening the door for his enemies-ze," Marisa said.

Youmu walked up to the door with one hand on the hilt of one of her swords and said, "Stand back, I'll cut down this an entrance myself."

After Mario moved back, Youmu unsheathed her sword and slashed the door really fast three times. After sheathing her sword, a neat square opening was created on the door. "There."

"Nice!" Mario said. Just as they were going to go inside though, the door suddenly opened outwards by itself, forcing them to move back a few steps. "Uh?"

"Guess eet wuz slow to open theez time…" Luigi said.

"So much for cutting a hole on it then…" Youmu grumbled.

They stepped into the castle and were greeted with statues of Bowser lined along the red carpet that led deeper into the castle interior. There were also portraits of Bowser hung up all over the walls and also banners bearing his insignia (the same one seen on the flag).

"He really adores himself, don't you think-ze?" Marisa asked.

They went down the single path which was totally devoid of enemies and dangers and made it into the next room with no problem. In that room, there was nothing else except for a large black pipe sticking out of the wall. "Theez wuzn't here before," Mario stated.

"He's always redesigning his castle," Luigi reminded him, "So eetz no surprise to see new stuffs all da time."

Suddenly, the voice of Bowser could be heard coming from a speaker up on the ceiling. "Bwahaha! Welcome to your doom, Mario! You and your little friends are all going to get it for coming here!"

"Bowsa!" Mario shouted angrily. "Let-a go of Peach at once!"

"Like you can convince me with words! Come and take on me if you dare, and that's if you can even find me in the first place! Bwahahaha!"

Suddenly, the black pipe before them sucked in a large amount of air and they were all being pulled in slowly. "What the?" Reisen gasped.

Unable to retain their footing any longer, they were all carried off of the floor and into the darkness of pipe's interior. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Bwahahahaha!" laughed Bowser's voice. "I hope you enjoy frolicking around my castle and getting crushed by my army! Bwahahaha!"

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

"Oof!"

"Watch it!"

Those were the cries heard as Mario and his group crashed around the interior of the pipe. After traveling through the darkness for a while, Mario and Reimu shot out from a portion of the pipe that stuck out from the floor and landed next to it.

"Ow…" Reimu groaned, rubbing her head. "I must've banged my head at least ten times…"

Mario got up and rubbed his back saying, "Theez eez new…"

Reimu stood up and said, "Now what?"

"We'll have to go and see eef we can find-a Bowsa," Mario told her. "C'mon, I'll lead da way! I still rememba da general path to his throne room." And thus he led the way.

* * *

Elsewhere, Marisa and Reisen both fell down from the pipe sticking out of the ceiling and landed onto the floor with Marisa sitting on top of Reisen's back. "Ow! That hurts-ze…" Marisa groaned.

"My back…" Reisen cried in pain.

Marisa got up and rubbed her rear and looked around the place to see that they were in a hallway. "Where is this place-ze?"

Reisen also stood up while rubbing her back and said, "Looks like we're separate from the others…"

Suddenly, they heard voices and saw an army of Koopatrols approaching from one end of the hallway. "There's someone over there!" the lead Koopatrol said. "After them!"

The two girls turned around and saw Koopa Troopas coming from the other end. "Looks like we're surrounded…" Reisen said.

"Then we'll just have to fight back!" Marisa said, holding up her broom with enthusiasms. "I'm going to enjoy this-ze!" She held up her right arm and her palm glowed with yellow light before firing a stream of star-shaped projectiles from it. "Meteoric Shower!"

The projectiles were fired at the Koopa Troopas and they were shot in the heads and bodies and all fell back.

Reisen faced the incoming Koopatrols and held up her right hand, folding it in the way so that only the index finger and thumb are sticking out. As if her hand was a gun, she brought down her thumb and the tip of her finger glowed with silver light and then a suppository-shaped projectile was shot out, striking the lead Koopatrol in the face and knocking him out.

This didn't stop the enemies though; they kept on pressing forward in large numbers and shouting war cries. When the Koopa Troopas were closing in on Marisa, she swung her broom which let loose magical sparkles into the air and knocked away the incoming turtles. "Bosky Sweep!"

"Illusionary Blast!" Reisen's eyes glowed with bright red light and a pair of concentrate laser beams shot out from her eyes, blasting another Koopatrol in the face and knocking him out.

This made the others stop in their tracks and one of them exclaimed, "Did she just fire eye beams? How is this possible?"

"Reisen, follow me!" Marisa said to Reisen. She held up her broom with its back end pointing at the Koopa Troopas. "Radial Strike!" The tip of broom glowed with yellow light and star-shaped projectiles were fired rapidly. As if she was using a machine gun, Marisa ran forward and shot down the Koopa Troopas, clearing a way for herself and Reisen who looked back once in a while to fire projectiles from her finger in order to keep the Koopatrols from catching up. As the Koopatrols were all clad in heavy armor, the projectiles couldn't hurt them unless it was an unprotected spot of their body that got hit.

Seeing that offense won't do too well here, Reisen stopped for a while to face the Koopatrols. Her eyes let off an eerie glow of red light, and when the Koopatrols got into eye contact with her, they started to feel strange. Their heads started to hurt and they thought that the area around them was twisting around.

"What's happening…?"

"My head… it hurts…"

"I… Ugh… I feel sick…"

"I feel like… I want to dance…"

"Lalalalala!" One of them started dancing like a fool, and most of the Koopatrols at the front row either fell over or acted like drunkards. This made the ones at the back who were not affected confused at what was happening to their comrades. Marisa and Reisen managed to get away after this.

* * *

Elsewhere in the castle, a group of Goombas and Koopa Troopas were knocked into the air as Remilia dashed through the air in a slight arc at a blinding speed and knocked out a knocked down the enemies that were standing in the hallway. "Demon Lord Walk!"

CRAAAAAAASH!

"AAAAAYEEEEE!" the enemies fell back down and were all knocked out.

Remilia turned back to look at her fallen foes and said, "Pathetic! You're all no match for me!"

Meiling caught up to her and said, "That was cool, Mistress Remilia! You're the strongest as always!"

Suddenly, the wall behind Remilia burst open and someone came shooting out. They both turned to see Nitori lying against the wall slightly injured and out from the opening on the wall came a fat, orange turtle with a small horn on the top of his head. "Haha! When it comes to sumo wrestling, nobody is a match for me!" the turtle said while stomping the ground like a sumo wrestler that he is.

Nitori groaned and stood back up saying, "Oh yeah? I'll show you that sumo wrestling is what kappas do best as well!" She threw herself at the Sumo Brother again and they both locked arms, trying to overcome each other through physical strength. Despite her small build (at least when compared to the Sumo Brother), Nitori managed to hold up by herself pretty well.

As Nitori continued trying her best to push down her opponent, the mechanical arms came out from the sides of her backpack and tickled the Sumo Brother in his armpits. This made the fat turtle laugh and lose control of himself, and then Nitori attacked him in the body with rapid arm thrusts. The mechanical arms then punched the Sumo Brother rapidly in the face until he flew back into the opening on the wall and fell over on his shell. "Cheater…" he muttered before passing out.

Nitori flexed her arms and so did the mechanical arms. "Haha! I win!"

Remilia walked up to her and asked, "Where are the others?"

"Dunno," Nitori replied, shaking her head. "I didn't see them after emerging from the pipe. I was then attacked by several bad guys until I faced this sumo, and then you know the rest."

"Well, it looks like we'll have to move around here by ourselves and try to find the others," Remilia thought, looking around the place.

"So what do we do now?" Meiling asked.

"Just get moving," Remilia replied as she took the lead.

The three of them walked through the hall that was devoid of enemies and eventually stepped into a large circular room with a very tall ceiling. "Pretty big room they have here," Remilia commented, looking all around the place.

Suddenly, an opening appeared on the ceiling and a large amount of water poured down into the center of the room. The three of them jumped back at the sight of it but then a wall came down behind them and sealed the way out. "It's a trap!" Meiling gasped.

Water came down at a fast rate and soon the floor was covered up as the water level increased. Remilia flapped her wings and took off into the air to avoid getting wet, but the other two had no choice but to get their feet submerged in water. "It's not a problem for me since I like water!" Nitori said.

"Do they plan on drowning us or something?" Remilia wondered.

The water level continued to rise until it was taller than an average person. Luckily for both Meiling and Nitori, they knew how to swim and managed to stay afloat. Eventually, the water stopped pouring down and all was calm, or so it seems.

This was when the wall before them opened up and Wendy showed up over there. "Welcome to my swimming pool!" Wendy said with both arms raised as if she was on a stage greeting her fans. She looked at the three of them and said, "I hope that the water isn't too cold or too warm for you!"

"Hey you, if you are planning to drown us," Remilia said to her, "then I'm afraid it's not working very well."

"I can see that," Wendy told her. "Your two friends know how to swim and you even have wings! It really makes me jealous that you can fly and I cannot! I'm the princess around here and I should have everything a princess could dream of!"

"Oh, so you wish to fly?" Remilia asked with a smirk. "Too bad someone ugly like you will never be able to do so!"

Hearing the word 'ugly' was like a spear going through Wendy's head. The female Koopa gritted her teeth and growled angrily. "How dare you call me ugly? You're really going to get it for crossing my nerves!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Oh, and by the way… You better be careful about something that will show up underwater too."

"Huh?" Nitori dived underwater to see what Wendy was referring too. A part of the wall at the lowest part of the room opened up and out came a mechanical squid with, obviously, ten tentacles; 3 on each side and four at the bottom. "Wow, a mechanical squid!" Yes, she can speak underwater.

The mechanical squid came to the surface and Iggy's voice was broadcasted loudly from it. "Yahahahahaha! Surprised, eh? I'm the only one around here with enough brainpower to create something like this! Nobody can beat this… This… Um… I'll just call it the mechanical squid for now… Anyway, nobody can beat this mechanical squid when it is in water!"

"And combined with the queen of swimming that is I," Wendy added, "we both make the ultimate tag team in water combat!" With that, she dived into the water.

"Hmph! Who do they think they are?" Remilia asked, unimpressed. She looked at Meiling and said to her, "Are you all right down there?"

Meiling constantly moved her limbs around in the water in order to stay afloat, and she showed her a thumb up. "I'm doing fine! You don't have to worry about me!"

"Me too!" Nitori said, raising her arm. "Fighting in water is my specialty, so you can consider those two screwed already!"

* * *

Within another part of the castle, Goombas and Koopa Troopas were shot down by lasers and energy bullets as Alice walked down the hall with her army of dolls. Four dolls were positioned in front of her while another four was behind her, and they fired from their rifles to get rid of anyone that dare go near their master.

She eventually made her way into a large room which was, strangely enough, covered with ice from top to bottom. The room was immediately sealed off when she stepped inside and thus she looked around for whatever was in here. She saw a large beach ball on the other end of the room and Lemmy was standing on top of it.

The little Koopa jumped up and down playfully on the beach ball and then stood upside-down on one arm. With pupils that were looking in different directions, he said in a childish voice, "Yay, yay! Welcome to my playroom!"

"Your playroom, huh?" Alice asked. "Cold taste you have, don't you?"

Lemmy flipped back upright and said, "Want to play with me? How about letting your dolls play with my balls? I'm sure they will like it! Hoohoohoo!"

Alice's glare became sinister-looking as she held up her right arm and moved her fingers, making the dolls get into position and raise their weapons. "So you want to play with my dolls? I'm sure they will be happy to play with you for a while."

* * *

Meanwhile, Marisa and Reisen were still rushing down the hallway and Marisa was acting like Rambo as she gunned down her enemies with her machine gun-like broom. Behind her, Reisen looked back once in a while to fire from her finger to stop the Koopatrols from getting any closer.

After plowing through the crowd of incompetent turtles (or maybe it's because those two are too strong), Marisa and Reisen came to a wooden door which they opened and entered into the room behind it. "So… What do we have here?" Marisa asked, looking around.

It was a very large room and the floor was divided into large squares spreading throughout the room in a 10x10 design. They looked up front and saw Larry and Morton standing way on the other side.

"Haha! Looks like someone came in here after all!" Larry said with delight. "It doesn't matter who you are, but consider yourself unlucky to run into us!"

Morton simply chuckled at a slow pace. "Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!"

* * *

CRASH!

The wall burst open as Chomp Brother went through it with his own Chain Chomp pushing against his abdomen. Both landed onto the floor and were passed out. Aya and Youmu both stepped out of the hole that was created afterwards. "Well, that was easy," Aya said, dusting her hands.

"I guess underlings just aren't ones to put up any challenge after all," Youmu commented, sheathing her sword.

Aya looked up and saw the sky. "Hey, looks like we're outside."

"But we've been moving upwards the whole time," Youmu reminded her. "Maybe we're out on a balcony?"

"Then it sure is a large and well decorated balcony!" commented Aya, looking at the bushes cut into the shape of Bowser.

They walked down the place with awareness of their surroundings. Suddenly, a pair of lights brightened up towards the side of the place and both quickly turned in that direction with their weapons ready (in Aya's case, a fan made from three large pieces of yellow leaves).

The thing before them was a massive mechanical turtle with a long neck that ended into a round humanoid head with round, cartoonish eyes, and on top of the head was a glass cockpit containing Ludwig. The cockpit opened and Ludwig stood up tall. "Haha! Surprised, eh?"

"Well, I would say it is impressive-looking," Aya said. "Though it's not like it matters since it's going to become scrap metal in a moment anyway."

"Ha! Very confident of your abilities, aren't you?" Ludwig said. "But you're not going to win so easily! Iggy made me this fabulous ride and I am the only one around here sophisticated enough to use it! I'll show you that you never should've crossed our path!"

* * *

Yet, in another part of the castle, Sanae and Luigi were together fending off a group of Dry Bones.

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae got out and threw a card into the air and the card glowed in white light and released four energy spheres which transformed into miniature snakes. With jaws wide open, the miniature snakes flew to the Dry Bones and bit down on their snouts before exploding, sending the bones of the skeletal turtles flying all over the place.

KABOOM!

Luigi got out from behind a pillar (he was hiding) and said, "Wow! You've got-a some neat-a moves there!"

"Thank you!" Sanae said to him with a smile.

"But I'm afraid that-a won't do…" Luigi pointed to the shattered Dry Bones which were starting to pull their pieces together to revive themselves.

Sanae stepped back in shock and said, "What? How is this possible?"

"That's-a Dry Bones for you… They're nearly impossible to kill! We might-a as well get-a away…"

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae launched another set of snake-like projectiles at the Dry Bones, but the skeletal abominations came back to life shortly afterwards again.

"See? What-a did I tell you?" Luigi said. "We might-a az well run!" He turned and ran for his life, and then looked back to see Sanae still attacking the Dry Bones. "Hey, are you listening?"

Sanae threw purple paper amulets that stuck onto the Dry Bones' faces and the paper amulets detonated under her command, blowing the turtle into pieces. As one would expect, the Dry Bones came back to life again. Sanae ran up to them and swung her gohei (rods attached with paper streamers at the front end) at the Dry Bones, knocking their heads off to the side. The heads immediately came back and latched themselves back onto the necks, but Sanae immediately slammed down her gohei at the Dry Bones over and over. "Die! Die! Die, you vile demons!" she shouted while pounding the skeletal turtles mercilessly.

Of course; all her attempts to get rid of the Dry Bones were unsuccessful as they kept on coming back to life and more were approaching her. "I told-a you to stop-a wasting your time!" Luigi cried. He ran up to her and caught by an arm and dragged her away.

"But they're still alive!" she said. "I must destroy them all first!"

"Don't-a botha!" Luigi told her. "I told-a you that-a you cannot-a destroy them unless you use a Starman, which we don't-a have right-a now!"

The man in green rushed across the place, dragging the persistent shrine maiden along with him, and all along the way, she kept on throwing curses and waved her gohei at Dry Bones who followed them at a slow walking pace.

Eventually, they ran into a large room that sealed up the way back the moment they went inside. "Phew… We should-a be safe here…" Luigi said as he panted tiredly. He then looked up and noticed that there were several warp pipes huddled closely against each other on the ceiling. "What's-a theez?"

"Look out below!" shouted a loud voice all of a sudden. Roy fell down from the pipe dead in the middle and landed with a powerful stomp that nearly made the duo fall onto their knees.

"Whoa!" they cried.

Roy raised his arms and roared like a beast, and then said, "Hahaha! Are you scared? I'm going to enjoy stomping you into pancakes!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Hopefully the fight setups will make you look forward to the next chapter!

Also, Iggy and Ludwig's mechanical rides are from Yoshi's Safari. That game is the closest you will ever get to a FPS Mario game (it's a rail shooter actually).

**Next chapter: Testudines Terror**

**Trivia:  
**1. Reimu and Sanae are sometimes compared to the Mario Bros. in the way that they have the red and green color schemes respectively. Both Reimu and Mario have the color red on their outfits while Sanae's green hair and the color blue on her outfit can be compared to Luigi's overall.


	6. Testudines Terror

**SBS Time!  
Souldin: **Is the Yoshi from chapter 3 the same one from the Yoshi series?  
**Game2002: **He is the same one from the Yoshi series, also the same playable one in the SSB series.

**the1undzeonli1: **Will there be anymore Touhou characters like Mokou or the NEET?  
**Game2002: **By NEET, I'll just assume that you are referring to both Patchouli and Kaguya. Anyway, the eleven chosen ones will be the only starring Touhou characters in this story. The other characters will show up in some form, so you'll have to read on to find out by yourself, but keep in mind that they will not have any major roles.

**Chapter 5  
Testudines Terror**

* * *

Roy raised his arms and roared like a beast, and then said, "Hahaha! Are you scared? I'm going to enjoy stomping you into pancakes!"

Luigi moved back in fear a bit but Sanae stepped forward and raised her gohei and got into fighting stance. "I won't be beaten by the likes of you so easily!" she said.

"Who are you anyway?" Roy asked. "Are you that… Green Mario Brother's younger sister or what?"

"No… She's not my younger sister…" Luigi replied. "Just a…"

"Bah, who cares?" the Koopaling interrupted. "You're both going to lose anyway. Haha!" He then leaped up into the same pipe he came out from and didn't come back down afterwards.

**BGM: Koopaling Battle 2 (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)**

"You're not escaping!" Sanae shouted as she ran underneath that pipe.

"Be careful! Those are warp pipes! He might come out from any of them!" Luigi warned her.

Immediately after the warning, Roy fell down from the pipe right above Luigi and onto him.

STOMP!

"Haha!" Roy laughed before jumping back into the pipe, and Luigi was crushed into the floor due to the weight of the Koopaling. All that could be seen of the plumber was his hat lying on the surface of the floor.

"Mr. Luigi!" Sanae gasped.

As she ran over to him, Roy's head popped out from a pipe in front of her and she quickly backed off. "Haha! Spooked ya?" Roy laughed before disappearing into the pipe again.

Sanae gripped her gohei tightly and looked around the ceiling to try to figure out where he will come out from next. Roy popped out from another pipe to taunt her before going back inside, and then he started popping in and out from each of the pipes like a mole, taunting her each time.

Annoyed, Sanae said loudly, "Enough fooling around and fight me seriously!"

"You bet I will!" said the voice of Roy. Sanae heard it coming from directly above her, and thus she jumped away out of instinct as Roy fell onto the floor with a powerful stomp. "Haha!" He waved his wand in circles and then shot out purple fireball.

Sanae managed to swerve from the purple fireball with ease and threw a purple paper amulet at him, but Roy leaped back into the pipe before it hit him. Sanae looked up again for the next pipe he might appear from.

Suddenly, Roy came down from the pipe behind her and created a tremor upon hitting the floor, making her fall to her knees. "Ya!"

"Haha!" This gave Roy the opportunity to shoot the fireball at her at point black, sending her forward and hitting her face against the floor.

"Ugh…" Sanae got back up and turned to face the Koopaling who then withdrew into his shell and started spinning while sliding in her direction very fast. Sanae failed to get away in time and was hit in the body and shot across the place and into the wall. "Ah!"

"Haha! You're finished!" Roy said as he continued spinning towards her.

Acting fast, Sanae got out a packet and threw it onto the floor. "Cobalt Spread!" The packet exploded with blue light and caused an energy ripple to travel forward. When Roy came in contact with the energy ripple, energy frogs jumped out from it and sent him soaring into the air and crashed into the wall right above Sanae who quickly got out of the way.

"Doh…" Roy cried as he fell back down and got out of his shell. He looked at Sanae and before he could do anything, the shrine maiden sent forth four snake-like projectiles at him.

"Sky Serpent!" she shouted. The snakes locked their jaws onto Roy's body and he started panicking and flailing his arms to get them off, but the snakes exploded before he succeeded.

KAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Ugh…" Roy tumbled back from the explosion and stopped on his belly, but groaned as he slowly stood back up. "You can actually put up some pain…"

"This is the divine punishment that you deserve!" Sanae said to him.

"Oh yeah? Then I'll give you my own punishment then!" Roy said angrily before jumping into the pipe above him.

Sanae once again got ready and ran to the middle of the room to try and figure out where he will come out from. This time Roy fell down from the pipe that was in front of the door that led to this room. With a stomp to the floor, Sanae once again lost her balance and fell on her rear. "Haha! Gotcha!" Roy laughed as he waved his wand to shoot a fireball.

Unbeknownst to him, Luig's hat was on the floor before him. The green plumber suddenly leaped out from the floor without a word and delivered an uppercut right up Roy's chin.

PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"UUUUUUUUUWAAAAAAAAA!" The fiery, devastating uppercut sent the Koopaling shooting back into the pipe. He fell back out from the pipe in the middle of the room headfirst, smashing into the floor and creating large cracks that ran along the surface.

CRAAAAAAAAASH!

Luigi landed and was dumbfounded at what just happened. "What… was that…?"

Sanae ran up to him and asked him, "Are you all right, Mr. Luigi?"

"Asides from a terrible headache, I'm fine…" he replied. "I can't believe I pulled this off again…"

"That was amazing! I didn't know you could do something powerful like that!"

"I actually managed to pull this off a few times during the Smash Brothers tournament, but I never exactly knew how I did it, though it seems to happen whenever I tried to hit someone up close. Sadly I never had the guts to run straight up to my enemy in fear of getting clobbered myself…"

* * *

The door behind them opened up again upon Roy's defeat. "So… looks like this room is nothing more than a dead end to pit us against him…" Luigi thought. When he looked out the room, he saw the Dry Bones standing there, ready to come after them. "Uh oh…"

Sanae had a look of excitement on her face however. "All right! I'm going to crush all of you again!"

* * *

Meanwhile, another battle was about to start within the icy room.

"Heeheehee! Hoohoohoo!" Lemmy laughed as he bounced up and down on his yellow star-patterned ball.

"Are you going to get serious or not?" Alice said to her sternly.

Lemmy stopped bouncing and then waved his wand in circles before shooting out a smaller beach ball at her. "Hiya!"

Alice didn't look impressed. She stretched forth her arm and Shanghai, armed with a rifle, fired a beam that went straight not only through that ball, but also Lemmy's larger ball. Air immediately gushed out from his ball and made it deflate. The Koopaling started to panic and cry as the ball shrunk and left him standing on its deflated state. "Nooooo! What have you done to my favorite ball?" he cried.

"Didn't you say you want to let my dolls play with your toy?" Alice asked him. "This is the way they play unfortunately."

"Wah! You meanie!" Lemmy cried as he swung his wand against the air to create more beach balls which bounced in her direction.

Once again, the dolls positioned themselves in front of their master and fired energy projectiles which popped them with no effort.

Lemmy then skated in circles around Alice while continuing to create balls out of his wand and hurling them at her, but each one of them were taken out by her dolls using their guns. "Take this! Take this! Take that!" Lemmy shouted constantly.

Alice let out a sigh and said, "It's getting repetitive, don't you think? Time to end this!" She commanded the dolls to point their guns at Lemmy and all of them fired at the same time.

Lemmy leaped up into the air to avoid getting shot and as he went over Alice, he swung his wand downwards and a large amount of smoke was released from it, engulfing Alice.

Alice closed a hand over her mouth and nose as not to breathe in any of the smoke. "Do you think you can get me with this sort of cheap tactic?" she asked. "It's not going to work!" But when the smoke cleared away by itself, she found that her surroundings had changed. "What?"

"Haha!" laughed the voice of Lemmy. "You're now inside my ball!"

Alice looked around with panic. He was right; the smoke had formed a large beach ball around her, trapping her inside. Lemmy jumped onto the top of the ball and started moving his legs to make the ball roll forward, and inside, Alice was unable to stand properly and thus tumbled around. "Ah! Ow!"

"Yippee!" Lemmy cheered happily as he rolled the ball into the wall, and inside, Alice crashed into the side and hit her head against where the wall is very hard. Lemmy turned around and made the ball roll to the other side of the room, hitting it against the wall again. He then did the same thing, rolling the ball all around the place and running it into walls.

"Ugh! Enough of this madness!" Alice shouted. Luckily, her dolls were inside the beach ball as well. She moved around her arms and fingers as she crashed around the place and managed to give out commands to them. The dolls fired in random directions and pierced through the ball, forcing air to gush out.

"Oh no!" Lemmy started to panic when the ball deflated again, and he jumped off and landed onto the ice.

After the ball was flat on the floor, Shanghai used a sword to cut a hole for her master to come out. She gave a cruel glare at the trembling Koopaling and said, "Don't you think you have enough of this?"

"You meanie!" Lemmy shouted. He waved his wand and created a large beach ball above her and sent it down onto her head, but Shanghai slashed the ball with her sword and destroyed it before that happened.

"Time to finish this," Alice said coldly, and she stretched out her arm at Lemmy which made Shanghai rush in his direction.

Lemmy began to panic and cry when the doll charged at him with the sword, fearing that she will cut him with it. "BUT POPS SAID NOT TO PLAY WITH SHARP THINGS!"

But the sword suddenly transformed into a wooden club and Shanghai swung it into Lemmy's face.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Koopaling flew back and crashed through the door that Alice came in from and finally came a stop when he hit a pillar, and then he fell over onto the floor.

CRASH!

Shanghai returned to Alice who patted her on the head for her job well done. "Good work, Shanghai," the magician said. "That should teach the brat."

* * *

In the room filled with water, yet another battle was going to begin.

Nitori and Meiling floated on the water and looked at their opponents, Wendy and Iggy, who was inside the mechanical squid, bobbing up and down before them.

"Heheh!" Wendy chuckled. "Why don't you show me how long you can hold your breath underwater?" And then she dived underwater.

"She's starting to move!" Meiling said.

"Don't worry!" Nitori told her. "Nobody can beat me when it comes to underwater combat!"

Suddenly, Meiling felt her legs being bound by something. Unable to stay afloat properly due to this, she sank into the water. When underwater, she looked at her legs and saw that they were bounded together by a yellow, glowing ring. In front of her, Wendy was grinning with delight to show that she was behind this. With a wave of her wand, she fired another ring at Meiling. The ring touched her body and went through it and bounded itself around her body and pinned her arms to the sides as well.

Meiling was unable to move her limbs and therefore started sinking, and even though she was a demon, she still had to breathe air in order to stay alive, so she struggled for her life to get the rings off her body.

Iggy sank down in front of her and the tentacles on the sides pointed at her and fired missiles out from the opening on their tips. Nitori quickly swam over to Meiling and pushed her out of the way before the missiles hit. "Argh! Missed!" Iggy cursed, pounding the controls.

Nitori quickly carried Meiling back to the surface to allow her to breathe. "Are you all right?" she asked the gatekeeper.

"Yeah… Thanks…" she replied, and then the rings suddenly disappeared. "Hey, they're gone!"

"Hey you! You're not going to be beaten by the likes of them, are you?" Remilia asked from the air.

"Sorry, Mistress Remilia… It's just that I can't fight properly underwater!" Meiling apologized to her.

Suddenly, Wendy leaped out of the water like a fish in front of Remilia and shot out a ring. Because it came so suddenly and at a such a close range, Remilia couldn't react in time and the ring bounded her body. "What the?"

"Come down here! The water is great!" Wendy said. As she fell, she grabbed Remilia's legs and pulled her into the water as well.

SPLASH!

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped.

"Yahahahaha! You're mine!" laughed Iggy as the mecha squid surfaced. The tentacles pointed at Meiling and Nitori and fired missiles at them.

Acting fast, Nitori scooped up a handful of water and flung it at the incoming missiles. "Kappa's Pororoca!" The water burst into several smaller bits and collided with the missiles, canceling out each other.

"Yaha! Can you handle a lot of them at once?" Iggy said as he fired more missiles at them.

Nitori swung her hands up from underneath the water and created a large wave that went towards the missiles. "Diluvial Mere!" The missiles exploded upon touching the wave and it kept on moving towards the mecha squid. The squid was pushed back by the wave and hit the wall, making Iggy hit the back of his head against the chair. "Ow! How did you make a wave that big just now?" he cried. "Argh! I'll show you that my mechanical squid is more powerful!"

While Nitori dealt with Iggy by herself, Meiling dived underwater to look for her mistress, and she saw Wendy dragging the bounded vampire who was struggling for air across the watery depths.

The female Koopaling smiled wickedly as she headed for the wall and rammed Remilia's head against it forcefully. Remilia struggled and managed to escape from Wendy's grasp and quickly kicked her legs to make it to the surface for air, but the Koopaling went after and reached for her legs to prevent her escape. Quickly, Meiling swam over to Wendy and unleashed a roundhouse kick at her.

Wendy saw this coming though and lifted her arms and caught Meiling by the leg with ease as momentum underwater was much weaker than in air.

Wendy spun in a circle and flung Meiling across the water. She then withdrew into her shell and shot at the gatekeeper while spinning at a high velocity, ramming into Meiling and crushing her by the abdomen against the wall.

Meiling opened her mouth in pain, but this caused a large amount of water to enter through her mouth and made her choke. She quickly closed her hands over her mouth and struggled to get to the surface for air, but Wendy got back out from her shell and pushed Meiling down by her shoulders to prevent this.

Suddenly, something shot at Wendy from the upper right side and knocked her backwards. She turned to face her attacker and saw that it was Remilia who was free from bondage. Meiling quickly used this opportunity to swim up to the surface. "Phew… I thought I was a goner…"

Wendy growled angrily and fired more energy rings at Remilia, but the vampire suddenly shot at her at a very fast speed, going through the energy ring unharmed and ramming her in the belly and pushing her upwards until they both were out of water. Wendy spun through the air and then fell back down with a splash while Remilia stayed up in the air.

"You've really done it!" Remilia said in an annoyed voice. "Anyone who messes with the great Remilia won't get away with it unharmed!" She cupped her hands together to her right and formed a blood red energy sphere that gradually grew in size in between her palms.

Wendy popped back out of the water just as Remilia was done charging, and the vampire launched the energy sphere at her. "Red Magic!"

The energy ball collided into Wendy and pushed her all the way to the bottom of the room before exploding into red smoke that looks like a splatter of blood.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Wendy floated back to the surface unconsciously, complete with swirly eyes and imaginary Paratroopas circling over her head. "I have wings, I can fly… Lalalalala…"

Meiling clapped her hands and said to Remilia, "Wow! You really are the strongest, Mistress Remilia!"

"Hmph! Piece of cake!" Remilia commented proudly with her arms crossed.

Iggy saw that Wendy was defeated and growled angrily, "Argh! How dare you do that to my sister? I'll avenge for her!" He went crazy with the controls and the tentacles started pointing in random directions while firing missiles constantly.

"Watch out!" Nitori shouted. She quickly 'lifted' up the water before her and raised up a wall of water that managed to block her and her friends from the incoming missiles. After the wall of water disappeared, Nitori dived all the way to the bottom of the place and then swam back to the surface at a high speed.

She shot into the air when she emerged and the water around her was taken into the air as well and took the form of a towering pillar that surrounded her. "What the heck?" Iggy gasped when he saw this.

"Kappa's Great Illusionary Waterfall!" Nitori shouted. The water went ahead of her and traveled in an arc and fell onto the mecha squid like a waterfall and the force of the water was so strong that the mecha squid was pushed underwater.

"Ugh! What's with that girl? It's like she can manipulate the water however she wants to!" Iggy said. "That's totally scientifically impossible!" He then saw Nitori diving underwater to meet him. "That does it! I'm going to get rid of you now! The true power of this baby lies in underwater combat!" He took aim with the tentacles and was ready to fire more missiles.

"Hydro Camouflage!" Nitori said, and she slowly disappeared from view.

"Eh? She disappeared!" Iggy said in shock. He looked at the radar and notice that there was still a blinking spot on it. "I see, so she turned invisible somehow, but that won't help her as my radar can still track… Wha?"

The whole place suddenly shook as something was grabbing onto the mecha squid's tentacles on both sides. Iggy struggled with the controls to make the tentacles move properly, but the invisible force was not only gripping it tightly, but was also trying to rip it off from the body.

Eventually, the invisible force prevailed and the tentacles were torn off from the body, leaving only the four tentacles at the bottom. "Argh! How dare you?" Iggy shouted angrily. "But that doesn't matter! As long as the four tentacles at the bottom don't get destroyed, this thing will still… Ya!"

The invisible force caught the tentacles at the bottom and swung the mecha squid around the place, slamming it into walls violently. Inside, Iggy was tossed all over the place and banging his head constantly. He should've created seatbelts for this thing. "Ow! Ooh! Eeks! Yah! Yeouch!"

Nitori slowly came back into view and revealed that she was using the mechanical arms from her backpack to grab the tentacles, and the arms had extended fingers, allowing them to grab more than one tentacles at a time. "Take off!" she shouted before hurling the mecha squid upwards.

When the mecha squid was thrown into the air, Remilia formed a red energy spear in her right hand and raised it over her shoulder before hurling it at the airborne squid. "Heart Break!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The mecha squid exploded into pieces and Iggy was thrown into the water. He got back up to the surface and grabbed onto a piece of scrap metal to stay afloat, but then took out a white flag and waved it in the air. "I… give up…" he said weakly before passing out.

"You should've given up even before the fight started!" Remilia said as she placed her hands on her hips, looking proud.

Nitori surfaced and raised her own arm and the mechanical arms into the air. "Hooray! We did it!"

* * *

Within another part of the castle, Marisa and Reisen stood face to face with Larry and Morton who were across the room.

"Let's get started!" Larry said. He reached for the wall behind him and pushed a secret switch. This made each segment of the floor move up and down with uneven pacing.

"Whoa! That's what I call a dynamic environment-ze!" Marisa commented.

"Haha!" Larry laughed as he jumped off from his original position and onto the part of the floor that just rose up before him. As the floor went down and got back up again, he swung his wand in their direction and shot out a light blue fireball.

Marisa and Reisen each jumped in different directions to avoid the fireball. "That was too easy!" Marisa commented. "Let me show you how it should be done-ze! Meteoric Shower!" She raiser her arm in his direction and when the segment of the floor she was on rose, she fired a stream of star-shaped projectiles from her palm.

However, Larry's floor segment moved down while the one before him came up, serving as a shield that blocked the shots. When Larry came back up again, he started jumping from floor to floor until he was near Marisa. When the floor Marisa was on went down, he jumped over her and shot down a fireball. "Take that!"

As there were walls all around her, Marisa was forced to press herself against the wall and the fireball fell down in front of her. "Phew… That was close…" she thought. "This moving floor and all is starting to get pretty frustrating-ze…"

Meanwhile, Reisen was in a crouched position firing bullets from her finger at Morton. Despite this body build, Morton was a pretty fast mover and he jumped aside when they were about to hit him; either that or would he simply stand still and allow the floor segment in front to come up and protect him.

"I better get closer to him," Reisen thought. She carefully jumped across each segment of the floor and towards Morton, but the Koopaling launched a pink fireball at her from his wand. Reisen quickly leaped off to the side and fired at him. The bullet struck Morton in the forehead and made him take a step back, but the brute easily shook it off as if it was a mosquito bite.

"Raaaaa!" he roared loudly, and then he jumped up into the air above Reisen and came crashing down.

"Yikes!" Reisen quickly jumped back before Morton came down on top of her. When Morton landed onto the floor segment, it sank down due to combination of his momentum and weight. Suddenly, the floor segment Reisen was on started shaking and her instinct told her to get off of it. What she did turned out to be the right choice as moments after hopping away, that floor segment shot up all the way to the ceiling like a compressor.

SMASH!

"Whoa! Thanks goodness I moved away in time…" Reisen thought. The floor segment came back down again and Morton let out a roar before shooting a fireball at her, but she jumped away and pelted him with more bullets.

Meanwhile, Marisa was trying to get close to Larry in order to get a better shot, but the Koopaling hopped around like a frog and managed to keep his distance from her. "Nyanya! You cannot catch me!" he sang teasingly before shooting a fireball at her.

Marisa narrowly dodged the fireball and fired at him when she had a clear aim. "Eat this!"

Larry's wand suddenly transformed into a tennis racket in a puff of smoke and he used it to knock the projectile back to Marisa, much to her surprise. "Ze?" But she dodged it as well. "That took me by surprise-ze!"

"There's gonna be more surprise in store for you!" Larry said. He changed the racket back to a wand and shot three fireballs into the air. He changed it into a racket again and leaped up to swat each of the fireballs at her.

Seeing this, Marisa quickly turned to jump away, but unfortunately, the floor came up behind her and she crashed into it instead. Larry's aim was apparently a superb one as all three fireballs went down in between the raised walls and hit Marisa from above.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Hahaha! How'd you like that?" Larry laughed.

Marisa came back up again with a charred face and said. "Okay, I admit you've got skill," she said. "But I think it's time that I get more serious-ze!"

Not too far from them, Morton threw himself across the air and towards Reisen who leaped out of the way. Morton got back up and Reisen fired some shots right into his face, but the Koopaling was unfazed by it and he swung a fist at her. Reisen managed to dodge it as well by jumping back but then the floor that she landed on started to go down.

She looked up to see Morton looking down at her, and taking advantage of her 'confined' situation, he jumped down at her. "Hey! Don't!" she shouted.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The floor came back up again to reveal Morton sitting on top of Reisen's body and chuckling delightfully. Marisa turned to look at them and said, "Reisen! Why are you letting that fat, ugly turtle sit on you?"

"You'll soon be meeting the same consequences as her!" Larry told her while winding up his wand to charge up a fireball. Fortunately for Marisa, the environment was on her side this time as the floor she was on went up and the fireball hit it instead. "Rats! Missed!"

"Magical Waste Recycling Bomb!" Marisa got out a pot and threw it at Larry who quickly countered with his racket. However, the pot exploded with a bright flash when it was struck, blinding him.

"Yaaa! My eyes hurt!" he cried.

While he was blinded, Marisa jumped at the Koopaling and sent him flying with a strike from her magically-enhanced broom.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

At the same time, Morton placed the knocked out Reisen onto the floor before him. He then jumped into the air and did a flip before falling back down, stomping the floor really hard and making it sink. This made the one Reisen was one began shaking. Suddenly, Larry flew right into Reisen and bumped her out of the way, therefore replacing her. The floor went up and crushed him against the ceiling.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

When the floor came back down, Larry was seen embedded into the ceiling with a knocked out expression. "Guuuuuh…"

"Uh oh…" Morton said in shock when he saw that it was his brother that got hit.

"Psycho Missile!" shouted Reisen's voice. Morton turned to face Reisen who had her finger pointing at him, and there was a ball of silver light at the tip of her finger. The ball of light molded itself into a cannon shell and flew into Morton, creating a large explosion upon impact.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!" The explosion sent the Koopaling flying across the place really fast and he crashed into the secret switch on the wall. After passing out on the floor, the floor segments became even and stopped moving.

Marisa wiped her forehead with her arm and said, "Phew… That takes care of that! Sorry, but your fighting methods aren't flashy enough!"

* * *

Out in the balcony, Aya and Youmu took a step back as the mecha turtle raised its head high into the air. The eyes of the turtle flashed and Ludwig said, "Haha! Are you scared or are you overwhelmed by my awesomeness?"

"Yeah right… Like we're going to be scared of something like this…" Aya said, sounding unimpressed.

"If you are an enemy, then I'm going to cut you down!" Youmu said in a threatening tone.

"Oh, then I will make you scared then!" Ludwig said. "Eat dirt!" He pulled a lever and the mecha turtle took a step forward, creating a tremor upon stomping the floor. The mouth opened and green energy balls were fired at them.

Youmu and Aya both leaped off to the side and Youmu ran up the mech and sliced in the side of the body, creating a gash that revealed its inner circuitries. "Hey you!" Ludwig shouted. "Don't ruin it!"

Aya swooped down at the head and landed her right foot onto it, giving it a kick so hard that the neck bent down to the side and slammed the head against the floor.

SLAM!

"Ow!" Ludwig cried as he got the head back into position again. "How can you be this strong? I don't believe it! Take this!" The head started spinning in full 360-degree circles and fired energy balls constantly, but Aya dodged them with ease while Youmu didn't have to do anything as none of them were aimed at her.

"Wow, your aim stinks…" Aya commented while dodging left to right.

The head stopped spinning and Ludwig had become dizzy because of this. "Duh… The world is spinning… Shouldn't have done that…"

"Crescent Moon Slash!" Youmu shouted as she delivered a jumping slash at the mech's neck from below, severing it from the body.

The head landed onto the floor with a thud and Ludwig was shocked. "What? Cutting through metal? This is nonsense!"

"It's not nonsense as long as you hone your sword skills well enough," Youmu told her.

Aya walked up to the glass cockpit and said to Ludwig, "Now what? Your ride is busted, so I'd like to see what you can do now!"

"Don't think it's over yet!" Ludwig told her. "I have backup plans in case something like this ever happens!" He pressed a button that caused the head to detach itself from the neck, and then the head sprouted its own pair of limbs and got into fighting stance. "Betcha didn't expect this, eh?"

"Nope, and I don't care either," Aya said, shaking her head.

"For the sake of your life, you better care!" Ludwig said. The mech leaped back and landed onto the body's spiky shell, but its feet conveniently landed onto the spot that didn't have spikes. He opened up a lid that was at the center and pulled up a mounted turret. "This spot used to be the mech's weak spot," he explained, "but after Mario took advantage of this and destroyed it in the past, it's been modified into a new weapon instead! Behold!" And he used the turret to unload a rapid stream of bullets at them.

Aya took off into the air while Youmu ran at a fast speed to the side to escape the bullets which was aimed at her. When Ludwig saw Aya diving at him from the air, he quickly aimed in her direction but she got out of the way and swung her fan to shoot out a crescent wind blade. "Breeze Fan!"

The wind blade easily knocked the turret off the body much to Ludwig's surprise. Aya fired another wind blade at his mech and pushed him off the body. "Ow! You'll pay for this!" Ludwig said angrily.

A rocket pack came out from the back of the mech and allowed it to jump up high into the air and then Ludwig pulled a lever that caused the mech to fire its fists at Aya. She easily dodged the incoming rocket fists and then turned to them to fire a pair of wind blades that destroyed them as they were returning.

"How dare you?" Ludwig cursed. The mech's mouth opened and started shooting energy balls while the arms which were lacking hands fired as well. Aya flew higher into the air to avoid them and then dived down at Ludwig, hitting the mech in the cockpit with a powerful drop kick.

"Tengu's Downburst!" she shouted.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The powerful kick sent the mech crashing onto the floor violently and pieces of it flew everywhere. Ludwig, with a shoeprint on his face, crawled out from the mech and started begging for mercy. "Please… have mercy…"

Youmu and Aya walked up to him and Aya said, "So the sophisticated guy is asking for mercy now?"

"I'll go quietly…" he cried. "I'm sorry for everything… I really am…" But then without a warning, he took out his wand and swiped it across the air, shooting two dark blue fireballs that hit both the girls in the body and pushing them back onto the floor.

"Yah!" they cried.

"Haha! You fell for it!" Ludwig laughed as he jumped onto Youmu's body, and then he reached for both her swords and took it away from her, throwing them to the side.

"Hey! My swords!" Youmu got up as Ludwig jumped back from her and shot out several fireballs at once from his wand.

Youmu quickly stood up and jumped out of the way, but to her surprise, the fireballs came after her and she had to step aside again. "Homing projectiles?"

Aya quickly got in front of her and with a swing of her fan, eliminated the fireballs. "Breeze Fan!" She then launched another wind blade at Ludwig.

Ludwig withdrew into his shell and slid forward while spinning at a high velocity which helped him graze through the attack unharmed. The girls quickly stepped aside and allowed him to bypass them safely. Ludwig withdrew from his shell and winded his wand to charge up another fireball, but before he had the chance to do so, Youmu raised her arm over her phantom half, Myon, and shouted, "Strange Half-Body!"

Myon glowed with an eerie pinkish-purple light and then fired a rapid burst of bullets, pelting Ludwig and making him flinch. "Yeow!"

After Myon was done firing and Ludwig was charred and dazed from the attack, Aya dashed at him and smacked him in the face hard with her fan. "Hiya!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

"AAAAAAAAYEEEEEE!" Ludwig spun through the air and then fell back down, landing on his head. "Waaaaa…"

Aya walked up to the unconscious Ludwig and said to him, "We would've showed you mercy, but then you just had to lie to us, so you deserve this!"

"Well, I guess that's it," Youmu said, picking up her swords. "We better find out where the others are."

"Yeah, I agree. If only we know where they are though…" Aya then looked up at the tallest portion of the tower. "Maybe they are on their way to the top floor even as we speak. So…"

* * *

A pair of Koopa Troopa was walking down the hallway and then one of them sneezed. "Cold got ya?" his friend asked him.

"Blame that little girl…" the one who sneezed said.

"Anyway, Mario is supposed to be showing up here sooner or later. It's our job to stop him."

"It's always like this… He comes here, we try to stop him, and then we end up getting owned instead… There's never anything new around here…"

"I agree…"

Suddenly, they heard someone shouting, "Mario is here!"

"I guess this is it!"

Both the Koopa Troopas ran down the corridor and looked around the corner to see several Goombas, and Koopatrols being knocked into the air by two people.

Mario and Reimu fought their way down the corridor, beating up anyone that got in their way. Mario slammed a fiery palm into the belly of a Koopatrol and propelled him backwards to ram down the others.

Reimu swung her spiritually-enhanced gohei in a horizontal arc and knocked away some Goombas. She then took out a set of paper amulets and threw them onto the face of Boos that flew towards her. When the paper amulets touched the Boos, they screamed as they felt a burning sensation within their bodies, and then they disappeared into thin air.

"Not-a bad!" Mario said to her.

"You're not half bad either," Reimu replied.

After clearing the way, they continued down the corridor. One of the Koopa Troopas got up and said, "Does this count as something new…?"

Another Koopa Troopa replied weakly, "I guess… It's the first time I got beaten up by brutally by a girl… Achoo!"

Mario and Reimu eventually reached the end of the hall where there was a massive red door. "Bowsa's room eez in there!" Mario pointed out. They ran up to the door and pulled it open by its handles together.

After stepping inside, they were greeted with a red carpet that led to the back of the room where Bowser's throne is. The two walked along the red carpet and looked around the place for signs of Bowser, but there was none. "He's not-a here…" Mario thought.

As Mario walked to the side of the room to look around more, Reimu approached the throne instead. "Nicely decorated, isn't it?" she asked no one in particular.

Unbeknownst to her, there was someone hanging onto the chandelier on the ceiling. The person swung to and fro using the chandelier and then let go of his hands, landing a kick into the shrine maiden's back. "Hiya!"

"Ya!" Reimu flew face first onto the throne and landed her hand on the throne's left arm. She accidentally pressed a secret button there as a result, and suddenly, the throne descended into an opening on the floor which closed up immediately afterwards.

Mario turned to where the throne used to be and saw Bowser Jr. standing there. "Bowsa Junia!"

"Who was that just now?" Jr. wondered. He looked at Mario and said, "I was hoping to kick you onto the throne and then press the secret switch on the arm to send you down to the underground area where dad is, but it looks like someone else went there instead…"

"You mean Bowsa eezn't here?"

"Of course he's not in this room! He has prepared a grand arena for the purpose of fighting you one-on-one! But it looks like he's going to expect someone else I don't know instead…" He then got into fighting stance. "Anyway, I'll deal with you myself instead, Mario. You're not going to take Mama Peach away from me again!"

Mario also got into fighting stance and said, "Bring eet on!" In his mind though, he was wondering, "Reimu, pleez be all right-a! Bowsa eez strong, so be careful!"

* * *

Down in the underground area was a massive square platform that was suspended in air via a massive chain holding onto it by its four corners, and the chain hanged down from, obviously, the ceiling.

Bowser paced left to right on the surface of the platform and said to himself with enthusiasm, "Heheh! Come and face me, Mario! I'm going to make sure that you meet your end today! Bwahahahaha!"

But little did he know that today he was going to fight someone brand new…

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

In case you're wondering, "Testudines" is the scientific classification for the turtle order.

Some of you might complain that the Koopaling battles are a bit too short and somewhat one-sided. Honestly saying, the Koopalings aren't exactly the best fighters in the series and compared to the relatively powerful Touhou characters, they really can't do much against them. It is also somewhat done on purpose to show how short and easy their fights are in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Furthermore, I never really enjoyed long and dragged out fights. Unless it's fighting a major villain, I prefer making fights short and simple, but at the same time interesting enough to catch people's attention. From this, you can expect something much more satisfying in the next chapter, so look forward to it!

Also, the Koopaling Battle 2 theme plays during every Koopaling battle in this story.

**Next chapter: Infernal King  
**

**Trivia:  
**1. In Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom, Youmu asked Yuyuko why is present at a "myon" place during the extra stage's back story. Myon is the portmanteau of the words "hyon-na" and "myou-na", which means "unexpected" and "strange" respectively. Since then, fans have started to call her phantom half "Myon" for some reason.


	7. Infernal King

**SBS Time!  
Souldin: **If he is the same Yoshi, then did he not go along with the others to the castle?  
**Game2002: **The main reason is that there are already too many characters going to the castle. It's not easy trying to come up with roles for many characters at once, so Yoshi is excluded. It is also a reference to Super Mario World where Yoshi cannot enter ghost houses, fortresses, and castles.

In response to Iggy and Ludwig's swearing in the previous chapter, I have changed their words into more family-friendly ones. Typos brought up by Retasuika have also been fixed. Also, paper tags have been renamed paper amulets as they are what they're really called. Lastly, there is a minor correction to one of Remilia's move where it should be "Heart Break", not "Heart Breaker".

**Chapter 6  
Infernal King**

* * *

CRASH!

"Ow… What in the world…?" Reimu groaned as she got up from the throne. "Where am I?" She looked around and then walked out of the room and looked at the sight of the massive cavernous area before her. "Whoa… What is this place…?"

Before her was the arena suspended in air by the chain and Bowser, who was on the center of the area, looked up and saw her. "So you're here at last, Mario!" he said. "I've been waiting for… Hey, wait a minute… You're not Mario!"

* * *

**BGM: Bowser Jr. Battle (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)**

Back in the throne room, Bowser Jr. was the first to attack when he got out a green turtle shell. "Here I come! Eat this!" And he slid it across the floor towards Mario.

Mario easily stopped the shell with his foot and picked it up before throwing it back to him, bonking him in the face.

BONK!

"Ow! You meanie!" Jr. growled. He breathed out a fireball at Mario who jumped into the air and towards him. Jr. quickly breathed fireballs at him but Mario held up his palm which churned out fire, and this somehow cancelled out the fireballs that were shot at him. Jr. quickly leaped back to avoid Mario who came down with a powerful punch to the floor. "Grrrr… You're getting better even if I hate to admit it... But it's not over yet!" Jr. then headed for the balcony.

"Wait-a minute!" Mario said, giving chase. He ran out to the balcony and saw Jr. standing next to Bowser's Koopa Clown Car.

"Dad probably won't mind it if I borrow this for a while," he said before jumping into it, and the Koopa Clown Car hovered into the air as he inputted commands into the controls. "Haha! Let's get serious!" He took a deep breath and then shot out multiple fireballs at once.

Mario leaped aside to avoid the fireballs aimed at him and then ran towards the clown car and tried to jump onto it. Jr. quickly made the clown car fly higher, just enough to escape Mario. "Haha! Missed me!" Jr. taunted. The clown car then came down in an attempt to crush Mario, but he moved out of the way in time.

The clown car hovered back into the air slightly and then Jr. took out a Bob-omb which he threw at him. Mario caught the Bob-omb and hurled it back to Jr. as he was ascending into the air. "Hey! Don't throw it back to me!" he said before throwing it back to Mario.

Mario caught the Bob-omb and hurled it back at him again. "Eetz for you!"

"I don't want it!" Jr. caught the bomb again and threw it back to Mario, who once again threw it back to him. This time Jr. shot a fireball at the Bob-omb and instantly made it explode.

KABOOM!

The force of the explosion propelled the clown car back into the air and Jr. said, "Argh! That Mario is always getting up my nerves! But did he get blown to bits yet?"

Mario ran through the smoke unharmed much to Junior's surprise and jumped at him. He landed a kick into the face of the clown car and pushed it back through the air. "Argh! Take this!" Jr. said. He pulled a lever and the clown car swooped down at Mario while spinning at a high velocity. Mario swerved out of the way and turned to look at the clown car as it did a u-turn and headed for him again.

This time Mario jumped straight up and landed onto Junior's head, giving him a stomp.

STOMP!

"Ow!" Jr. flew back into the air where the clown car stopped spinning. "Graaaah! That does it! I'm going to use the secret weapon that dad installed! Even I have no idea how such a thing can fit inside this!" He pressed a button that made the mouth of the clown car open, and a large cannonball that is almost as the big as the clown car itself was shot out from there.

"Mamamia!" Mario quickly jumped up to avoid the cannonball, but he landed on top of it and moved his legs constantly to balance himself. "Whoa! Wah!"

As Mario moved his legs, the cannonball started slowing down and then moved in the opposite direction. Mario then realized that he could use this to his advantage, and thus he rolled the cannonball in Bowser Junior's direction and leaped up to throw a fiery punch into the face of the clown car.

The clown car was pushed back across the air and Mario fell back onto the cannonball and continued moving his legs. He turned around to make the cannonball change direction, but the clown car opened its mouth and launched another cannonball. "You like this, don't you?" Jr. asked. "Then have another one!"

The new cannonball struck the floor a few inches in front of Mario's cannonball. Apparently, the cannonball struck the floor tile so hard that the tile tilted into the floor and resulted in a seesaw effect, shooting Mario and his cannonball into the air. "Whoa!"

"Wait! Don't come over here!" Jr. shouted. He quickly tried to escape, but failed to do so in time as the cannonball landed on top of him.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Koopa Clown Copter crashed onto the floor along with the cannonball, and their combined weight sent the both of them through the floor.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Mario had already jumped off from the cannonball and he went up to the hole on the floor and looked through it to see that Bowser Jr. had crashed through several floors. "That's-a gotta hurt…" he thought. He stood back up and then said to himself, "I wonda what's-a Reimu doing now."

* * *

"Who are you?" Bowser asked the shrine maiden who jumped onto the arena. "I was expecting Mario to show up, but I've got a girl dressed mostly in red instead. Wait a minute, can you be Mario's younger sister?"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Reimu told him. "And I'm not his sister by the way. I assume that you're Bowser."

"Of course, that's me!" Bowser said proudly. "It's no surprise that people nowadays know my name very well, even if I have no idea who they are! Bwahahaha!"

Reimu pointed her gohei at him and said in a threatening voice, "Let go of the princess and my friend at once!"

"Your friend? Ah, you must mean that girl in blue. Don't worry; they both are safe and sound somewhere around here. Actually, I don't mind if you take that girl, but as for Peach, it's a big no-no!"

"Guess I'll have to force you into doing it then," Reimu said, getting out a paper amulet.

"You want to use force on me? Bwahahahaha!" Bowser laughed. "I don't see how a girl like you can hurt with your fists! Go and play with dolls or pick flowers or something! This place isn't suitable for the likes of you!"

Without saying a word, Reimu flung the paper amulet at Bowser but he caught it easily. "And what's this supposed to be? A piece of paper?" Bowser asked mockingly. Suddenly, the paper amulet exploded in his hands.

KABOOM!

Bowser emerged from the smoke and coughed. "Ack! Cough! What the heck?"

Reimu ran up to him and took a swipe at his face using her spiritually-enhanced gohei. Bowser took a step back from the hit and Reimu approached him again, this time striking him in the head. "Argh! Why you?" Bowser growled angrily as he tried to swing his fist at her, but she leaped back swiftly. "Look, I gave you the chance to get out of here, but now you've just thrown that chance away! If it's a fight you want, I'll give you one!"

"That's exactly what I am asking for!" she replied.

**BGM: Bowser Battle (Super Mario Galaxy)**

Bowser took a deep breath and then shot out a large stream of fire at her, but she swerved aside and ran towards him. Seeing her approaching, Bowser changed the trajectory of the fire breath to her direction but she jumped straight up. From the air, she threw several paper amulets that stuck onto Bowser from above, and each of them explode, making him flinch.

Bowser almost fell back from the series of explosions and growled angrily. Reimu landed and swung her gohei at him, but he quickly moved back and caught her arm and spun in a circle before flinging her away.

Reimu managed to land on her feet and whipped out a handful of needles and threw them. The needles were coated with purple auras as they soared through the air, but Bowser withdrew into his shell to protect himself.

"Whirling Fortress!" Bowse shouted. He spun at a high velocity and then slid across the floor. Reimu quickly moved aside but the shell u-turned and headed for her again. She once again avoided him by jumping straight up.

When she landed, she took out two paper amulets and flung them at him. "Hakurei Amulet!" These amulets glowed with orange light that made them look larger than they were and exploded upon hitting Bowser.

BANG! BANG!

However, the Koopa King was unharmed inside his shell. "Haha! That won't work on me!" he said. "It'll take more than just exploding papers to take me down!" The shell slid in Reimu's direction and she quickly leaped to the side, but Bowser also came out of his shell and lunged at her at a speed that defies his body build, ramming his head into the shrine maiden's body.

"Ugh!" she cried. Reimu fell on her rear and then Bowser jumped at her with limbs spread out, ready to body slam her. Reimu quickly rolled to the side as Bowser slammed face first onto the floor.

Reimu ran up to him and swung her gohei at him, but Bowser got up fast and quickly countered with his claws. "Koopa Claw!"

Both their attacks collided with each other, but the gohei didn't break at all despite being made of wood. "That's some pretty hard stick you have there!" Bowser commented.

"As long as I transfer my spiritual powers into it," Reimu explained, "it can become as hard as steel and also strong enough to shatter rocks, and also your skull!" She whipped out more paper amulets and hurled it at him.

Bowser easily shredded them into pieces with a claw swipe and then breathed out a stream of fire. Reimu leaped to the side to dodge the attack and quickly rushed at Bowser from the side to land a kick into his face. Annoyed, Bowser turned to her and swung his claw fast, barely slashing her across the body.

"Ugh!" Reimu fell back from the slight injury inflicted to her. She looked and saw Bowser running at her, so she quickly attempted to jump aside. However, Bowser reached out to her and caught by one leg and then swung her in a circle before slamming her face first onto the floor violently. "YA!"

"You're finished!" Bowser said as he brought down a folded fist towards her back. Reimu managed to swerve her body aside to avoid the fatal blow and in a flash, she took out an amulet which she stuck onto Bowser's fist while it was still embedded into the floor. "Hey! Get it off!" Bowser tried to get the amulet off his arm and this gave Reimu the chance to escape.

Bowser took the amulet off and threw it away just before it exploded, and when he turned to look at Reimu, she held up a card in his direction. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" The card glowed with bright blue light and three energy yin-yang orbs were shot out, striking him in the face and the body very hard.

"Oof!" Bowser grunted as he flew back from the powerful impact of the yin-yang orbs. When he got up, another yin-yang orb landed onto his head and knocked him silly. "Doh…"

While Bowser was a bit dizzy from the hit, Reimu jumped at him and raised her gohei to ready to bring it down onto him. "Hiya!"

Bowser got back to his senses in time however and opened his mouth, breathing fire right into the shrine maiden and propelling her back into the air in flames. "YAAAAAAAA!"

Reimu soared in an arc through the air and crashed back down onto the floor where she desperately rolled around to get the flames off her body. "You're really going to get it, girly!" Bowser said angrily as he ran to the shrine maiden.

Reimu managed to get the fire off her without suffering too much burnt injury, but then Bowser slid into her and slammed his fist into her chest very hard and sent her shooting backwards. "ACK!" Luckily, she hit one of the chains that was keeping the arena airborne and came to a stop, and then slowly got back up while rubbing the pain on her body. "Ow… That could've broken some bones… if I didn't train my body regularly…"

"You're mine!" Bowser said as he got close to her. "Koopa Claw!" He swung his claws but Reimu quickly leaped into the air and flipped upside-down before spinning her gohei below herself like a propeller.

"Praying for Rain!" she shouted, and the gohei generated orange light and rained down energy droplets that struck Bowser rapidly from above.

"Ow!" Bowser raised his hand over his head as the energy droplets pummeled him rapidly. "Argh! Why you?" Bowser turned around to face her and breathed out fire.

Reimu held up her arm and in an instant, formed a blue energy wall. "Cautionary Border!" The wall protected her from the fire breath, and with a nudge to its back, the wall moved forward and rammed into Bowser, pushing him back as well.

"What the?" Bowser was pushed off the arena but grabbed onto the edge in time before he fell to his doom below. "Whoa! That was close…" He climbed back again and looked for Reimu, but didn't see her at all. "Where did she go?"

Unknown to him, Reimu was actually holding onto the chains from above. She jumped down onto Bowser and slammed down a leg onto his head hard. "Oof!"

She then dropped in front of Bowser and performed a quick somersault that kicked the Koopa King in the chin and sent him up into the air, and while he was in the air, Reimu took out several paper amulets at once and tossed them at him. The amulets stuck onto his body and all of them exploded at once.

KAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Yaaaaaaaaaaah!" Bowser shot out from the explosion and crashed onto the center of the arena violently. He got up once again though and glared angrily at Reimu. "You annoying little brat!"

"Who was it that said earlier girls like me cannot punch hard enough with their fists?" Reimu asked him. "Okay, I didn't use my fists, but it still means the same anyway."

"I won't lose to a random person I don't even know like you!" Bowser shouted with rage, "Especially not to a girl!"

**BGM: Final Bowser Battle (Super Mario Galaxy)**

He took a breath and then breathed out a larger than usual stream of fire.

"Cautionary Border!" Reimu set up a blue wall which protected her from the fire. She pushed the wall forward but Bowser stopped his fire breathing attack and charged into the wall, ramming it hard with his head and shattering the wall into energy particles.

"Rar!" he roared as he ran towards Reimu as fast as he could and attempted to hit her with his head. Reimu swerved to the side and leaped back before throwing a couple of amulets. Bowser swung his claws at the amulets and then jumped into the air above Reimu in a flash. "Bowser Bomb!" He dropped down at a fast speed but Reimu moved out of the way in time.

Before she could get far though, Bowser quickly reached his hand to her and caught her by an arm. "Gotcha!"

"Let go!" Reimu cried. Suddenly, Bowser jumped into the air again, this time taking her along with him. "Wha!"

"Flying Slam!" Bowser gripped Reimu against his body tightly and spun vertically several times in the air before falling down, crushing her against the floor with his body really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Reimu cried in sheer pain from the devastating blow. Bowser then picked her up by the collar and flung her forward onto the floor like a rag doll. "Ugh!"

As she lied injured on the floor, Bowser approached her and said, "I don't exactly like the idea of treating women so violently, but you're making me do this! Blame yourself for what is happening to you!"

Reimu gritted her teeth as she got back up again and glared at Bowser, but he wasn't fazed. "Ha! You sure are something to be able to stand up even after taking this much beating, but this ends here! Bowser Bomb!" He leaped into the air above her and readied to come back down again.

She quickly whipped out a card and said loudly, "Dimensional Rift!" The card glowed with white light and in an instant, she disappeared and Bowser landed onto the empty floor instead.

"Huh? Where'd she go?" Bowser wondered while looking left and right.

Reimu suddenly reappeared out of nowhere next to him and dashed into him, landing a flying kick into his face.

KICK!

Bowser was pushed back from the kick, but Reimu continued to close in on him and attacked him nonstop with a series of acrobatic kicks that would probably make Sanji from One Piece amazed. "Foot of the Wind God Champion!"

KICK SMASH POW WHAM BAM SLAM!

The combo ended with a somersault kick that sent Bowser up into the air like earlier. Reimu then took out a card and slapped it hard onto the floor. "Dream Sign: Demon Sealing Circle!" The card glowed with bright blue light and then a pillar of energy was formed, surrounding her and reaching into the air. Bowser was engulfed in the pillar of energy as well, but unlike Reimu, he was damaged by it.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The light eventually diminished and Reimu let out a sigh before stepping away from underneath Bowser, who fell back down with a crash. She slowly approached the unconscious Koopa to see if there was still any life in him, but suddenly, Bowser's eyes shot open much to Reimu's surprise. She jumped back and held up her gohei defensively as Bowser stood back up.

"YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT, YOU NINCOMPOOP!" he yelled at the top of his voice. "DIE!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Mario was backtracking through the castle, trying to make his way to the lower floors. As he ran down a flight of stairs, Aya suddenly went by outside of the window. Mario did not notice her, but Aya came back down to the window and called out to him, "Hey Mario!"

Mario turned around to see her. "Aya, eetz you!"

Aya came inside and said to him, "Nice to see you that you're all right! Where are you heading too?"

"To da underground-a area," Mario told her. "Reimu went-a down there by accident-a, and Bowsa eez ova there!"

"Really? And I was thinking of going to the top floor to find him there… Then let's go! I want to see for myself what he looks like!"

They traveled together down the stairs and then rushed for the next staircase which was across the room. Suddenly, a person resembling Mario leaped out from behind a pillar and fired a dark blue blob at them. Mario jumped away in time, but Aya was hit in the face by the blob and fell back. "Ugh! What's this?" she cried, trying to wipe the blob off her face and body.

Mario turned to look at his doppelganger and said, "I know you!"

Shadow Mario, as the doppelganger was called, spun in a circle and magically transformed into Bowser Jr. who was armed with an oversize paintbrush. "Of course you remember this! Surprised to see this again, eh? After tracking down that Pianta wannabe guy whose name I cannot remember, I got it back it again! It sure is handy for framing my crimes onto you!"

"You won't-a get-a away with eet!" Mario said to him while getting into fighting stance.

"Try and beat me if you can! Haha!" Jr. transformed into Shadow Mario again and started swinging the paintbrush against the air rapidly, firing blue blobs as he did.

Mario quickly countered by firing multiple fireballs out of his hands, and the projectiles cancelled out each other upon coming in contact in air.

This kept up for a while and then SM swung the paintbrush horizontally to unleash a crescent-shaped blob. Mario leaped over it, but Aya, who just managed to get some of the blob off her face, got hit by it. "Aya!" she cried.

Mario landed and ran towards SM, throwing a fiery punch at him, but SM moved out of the way and then swung the paintbrush into his face, smearing him with blue paint. "Ow!" Mario cried as he moved back and tried to wipe the paint off his face.

SM then leaped into the air and brought down the paintbrush onto his head, followed by smacking him in the side of the body and sending him into the wall.

"Doh!" Mario hit the wall but then got back up again as he rubbed his waist. He turned and saw some melee weapons such as axes, spears, and clubs hung up on the wall, and then he looked to the right and saw the restroom. A smirk appeared over his face and he snatched the club off the wall before heading into the restroom.

"Taking a bathroom at a time like this? Ha! I'll screw with him!" SM thought as he followed him inside. When he was inside, he saw Mario standing next to the sink.

"Are you thirsty?" Mario asked before slamming down the club on the sink, destroying it. Water shot out from the pipe on the wall at a high pressure, hitting SM and pushing him out of the restroom.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" SM reverted back into Bowser Jr. as the water pushed him to the window on the far end of the room and out of it, sending him to his impending doom below.

* * *

Youmu looked at the top of the tower from the balcony where she and Aya originally fought Ludwig. "And she left without taking into the account that I lost my flight ability…" she mumbled. Then she heard someone screaming.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Bowser Jr. suddenly fell down on top of Myon and crashed onto the floor with it, but the phantom served as a cushion that softened his fall. Youmu suddenly felt a horrible headache as if something hit her over the head really hard. "Ow!"

* * *

Back in the underground area, Bowser was in absolute rage as he attacked Reimu nonstop with his claws, and the shrine maiden was forced to move back while using her gohei to defend herself.

"Take this!" Bowser shouted as he threw a fist forward. Reimu swerved her head to the side and then swung her gohei across Bowser's face. Annoyed, Bowser reached his other hand to her shoulder and flung her over his own shoulder. Reimu soared through the air but did a flip and landed on her feet.

She turned to see Bowser charging at her, and so she quickly threw a pair of amulets that glowed with orange lights. "Hakurei Amulet!"

With a swing of his claw, Bowser easily eliminated the incoming projectiles and then lunged forward, ramming his face into her body and then pinning her to the floor. Bowser forcefully grabbed her by the neck and raised his other hand to ready to bring it down onto her face. "Say your prayers!" he said.

Luckily, her arms were still free and she quickly pulled out a card and said quickly, "Dimensional Rift!" Just as Bowser's fist came down, Reimu disappeared in a white flash of light and he punched the floor instead. She reappeared next to him and sighed with relief. "Phew… This thing sure comes in handy all the time…"

"Grrr!" Bowser turned to her and launched a stream of fire from his mouth, and Reimu rolled out of the way quickly, though the edge of her clothes still got singed a bit.

"Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu got out a card that released three yin-yang orbs at him. Bowser swatted away one, punched down the other one, and caught the last one. He was going to throw it back to her, but the yin-yang ball stung his skin like electricity and he was forced to let go of it.

"Yeow!" While Bowser was shaking his hand from the stinging feeling, Reimu ran up to him and landed a flying kick into his belly, followed by a somersault kick to his chin. Bowser took several steps back from the kick but then regained his balance again. "Why you? Blazing Fortress!" He withdrew into his shell and started spinning, but he also breathed fire at the same time and the shell was basically coated with fire as it slowly hovered into the air and flew towards her.

"What?" Reimu rolled out of the way fast as the 'flaming flying saucer' flew in her direction. She turned to watch as Bowser did a u-turn and headed for her again, and she quickly fired yin-yang orbs again from her card, but they were destroyed the moment they came in contact with the fire around Bowser. She ducked down and Bowser went over her, but the flaming shell swooped up into the air and dropped straight down, so she moved aside and Bowser crashed onto the floor instead.

Bowser instantly came out from his shell and breathed fire into the air, making them rain down in the form of fireballs and Reimu carefully stepped moved side to side to avoid the fireballs as they fell back down. She reached underneath her clothing to get out something but Bowser quickly charged at her to stop her.

He rammed into her body and pushed her back onto the floor, but as a result, Reimu dropped a yellow card onto the floor as well. "This is the end of you!" Bowser said, running towards her. When he stepped on the card, he suddenly froze in his tracks as electricity came out from the card and zapped him from head to toe. "YEOW!"

"This is my chance!" Reimu thought. She moved back a couple of more steps and then clapped her hands together and closed her eyes to start charging up her spiritual energy. In doing so, light blue aura appeared around her.

"What… in the… world?" Bowser growled as he struggled to regain control of himself. His whole body was paralyzed from the electricity and it stung him as well, but he mustered all his strength to break free from the binding. Meanwhile, Reimu continued charging up her spiritual energy and the aura around her grew even larger. Slowly, blue lines were seen appearing on the floor around Bowser.

Bowser let out a roar and suddenly broke free from the electrical bondage. He lunged himself at Reimu and was about to hit her when suddenly a light blue wall showed up, making him run into it instead. "OOF!"

"Dream Sign: Duplex Barrier!" Reimu said loudly. She opened her eyes and looked at the double-layered barrier in the shape of square before her eyes, and Bowser was imprisoned inside the innermost layer.

"What is this? Let me out!" Bowser cried while pounding his fist against the barrier's interior.

"This takes a while to activate, but it's very useful for trapping foes," Reimu said. "There's also a reason for having two layers of barrier."

As she continued to explain, Bowser noticed that the barrier around him starting to glow brighter and brighter. "What is happening?"

"The innermost barrier is like a bomb. It will explode with a powerful blast, and that is where the outer layer of the barrier comes into play," Reimu explained. "It serves as a wall protecting people on the outside from getting caught in the explosion."

As soon as she had said this, the inner barrier exploded with a powerful blast that filled up the inside of the outer barrier completely.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"And whatever is inside will be obliterated," she added.

When the smoke cleared, Bowser was seen lying in the middle of a crater within the barrier. The outer barrier dispelled by itself and Reimu walked up to the seemingly dead Koopa King to make sure.

Unfortunately, the surface of the crater was very thin and fragile due to the explosion, and as the result, the floor gave way, making Reimu and Bowser fall through the arena.

"YAAAA!" Reimu screamed as she plummeted through the air. She looked down and saw the pool of lava down there, and fear started to fill her mind at what would happen if nothing could save her in time. Out of panic, she flailed her arms against the air in an attempt to, perhaps, stay airborne or slow down her fall. "Fly! Fly! Fly! I'm going to die if I don't!"

She started sweating nervously as her impending doom came closer and closer. She tried to tell herself that lava is just really hot water and that she can simply swim onto dry land afterwards. But no, that's far from the truth. She had to face the reality that once she falls into it, she is dead.

No longer able to contain her fear of death, Reimu let out a scream that could be heard through the place. All of a sudden, she felt herself stop moving in air. She opened her eyes and looked around the place and, to her amazement, found herself hovering in midair. She looked at Bowser who continued falling through the air until he took a dip into the lava and disappeared.

SPLASH!

"I can fly…?" she thought. She moved around the air to experiment around with it, and it became clear that she was able to fly around freely like she used to do. "Wow! I can suddenly fly again! But… how is this possible? I thought our powers to fly have been stripped of when we came here due to the malfunctioning World Light…"

"Reimu!" shouted a familiar voice. Reimu turned and saw a cage placed on a piece of land and inside the cage was Peach and Cirno. There was also an orange dome-shaped object with a white exclamation point imprinted on it placed a few feet in front of the cage.

Reimu flew over to the piece of land and walked up to the cage and said, "Oh, you're here!"

"How did you do that?" Peach asked in surprise.

"Flying is a specialty of mine, as well as my friends. We somehow lost it when we first arrive at this place, but for some reason, I suddenly can fly again. Anyway, are you all right?"

"I am," Peach nodded. "But Cirno… Look at her!" She pointed to Cirno who was lying on her back breathing and sweating heavily. It looked like she was suffering greatly.

"That's pretty normal considering the temperature here," Reimu told Peach. "She's an ice fairy and is therefore weak to high temperature. We just have to get her out of here and expose her to cold temperature to return her to normal condition. All right, let's get out of here now."

Suddenly, Kamek showed up in the air above them riding on his broom and the Magikoopa shook his fist angrily saying, "Curse you! Don't think our great king is done for the count yet!"

Reimu turned to him and said, "He fell into the lava, so he's dead. I win."

"Oh yeah? Too bad for you, our king enjoys the smell of boiling lava and sees it as nothing but a relaxing hot spring! Geeheeheeheehee!" Kamek said while cackling in high-pitch voice. "And I'm going to add a bit of magic to him as well. Look and be amazed!"

Kamek started flying in circles above the pool of lava, releasing glittering dust as he did, and Reimu watched with curiosity as the dust slowly fell onto the lava.

The lava then started to glow with various colors, but this only last for a few seconds and it returned to normal again. Kamek flew to the side and remained hovering there, watching with enthusiasm at the lava. "Geeheeheeheehee! Lord Bowser is coming to get you! You better cry for your momma!"

"I don't see anything at all," Reimu told him, looking unimpressed. She looked at the pool of lava again and noticed that the lava was starting to churn.

All of a sudden, a massive figure came out of the lava and roared at a very loud voice, not to mention sending drops of lava flying everywhere. "Whoa!" Reimu cried as she moved aside to avoid getting hit by the lava drops. She looked up and to her horror, saw the massive body of Bowser coming out from the lava. "WHAT THE HECK?"

**BGM: Final Battle Battle (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)**

The gigantic Koopa King let out a roar and said, "Bwahahahahaha! I can feel power surging throughout my body!"

"Yes! My magic is working!" Kamek said. "Our great king has been resurrected!"

"OH MY GOD!" Peach shrieked in horror.

Bowser looked down at the tiny Reimu and said in a voice that echoed throughout the place, "Bwahahaha! Look at you! You're nothing but a little mouse compared to me right now! I admit that you really do pack a punch, perhaps even more so than Mario, but things end here! I will be the one to get the last laugh in the end! Bwahahahaha!

"Man… He's huge…" Reimu thought. "And I have never faced off against such a massive opponent…" Nevertheless, she got out two pieces of amulets and threw it at him. "Hakurei Amulet!" The amulets shot glowed with orange light as they soared through the air and exploded upon hitting Bowser in the body, but their explosions were very small compared to the Koopa King's massive body that it did no visible harm at all.

"Bwahahaha! That doesn't even tickle!" Bowser laughed. "I will show you how it should be done! Rah!" With a roar, Bowser swung down his claw at Reimu and she quickly jumped back to avoid the massive claw which tore off the piece of land that she was on.

CLICK!

"Uh?" Reimu thought she just stepped on something. She looked down at her feet and saw that she was stepping on the orange dome-shaped object mentioned earlier. "What's this?"

Suddenly, the whole placed started shaking and Bowser looked around with a confused expression. "What's happening?" He looked down at the lava which was starting to roil violently. Suddenly, he felt the ground underneath him breaking apart. "What the? Whoa!" Bowser suddenly sank into the lava, but emerged again flailing his arms in the air. "THE GROUND IS BREAKING!"

While the others could not see what was happening down below the lava, they could tell that the lava level was slowly going down. Bowser struggled to stay in the air, but he was unable to do so as he slowly sank even further down. "WHY IS THERE A SWITCH FOR DRAINING THE LAVA PLACED OVER THERE OF ALL PLACES? WHY? I'M GETTING FLUSHED AWAY! I'M GETTING FLUSHED AWAY! GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he roared at the top of his voice as his head slowly disappeared into the lava.

Everyone else continued to watch as the lava drained away until it was no more, revealing that there was a large fissure on the ground. There were no signs of Bowser at all.

"Um…" Kamek was lost at words. He nervously looked at Reimu and then said, "I'm out of here…" And he quickly flew to the top to escape.

Reimu then sighed with relief. "Phew… I am getting too tired to continue fighting anyway…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The battle with Bowser has already ended with the move Duplex Barrier. The giant Bowser at the end was simply thrown in for the heck of it. It's just to surprise you and make you think that an epic final battle is going to ensue, but then surprise you even more by ending the supposed epic battle almost as soon as it started. It's something of a reversal of the final battle in New Super Mario Bros. Wii where the first part is easy, but the second part is hard, and over here, I swapped things around.

Anyway, I tried my best with the fight here. Hope you enjoyed what you read!

**Next chapter: Light Essences**

**Trivia:  
**1. The move "Blazing Fortress" was first conceived by Specter24.

2. There are no official words on whether Youmu's phantom-half, Myon, is tangible or intangible, but fans tend to portray Myon as being tangible. I'm going with the former as it opens up for more humorous possibilities. The only official information about phantoms is that they are cold to touch.

3. In the Japanese version of the Mario series, Kamek does not exist because the term "Kamek" is what the Magikoopa species is called in Japan. In Japan, it is supposed to be generic Magikoopa who is never the same person in each game, but in America, it is supposed to be the same person.

4. Bowser flying around using Blazing Fortress is similar to show Gamera flies around. Both involves withdrawing into shells and spinning at high velocity using fire, but Gamera releases fire from where his limbs are instead of breathing fire like the way Bowser does it.


	8. Light Essences

**SBS Time!  
the1undzeonli1: **Where did you come up with the lava toilet idea?  
**Game2002: **It's not really meant to be a toilet as there is no spinning involved, but I can't think of a better term to use other than the term "flush". Anyway, it's based off the last part of the Giant Bowser chase scene which serves as the final boss of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It is also inspired by the last part of the battle with the Great Mighty Poo in Conker's Bad Fur Day.

**the1undzeonli1**: Cirno isn't called a nine-ball yet and Marisa hasn't used Master Spark either.  
**Game2002: **You'll just have to wait and see. Plus, it would be better for Marisa to use Master Spark on larger or more powerful opponents and not weak, unimportant ones.

**Retasuika: **You don't mind if I correct your story?  
**Game2002: **I don't mind since it'll make the story more flawless!

I would like to thank Retasuika for pointing out minor errors I've made. I can't believe I missed them out even after checking through the story once. I really should be more careful next time…

Anyway, minor errors have been fixed as well as small tidbits that nobody cares about, such as adding an 's' to the preview title in order to match it with the one you see below. I know, I'm getting into details way too much lately…

**Chapter 7  
Light Essences**

**

* * *

**

Marisa and Reisen were running through the corridor, beating up anyone who got in their way. "Geez… This place is sure built like a maze," Marisa complained. "It's really hard to find your way around here. I wonder how the people here can tolerate this-ze?"

After a bit of running, they stepped out from the hallway and emerged into the main hall, and that was where the rest of their comrades were as well.

"Marisa! Reisen!" Nitori said, waving at them. "We're all over here!"

The duo went up to them and Marisa said, "Everyone is safe and sound, it seems-ze?"

"Looks like we've met up with each other again," Remilia said. "All that is left to do is to rescue the people we are after and then get out of here. Oh, and also to beat up that guy named Bowser."

"I haven't seen Reimu, Youmu, Aya, and Mr. Mario yet," Sanae pointed out. "I wonder if they are all right."

Shortly after she said this, there was the sound of footsteps heard and they turned to one of the doors to see Mario, Aya, and Youmu running into the room. "They're all over there!" Youmu pointed out.

"Oh, you're all right as well-ze," Marisa said.

"We're heading to da underground-a area," Mario said, "Reimu eez ova there."

"What's she doing there?" Remilia asked.

"She's fighting Bowsa, so we have to go help-a her."

"She eez fighting Bowsa already?!" Luigi said in surprise. "Mamamia! Then we betta go help-a her!"

"I'm sure she can handle things by herself," Marisa assured him. "We all know her better than the two of you, so you can be sure that Bowser is getting his butt handed over to her-ze!"

"I still think-a eetz betta to go and help-a her just-a in case," Mario claimed. "I know da way to da underground-a area." He started looking around at some of the Bowser statues that were placed around the room. "Eef I rememba correctly…"

Suddenly, one of statues slid away to the side by itself and Mario jumped back in surprise. A secret staircase was revealed when the statue moved aside and then Reimu emerged from there. "Reimu!" Mario said in surprise.

Reimu climbed onto the surface as her friends gathered over to her. "Hey, you're all right after all-ze!" Marisa said.

"So how did things go?" Remilia asked her.

"It's all dealt with," Reimu said with a nod. "And look who I found." She looked at the staircase and Peach came out with exhausted-looking Cirno being carried on her back.

"Peachy!" Mario and Luigi exclaimed happily.

"Thanks to Reimu, Bowser has been defeated!" Peach said happily.

Marisa gave Reimu a pat to her back and said, "I knew you could do it-ze!"

"I have to admit that it was challenging though," Reimu said. "Bowser is definitely no pushover, but I'm glad that I prevailed in the end."

* * *

**BGM: The cheerful song that plays just before the end credits of the first two Mario & Luigi games.**

"PRINCESS!!!!" Toadsworth screamed with joy as he ran down the road as fast as he could to meet up with Princess Peach who was on her way back to Mushroom Kingdom along with her friends.

"Toadsworth!" Peach said happily. She opened her arms wide and embraced the elderly Toad who cried in her bosom.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" he said with tears of happiness. "I though I was going to lose you forever!"

"Oh, it's not that bad," Peach told her. "Thanks to Mario and his friends, I got rescued in the end!" She then turned to the others behind her and said, "Why don't you come back to the castle and relax? I'm sure all of you are tired after going through all those."

"No problem!" Mario said.

"I hope there eez lotsa spaghetti!" Luigi said happily.

Suddenly, there was a loud growling sound and the Mario Bros. turned around to see that the sounds were coming from the girls' stomachs. "Um… I hope you don't mind if we… keep your chefs busy for a while…" Reimu said with a blushing face.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be happy to serve heroines such as you!" Peach assured her.

Marisa punched the air and said, "Ah right! Time for a feast-ze!"

And so, they all returned to Peach's Castle happily and then enjoyed a great feast to celebrate their victory over the Koopa Troop.

It was a great day indeed.

* * *

Early in the morning of the next day, Merlon walked down the path leading to Peach's Castle and eventually arrived at front door of the castle where the two guards are. "Oh hi, Merlon the Wizard!" the right guard said, "Nice to see you here!"

"Do you mind if I go inside and have a word with the new heroines of Mushroom Kingdom?" Merlon asked.

"Of course we don't mind!" the guard on the right said, "but as long that blue-haired girl doesn't see Wart… She froze Wart again when they returned from Bowser's Castle, but luckily, my cute little froggy survived." There was a bit of silence afterwards, and then the guard broke into rage. "I HATE GIRLS WITH BLUE HAIR, ESPECIALLY IF THEY CAN FREEZE FROGS!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!"

This scared the frog so much that it jumped out from its fish tank and hopped away. The guard quickly went after it shouting, "WART!!! DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!!! I THOUGHT WE PROMISED TO STAY WITH EACH OTHER UNTIL THE ENDS OF TIME!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!!!"

Merlon and the remaining guard watch the two run off into the yard with weird expressions. It got even weirder when Cirno popped out from a window and fired a white beam at the frog, freezing it. The guard picked up the frozen frog and broke into tears again while Cirno simply chuckled before pulling her head back in through the window.

"Um… So would you like to go in?" the remaining guard asked Merlon.

"Sure! That's what I'm here for!" Merlon said, and then the door was opened for the wizard to go in.

* * *

Inside, the girls were finishing up their breakfast while Cirno flew around the air like an immature child. "Yay!"

When Merlon stepped into the dining room, he bowed down politely before saying, "I hope you don't mind if I interrupt your breakfast."

Peach looked up from drinking fruit punch and said, "That's okay! We're done with breakfast anyway!"

"Then I will get straight to the point," Merlon said. He walked up to the table as the girls all turned to face him. Even Cirno flew back down onto her seat to listen to what he has to say. "So about the World Light…"

"Have you found a way to fix it?" Reimu asked him.

Merlon nodded. "Yes, I have found the method of fixing it."

"That's great!" Marisa exclaimed. "Now we can go back to Gensokyo! Or maybe even go to Smash World and visit Master Hand-ze!"

"Unfortunately, things are not as simple as you think," Merlon said, shaking his head. "The World Light cannot bring you back to your own world. Only Master Hand has the power to do so."

"Okay… Then at least we can go to Smash Wforld and talk to him about this," Reimu thought.

"But like I said earlier, things aren't as simple as you think," Merlon reminded her. "Okay, let's get to the point. In order to fix the World Light, you will need eleven objects hidden in eleven different words. These objects are called Light Essences."

"Light Essences?" Reimu said curiously.

"These eleven objects have the power to restore the World Light back to normal, and you will need to travel to different worlds to find them. Once all eleven of them are collected, the World Light will be fixed and then you can go to Smash World," Merlon continued.

"Um… But how are we going to find the essences?" Reisen asked. "If the worlds are very big, then…"

"That is the problem. This will be no easy task, but I assure you that the essence of this world will be easy to find."

"Why's that?" Youmu asked.

"Because I have it with me!" Merlon said. "Behold!" He then took out a glittering mushroom that had dotted eyes and red cap that was decorated all over with white spots.

The girls moved closer to look at fthe mushroom and Reisen said, "This has got to be a joke, right…?"

"No, I'm serious," Merlon told her. "This is the Light Essence of this world. Master Hand gave it to me and told me to keep good care of it. He didn't tell me what exactly it is, but it seems all too clear now the real purpose of this essence."

Reimu picked up the glittering mushroom from his hand and looked at it. "So with this, we can go to the next world where we have to find the next essence?"

"Yes, and I have every reason to believe that you can also find former participants of the Smash Brothers Tournament in other worlds as well. Perhaps they may be of help to you."

Sanae let out a sigh and said, "Looks like it's going to take a while before we can go back home… Kanako and Suwako must be very worried about me…"

"I wouldn't mind not being able to go back home for a while. It's not a bad idea to go see the world if you ask me," Remilia said. "I'm just worried that Flandre will be lonely without me and that nobody can stop her if she goes out of control."

"I'm sure Sakuya and the others can keep her under control," Meiling assured her.

"Mistress Yuyuko must be worried about me too…" Youmu thought.

"It can't be denied that the festival is ruined thanks to all this…" Reimu said, sounding somewhat depressed. "Oh well, it can't be helped… Might as well finish whatever has started."

"Hey, look on the bright side," Marisa said to her. "At least we somehow are able to fly again-ze!"

Hearing this, Merlon raised an ear and asked, "What? You can fly again?"

"Yeah, just watch!" Marisa said. She sat onto her broom and slowly hovered into the air, making Merlon as well as the Toads in the room surprised.

"Amazing!" Merlon exclaimed.

Reimu floated into the air as well and said, "I'm not sure how this happened, but it just happened all of a sudden when I was fighting Bowser."

"Hmmm… Perhaps you will get it back after a while?" Merlon thought. "I believe this is some sort of a delayed effect."

"With the ability to fly," Marisa said, "we'll be able to travel around with ease!"

"But I wouldn't celebrate so early if I were you," Merlon said all of a sudden.

"Ze?"

"The World Light is still broken, so it is possible that you will once again lose your flight abilities if you travel to another world."

"We'll just have to get used to it then," Reimu thought. "At least we know that it's not permanent."

* * *

Soon afterwards, the girls were back in front of Hakurei Shrine and Mario and the others were also there to send them off. Mario shook hands with Reimu and said, "Eetz been nice knowing you! I hope that-a you have a safe quest-a on your way back-a home!"

"It's been nice knowing you too," Reimu said with a smile. "And about Bowser… Is he gone for good?"

Mario shook his head however. "Bowsa haz always been able to survive all sorts-a of odds and ends, so I'm sure he will be back-a someday. Don't-a worry; we're quite-a used to eet already, so eef he returns again, we can solve things by ourselves."

"Wow, you really must have lots of patience to tolerate someone the likes of him-ze…" Marisa thought.

"By da way," Luigi said. "I would like-a to make some things clear…"

"What is this?"

Looking at Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae, he said, "You three are humans… And then…" He looked at the other girls. "Da othas consists of a vampire, a fairy, a tengu, a kappa, a moon rabbit, and demons…"

"Yeah, so what's about it?" Remilia asked.

"Nothing… Eetz just-a that you all look-a so different from how books and movies portray your kinds…"

Peach then came up to them and she was accompanied with guards who were pushing trolleys containing crates. "Please take some of these food supplies," Peach said to the girls. "I'm sure you will need a lot of food during your journey."

"Thank you very much!" Youmu said, giving a bow.

A guard handed to Peach a metallic block with a question mark imprinted onto its four sides. "And there's also this one," she added. "This block can release coins if you hit it hard enough, and I'm sure money will come in handy for you as well."

"A block that releases coins when hit?" Reisen said, sounding skeptical. "That can't be real. I have never heard of anything like that before! You must be kid…"

Immediately, Reimu snatched the block from Peach's hand and slammed it onto Reisen's head over and over really fast. With each hit, coins shot out into the air and landed all around them. After the block stopped producing coins, Reimu threw the block aside and picked up the coins and tossed them into the air excitedly. "MONEY!!! I'M RICH!!! I'M RICH!!! HOORAY!!!" she exclaimed happily with eyes that had become yen (Japanese currency) signs.

Meanwhile, Reisen had passed out on her face with several bumps on her head. "Um… Are you all right?" Sanae asked her.

"Heh… That's Reimu for you…" Marisa said. "When it comes to the matter of money, she becomes more excited than anyone else."

"Can't be helped if her shrine rarely ever gets donations and she really needs them to support herself," Remilia reminded her.

Reimu grabbed Peach's hand and shook it really hard. "Thank you so much! Thank you so much! You're the number one best princess in the whole universe! Thank you very much!"

"I'm glad you like it!" Peach said with a smile.

Nitori shook the coin block in her hand and said, "How does this thing work?" Reisen groaned as she slowly got back up, but Nitori wanted to test out the block and thus slammed it over her head and knocked her out again. No more coins came out from the block this time.

"Hey, before we go," Aya said, "would you mind if we take a group photo together in order to preserve our memories here?"

"That would be a great idea!" Peach thought.

Everyone agreed on this, so they all gathered together to pose for a picture. Aya handed the camera over to a Toad and then rushed over to join the others. Reisen was still knocked out on the ground, but the picture was still taken anyway.

SNAP!

After the picture was taken, the girls loaded the food supplies into the shrine and Reimu placed all the coins into her donation box. Once everything was ready, they all stepped into the entrance of the shrine and waved good-bye to their friends one last time. "We'll be taking our leave now," Reimu said.

"Good-a luck on your journey!" Mario said.

Following the instructions that Merlon gave her previously, Reimu held up the mushroom essence into the air. The essence glowed with a bright light and then floated up into the air until it was above the shrine. Immediately, a vortex appeared above the mansion and a large column of light came down, engulfing the shrine completely.

Slowly, the shrine hovered into the air and both sides continued waving good-bye to each other while they were still visible.

Meanwhile, the mushroom essence moved in circles along the outside of the beam of light, building up speed as it did. When the essence reached its maximum speed, the beam of light became so thick that either side could not see each other anymore. Mario and the others even had to cover their eyes as not to get blinded.

Inside, the girls felt the shrine tilting left to right slightly, making them lose their balances, but then the shaking eventually stopped.

Finally, the vortex closed up and the light and the essence were no longer there, not to mention the Hakurei Shrine.

"There they go…" Merlon said. "Let's wish them a good luck in their next world, wherever it may be."

Everyone then turned to leave. Luigi said to Mario, "So… What-a do we do now?"

"Going back-a to our daily lives until Bowsa or something happens again," Mario replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, the two guards were still doing their job in front of the castle door. "I heard that those guests are gone," the right guard said.

"That's good," the left guard said. "Now my Wart will be safe from that blue-haired frog killer." He bent down close to the fish tank and said to Wart in a lovey-dovey voice, "Isn't that right, my little cutie pie?"

The frog glared at the guard and said in very deep, monstrous voice, "Geez, you're annoying! Find yourself a girlfriend and get laid with her already!"

Hearing this, the guard dropped his jaws in shock. He was totally speechless at what he just heard.

* * *

There was quite a bit of a commotion back in Gensokyo as to what happened to the Hakurei Shrine.

Several inhabitants were gathered at where the shrine used to be and were talking to each other about everything that they witnessed.

"Did you hear that the shrine disappeared when a column of light shined down onto it?"

"I heard that an alien UFO abducted it!"

"Is that so?"

"I heard that some people are in there as well!"

"No wonder I haven't seen Reimu at all! Wait, I don't think I've seen Marisa around here lately too, so can it be…?"

Yukari, the Demon of Boundaries, approached the former spot of the shrine and inspected the ground carefully. Kanako came up to her and asked, "Do you know what exactly happened?"

Yukari shook her head however. "Since I haven't seen it myself, I can't tell what happened. Even so, I have never heard of this kind of thing happening."

Kanako let out a sigh and said, "Just what on earth exactly happened? Sanae is supposedly inside the shrine as well… I hope that girl is all right, wherever she is currently…"

Suwako, who was standing next to her, had tears in the corners of her eyes. "Sanae… Please be all right… I miss you so much…"

"I'll look into this matter again," Yukari told them. "I only hope that the border will continue to hold on in the absence of the shrine maiden and the shrine itself..."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Hakurei Shrine was flying through a passage of white light, heading for its next destination.

Inside, Reimu placed the table back to its original place and then sat down. "Phew... That was some shaking… At least nothing is broken." She turned to the side and saw Marisa standing with her broom placed in between her legs. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if I can fly," Marisa said. "But it looks like the wizard is right… We can't fly again-ze…"

"Seems to be the case," said Youmu while polishing her sword. "I tried to fly just now but couldn't."

"This must've happened the moment the shaking occurred," Reimu thought. "But at least we know we will be able to fly again after a while."

"This isn't a problem for me however," Aya said to her. "Three of us here can still fly, so you can count on us if you need a lift!"

"Yeah, you make me jealous…"

* * *

Meiling was sitting at the entrance doing her duty as a gatekeeper, even though there's no point in doing this currently. She let out a yawn and was about to fall asleep when she suddenly noticed something on the other end of the passage of light. "Uh? What is that?" she wondered. Immediately, she got up and rushed to the living room where the others are and said, "I think I saw something out there!"

"Really?" Reimu asked. Everyone got up and rushed to the entrance and saw what Meiling just saw.

"From the looks of it," Remilia said, "we are arriving at the next world."

"That was fast…" Reisen thought.

They all held their breaths as the shrine got closer and closer to what appears to be a sphere showing the scenery of the sky. Suddenly, there was a bright flash that blotted out their view completely.

The light eventually died down and everyone was able to see again, and so they stepped out from the shrine to look at their new environment.

"Hey… This is a street!" Sanae said with slight surprise when she saw the gray road that has white lines drawn along the center of it.

They looked around the place more and found out that the shrine was situated on a grassy spot next to the sea, but the thing that grabbed their attention the most was the sight of modern day buildings built across the street.

"This place…" Sanae said, "It looks just like the outside world!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

On the last chapter of each arc, there will be a short scene that focuses on the inhabitants of Gensokyo. While all of them, except for one, will not be playing any sort of role, it is the best I can do to give them an appearance in this story. I hope you like this idea, even if they will be doing pretty much nothing.

And thus we conclude the first arc of the story and then proceed to enter into the second arc! Do you know what the next arc is? I'm sure the bit of description at the end should give you some ideas, but let's see if it really is what you think it is!

**Note: Preview titles will not be given in the last chapter of each arc in order to keep people from figuring out what the next arc is going to be so easily. **


	9. Winner at Life

**SBS Time!  
****the1undzeonli1****:**Who is your favorite Smasher and Touhou character?**  
Game2002: **Captain Falcon is my favorite Smasher, but there are too many favorite Touhou characters. The eleven starring ones here are basically my favorites, but if I have to name one, then it would be Cirno. She's just way too cute!  
-**  
Critiquey: **(talks about Yukari and the barrier)**  
Game2002: **You have brought up a very interesting point. Because my answer will be a very long one, I will have to divide it into paragraphs, so please read on.

Admittedly, I have totally forgotten about the fact that Reimu and the Hakurei Shrine are both very important for keeping up Gensokyo's barrier. But face it, if one only restrains himself or herself to the original canonical roots, there will be too many limitations that prevent stories from being too creative, so I have to make it so that the rules of the original do not apply here in order to go all out with the story.

In response to your review, I have changed that part of the previous chapter slightly in order to make Yukari take the matter more seriously. Your idea for Yukari traveling to worlds the girls have been to in order to search for clues on their whereabouts is actually an interesting idea.

As I have mentioned in the prologue, this story is based on an existing story and author of that story did something similar with a certain character as well. This idea did come to my mind when I was typing the Yukari part, but I didn't think too much about it afterwards. Now that you've mentioned it, perhaps it is something that is worth considering. I hope that you will stick around to the end of the story! But don't be surprised if things don't turn out of the way you want it to be…

I normally do not accept ideas from reviewers, but this one will be a special exception.

**Chapter 8  
Winner at Life**

* * *

"You mean this place looks like the outside world, the place where you came from?" Reisen asked Sanae.

Sanae nodded and said, "Yes, towering buildings like those are definitely recognizable, combined with the street. It is a road designed for vehicles to travel on."

"Yeah, I did see sceneries like these in the magazines they have at Kourindou," Aya said. "I've never thought I would be standing within those kinds of sceneries now…" A smile appeared over her face as she raised her camera. "I'm going to enjoy taking lots of pictures of this place, and when I get back, I can have an entire newspaper about our experience in other worlds! Heehee!"

"Let's just get moving and try to find the essence of this world," Reimu suggested. "I think we should head for that place with lots of buildings first."

They agreed on this matter and began cross the street, but Sanae suddenly stopped them. "Wait a minute!" she said loudly. "When crossing a street, you have to make sure that there are no vehicles coming from either side first!"

"Why's that?" Cirno asked.

"If a vehicle zooms down the street at a very fast speed, you'll surely be killed by it! That is one of the most important rules in the outside world, and I'm sure it applies to this world as well."

The others shrugged after hearing this, but then decided to do as Sanae said anyway. They looked to the right and then to the left, but there was nothing coming down the street at all, and thus they started crossing the street.

Shortly after they set foot onto the street however, a loud sound could be heard coming from the distance. They looked to the right and saw something approaching really fast. As it got closer, it turned out to be a person riding on a motorcycle. "Watch out!" Sanae cried.

However, the motorcycle came down at a such a speed that they almost have no time to jump away, and it was heading for Marisa who had a shocked look on her face.

"Yikes!" the biker gasped in shock when he realized that he was going to run into someone. He desperately steered to the side the last moment just as Marisa was holding up her broom in defense, and as a result, the biker ended up crashing into a street sign that wrote: _Slow Down_.

CRASH!

Marisa was breathing heavily as her life was flashing before her eyes a few seconds ago, but then she sighed with relief knowing that the danger was gone. "That was close-ze…"

The others came up to Marisa and Alice asked her, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine… That really scared me however-ze…"

"Um… I think that person is injured…" Youmu said. They turned to look at the biker who had fallen from his motorcycle which was now in pieces all over the street.

"Is he dead…?" Reisen asked.

"Uh oh… Does that mean… I killed him-ze?" Marisa asked nervously.

"Doh…" groaned the biker all of a sudden, much to their surprise.

"He's still alive!" Sanae said.

The biker rubbed his head and slowly stood back up. He was a very fat man with a big red nose and a zigzagged moustache, and his ears were somewhat pointy as well. The biker said to them in an angry voice, "What's the deal of crossing the street so slowly? Now look at what you've done to my precious motorcycle!"

Marisa bowed down over and over to apologize to him. "Sorry, I'm really sorry… I'll try to fix your ride if you want to-ze…"

"Bah! Forget it! I can do it myself! Watch where you are going next time!" the biker grumbled as he headed to the pieces of his motorcycle. He set up the wheels and then placed the body of the motorcycle onto them. Amazingly enough, the pieces of the motorcycle were fit together perfectly as if they were Lego blocks. It didn't take too long for the motorcycle to be rebuilt, and then the fat biker got onto its seat and zoomed down street that led to the city.

"I have never seen a motorcycle like that before…" Sanae thought.

"Wow! I really want to try that thing out!" Nitori said with excitement. "It looks really interesting!"

"Okay, can we get going?" Reimu said. "Be more careful this time though."

And thus they walked along the side of the street and towards the direction of the city. As they went on their way, they came across a sign that wrote:

_Diamond City  
Follow the street!_

* * *

After several minutes of walking, the girls were finally within the city, walking along the sidewalk and looking at the sights around them. "Wow, this place sure brings back memories!" Sanae said. "It really looks like the big cities of the outside world! Except for the odder-looking people…"

The population of the city consisted of humans and anthropomorphic animals, and they were all interacting with each other normally.

Reisen looked left to right and said, "I fail to see why this place is called Diamond City. There's nothing here that reminds one of diamonds at all…"

"So where are we going to start?" Youmu asked. "I mean searching for the essence."

"It doesn't look like we will be able to find it in a large place like this," Remilia said.

"Didn't the wizard say that we may be able to find people who once participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament?" Meiling brought up suddenly. "Maybe those people can help us!"

"How are we going to find those people though?" Cirno asked.

"We can just ask." Meiling then went over to a random person and asked him a question regarding this, but the person shook his head and so she came back. "He has no idea what I'm talking about…"

"Looks like it won't be so easy after," Reimu said with a sigh. "This is just like looking for a needle in a haystack… Right now I'm quite worried about one thing…"

"What is it?" Marisa asked her.

Reimu looked at her and said, "Have you forgotten who is in charge of keeping up Gensokyo's barrier?"

The other girls immediately realized that what she said was right and they were somewhat shocked. "I totally forgot!" Reisen said. "You're in charge of keeping up the barrier and the Hakurei Shrine serves as the gateway between both worlds! If you and the shrine are not around…"

"At the very least, Yukari can try to keep up the barrier with her powers," Reimu said. "But even so, she won't be able to hold it up for eternity. But there is one thing that you can be relieved about though."

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"As long as I am still alive, the barrier will be able to hold up by itself for a while even if I'm not Gensokyo."

"Luckily, you're still alive and well!" Marisa said. "I'm sure it won't be a big problem! As long as we get our work done fast, we can return to Gensokyo before the barrier disappears and the outside world finds out about our world's existence-ze!"

"Let's hope for the best…"

Suddenly, they heard Nitori calling out to them. "Hey, look at this!" she said while pointing to a television that was placed behind a shopping window. "It's one of those box-shaped things with screens that you can find in Kourindou!"

The girls went over to her and watched the program that was shown on the TV. "Coming up next," the TV announcer said, "is the popular TV show starring our favorite thief, the Silver Zephyr!"

"This is a television, or you can call it TV for short," Sanae explained to them. "It is the main source of entertainment for people of the outside world as it allows one to watch programs of any kind from their homes."

"According to Rinnosuke, it is a device that traps soul inside and make them perform," Aya said.

"Um… That's not true… The people that you see on the screen are actually in another place," Sanae corrected her, "And they have a special camera that records their actions in order to broadcast it on TV."

They glued their eyes to the TV, watching the TV show about some fat guy named Count Cannoli transforming into a super thief called the Silver Zephyr using the help of a talking wand named Goodwill.

Suddenly, the program was interrupted by a news report. "We apologize for interrupting your program," the news reporter, who is an anthropomorphic dog with eyeglasses, said.

"Is this how news is like in the outside world?" Aya asked.

"Newspapers do exist in the outside world, but there are some people who prefer finding out about the news through TV rather than reading newspapers," Sanae told her.

"The chairman of Wario Ware Inc. has lost his favorite dustcloth," the news reporter reported. "According to him, it disappeared during the mass production of microgame handheld devices and it is believed that the dustcloth fell into the packaging machine and is currently inside one of the microgame packages." The screen then showed the picture of a white, embroidered dustcloth that had a blue W imprinted in the center. "If anyone finds the dustcloth inside their game package, please contact the company at once. The chairman is planning to give a free tour around his company for people who manage to find his dustcloth. Now you may resume watching your TV program. Thank you and have a nice day!" Then the previous TV show came back on again.

"Are you going to stay here until the show ends or what?" Reimu asked.

"It's actually quite an interesting show if you ask me," Youmu said while focusing her eyes on the TV screen.

"SHE FOUND THE DUSTCLOTH!" shouted a very loud voice all of a sudden. The girls turned to their left and saw a fat guy running out from a store, and he was shouting at the top of his voice, "SOMEONE CALL THE REPORTER! A CUSTOMER OF MINE FOUND THE CHAIRMAN'S DUSTCLOTH!"

Aya raised her arm and rushed over to him, "I'm the news reporter!" With her camera in her hands, she ran into the store and to her surprise, saw Marisa there. "Marisa?"

"Um… What happened?" Marisa asked, confused. "I asked for this box and found this mechanical device and the piece of cloth, and the shopkeeper went crazy-ze…"

Aya suddenly remembered the news report she saw on TV earlier. "Oh, I see! So you found the dustcloth that was broadcasted on the news earlier! No wonder he was so excited!"

The fat shopkeeper rushed back into the store with several people as well as news reporter following him. Aya was forcefully pushed aside as the crowd gathered around Marisa and started taking pictures of her as well as interviewing her.

"What is your name?"

"How old are you?"

"Where do you live?"

"How did felt upon finding the dustcloth?"

"Whoa! Slow down there!" Marisa said. "I can't answer so many questions at once-ze!"

Her friends were watching from the outside of the store, but due to the crowd blocking out the entrance, they were unable to go inside. "Seems like Marisa is attracting a crowd…" Nitori said.

"I feel jealous," Cirno said with a slightly puffed up cheek.

"I'm not whether we should feel proud or…" Reimu said. "Um… I'm not sure how to express it in words…"

* * *

The phone rang and a beautiful orange-haired girl picked it up. "Hello? You have called Wario Ware Inc. This is Mona the front desk lady speaking to you. How may I help you? What? Really? Okay, I'll tell the chairman at once!" She hung up the phone and wasted no time in picking up another phone embellished with a golden W and pressed the sole button there. "Hello, Chairman Wario? You won't believe the good news I'm going to tell you!"

* * *

Marisa had made her outside the store but the reporters were still taking pictures of her and pouring questions onto her. She raised her hands and backed away from them nervously. "Look, I'm glad that you are all very interested in me, but…"

Aya took a picture of her and then nudged her in the shoulder. "C'mon! This is your chance to become famous! You may even become a celebrity in Gensokyo because of this!"

"Why don't you try doing something to help me instead? I thought you're an expert in this matter-ze?"

"Sorry, but I'm only an expert in interviewing people, not driving away interviewers."

As the crowd pushed in on her, a taxi cab suddenly sped in from around the corner and stopped in front of Marisa. An anthropomorphic bulldog and an anthropomorphic cat stepped out from it and the bulldog raised his hands towards the crowd and said in a loud voice, "Everyone, please calm down! We have come on behalf of the chairman of Wario Ware Inc." The news reporter all backed off and kept quiet, but they continued take pictures of Marisa.

The bulldog walked up to Marisa and asked her, "Judging from how the people were pushing in on you, you must be the person who found the chairman's dustcloth, right?"

Marisa held up the dustcloth and nodded slightly. "You meant his one-ze?"

"Yeah! That's the one!" the cat said happily while jumping up and down. "Wario is going to be very happy about this!"

"Great! Hop onto the car, kid!" the bulldog said. "We'll take you to our company at once! If your friends are here, you can take them along as well!"

"Okay… If you don't mind…" Marisa said, pointing to Reimu and the others. "Including me, there are eleven of us in all…"

The bulldog and the cat looked at the girls who waved back at them and the cat said, "Whoa… I don't think we can fit everyone into our cab…"

"But we won't back away from our words!" the bulldog said. "We will take them all there no matter what!"

Having said this, they got down to business and within a short while, the taxi cab was in its way to the Wario Ware Inc. building. The reporters continued to take pictures at the cab as it left. The shopkeeper suddenly rushed out from the crowd saying, "She forgot to pay me money!"

* * *

As the bulldog steered the cab, he said to Marisa who was sitting next to him, "I haven't introduced myself to you yet! My name is Dribble."

"Hi! I'm Marisa Kirisame-ze!" Marisa said to him.

"And by the way, that cat partner of mine is called Spitz. And also…" Without turning his head back, he said to the girls at the back, "Are you girls all right sitting like that?

Marisa looked behind her to see Reimu, Sanae, Remilia, Nitori, Alice, and Youmu crammed together and sitting on top of each other in the back seats. "How long… until we get there…?" Sanae asked. "It's really… uncomfortable…"

"It won't take too long as long as there are no traffic jams," Dribble told her. "Hold on for a while, okay?"

Reimu said to Remilia, who was sitting on her lap, "Why don't you fly outside like what Aya and Cirno are doing…? You have wings, don't you…?"

"The sun is too strong," Remilia replied.

Aya and Cirno were flying above the taxi cab at an equally fast speed. As for Spitzz, the unfortunate cat was grabbing for his life onto the taxi sign. "Don't drive too fast!" Spit cried as the wind blew into his face constantly. "Meow!"

Luckily, the traffic was mostly devoid of cars, so the cab managed to reach its destination in about ten minutes. The cab pulled to a stop in front of the main gate and Spit shot forward as a result, landing into a bush.

Aya and Cirno landed on the ground and took a good look at the towering building while the girls quickly rushed out from the taxi cab in order to get some open space. "Phew… Much better…" Reimu cried.

Dribble stepped out from the cab as well and went over to the trunk at the back. When he opened it, Reisen and Meiling were both seen crammed inside it uncomfortably. "Are the two of you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah…" they both replied weakly.

Marisa tried to look at the top of the building, but had to shield her eyes with the brim of her hat in order to keep the sunlight from stinging her eyes. "So this is the place. It's really tall-ze!"

"Go on inside," Dribble said as he took out a cloth to wipe his taxi cab. "They're expecting you any moment, I think."

The girls walked as a group towards the pair of glass doors. The door opened by itself much to surprise of the girls, except for Sanae. "The door opened by itself?" Youmu said in shock.

"This is an automatic door," Sanae explained. "If a certain amount of weight is detected near it, it will open by itself. It's really convenient especially if you cannot use your arms for whatever reason."

The girls stepped inside and looked around the place, which was nicely decorated with high quality furniture and indoor plants. Suddenly, a party ball opened up on the ceiling and confetti rained down as fanfare music started playing. "What the?" Reisen said in surprise.

Immediately, several office employees showed up in front of them and bowed down in their presence. "Welcome to Wario Ware Inc.!"

"Wow! They're really welcoming us here-ze!" Marisa said.

One of the employees then asked, "May the one who found the chairman's dustcloth please step forward."

"That would be me!" Marisa raised her arm as she stepped forward, and then she took it out from her pocket. "It's this one, right-ze?"

The same employee got out a cushion for her to place the dustcloth onto, and then he went back to his line before saying, "And now we shall introduce to you the chairman of this company. You should feel honored to meet him as well as getting the opportunity to tour the company building! May we now present the chairman of WarioWare Inc., Mr. Wario!"

The lights suddenly turned off and a pair of spotlights was directed at an elevator at the end of the place. Drum roll could be heard as the elevator door slid open, revealing the back of an obese person dressed in a white tuxedo and top hat. The person then walked backwards along the red carpet that was laid out before the elevator, and when he was standing in front of the girls, he spun around and struck a pose. "Tadah!"

And that's when the lights came back on.

"Welcome to my proud company!" said the chairman. "I am Wario, the chairman and founder of Wario Ware Inc., the most successful video game industry in Diamond City!"

The girls, however, had a dumbfounded look on their faces when they saw Wario. "Hey… Isn't this guy the same person who almost ran into Marisa…?" Aya pointed out.

"I think he is…" Sanae said.

"Uh? I think I've seen you people before…" Wario said. He narrows his eyes and looked at the girls more closely, especially Marisa. "Wait a minute! You're that girl who made me crash my motorcycle!"

Marisa waved and smiled sheepishly at him. "Um… Hi… We meet again-ze…"

"Tsk! Who would've thought that you're the one who found my favorite dustcloth?" Wario said, sounding rather unimpressed. "Bah, that doesn't matter. Since you've found the dustcloth, I'll give you and your friends a tour around the building as promised."

The employee walked up to Wario and presented him the dustcloth on the cushion. "Is this the one, Chairman Wario?"

Wario picked up the dustcloth and said, "Ah yes! This is the one that I've lost! It's nice to be able to touch it again!" He put it into his pocket and turned to walk away while saying to the girls, "Follow me then. Just don't touch anything unless I give you the permission."

"Why does he value that dustcloth so much?" Cirno asked.

An employee approached her and replied, "That's because the dustcloth was given to him during his birthday by one of our employees here." She then pointed to Mona who was sitting behind the front desk. "According to the chairman, it is the first time he's ever gotten a birthday present, so he values it a lot."

As the girls started to follow Wario, Reisen said, "Um… Do you think we should be doing this?"

"Well, we don't know where to start either, so let's just go with the flow for now," Reimu replied. "Hopefully we can learn something here as well."

And thus the girls followed Wario as he began to give them a tour around the Wario Ware Inc. building.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I had a feeling that people would guess Earthbound arc because of the modern day buildings. Guess what? It turns out to be a Wario arc instead!

But the Wario universe also takes place in the same universe as the Mario series, so how can I do something like this? I never said that each arc must take place in different game franchises. Furthermore, Specter24 did something similar in his version of the story as well, so there is nothing wrong with this. Plus, I'm a big fan of Wario, and I thought he should have his own arc rather than sharing one with Mario.

Hope you can understand this and also look forward to this second arc!

**Next chapter: The Rise to Glory**

**Trivia:  
**1. The lost dustcloth is something of a reference to one of the treasures in Wario Land: Shake It. One of the treasures is actually Wario's embroidered dustcloth, and the description for it is that Wario is confused about why his dustcloth is inside a treasure chest.


	10. The Rise to Glory

**SBS Time!  
SL the Pyro: **I have never played Wario Land: Shake It.  
**Game2002: **Me too, but I always do research on things that I want to write about, which is why I know about the dustcloth being a treasure in that game.

**the1undzeonli1****: **Are you dead? Are you waiting for me? You haven't updated for a while.**  
****Game2002: **I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, but asking that if someone is dead is plain rude. Do you take me for a robot that pump out chapters nonstop? I am only human and it's natural that I don't update for a few days because I have a life out there as well. A three days wait isn't long at all, so please have patience. As for whether or not I was waiting for you, you can just interpret it however you want to, but keep in mind that this story is not written solely for you, but for everyone.

**Chapter 9  
The Rise to Glory**

**

* * *

**

The elevator door of the 10tn floor opened and the eleven girls stepped out and stood outside of it as the door closed again. "Wow! The scenery changed!" Cirno said. "That must be a magic room that changes sceneries of the outside, right?"

"That's an elevator," Sanae explained. "It doesn't change the scenery. Instead, it takes you to different parts of the building, but it can only move up and down. That is how the people of the outside travel between floors if the building is too tall."

"I've always wanted to visit the outside world," Nitori said, "and this is pretty much a dream come true! I can't wait to see what sort of inventions and machines that this world has!"

The elevator door opened again and this time Wario stepped out. "If any of you girls would cut down some weight," he grumbled, "then there's no need for using the elevator twice…"

The girls looked at him with an offended expression and said in their minds, "Tell that to yourself…"

Cirno, however, said it out loud, "But you're much fat…" Before she could finish however, Marisa grabbed her by the mouth to shut her up in fear of offending Wario.

"Ahem… So anyway, this is the 10th floor," Wario, who didn't seem to care about what she was going to say, said after clearing his throat. "We skipped the others floors because they don't have anything special. Plus, it's going to take all day if we go through ever single floor of this 35-stories tall building and I have to go back home and watch TV before six in the evening. All right, this is the R&D floor, and for those who do not have enough brains to understand what it means… It means… I'm sure it means read or die… Or maybe it's…"

"Research and develop?" Sanae said.

"Ah yes, research and develop! I was going to say it in a second if you hadn't brought it up first…"

Marisa bent close to Reimu and whispered to her, "This guy isn't so competent, is he-ze?" Reimu simply shrugged.

Wario led them down the hallway and pointed to the various doors found along the side. "Despite to the lack of employees for whatever reason, we still have a lot of divisions, each of them focusing on different genre of games. Luckily, all our employees here are talented and can get games rushed out in the shortest amount of time, even if lacking. We never delay our games and sometimes even release the game before its intended release date! That way we can satisfy our customers more!"

Sanae raised her hand and asked, "Um… Excuse me… Wouldn't that make the games… rushed and incomplete?"

"I told you that we have talented employees who never fail to make the game flawed even if rushed!" Wario told her. "With me around this place, no products go out of here in a flawed state, unless there is a flaw but I don't know it is one."

As they continued down the hall, a girl with orange pigtails, eyeglasses, and wearing a pink lab coat walked up to them with a folder under her arms and greeted them. "Hello! Welcome to Wario Ware Inc.!"

Wario pointed to the girl and said, "This is one of those talented employees that I spoke of, Penny!"

"Nice to meet you!" Penny greeted the girls with a sweet smile. "My grandfather and I are in charge of developing games from scratch after ideas have been submitted to us! If you want to, I can show you my grandpa's working room."

"That would be a great idea!" Wario said. "C'mon, let's show them!"

Penny guided them through the place and led them to a door. Penny knocked on the door lightly and said, "Grandpa, are you in there?"

There was no reply at all for several seconds, and she knocked again and waited for another reply. There was still no reply…

"Um… Do you think he's…?" Reisen said with a worried look.

"Something shouldn't be wrong with him…" said Penny, starting to look worried too. She tried to open the door herself, but it was locked.

Wario pushed herself aside and said, "Leave this to me! At times like this, a bit of smashing is always useful!" Right after saying this, he shoulder bashed the door and smashed it into pieces.

SMASH!

"Whoa! What strength!" Youmu thought.

When the door was smashed into pieces, they could hear loud music coming from the inside, and when they went in, they saw a partly-mechanical man in a yellow suit doing the robot (a kind of dance) while a blue robot was singing through a microphone next to him.

"My name is Mike, come on, let's robo-karaoke!" the blue robot sang.

The man in yellow continued to dance even after seeing people coming in, and he waved at them and said, "Hello, Penny! Want to join in?"

"Grandpa… There are guests here…" said Penny, looking embarrassed.

"Bah, let him do whatever he wants," Wario said. "As long as it is some sort of method for coming up with game ideas, it won't hurt anyone. Wahaha!

The man stopped dancing and told the robot to turn off the radio. "All right, Mike. Turn it off." He then turned to the girls and cleared his throat. "Ahem… Welcome to the research and development room! I am Dr. Crygor and this is my robotic assistant, Mike!"

The robot waved his arm and said in a style that sounded more like singing, "My name is Mike, come on, let's robo-karaoke!"

Crygor knocked him over the head and said, "Stop singing already!" But then he cried in pain as he hurt his fist from hitting the robot's metallic head. "Ouch…"

Nitori immediately rushed up to Mike and started looking at him from all directions and angles. "Wow! A robot! I can't believe I'm seeing one!" she said with excitement!

"It's nice to know you!" Mike said in a robotic voice. "I'm the world's greatest karaoke robot, Mike!"

"Not bad, eh?" Crygor said to the excited Nitori. "It really shows how much talent I have to make something like this!"

"Sadly, my creator lacks the talent in singing," Mike said.

"Hey!"

"Robot…" Marisa said to herself, and then something came to her. "Hey, Reimu! Didn't you use to have a robotic maid living with you-ze?"

A question mark appeared over Reimu's head. "What?"

"You used to have one, right? I'm sure you had one! Her name is Ruukoto if I remember correctly-ze."

Reimu shook her head though. "Sorry, I don't remember about it."

Crygor then showed them around the room. "Here, you see all kinds of tools that I use for creating video games as well as games in their beta states." Pointing to an indoor bike, he said, "That indoor bike over there is actually a game controller for a video game about bicycles. It's still in its testing phase and will probably take several months to complete."

He then pointed to a white stick that was placed in front of a TV screen showing the image of a featureless polygonal figure armed with a similar-looking stick. "Over here, we are currently developing a new type of controller for a sword-based action game. The game is still very early in development, but the controls schemes are pretty much final. You can go on and try swinging it around it you want to."

"Go on and see what you think about our product!" Wario said to the girls.

Being interested in swordplay, Youmu volunteered to try it out. She picked up the white stick and with a swing of it, the polygonal figure swung its stick as well. "Cool!" she thought.

"It is created to mimic the user's movement entirely as long as the controller is held," Crygor explained. "Go and try out all sorts of action!"

Youmu started swinging the stick around with skill. She did horizontal swings, vertical swings, jumping strikes, and much more. All her actions were mimicked by the polygon model on the screen. "She's swinging the controller in a way as if she is an expert!" Penny pointed out.

"She's a swordswoman after all, so it's obvious," Reimu told her.

"Really? Amazing!"

Youmu continued to swing the stick, but it suddenly flew out from her hand and flew right into Reisen's face. "Ow!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Youmu apologized.

Crygor picked up the stick and said, "Looks like something needs to be done about the stick flying out from the player's hand."

Penny observed the stick and said, "We will also need to add a coating to the handle so that the sweat from the player's hand will not make it slippery."

"So if you're done with this place, why don't we head out to other parts of the building?" Wario asked to the girls. "There are still a lot more stuffs to look at!" With this, he left the room, followed by the girls.

As they were leaving the room one by one, Nitori caught notice of a peculiar machine placed on the table next to the exit. "What does this thing do?" she wondered, and then she pressed a random button on the machine.

When Crygor saw this, he was shocked and desperately tried to stop her. "Don't press that! Don't!"

Too late; Nitori pressed the red button and the machine started rumbling. Fearing for the worst, Nitori quickly slipped out of the room and closed the door. She caught up with the others and Remilia said to her, "What were you doing?"

"Nothing…" she said nervously.

KAAABOOOOOOOOM!!!!

"What was that?" Alice asked while the others looked around with confusion.

"Oh, that happens quite often whenever one of Crygor's inventions isn't working properly," Wario said. "Just ignore it; everything will be all right."

* * *

Wario brought the girls to the 12th floor and said to them, "This is the testing room. It means when the games are created, they are brought here and tested by our testers to see if everything is going properly. If any bugs are discovered, the game must be reworked on immediately."

He led them into a room where a short kid with a helmet and a large guy was. "This is 9-Volt and 18-Volt, our head testers of video games," Wario explained to them.

The two people turned around from the TV screen and greeted the girls. "Hello!"

Wario approached them and asked, "What are you playing?"

"We're playing New Super Wario Brothers," 9-Volt said to him. "So far, there are no flaws with the game. It looks good enough to go gold anytime soon!"

"That's good to hear! That means profit will come in faster! Wahahahaha!"

"Hey, how do you get across here?" 18-Volt asked. They looked at the screen and saw the Wario-lookalike on the screen had come to a huge gap. "I tried jumping across it several times already but kept on failing!"

"Let me try," 9-Volt took the controller from him and tried to jump over the gap, but failed as well. "This doesn't look possible…"

"A flaw in design, don't you think?" Wario thought. "Just take it to Crygor and have him do something about it, and since we have customers here, you might as well let them try out some of the games themselves!" He turned to the girls and said, "So what would you like to play?"

"Um… We're not very knowledgeable about games…" Marisa said. "So you can just recommend us whatever you see fit-ze."

9-Volt took out a game cover showing a muscular guy with a gun and said, "How about you try out Boom? It's a really fun first-person shooter!"

The game was then set up and Reisen volunteered to try out the game. "You go through the maze and shoot down the bad guys," 9-Volt told her. "You will need to find keys that will help you go through locked doors as well. To complete a stage, you will need to find the switch that will make it happen when you pulled."

"I played a game very similar to this before," Sanae pointed out.

"Some rip-off, maybe," Wario said.

"But that game was released five years ago…"

9-Volt then got out another game cover that showed a martial artist in a fighting stance. "Want to try out Path Fighter? It's a really awesome fighting game!"

After changing games, Meiling tried out the fighting game this time and chose a character which was a girl dressed in Chinese outfit. Despite this being her first time playing video games, Meiling managed to defeat her CPU-controlled opponent, a policeman-lookalike dressed in red, with ease and then proceeded to dominate every single opponent afterwards. "You're pretty good!" Remilia commented.

"You know," Wario said, "I think we should tweak the CPU's A.I. a bit. It seems too easy and people will complain about this."

9-Volt nodded and said, "I agree." He then got out another game cover, this one showing the picture of a jet flying through space. "How about trying out Cradius? It's one of the best shoot'em ups I've ever played!"

As this game was a two-player game, Reimu and Marisa tried it. On the screen, it showed a pair of jets flying through space shooting down hordes of enemy spaceships while dodging a massive amount of bullets. "This reminds me of a good ol' danmaku match-ze!" Marisa said, and Reimu nodded as response.

"Hmmm… I think we should tone down the difficulty somewhat," Wario suggested. "People are going to complain that it's too hard."

"But I thought people like hard games…" 18-Volt said.

"I think the difficulty is fine though," Reimu said.

"Okay, if that's what you say…" Wario said. "The customers are always right as long as they are willing to pay money."

9-Volt once again got out another game, this time showing the picture of a young man armed with a sword and shield, "This one is Legend of Selda. It's an adventure game."

This time Sanae played the game and she progressed smoothly through the first dungeon. "This is pretty fun!" she said. "But it plays a lot like another game I've played in the past."

"Another rip-off, I bet," Wario said.

As the controlled character, young man dressed in green, got closer to a door with a large lock, 9-Volt told Sanae, "Be careful, you are reaching the boss now. Get ready…"

The door closed behind the controlled character, and then suddenly in front of him, a giant, monstrous frog fell down from the air and croaked menacingly, and there was a name tag underneath it that wrote:

_Giant Enemy Frog  
Wart_

"Frog!!" Cirno exclaimed excitedly. Without thinking twice, she fired an ice beam from her palm, aiming for the frog, but the entire TV froze over instead. Wario, 9-Volt, and 18-Volt was surprised by this but the girls looked at Cirno with angry expressions, and the ice fairy only smiled sheepishly in response.

* * *

Soon after this, Wario led the girls through the 20th floor. "I was going to make you pay if it wasn't because Crygor is around here to fix it," Wario grumbled.

"Sorry about this…" Reimu apologized to him while lowering her head over and over in shame. Way in the back, one could see Cirno with a large painful-looking bump on her head.

"Anyway, this is the leisure room," Wario explained. "During break time, employees would come here for entertainment. There's a playroom built for two particular employees of ours as well as a disco room where another employee of ours enjoy going too."

A pair of little girls came running past them, accompanied by a dog and a falcon. The little girls suddenly returned and bowed down politely. "Nice to meet you!" After that, they introduced themselves.

"I'm Kat!" said the girl with pink hair, and then she pointed to the dog. "And this is my dog, Shadow!"

"I'm Ana, and this is Shuriken!" the orange-haired girl said, and she pointed to the falcon as well.

"Nice to meet you!" Sanae greeted them.

"They may be young, but they sure know a lot when it comes to 1EE7 ninja skills," Wario said.

"They work here despite being that young?!" Reisen said in disbelief.

"You better believe it! Everyone in my company is a prodigy! Wahahahaha!"

"We'll show you our ninja skills," Kat said. The two girls got out balls in their hands, and when they threw it onto the floor, a cloud of smoke was released and then they were nowhere in sight afterwards, including their pets.

The girls and Wario stood there with their eyes gazed at where the ninja girls used to be, but Kat and Ana never returned, as well as their pets. "Well… They're probably frolicking around somewhere in the building," Wario said. "Let's just get going." And then they went on their way again.

As they continued through the place, they heard music coming from behind a door. Wario brought them there and opened the room which was somewhat dark, but was lit up by a disco ball which was giving off various colors, and underneath the disco was a man with a large blue afro breaking it down. Seeing people coming into the room, the man walked towards them in a rhythmic manner and said in a style that sounded like rapping, "Hey, baby! What's up? I'm Jimmy T.! It's nice to meet you, fine ladies!"

"How long have you been dancing here?" Wario asked him.

"Lost count of time, man!" replied Jimmy, still dancing to the beat of the music. "I have no care of the time when it comes to breaking down! Woohoo! Gotta dance!"

"Geez! You're going to cost me a mountain with the electricity that you're wasting on pointless music and dancing! Go to the clubhouse if you really want to go crazy!"

"I wish to, but it's working hour, so skipping work is a big no-no!"

"And it's not like you've ever done anything useful here to begin with! Argh… Just do you what you want!" Wario grumbled before taking his leave with the girls. "I sometimes wonder why I hire him…"

"And you said earlier that only talented people work in your company," Remilia said.

"I'm sure he has his own talents," Youmu said.

* * *

The tour went on through the remaining floors. As they traveled down the corridor, a black-haired girl dressed in red came past them and simply bowed her head a bit before continuing on her way, and she was accompanied by a devil-like creature.

"That's Ashley," Wario told them. "She's not much of a talker, but she knows a lot about magic."

"I can tell that she's a witch," Marisa said. "That's because I'm one myself-ze!"

"Yeah, whatever," Wario said, sounding uninterested.

Ashley looked at them from behind and took notice of Shanghai who was closely following Alice. "That flying doll is one of the ingredients I'm looking for," she said in a soft and somewhat eerie-sounding voice.

"It is?" the devil, Red, said. "All right, I'll go get it for you!" And then he followed them around the corner to go after the doll.

When he caught up with Shanghai, he grabbed her by an arm and started pulling her back through the air. "Come with me! My mistress wants you!"

Shanghai then struggled with him and broke out of his grasp and returned to Alice, who didn't look very pleased at what she saw. "What do you think you're doing to Shanghai?" Alice asked in an angry-sounding voice while giving him a death glare.

"Um… I can explain…" Red said while trembling in fear.

"You shall have no forgiveness," Alice said as she raised an arm. A club appeared in Shanghai's hands and the doll flew after the fleeing devil, but Red was unable to escape fast enough and Shanghai swung the club at him, sending him through the hallway until he hit the wall.

CRASH!

The club disappeared and Shanghai returned to Alice who turned to follow the others. Red pulled himself out of the wall and returned to Ashley who was flipping through a book. "I'm sorry…" he apologized to her. "I failed…"

"Never mind," Ashley replied. "I got it wrong. That doll isn't the ingredient I'm looking for."

* * *

The tour went all the way to the 30th floor and Wario said to them, "Now let us go and watch a slideshow presentation that depicts my life up until the day I rose to my glory! I'm sure you will enjoy it!"

The headed down the place for the door that led to the theater. The door then opened and a mole, a duck, and a short, round creature came out, pushing along a trolley that contained cleaning equipments. "How's the theater?" Wario asked them.

"It's clean," the mole replied. "You can use it as you wish."

"Okay," Wario said, giving a nod of approval. "Go and continue keeping this place clean."

As the three janitors went on their way, Wario took the girls into the theater and pointed to the chairs. "Go ahead and take a seat," he said. "I'll go get the presentation ready."

After Wario went into another room at the corner, the girls took their seats and Aya said, "I have never been exposed to stuffs of the outside world this much! I'm totally enjoying this!"

"Me too! I really like what I have seen so far!" Nitori said happily. "I've always wanted to see the interesting machines of the outside world, and I've seen a lot today! This is without doubt a dream come true!"

"Even though this place looks just like the outside world," Sanae said, "I have never been into a large company like this. It feels excited to be able to know how video games are created! Looking at the amount of hard work they are inputting, I feel sorry for the negative aspects I brought up for certain games in the past…"

"Some people cannot truly appreciate things unless they see for themselves how it is done," Youmu said.

"You should thank me then!" Marisa said. "If I hadn't gone to that store and buy that… thingamajig, none of you would be able to come here-ze!"

Reimu shifted her eyes to an excited Cirno and said to her, "If a frog ever shows up on the screen, DO NOT freeze it."

"Okay! I won't!" Cirno said, raising an arm.

* * *

Waluigi was having a sweet dream. He dreamed that he managed to bring down Wario from his position as the chairman and then claim the seat for himself. He stood atop the desk and laughed at the sight of the world that was before him. At long last, the world is under his control!

Sadly, the happiness didn't last long as he was abruptly awakened when Wario smacked him over the head. Waluigi raised his head from the table and said, "What's the big idea?!"

"Get to work!" Wario said to him. "There are audiences outside waiting to see the slideshow of my life! Don't keep them waiting!"

"All right, all right…" Waluigi grumbled as he started working on the controls.

Wario went back outside and looked at the screen, and nodded when pictures started to show up. "Good," he said. He walked in front of the girls and said to them, "Ladies and… even more ladies… You are now about to go through the passage of time and witness the kind of life that I lived! I hope you enjoy everything that you see on the screen!"

Cirno cheered and clapped her hands. "Hooray!"

The first thing that appeared on the screen was the title screen that wrote _Wario: The Rise to Glory_.

The picture then changed to Wario when he was a baby. "Awwww, ain't that cute?" Wario said. "I look handsome even as a toddler!"

"He looks ugly even as a baby-ze…" Marisa said under her breath.

Next, the screen showed Wario when he was about 5 years old. "Ah, that's me when I was getting ready to enter kindergarten," Wario explained. "Look at that cute uniform and the hat! Don't I look adorable in it? And let's not forget that lovely runny nose! How I remember the days when I would run around flinging my snot at people. Ah, there cries are so pleasant to my ears and how I want to hear them again!"

"This guy is sick…" Reisen thought.

"Hooray!" Cirno said, clapping her hands.

The next slide showed Wario standing next to a person that resembled Mario when he was younger. "Ah, that bastard of a mankind, Mario!" Wario said, starting to sound angry. "How I remember the days when we used to play together and he always get the upper hand on me! It makes me fume every time I think of it!"

"Mario?!" the girls said in shock.

"Hooray!" Cirno exclaimed, clapping her hands.

"Of course, you all know who he is!" Wario said, sounding unimpressed. "Everyone knows who Mario is! That guy is probably the number one most famous people in the world! He's done lots of heroic stuffs and people praise him for it. Yet nobody ever praises the much better-looking person that is me…"

"Yeah right…" Aya mumbled under her breath.

As Wario continued on with the slideshow, Marisa bent close to Reimu and whispered to her, "Wow, I've never thought that this guy knew Mario-ze!"

"And I was thinking that his name sounds a lot like Mario's name," Reimu replied.

"That brings up the question… Does this mean this place takes place in the same world as Mushroom Kingdom?"

Before Reimu could reply, Wario brought up another picture that showed him riding a go-kart and all around him were familiar people such as Mario, Luigi, Peach, and even Bowser. "Oh yes, the Mario Kart Competition," Wario said. "That Mario just had to take the first place from me… Every time when it looked like I was going to get first place, someone would have the guts to toss me a red shell or even worse, a blue shell! I wish those items never existed in the first place… But then it would be no fun if I cannot use it against other people…"

"Excuse me," Reimu said, raising her hand. "May I ask something?"

"What is it?" Wario said to her.

"Does Mushroom Kingdom exist in the same world as this place?"

"What kind of question is that? Mushroom Kingdom is perhaps the most well known country in the world thanks to Mario! Have you been living underneath a rock or what?"

"Just asking…"

"Looks to be the case-ze," Marisa said.

"And this is the account of how I came to be as the chairman of my own company," Wario said when the slideshow showed him sitting on a sofa. "I was watching TV one day and noticed that video games are selling very well nowadays, and thus I decided to start my own video game company. The rest is pretty straightforward if you know what I mean."

"That's all?" Aya asked. "I was thinking that you suffered greatly to get your business to its current state. There's no drama in this!"

"Bah, dramas are for sissies!" Wario said. "A real man knows what it takes to build up his company in a single go!"

The slideshow continued on as usual until it came to a picture of Wario sitting on top of Mario's back and the fat man was giving a three-finger peace sign with each hand. "That's the only known photo of me owning Mario in the Smash Brothers Tournament," Wario explained. "As you would expect, that guy took one of the top three spots in the tournament even though I should've gotten it! At least I did get a high spot…"

"Smash Brothers Tournament?!" the girls said in shock.

"Hooray!" Cirno said, clapping her hands.

The next picture showed what appears to be an extreme close-up of Wario with his mouth wide open and to his right was someone who resembled a blue penguin, also with an open mouth. "Oh, you might be wondering about this picture of my beautiful face," Wario said. "Of course, it would have been more beautiful if that blasted self-proclaimed penguin king wasn't in the way. Anyway, we jumped in at the last second as the cameraman was taking the shot, thus ruining what was believed to be the best picture ever taken. That's not true; I think this version is much better. Now if only that penguin wasn't there…"

After that, it was a pitch black screen with the word _The End_ shown. "And that's the end of the slideshow!" Wario said, taking a bow. "I hope you enjoyed everything that you've seen!"

"Hooray!" Cirno said, clapping her hands. The others also clapped, even though they didn't really find it as impressing as they thought it would be.

"There's another thing I want to ask you, Mr. Chairman," Reimu said to Wario. "You were in the Smash Brothers Tournament, right?"

"Yeah," Wario replied. "So what's about it?"

"Well, if you don't mind…" Reimu began, "there is something that we have to tell you…"

* * *

Meanwhile, the elevator door of the 35th floor opened and the mole, the duck, and the short, round creature stepped out from it and into the office room, pushing along their trolley that contained cleaning equipments.

"Okay, let's get started with our real purpose here. Heeheehee!" the mole said with a suspicious grin.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I always found it weird that Waluigi never appears in the Wario Ware series asides from a small cameo in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. If I remember correctly, he makes a cameo in the microgame that involves scaring people away with a poop, unless I'm just seeing things. It would be nice if someone can confirm this. Anyway, that's why I threw him into this place even if he won't have a major role.

Due to increased college work, update may or may not become slower, so please do not urge me to update fast. Even if the wait can take a while, you can be sure that I will without doubt finish this story until the very end. Thank you!

**Next chapter: Targeted Castle Tragedy**

**Trivia:  
**1. Ruukoto is introduced in Touhou 3 as Reimu's maid and is also the only robot (and a nuclear-powered one to boot, predating Utusho by 11 years as a nuclear-based character) in the whole series (not counting Lotus Tank and Evil Eye Sigma since they are vehicles). However, she is a victim of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome as she appears only in one game and is never heard from again. Chuck Cunningham Syndrome is a term referring to prominent characters that disappear from the series without an explanation and is pretty much never mentioned again, to the point where it seems that such a character never existed in the first place.

2. In fact, majority of the characters from Touhou 1 to 5 have disappeared ever since. Reimu, Marisa, Alice, and another character named Yuka are the only characters from the first five games to continue showing up in future installments. Mima and Genji's disappearance boggled people the most as they were also considered main characters alongside Reimu and Marisa, yet they were never heard from again after the fifth game. Because of this, people wonder if the events of the first five games have been retconned from continuity.

3. Mima did make a recent appearance on one of the official music CD covers, but that's it. According to an interview with the series creator, ZUN, Genji is currently living a peaceful life at a lake near Hakurei Shrine.

4. The shot depicting Wario and that certain blue penguin is a reference to a snapshot found on the website Brawl Snapshot, and that snapshot is, in turn, a parody of a Far Side comic strip. At least that's what the picture's poster claims since I have never seen that particular strip before.

5. The titles of the games should all be obvious parodies to existing game series. But in case some people don't know:  
New Super Wario Bros. / New Super Mario Bros.  
Boom / Doom  
Path Fighter / Street Fighter  
Cradius / Gradius  
Legend of Selda / Legend of Zelda

6. Mike is singing his theme song from Wario Ware: Touched, and that same song is also in SSBB. I like to imagine that he's singing the original version as it fits his voice more.


	11. Targeted Castle Tragedy

**SBS Time!  
the1undzeonli1**: I'm sorry. I will sacrifice Lucario and Lucas to the great god Flandre Scarlet.  
**Game2002: **You don't have to do that because I'm not angry with you at all. Also, Flandre isn't a goddess and you should be seeking the one true God who created the universe instead.

I made a minor correction to the preview title in the previous chapter. Yeah, it's nothing big, but I feel like saying this just to let you know how the title should be like.

**Chapter 10  
Targeted Castle Tragedy**

**

* * *

**

Reimu had finished explaining everything to Wario, from how they came here to the World Light being broken. "And that is why we are here," Reimu concluded, "to look for the Light Essence of this world."

Wario listened with little interest however. "Oho, so you sure have an interesting back story, but it's not like I'm the kind of person to be touched by such drama."

"You're no fun…" Aya said. "Normally, a girl would cry after hearing such a tragic story and become brokenhearted, and that's when the man of her dreams places his arm over her shoulder to comfort her."

"You're getting out of the line there…" Reisen said to her.

"So basically," Wario said, "you're here to look for a essence, right?" Reimu nodded, and then Wario continued saying, "Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. Even if I happen to have something like that with me, I wouldn't know it either. I don't even know what a essence looks like for crying out loud!"

"Well, the one we got looks like a mushroom," Reimu said. "Perhaps the essence is supposed to resemble something from the world it is found in, or maybe they all look like mushrooms… I don't have an idea really."

"If it's a mushroom you're looking for, why don't you go to the supermarket and buy one from there? They have all sorts of vegetable you can think of over there!"

"Then let's go!" Cirno suggested.

"I don't think that will help…" Sanae said.

"So you really don't have a essence with you or anything that might be it?" Reimu asked Wario again.

"How many times must I tell you this?" Wario replied, starting to sound annoyed. "I don't know any essence, and even if I do have one, I wouldn't know it either!"

"Perhaps you can try to think back whether or not you have found something peculiar?" Youmu suggested.

Wario placed his hand under his chin and started to go through his 'memory bank' to see if he can think of anything. "Nah, can't really remember anything," he said. "I've been on treasure hunts often in the past and there's really nothing very special asides from gold, silver, and jewelry. Well, there's this black diamond I once found, but that thing turned out to be a monster and it even took over my castle, changing all my treasures into monsters! Good thing I taught them all a lesson and returned everything back to normal. Asides from that, I don't remember having found anything peculiar."

Reimu let out a sigh and said, "All right… We won't bother you if you really can't help us. Sorry about this…"

"Yeah, so don't bring that up again. There's one more place I would like to show you," Wario said scratched the side of his nose.

* * *

On the 35th floor, the mole, the duck, and the round creature were flipping through the room looking for something. The mole—Guragura—opened the drawer and said to the duck, "D.D., have you found it yet?"

"Nope," the duck—D.D.—told him while pulling up a houseplant from its pot. "I doubt he would hide it in a place where you can find it so easily."

"Hmmm… Where can he be hiding it then?" Guragura wondered. "There's got to be a place where he hides that thing!"

"We better act fast," the round creature—Pirate Goom—said while searching through the wastebasket. "That guy might return when you least expect it, and you won't like it if he finds out what we are doing."

"Right," D.D. said. "Plus, we shouldn't keep our captain waiting. I know she's not the kind of person to get angry on her subordinates for tardiness, but we should still show her that we are capable of completing things on time to gain her trust." D.D. walked around the room to look for suspicious things. He then looked up and noticed something. "Hey guys! I think that's the one!"

Guragura and Pirate Goom ran up to him and looked up to see what he was pointing to, and on the ceiling they saw a safe embedded into the ceiling. "That must be it!" D.D. said, "To think that he would hide the safe up there!"

"And we never noticed it when we came in!" Goom said.

"C'mon, let's get it fast!" Guragura said. "Luckily I'm good at cracking safes, so it shouldn't take too long."

D.D. ran to the trolley and took down the large wastebasket and then placed it upside down. Guragura then climbed onto the top of the basket and tried to reach for the safe, but he wasn't tall enough. "Can you reach it, Guragura?" D.D. asked.

"Need a spear?" Goom said, taking out a spear in his hand.

"That's not going to work," Guragura said. "I'm going to go straight to the cracking process." He jumped down from the wastebasket and flipped it over, and then reached into to get out a spiked ball attached to chain. He flailed the ball-and-chain in his hand several times and then swung it at the safe, hitting it with such a force that the ceiling broke and the safe crashed down onto the floor.

CRASH!

They flipped the safe over and D.D. said, "Looks like the safe didn't really crack open…"

"It's more durable than I think after all…" Guragura said.

"We don't have time! Let's just take the whole thing with us to the captain!" Goom suggested.

His two partners agreed and thus they loaded the safe into the wastebasket along with the ball-and-chain. After sweeping the floor, they placed the wastebasket back onto the trolley and headed for the elevator, but the elevator door suddenly opened and Wario stepped out with some of the girls. Meiling, Reisen, Alice, and Youmu were the ones missing. "What are you doing here?" Wario asked the three fake janitors.

"Um… Cleaning your office…" Guragura replied nervously.

"Oh, then I hope you did a good job with it. Go on and continue with your stuff then!" Wario said.

"Yes, boss!" the trio said before heading into the elevator.

"But the others are still waiting on the lower floor," Nitori said.

"They can wait," Wario told her. "It's not like the elevator can be used only once. Anyway, this is my office. What do you think of it?"

The office was a large square-shaped room with a large wooden desk placed at the far end of the room and the windows were behind it. In fact, windows lined up all along the wall as if it was entirely made up of glass.

"Nice place-ze!" Marisa commented.

"Do you mind if I take some pictures?" Aya said, holding up her camera.

"Do as you wish," Wario said to her. "Leave yourself a good memory of this place! Oh, if you would excuse me for a second…"

Wario walked over to his desk and reached his hand to a miniature TV and pressed a button on it. "Orbulon," he said. "How is the income?"

The screen turned on and showed a skinny, white alien with shades. "This is the income statistics based on recent sells," Orbulon said his usual digitalized voice, and then the screen showed a line graph.

"Hmmm… Okay, it seems to be doing fine," Wario said. "We'll probably have to come up with better marketing strategies in order to increase the sells. All right, go and get busy. Try to come up with ways to make our products sell better."

"I will get to it at once," Orbulon replied.

The screen turned off and Wario returned to the girls. "Just went to check on sells income. This is what doing business is all about, you know?"

"Excuse me," Cirno asked. "But why is there a hole on the ceiling?"

"What?" Wario asked curiously. Cirno pointed to the ceiling and so he looked up and was surprised to see a large hole up there. "What the?! Where did that come from?! And that's where I hid the safe containing the key to my treasure vault back in my castle!"

"Your castle?" Aya said curiously.

Wario looked at the floor and was even more surprised to see a large crack on it. "What happened!? Did the safe fall down or what?!" Wario said in shock.

"You know… Those three janitors were in this room just now…" Sanae said. "Maybe they know something?"

"Wait a second…" Wario ran up to his desk and reached for his portrait. After pulling down a white screen in front of the window, he pressed a secret button on the back of the picture frame and the eyes of the portrait shined an image onto the white screen.

"Wow! Neat!" Aya commented.

"I've installed a security camera into this portrait," Wario explained. "It will record down everything that happened in this room and then I can replay it again if ever I think something happened here before. Now let's see what exactly happened."

The projection revealed everything that happened a few minutes ago. Wario watched with shock as he realized that the three janitors were searching through his room, finally noticing the safe, tearing it down, and then running off with it just as he was stepping out of the elevator with the girls.

"Whoa… So they are thieves after all," Marisa thought. "Stealing isn't nice-ze." This made her friends stare at her.

Wario trembled violently and even crushed the portrait in his hands. "Why those bastards!" he growled. "They're heading for my castle, aren't they? I'm going to show them that they have stolen from the wrong person!"

Just then, the elevator door opened and the remaining four girls stepped inside. "Sorry for coming a bit slow," Youmu said. "The elevator took a while to come…"

Wario rushed up to them and asked, "Did you encounter three bastards while you were waiting for the elevator?"

"Um… No… But I did notice that the number shown on the black screen reaching all the way to number one…"

"They think they can run from me?!" Wario said angrily. "NOBODY GETS OUT OF HERE ALIVE AFTER STEALING MY THINGS!!!" He didn't bother to use the elevator as that would waste a lot of time, so he ran to the emergency stairs instead.

At the top of the staircase, Wario curled up his body and then proceeded to roll down the stairs. When he crashed into the wall, he rebounded to the side and continued down the stairs as if he was a pinball bouncing around inside the pinball machine. The girls watched as he went down the stairs in a bizarre manner and Reisen said, "Whoa… Won't he feel a lot of pain going down like this…?"

"What happened?" Meiling asked.

"Someone stole his precious thing," Alice replied.

* * *

The three thieves managed to make it to the first floor and were running for the exit as fast as they could. "Yes! We've made it!" Guragura said. "Now we just have to meet up with the captain who has car parked out there somewhere and then run!"

"That guy will never catch up!" D.D. said.

Suddenly, they all heard a loud crash as the door to the emergency stairs burst open and Wario came rolling out. He stopped after rolling into the wall on the other side and then yelled at them, "THE THREE OF YOU!!! STOP WHERE YOU ARE AT ONCE!!!"

"Um… Is there anything wrong, Chairman Wario?" Mona asked, confused and surprised.

"Cripes… He found out…" Pirate Goom said.

"Just run!" Guragura said, and the three of them pushed the trolley out of the building as fast as they could.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!" Wario shouted as he started to give chase.

Shortly after the trio ran out of the building, a larger version of Pirate Goom showed up at the door with a spear in his hand. "Buy us some time, Giant Spear Man!" Pirate Goom said to his larger replica.

"Don't worry," the GSM said. "The captain is waiting down the street, so move fast!" He then turned to the incoming Wario and said to him, "I am the Giant Spear Man and you shall not pass!"

"OUT OF THE WAY!!!" Wario shouted. Before the GSM could do anything, Wario did a powerful charging headbutt into his face and the GSM was sent shooting backwards and all the way across the street until he crashed through a shopping window. Luckily, no cars or pedestrians were in the way when he went flying.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!

Everyone outside was shocked at what happened just now. They ran up to the store and looked through the shattered window to see the Giant Spear Man passed out on a pile of clothes at the back of the store.

Wario came out from his office building and looked around for the three thieves, and then he saw them loading the safe onto the back seat of a light brown car. "Hey you!!" Wario yelled. "Get that thing off your dirty car at once! It's an order!"

The driver of the car then turned to look at Wario and gave him a wink. Immediately, Wario recognized who the person is. "You! It's you!"

"Of course you remember me," the woman on the car said. "Looks like I got a one up on you again! I'll be opening the safe in order to obtain the key to your treasure vault back in your castle! Try to catch up if you can!"

"You're not running anyway, you dirty pirate girl!" Wario shouted. He tried to run after the car, but the woman stepped on the gas pedal immediately after her three subordinates got onto the car and zoomed off, releasing lots of smoke from the exhaust pipe in the process and blinded Wario. "Ack! Cough! Gack!"

By the time Wario was able to see again, the car was already a tiny speck that was disappearing over the street. "COME BACK HERE, YOU SCALLYWAG!!!" he yelled. "I'M GOING TO SMASH YOU LIKE HOW I SMASH ROCKS WITH MY FIST IF I FINALLY CATCH UP WITH YOU!!!!"

As he was shouting, the girls of Gensokyo rushed out from the office building to meet him. "What happened?" Reimu asked him.

"That dirty pirate Captain Syrup ran off with the key to my treasure vault!" Wario replied angrily. "This is no time to relax! I'm going to go back to my castle and stop her before she steals anything!"

"You have a castle-ze?" Marisa asked curiously.

"Yes, and I used to live there," Wario explained as he headed for his office building, "but since then, I have moved to this place, though I still go back there once in a while, usually during holidays."

After he disappeared back into the office building, the girls started talking among themselves. "So what do we do now?" Sanae asked.

"We didn't really learn anything regarding the Light Essence from him," Reimu said. "Obviously he's really not much help to us."

"But we're left with nowhere else to go either," Reisen reminded her. "I doubt we can find the essence so easily in a huge place like this."

"Maybe we should follow him to his castle?" Youmu suggested. "Who knows? We might be able to find the essence there! Of course, it's not a sure thing, but we should give any opportunity we have a try."

"I would say that this is a better idea than staying out here in the sun," Remilia said as she shielded herself from the sunlight using her parasol.

Wario came back out from the office building, this time wearing purple suspenders over a yellow shirt and not to mention sporting a yellow hat with his initial on the front it. He jumped onto his motorcycle that was parked at the street and started its engines before taking off. "He's leaving!" Nitori said.

"Hey, ya need a ride?" said a familiar-sounding voice. They turned around to see Dribble and Spitz standing next to their taxi cab.

Reimu turned to her friends and said, "So do you all agree on following Wario to his castle?"

* * *

Wario sped down the lonely street at top speed, hoping to catch up with Captain Syrup. The villain was not in sight however, which likely means that she made it to the castle already. "She must've taken the warp pipe!" Wario thought. "Darn it! I'm not going to let her get away with this!"

Not too far behind him, Dribble's taxi cab was moving as fast as it could to catch up with the speeding motorcycle. Inside the cab, Marisa and Reimu were crammed together at the front seat next to Dribble while the others were crammed together at the back seats. Meiling and Reisen were once again placed into the car trunk. Aya and Cirno using their wings to fly after the taxi cab and Spitz once again found himself holding for his life onto the taxi sign. "Please don't let this happen again in the future!" the cat cried. "Meow!!!"

Cirno suddenly came down next to him and grabbed the sign with one hand. "Weeeee! This is fun!" she exclaimed as the wind blew into her face and pushed her hair back.

"How can this be fun?!"

Inside, Dribble said to the girls, "Don't worry; I have a good idea on where the chairman is heading to. He's definitely heading for the warp pipe which serves as a shortcut to Kitchen Island."

"Kitchen Island?" Reimu asked curiously. "Ow! You're crushing my legs, Marisa!"

"Can't be helped if you're the one being sat on-ze," Marisa said to her.

"That's the island his castle is located on," Dribble explained. "The island itself actually isn't too far off the coast from here, but taking the warp pipe will get you there in an instant!"

After a few minutes of driving, Wario eventually steered off the street and headed for the rough terrain on the side and went through the bushes. The taxi cab stopped at where he veered off and the girls all got out, helping Reisen and Meiling out from the trunk as well. "Just go through those bushes and you will find the warp pipe," Dribble told them.

"Thanks for the ride," Reimu said to him, and then she said to her friends, "C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

Wario came out from the bushes and stopped his motorcycle next to a light brown car. "This is her car all right," he thought. Stepping down from his motorcycle, he looked at the car's back seat and saw that the safe is open. "Curses… She's gotten the key… I better get to the castle fast!" He turned around to face the green warp pipe and readied to jump inside when suddenly the girls rushed up to him.

"Wait a minute! We're going with you!" Reimu said.

"What for?" Wario asked them.

"Well, you gave us a tour, so we thought we might as well pay you back somehow-ze," Marisa replied.

"I hope you don't mind if we help you out a bit," Sanae said.

"Do what you want! I don't have time to chat with you!" Wario grumpily replied before jumping into the warp pipe.

"We'll take that as a yes," Reimu said before climbing onto the warp pipe and jumping into it. Her friends then jumped in one by one.

* * *

In the center of the plains of Kitchen Island, a massive and majestic castle stood there with its flag bearing Wario's initial flowing gently in the breeze.

Captain Syrup and her three lackeys were seen approaching from the distance, heading for the castle. "There it is!" the pirate captain said. "With the key in our hands, we will be able to take all his treasures!"

"It looks like we've won this time!" Pirate Goom said.

"But what if Wario shows up?" D.D. asked.

"You do not have to worry about that," Syrup assured him, "Because we have that with us!" She pointed at the sky to show them that a large mechanical spear man was flying along with them. "With that on our side, there's no way that guy can beat us! We'll going to take away his treasures and maybe even claim his castle as our own!"

"Yeah! That's our captain!" Guragura said cheerfully.

As they got closer and closer to the castle, they noticed someone standing at the castle's entrance. "Hey, there's someone over there," D.D. pointed out. "A guard?"

"We'll just make a short work out of him," Guragura said, beginning to wind up his ball-and-chain.

They ran up to the castle and looked at the short person covered in a red hood that was standing in front of the door. "If you are the gatekeeper," Syrup said to him, "then you better leave at once or else we will have to resort to using violence on you!"

The hooded person simply snickered at her verbal threat. "Geeheeheeheehee! Nice castle this is!" he said. "Fawful likes what is in there! I have chortles! Geeheeheehee!" And then he walked away.

The four of them watched with a puzzled look as the hooded person disappeared around the corner of the castle. "Who was that guy?" Pirate Goom wondered.

"Should we do something about him?" Guragura asked.

"If he's not trying to stop us, let's just ignore him," Syrup said. "Anyway, let's go inside. She ran up to the door and took out a picklock to use it to unlock the door. Once the door was open, they quickly ran inside.

Once inside, they looked around to see large staircases leading to the second floor and there were golden statues of Wario situated around the place. "Man, this guy sure is rich to have statues made of pure gold!" D.D. said.

"And all his wealth will become ours in a moment!" Syrup reminded him. Pointing to the staircase that led downwards, she said, "The treasure vault must be down there. Let's go!"

They rushed down the winding staircase until they eventually came to a massive steel door. "Whoa, what a massive door…" Pirate Goom said in awe.

"Only to be opened with ease using this!" Syrup said as she stepped forward with a golden key that she obtained from the safe. Inserting the key into the lock that is a bit too small compared to the massive door, she turned the key and the door was unlocked just like that.

She then snapped her finger and the mechanical spear man from earlier descended from the flight of stairs. The four of them got out of the way as the spear man stood in front of the door and raised his shield that was coated with spikes on the front side, and then a burst of fire came out the engines on its back and the spear man charged into the door, pushing it open with ease now that the lock was undone.

SLAM!

With the door opened, the four ran inside and were amazed by the piles and piles of treasures that lied before their eyes.

"WOW!!!! This is a lot of treasure!" D.D. exclaimed

"I've never though he would be this rich!" Guragura said in surprise. "This totally exceeded my expectations!"

"Man! We can live for a hundred years without going poor at all with this much wealth!" Pirate Goom said.

"See, what did I tell you?" Syrup said to them. "And now all these belong to us! If we can't take them all, we'll make this place ours instead!"

Suddenly, the piles of treasure started to shake by themselves, which was strange as there was no earthquake happening. "Hey, why are the treasures shaking?" Goom asked.

"This is strange…" Syrup thought as she looked left to right.

The treasure piles continued to rumble, and then they released a large amount of light that quickly engulfed the whole place, blinding the eyes of the four people. "Ya! What's happening?!" D.D. cried, closing his hands over his eyes.

"My shades aren't doing anything!" Guragura cried, covering his hands over his shades.

The treasure vault was completely engulfed within the white light, and the four people could do nothing but shield their eyes and scream. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

* * *

Wario and the others finally arrived at the castle and the fat man obviously wasn't pleased to see that the castle door was open. "Argh! They're inside already!" he growled with frustration. "They better still be inside so I can send them all flying out of here empty-handed!"

"Wow! This castle is huge!" Aya said while taking pictures of the castle, "Almost as big as Princess Peach's castle, but smaller than Bowser's."

"Hey, are you coming in?" Nitori said to Aya as everyone was already entering the castle, so the tengu quickly followed them.

Once inside the castle, the girls looked around the place and marveled at the beauty of the interior as it was made from high quality materials and decorated with expensive accessories. "Wow! This place is beautiful!" Marisa exclaimed. "It's probably even more beautiful than Princess Peach's castle-ze!"

"Of course it's more beautiful than her castle!" Wario said. "Her royal castle may be splendid, but nothing can beat my beautiful castle that I wished from a genie! Wait a second… I don't have time to talk to you lot about this! I have to get some unwelcomed guests out of here fast!" And he quickly headed for the staircase that was across the room and the girls followed him.

After descending the spiraling staircase, they finally arrived at the entrance to the treasure vault, but a large amount of white light was coming out from it. This made Wario confused and he said, "Hey, this isn't right… Since when were the light bulbs inside this bright?" Nevertheless, he ran into the light and the girls went in with him as well.

They had to shield their eyes from the blinding light when they first stepped in, but a few seconds later, the light died down and they managed to get a clear look at their surroundings. "Whoa! This place is… out of place compared to the rest of the castle..." Aya thought.

"Yeah, I can't agree any better," Youmu said with a nod. "This doesn't look like the castle interior anymore…"

Instead of being surrounded by piles of treasure, they were surrounded by unusual things such as ruins, plants, circus tents, and wooden shacks. Even stranger, it was the sky that was above them rather than the ceiling!

"Wait a second… This isn't right!" Wario said, sounding shocked. "This… This looks familiar… I know that something like this happened in the past…"

Reimu looked at the nervous Wario and asked him, "What's wrong?"

Stammer

"This… This is…" Wario stammered, "This is just like the time when the Black Jewel took over my castle!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

In case some of you don't know yet, Captain Syrup's three lackeys are generic enemies found in the original Wario Land. D.D. (stands for Dangerous Duck) and Pirate Goom also show up in Wario Land 2, still as generic enemies. And in case people want to know, Wario's white tuxedo is his costume from Wario Land: D.I.Y.

**Next chapter: World of Monsters**


	12. World of Monsters

**SBS Time!  
Specter24: **What is Fawful up to?  
**Game2002: **He is having chortles.

Looks like reviews are declining, but thinking on the bright side, I'm sure everyone is just busy with his or her daily life and will eventually come to read this story again. Always hope for the best!

And also, I can't believe I missed out the preview title for the previous chapter even though it's not the last chapter of the arc yet… It's added now, even though there's probably no point now that this chapter is already out.

**Chapter 11  
World of Monsters**

**

* * *

**

"Black Jewel? I remember that you mentioned about a black diamond being a monster and taking over your castle in the past," Youmu brought up.

"Right, but I destroyed that thing a long time ago!" Wario said. "How on earth can my castle transform again?"

"Maybe it's not quite dead yet-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Something tells me this is related to that dastardly Captain Syrup!" Wario growled. "She better pray that she has nothing to do with this or else I'll give her a hundred times more severe punishment!" He then took a step forward and shouted at the top of his voice, "WHOEVER IS BEHIND THIS, SHOW YOURSELF AT ONCE! I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A ROTTEN DAY FOR MESSING WITH MY CASTLE!"

Almost as if the environment was responding to him, bursts of smoke appeared before their eyes and monsters of various kinds were materialized from the smokes. "Good! Looks like you guys have the brains to heed to my voice!" Wario said. "But that won't save you! I have already decided to give you all a piece of my mind! Ready or not, here I come!"

With a loud war cry, Wario charged at the group of enemies. One of the enemies, a triceratops armed with a club, stepped forward and raised his weapon to bring it down on Wario. Wario raised his arms and caught the club as it came down on him and forcefully pulled it out of the triceratops hands. He then threw a punch across the triceratops's face to knock him out silly before proceeding to lift him over his head with both hands.

A group of dinosaur-like creatures with round, bulgy eyes lunged at Wario, but he quickly leaped into the air and jumped rather high despite the heavyweight triceratops carried over his head. The dinosaurs piled on top each other instead and then Wario performed a piledriver using the triceratops onto them. The powerful impact made the dinosaurs cry in pain, and all them exploded in a colorful display of light and coins flew in every direction.

Reimu caught one of the coins when it flew to her and said, "Coins?"

"Hiya!" Wario continued to throw punches at the monsters as they attempt to crowd in on him and overwhelm him. Even though there were a lot of monsters coming at once, none of them were a match for Wario's mighty strength. Catching another triceratops by his tail, Wario spun him in multiple circles and cleared away the monsters around him before finally letting go of his grip and sent the triceratops flying into a lone wall.

CRASH!

"Wow! That guy is strong!" Nitori said in awe.

A pterodactyl swooped down from behind Wario and was about to thrust his beak through his head when suddenly Wario caught him by the beak without turning around. He then slammed the pterodactyl against the floor like a bludgeon over and over until the flying reptile exploded into coins and gemstones. "But why are all these monsters turning into jewelries after being defeated?" Sanae wondered.

"Who cares? They're all going straight into my donation box!" Reimu said happily while gathering together any treasure that fell near her and her eyes were once again yen signs.

"Didn't he say that the Black Jewel also turned his treasure into monsters?" Remilia reminded them. "That would explain why these monsters are changing into jewelries after being defeated. They are returning to their original forms."

With a powerful punch right into the face, the monster dressed like a magician fell back and exploded into coins. Wario rubbed his fist and said, "Well, how do you like that? This is what you get for messing with the great…"

Before he even finished talking, there was an explosion behind him and he turned around to see that another monster had appeared. It was a green reptilian monster with large muscles and metallic fists—Greenfist. "Tsk! It's you again!" Wario said, sounding annoyed. "Do you want me to knock some common senses into your brain again?"

Greenfist beat his chest like a gorilla and let out a loud roar before running at Wario. Wario ran at him too and the both of them locked arms and started wrestling to topple down each other. It was a showcase of strength as both sides were equally matched, but sometimes it looked like Wario was winning but then the tables would turn to Greenfist.

"Wow… They both are equally strong…" Reisen thought.

"Grrrr! I'm not going to lose to the likes of you!" Wario growled angrily. "Take this!" He pulled back his head and then rammed it into Greenfist's head, making the monster cry in pain and pull back. Wario then threw a right jab across his face and immediately followed up with a left jab, knocking the monster silly two times.

Wario then threw a straight punch into his abdomen and this was followed up with an uppercut to the chin. Wario did not stop there however; he proceeded to throw a series of rapid punches into Greenfist, buffeting him mercilessly nonstop.

POW WHACK POW SMASH WHACK SLAM BONK!

"Have a rotten day!" Wario shouted. He lifted the wobbly Greenfist over his head and jumped up high into the air, heading in the direction of the girls while spinning vertically.

"He's falling in our direction!" Meiling shouted.

The girls quickly got out of the way as Wario slammed Greenfist headfirst into the center of the floor.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

The impact was so powerful that large cracks spread all across the floor, and no longer able to hold up together, the whole place broke apart and everyone fell down. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Aya, Remilia, and Cirno managed to stay in air using their wings, but they couldn't just stay there and watch their comrades who have yet regain their flying abilities fall down the empty air. "We have to help them!" Aya said, and she quickly swooped down to her friends, trying to reach out to as many of them as possible.

Remilia swooped down and caught Meiling by an arm. "Thanks, Mistress Remilia…" Meiling said.

Cirno managed to catch Marisa underneath her shoulders, but the ice fairy didn't have enough strength to hold her up and was dragged down too.

Suddenly, a large amount of light shined down from below. Wario and the girls who were not rescued (Greenfist had already been reduced to coins) continued falling downwards until they disappeared into the light, and the others who were airborne were slowly being engulfed by the light as well. "What's happening?" Aya cried, trying to shield her eyes, but couldn't do so because she was busy holding up Reimu and Alice with each of her hands.

And the light engulfed everything…

* * *

"Ow!" Meiling tumbled onto the floor and hit her head. She sat back up and rubbed the back of her head and looked around the place, "Ow… Where am I?"

"Are you all right, Meiling?" Remilia asked as she descended next to her.

Meiling turned to her and said, "Mistress Remilia, you're here!"

Remilia looked around the place and noticed that they were standing on a square-shaped arena that was surrounded by lava. There were also unidentifiable statues placed on the four corners of the arena. "Looks like some sort of a fighting arena…" she thought. "And that would make this guy our opponent."

Meiling had a shocked expression on her face when she saw the person that was behind Remilia. The vampire slowly turned around to look at the opponent which she knew was behind her all along, and she watched with an expressionless face at the gigantic, green dinosaur wearing a red maillot—Dino Mighty.

**BGM: Dino Mighty (Wario World)**

"What is that?" Meiling said in shock.

Dino Mighty raised her head and roared loudly, and then she jumped into the air and attempted to land on top of them with her bottom. Meiling and Remilia moved out of the way and the dinosaur hit the floor with a powerful slam. "I'll take down this monster!" Meiling said after landing from her jump.

"Do your best," Remilia said as she landed on the far side of the arena to watch them fight.

Meiling ran at the dinosaur and hit her in the belly with a flying kick, but the dinosaur's belly was like a cushion that it bounced her backwards. Meiling landed but then ran up to DM again and started punching and kicking her in the body. The dinosaur simply giggled as the punches and kicks tickled her more than it hurt her. She moved back a bit and then raised a foot to bring it down on top of Meiling, but the gatekeeper jumped out of the way before she got crushed.

Meiling ran around to the side of DM, hoping to find any possible weak spots. DM suddenly swung her tail into Meiling and knocked her back through the air. "Ah!"

She flew into one of the statues placed in the corner and came to stop, and sat up rubbing the back of her head. "Ow…" She looked up and saw DM running in her direction and the dinosaur suddenly jumped at her with limbs sprawled out.

Meiling quickly got out of the way and the dinosaur hit empty floor instead. She turned to face the dinosaur and then raised both her arms diagonally upwards. A red energy sphere was formed on her palms and Meiling launched the energy sphere at DM, aiming for her head. "Red Cannon!"

The energy ball hit Dino Mighty's face, resulting in an explosion large enough to cover up the dinosaur's head. The dinosaur cried in pain but stepped out from the smoke and glared at Meiling with a rather goofy expression, though the dinosaur is in fact angry.

The dinosaur ran as fast as she could towards Meiling and the gatekeeper quickly jumped aside. The moment Meiling jumped aside, DM swung her tail at her, but Meiling performed a back flip into the air and jumped over the tail. She raised her arms and once again launched a red energy sphere into the dinosaur's face. "Red Cannon!"

BANG!

DM was starting to get annoyed. With another roar, the dinosaur approached Meiling and raised one foot to stomp her.

"Heart Break!" A spear made of crimson energy was suddenly hurled through the air, striking DM in the leg that was on the floor. A red blood-like explosion caused the dinosaur to put down her raised leg but lift up the one that was hit and jump up and down, yelping in pain.

Taking advantage of this, Meiling ran up to the dinosaur with one fist pulled back. The fist glowed with bright rainbow-colored light and then she slammed it into the dinosaur's leg. "Spiral Light Step!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Even though the fist was really small compared to Dino Mighty, the punch was still powerful enough to make the dinosaur lose her balance and fall over the side of the arena and into the lava.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Meiling quickly moved back to avoid some of the lava drops falling from the air and watched as the dinosaur surfaced again and panicked to escape the scorching lava. As Dino Mighty cried in agony and struggled to escape, her body glowed with bright light and all of a sudden, she exploded in a huge flash of colors.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A shower of coins rained down from the air upon Dino Mighty's death. Meiling let out a sigh and then turned to Remilia, bowing down in her presence. "Thank you for your help, Mistress Remilia!"

"That was nothing," the vampire said. "I didn't want to miss out the fun, so I tried to contribute something. Plus, it doesn't look like you can take out something the size of that yourself anyway."

"You may be right about that…"

* * *

Aya and Alice opened their eyes and looked around the place. They were standing on a rocky platform that was surrounded by water. "Where are we?" Aya wondered.

"A better question is where the others are," Alice told her. She looked all over the place but there were nobody else asides from them.

Then they heard the water bubbling and all of a sudden, a large serpentine dragon came out from the water on the right side and slammed his mace-tipped tail onto the floor very hard. Another identical-looking dragon also came out from the water on the left and slammed his tail onto the left side of the arena.

**BGM: Dual Dragons (Wario World)**

With round, bulgy eyes and goofy smile, the Dual Dragons looked at the two girls and opened their mouths to roar. "What are these abominations?" Alice asked, not looking fazed at all.

"Whatever they are, they don't look so friendly," Aya said. "Sure, they are smiling, but I don't like the look of the smiles…"

The left dragon opened his mouth and breathed out a stream of fire in the direction of the girls. Aya quickly took off into the air while Alice leaped out of the fire's way. When Alice landed from her jump, a shadow loomed over her head and she looked up to see that the tail of the right dragon was above her. Acting quickly, she moved her fingers and a shield appeared in Shanghai's hand and the doll quickly used the shield to protect her master from the tail slamming attack. Alice then moved back and pointed at the right dragon. Shanghai replaced her shield with a rifle and fired a piercing laser beam at the dragon's face.

Aya flew to the dragon on the left and landed a drop kick onto his face. The dragon shook himself back to sense and opened his mouth to breathe fire at Aya, but the tengu swerved out of the way. "Aya! You didn't get me!" Aya taunted. "Take this! Domination Dash!" She swooped down at the dragon and went past him at a very fast speed, hitting him in the face with her wings. The dragon turned to face her, only to get hit in the face the second time.

She then whipped out her fan and slashed the air multiple times with to shoot out wind blades, hitting the dragon in the face. "Breeze Fan!

Meanwhile, Alice swung a card across the air and summoned an army of dolls. Each of them were armed with rifles and under their master's command, the dolls fired lasers and energy bullets at the right dragon. The dragon withstood the shots and opened his mouth to breath fire. Alice herself quickly moved aside before commanding the dolls to get out of the way. Some of them managed to do so, but some were burned down.

"Tsk!" Alice created another set of dolls to replace the destroyed ones. Armed with sharp weapons, the dolls charged at the dragon and pummeled him as hard as they could. The dragon wasn't harmed by such attacks however. He shook around to get the dolls off him and then released a stream of fire, sweeping it left to right to burn down the dolls.

Alice held out her hand and one of the dolls flew to her. "I don't like using this that much," she said. "But anyway… Volatile Puppet!" The doll glowed with an orange light and she hurled the doll at the dragon like hurling a piece of rock, and the doll exploded upon hitting the dragon in the face

KABOOM!

The dragon emerged from the explosion, shaking his head and roaring. Alice reached for another doll and flung it at the dragon again. The dragon caught the doll in his mouth this time, but it wasn't a good idea as the doll exploded inside his mouth and left the dragon stunned.

Alice created more dolls and under her command, the dolls flew at the knocked out dragon and latched all over his face. "Artful Sacrifice," she said as she snapped her finger, and then the dolls glowed with bright orange light and exploded all at the same time.

KAAAAAABOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The dragon roared in pain from the powerful explosions and then fell forward onto the floor unconsciously, though one wouldn't be able to tell the difference because he was still smiling goofily with open eyes.

Meanwhile, Aya was having no problems dealing with the other dragon. "Breeze Fan!" she shouted as she hit the dragon several times with wind blades. Annoyed, the dragon breathed out a stream of fire at her and Aya quickly flew away, but the dragon breathed continuously and moved the fire after her. "Haha! Try to catch me if you can!" she taunted.

Alice walked up to the dragon on the right side to make sure if he was still alive. "Alice! Watch out!" Aya shouted to her. Alice turned to see that the dragon on the left was swinging the fire in her direction. Aya quickly swooped at Alice and lifted her into the air and the fire breath ended up hitting the right dragon. The right dragon got up and cried painfully before falling back into the water.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Moments later, there was a colorful explosion coming out from the water and coins shot up into the air and back down onto the arena.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Are you all right?" Aya asked Alice while putting her back onto the floor.

"I didn't get hit at all," the magician told her.

Aya turned to look at the remaining dragon and said to him, "All right, let's put an end to this!"

The dragon opened his mouth, but instead of fire coming out, light brown spheres came out instead.

"Eh?" Aya quickly moved out of the way upon seeing this odd attack. Alice also jumped out of the way, but her leg was hit by one of the spheres and, strangely enough, got pulled away by it and towards the water. "Alice!"

"Ya!" The spheres fell into the water one by one and Alice was forced to take a dip as well. Down in the water, she realized that her leg was glued to the sphere. To make matter worse, the sphere sank to the bottom of the water and she was in danger of drowning.

Aya dived down into the water to help Alice. She grabbed her leg and pulled as hard as she could and managed to get the magician's leg off the sphere before taking her into the surface for air. "Are you all right?" Aya asked her as she put her onto the floor.

"Yeah… Almost ran out of air back there…" Alice replied. "What were those things anyway?"

The dragon opened his mouth and churned fire, and Aya turned to face him with her fan gripped tightly in her hand and said to him, "Don't think you're going to get away with this alive after almost drowning my friend!"

The dragon shot out a large stream of fire and Aya quickly swung her fan against the air so hard that a horizontal tornado was released. "Wind of the Tengu Path!"

When the wind came in contact with the fire, the fire was forcefully carried back to the dragon, burning him from head to toe. The dragon roared in agony and then fell back into the water where he exploded in a bright, colorful flash and released lots of coins into the air.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Aya placed her hand over her shoulder and said with a smile, "Well! Hope you enjoyed your own barbeque!"

* * *

"Um… What is this place…?" Reisen asked.

"Lava everywhere…" Sanae thought. The two girls looked around the place and saw that they were standing on top of an arena made of steel gratings and it was floating on a river of lava.

"We better not fall down…" Reisen said. "This isn't like falling into hot water where you can swim back up again and only suffer from slight burns."

Sanae nodded in agreement. She then looked up and thought she saw someone standing on the cliff up there. "Hey, there's someone up there!"

The girls stepped back a bit to get a better look. There was indeed a person up there, and that person suddenly jumped off from the cliff and landed onto the arena with a powerful stomp that caused it to sink into the lava slightly. The girls almost fell off, but they grabbed onto the gratings and managed to keep their footing as the arena floated up again. They looked up and saw a muscular bull wearing nothing but a red brief—Red-Brief J.

**BGM: Red-Brief J (Wario World)**

The bull started flexing his muscles to show off to the girls, but the girls had a disgusted look on their faces instead. "What's with this guy…?" Reisen asked.

"Looks like a pervert to me…" Sanae said in disgust. She then held up her gohei. "Whoever this is, this demon seems to be our enemy. We'll have to defeat him!"

"Wait… I don't think we should jump to conclusions so fast," Reisen said. "He might be…"

Before she could finish speaking though, Red-Brief glowed with a pink aura and started spinning like a ballerina while moving in their direction.

"Whoa!" The girls quickly moved out of the way as the bull spun in their direction. Sanae turned to face him and then threw out a couple of purple paper amulets. The bull was still spinning when the amulets hit him, so they were shredded into pieces.

Red-Brief stopped spinning and pointed his right hoof at them. Purple energy gathered at the hoof and then the bull shot a fireball at them. Sanae and Reisen managed to avoid the fireball with ease and then Reisen fired energy bullets from her fingers at him. Red-Brief did not get out of the way when he saw the bullets approaching. Instead, he stood up tall with his arms placed on his waists and the bullets bounced off him upon impact. "What?" Reisen said.

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae raised a card that flashed and sent out snake-like missiles. The snakes latched their jaws onto the bull's skin and exploded, but the smoke cleared to reveal Red-Brief perfectly unharmed.

"Does this guy have iron skin or what?" Reisen said in disbelief.

"Such a powerful demon!" Sanae thought. "I cannot allow something like him to exist in this world!" Taking out another card, she raised it into the air and shouted, "Falling Stars!" The card glowed with whitish-blue light and floated into the air, and then trails of energy shot out from all around it and rained down onto Red-Brief like shooting stars.

Much to her surprise, the bull was not only unharmed by the attack, but he even walked towards them as if he wasn't getting hit at all. Red-Brief suddenly leaped into the air and spun vertically while glowing with light blue energy, and then he shot forward like a cannonball in their direction.

"Run!" Reisen shouted. The girls got out of the way fast as Red-Brief flew in their direction and landed onto the arena very hard, causing it to shake.

The tip of Sanae's gohei glowed with red light and she used it to draw a star in the air. "Lost Ritual!" She gave the star a nudge from behind and it shot through the air, spinning and growing in size as it did. Red-Brief stood up tall and took the projectile to his body like a man and was totally unharmed by the attack. "What?"

"Ripple Vision!" Reisen eyes glowed brightly with red light and fired a ripple beam which grew in size as it traveled through the air and eventually hitting the bull. Once again, the attack proved useless against Red-Brief. "This guy really is invincible! None of our attacks are hurting him!"

Red-Brief glowed with purple light, and then he pushed his feet against the floor very hard and shot himself high up into the air, falling in the direction of the girls. "He's falling towards us!" Reisen gasped. The girls quickly ran to the center of the arena when Red-Brief fell down, causing the whole place to submerge partially into the lava. Luckily, the girls didn't tumble off to the side as they held on tightly onto the center of the arena.

Red-Brief turned to the girls and glowed with red light, and then he charged at them really fast, leaving behind a trail of fire as he moved. The girls once again moved out of the way in time, but Red-Brief stopped just at the edge and took only a second to turn around and charge at them the second time. Reisen was unable to get out of the way this time and was sent flying off the arena when the bull landed his shoulder bash into her body. "YAAAAAA!"

"REISEN!" Sanae gasped. She ran up to the edge and reached out her hand, but Reisen had already flown too far to be caught. "NOOOOOOOO!"

"I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" Reisen cried in her head as she fell closer and closer to the lava, and she could even feel the heat burning against her back. "If only I can fly now! If only I can fly, then this wouldn't be the end of me! I don't want to die a cruel death like this!" She closed her eyes and tears began to run down from the corners. Biting her lips, she prepared to be met with the worst when suddenly, she stopped moving in air. "Uh?" She looked around the place and realized that she was floating in air just above the lava. "What...?"

Sanae let out a sigh of relief and said, "Looks like our flight abilities returned in the nick of time… This is without doubt a miracle!"

Reisen positioned herself upright and flew higher into the air and sighed with relief as well. "Phew… Thanks goodness… I'm saved…"

"Wait, if Reisen can fly…" Sanae thought, "Then I can also…" Upon thinking of the word 'fly' in her head, her feet lifted itself off the floor and she was able to float into the air. "Yes! I can fly again!"

Reisen pointed her finger at Red-Brief J. "Psycho Missile!" A ball of silver energy formed at her finger and slowly shaped itself into a missile before soaring through the air, hitting the bull in the body.

KABOOM!

With her gohei glowing at the tip with various colors, Sanae used it to draw vertical and horizontal lines in the air and eventually created a rainbow-colored grid. "Nine Syllable Stabs!" She gave the colorful grid a push to the back and it fell onto Red-Brief and covered him up like a net.

Red-Brief J tried to get the colored net off his body and the net was also giving off electric sparks which stung his skin. As he struggled with the seemingly indestructible net, he failed to take notice of his step and accidentally fell off the edge of the arena and into the lava.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Sanae and Reisen watched with silence at the bubbling lava, and to their surprise, Red-Brief J suddenly leaped out of the lava and landed onto the middle of the arena and struck a pose. A few seconds later, he fell on his back and his body glowed with bright light before exploding in a burst of colors.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

As coins rained down from the sky, Sanae threw a punch into the air and exclaimed, "Yes! We did it!"

"Well, that guy sure is resilient," Reisen thought. "But I guess nothing can really survive in lava."

* * *

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Weeeeeee!" Cirno flew into the air as an explosion occurred on the pirate ship that she was on. Meanwhile, Nitori jumped off the deck and dived into the water below to escape the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, a skeletal pirate—Captain Skull—stepped up to the edge of the ship and looked down at the spot of the water where Nitori dived into. He then looked into the air and saw Cirno making a face at him from there. "Nyanya! You cannot catch me!" she taunted.

**BGM: Captain Skull (Wario World)**

The skeletal pirate aimed his arm cannon at her and fired a cannonball, but Cirno easily swerved away from it. "Your aim is lame!" she taunted. "Let me show you how it's done! Icicle Shoot!" She aimed one hand at Captain Skull and fired a barrage of icicles.

Seeing the incoming projectiles, Captain Skull quickly launched his grappling claw at the mast on the other side of the ship and pulled himself to safety. He aimed at Cirno again and fired a cannonball which the ice fairy dodged with ease.

Suddenly, Nitori leaped out of the water and while she was still in air, she swung her hand and threw out a handful of water bullets. "Kappa's Pororoca!" Though small in size, the water bullets managed to hit Skull hard enough to knock him off balance.

Skull retained his balance and fired his cannonball at the kappa, but Nitori rolled out of the way and then fell onto all four limbs, taking the stance similar to a turtle. "Monster Cucumber!" The top of her backpack opened and two turrets stuck out of it, each of them firing green laser beams rapidly.

Skull was pushed back with each shot to his body. As he was taking the blows, he quickly fired his grappling claw at the crow's nest on the other side of the ship and pulled himself onto it. From there, he took aim with his arm cannon and was about to fire at Nitori when suddenly an ice ball bonked him in the back of the head, and he turned around to see Cirno laughing at him.

"Haha! Do you have enough of me yet?" Cirno asked. "I'm going to show you why I am the strongest!" She held up one arm into the air and icy wind circled around her palm, eventually forming a block of ice that grew in size until it was half her body size. "Little Iceberg!" And she hurled it at Skull.

Skull took aim and fired a cannonball and the projectiles exploded upon hitting each other. Acting quick, Skull shot his grappling claw through the explosion and because Cirno didn't see it coming, she was caught in her waist by the claw. "Yikes!" she cried.

As the ice fairy tried to pry open the claw, Skull took aim again with his arm cannon. "Oh no you don't! Nitori shouted. She was standing on the crow's nest on the other side of the ship and her mechanical arms were holding up a barrel. The barrel was flung with a great velocity across the air and struck Skull in the back of his body, knocking him over on his face.

Cirno gripped her hands tightly against the rope that the claw was attached too and caused the rope to freeze in the direction of Skull. When Skull realized this, he desperately fired a cannonball at the freezing rope and destroyed it before the freezing process reached him. He glared angrily at Cirno who flew to the same level as him. She froze the claw that was around her waist and easily shattered it afterwards, and then said, "All right! Now it's my turn!" She held up one hand and cold air gathered together in a circular motion, eventually creating an ice ball that gradually grew in size.

Captain Skull growled angrily and was going to fire his arm cannon.

"Kappa's Great Illusionary Waterfall!" shouted the voice of Nitori. She shot out from the water and the water was carried along with her in the form of a pillar that encased her. The pillar of water went ahead of her and crashed down on top of Skull like a waterfall.

SPLAAAAAAAASH!

As the water flowed off the crow's nest, Captain Skull shook his head and spit out water, and when he looked at Cirno, the ice fairy had already formed a large ice ball in front of herself. "White Rose Cluster!" she shouted, and the ice ball was fired at him.

Captain Skull didn't have time to do anything as the ice ball collided into him and pushed him across the air and over the sea, eventually crashing into a large rock which was sticking out of the water surface

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The ice ball remained embedded into the rock, but suddenly there was a bright and colorful explosion that not only shattered the ice ball and the rock, but also made coins fly out into the sky.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

As the coins rained down from all over the place, Cirno threw her arms into the air and exclaimed, "Yes! I did it! I'm the strongest after all!"

"Good work, Cirno!" Nitori said, giving her a thumb up.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

This chapter is a bit rushed, but I still think it's pretty well done nonetheless. Hope you enjoy what you read!

Also, I have seriously no idea if the Dual Dragon is supposed to be a two-headed dragon or simply two separate dragons and I don't know if those are their tails or arms. The lack of official artwork really doesn't do justice, so I'm going to pretend that it is two separate dragons with mace-tipped tails since judging by their on-screen appearance, I don't see how it is possible for that thing to be a two-headed dragon. Just search for a video or the play the game and be the judge yourself.

**Next chapter: Kicking Out the Uninvited**


	13. Kicking Out the Uninvited

**SBS Time!  
SL the Pyro: **Red-Brief J brings back memories of Wario Land 1.  
**Game2002: **Actually, the bull boss, Beefne, in Wario Land 1 and Red Brief J. are different entities, though it may be possible that Red Brief J. is inspired by Beefne.

**the1undzeonli1****: **Do you think Reisen's bullets look like suppositories?  
**Game2002: **They look pretty much identical, but they are supposed to be common firearm bullets. Fandom usually has tendencies of corrupting innocent things…

**Specter24: **I think Dual Dragon is supposed to be a two-headed dragon.  
**Game2002: **That seems to be the case, but you have to admit that it is anatomically impossible for him to be a two-headed dragon judging from the way the heads stick out of the water on both sides of the arena. What's done in my story is done, so it can't be helped.

**Retasuika: **I'm surprised you don't have classes right now.  
**Game2002: **I do. I like to use all the free times I have to work on my stories.

Rushing to upload chapters doesn't seem to be a good idea after all. If it wasn't for Nintendogeek's review, I would've never noticed the amount of grammatical errors in the previous chapter, perhaps the most of any chapter in the story. I had to go through the entire story just to fix up all the mistakes. In the end, I made sure that the previous chapter is polished up nicely and I even changed Red-Brief J's defeat somewhat to make it match the game more. You should go check it out in case you haven't yet.

Hopefully this chapter won't have any mistakes, at least not as much as the previous chapter…

**Chapter 12  
Kicking Out the Uninvited**

**

* * *

**

"Ow…" Reimu rubbed her rear as she stood back up. "What a fall… Surprised that I'm still alive…" She looked to the side and saw Wario sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Ow… That was quite a fall… But not even something like this can take out the great Wario that is I!" Wario boasted. "Wahahaha!"

Reimu looked around the place and saw that they were within a corridor made of brown blocks. "What is this place?"

Wario observed the place and said, "It sort of resembles my cellar, but then the Black Jewel can manipulate space as it wishes, so this is probably some made-up place that it created."

Reimu turned to look at Wario and said, "So what are you gonna do?"

Wario looked up ahead and said, "I'm sure there's gotta be an exit on the other end. If we fail to find anything though, we can just create ourselves an exit! Of course, finding the Black Jewel and giving that rotten incarnate a good beating is top priority currently, and then Captain Syrup comes next. Wait till I get my hands on the mangy trashes that are trying to mess with my castle!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Youmu found herself in an area that resembled the interior of a haunted mansion, and she was not enjoying her current situation at all.

"GO AWAY!" she screamed as she ran down the hall, being chased by ghostly beings. "I HATE GHOSTS! DON'T COME AFTER ME! SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF HERE! HELP!"

* * *

The mechanical spear man rammed into the wall using its spiked shield really hard, but the wall was a sturdy one that it did not break apart. "What do we do, captain?" D.D. said to Captain Syrup. "There is no exit in this room at all and the walls cannot be destroyed!"

"We're really trapped!" Guragura cried. "There is no way out of this place at all! We're going to starve to death here! We're doomed! We're doomed!"

"Think on the bright side!" Pirate Goom said to him. "There's got to be a way out of here for sure." He turned to his captain and asked her, "Right, captain?"

Syrup shrugged and said, "I don't know. I admit that I really have no idea what to do next."

"See? I told you that this is the end of the line for us!" Guragura cried. "We're really meeting our ends here! Woe is us! Woe is us! Woe!"

"Don't worry; I do believe there is another way we can get out of here," Syrup said.

Hearing this, her three lackeys were cheered up and asked her, "How?"

"We'll wait for Wario to rescue us."

"What? Are you sure he will really come rescue us?" D.D. asked. "He'd probably laugh at our predicament and do nothing about it!"

"Oh, believe me," Syrup told him. "That guy has done several amazing feats. Even if he doesn't plan to rescue us, he might want to at least find the source of this strange occurrence and solve it. We will once again be free when he solves the problem!"

"Yeah! That's our captain!" Goom said happily. "You always know how to come up with ideas even in the grimmest situations like this!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed a loud voice all of a sudden.

"What's that?" D.D. asked. The four looked around the place and then looked up at the air.

The screaming continued and then they saw someone falling closer and closer to the floor.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Something fell down!" Guragura said.

When the smoke cleared, the four ran up to see what it was and saw Marisa lying face first on the floor with her broom on the left of her. In fact, she hit the floor so hard that she sank into it slightly.

Groaning painfully, Marisa pushed against the floor and pushed herself back up and rubbed her nose. "Ow… What a fall… I'm surprised that I'm still alive-ze…"

"A witch fell down from the sky?" Goom said curiously.

Marisa stood up and dusted herself and then looked at the four. "Hey, I didn't expect to see someone else besides me here-ze!"

"I'm surprised myself too," Syrup told her. "If there was to be someone showing up, I expected it to be Wario."

"Oh, he is here all right," Marisa said. "But I got separated from him as well as my friends-ze."

"You know Wario?"

"Yeah, he gave me and my friends a tour around his company, and then we followed him here to hunt down some thieves-ze."

"Do you mean us?" D.D. asked. He then received glares from Guragura and Goom. "What?"

"Oh? Did I hear that right?" Marisa asked, bending her ear close in their direction. "I'll just assume that I heard it right." Holding up her broom in a fighting stance, she said, "Since he isn't around here at the moment, I think I'll do him a favor of getting rid of you uninvited guests-ze!"

"Who do you think you are?" Guragura asked as he started swinging his ball-and-chain in circles, "Talking as if you're better than us!"

"Yeah! Have you not heard of the Black Sugar Gang?" Goom asked, sounding angry.

"You're going to regret it, girly!" D.D. said, brandishing his sword. "Nobody crosses the Black Sugar Gang's path and gets away with it alive!"

"Oh yeah? I have confidence that I can defeat all of you myself!" Marisa claimed.

"You're asking for it!" the trio shouted before raising their weapons and running at her.

"You're the one who's asking for it!" Marisa said, bringing her broom to the side. With a powerful swing, she unleashed magical sparks out of her broom and knocked all three of them into the air.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

"AAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEEE!" the three lackeys screamed as they spun through the air and crashed into the wall behind Captain Syrup, and then they fell onto the floor.

Syrup looked at her three unconscious lackeys and then turned to Marisa. "It seems that you have skills, girly. How about this? Try and see if you can defeat our creation, Mecha Kuri!" She stepped aside and pointed at the mechanical spear man which slowly walked towards Marisa.

"Heheh! You're sending the big one after me?" Marisa said. "If its attack isn't flashy enough, then there's no way it's going to win-ze!"

"Don't be so confident of yourself just yet!" Syrup said. She pointed at Marisa and the mechanical spear man's eyes flashed before charging at her.

**BGM: Final Boss Theme (Wario Land 2)**

Marisa easily moved out of the way as Mecha Kuri dashed past her. Holding up her broom like a machine gun, she started firing star-shaped bullets from the tip of it rapidly at the robot. "Radial Strike!"

However, the metallic skin of the robot protected it from the projectiles. It turned to face Marisa and charged at her, but she once again dodged aside with no problem. "Dodging your attacks is too easy!" she said. "But maybe I'll have to put more firepower into my attacks if I want to scratch you-ze."

As the robot charged at Marisa again, she got out a card and held it in front of herself. "Narrow Spark!" The card glowed with bright blue light and then a thick concentrated beam shot out at high velocity, but Mecha Kuri was able to block it with his shield. "Whoa! That's some really tough piece of metal you have there-ze!"

"If you like playing with projectiles," Syrup said, "Why don't we let Mecha Kuri do the same thing too?" With a snap of her finger, the eyes of the robot flashed and then the spikes on the shield were suddenly shot forward.

"Whoa!" Marisa quickly stepped aside to dodge one and then to the other side again to dodge another one. More spikes were fired at her and the witch found herself moving around in place frantically to avoid getting shot, but she was eventually struck in the left shoulder and fell back. "Ow!"

Taking advantage of this, Mecha Kuri ran towards her and attempted to hit her with his shield, but Marisa quickly leaped out of the way in time. "Don't get too cocky just because you've hit me-ze!" she said after pulling the spike out of her shoulder. "Ow!" She got out a pot and threw it at the robot. "Magical Waste Recycling Bomb!"

The robot held up its shield and the pot exploded in a burst of light upon hitting it.

BANG!

"All right! Let's see how you like this then-ze!" Marisa said as she took out a octagonal wooden object, the Hakkero, from underneath her hat. "I'm going to…" Before she could finish speaking however, a spike shot out from the explosion and impaled her in the right side of the waist. "ACK!"

As the smoke slowly cleared away, Mecha Kuri launched a barrage of spikes nonstop at Marisa. She desperately held up her broom and flailed it in air aimlessly, trying to deflect the spikes, but some of them went past the broom and struck her skin.

When the spikes on the shield were gone, Mecha Kuri charged at her and rammed into Marisa, pushing her across the place and towards the wall to crush herself against it. The witch was forcefully pushed into the wall, but she also mustered her strength into her arms to try and push the robot back by its shield. "Ngh! Don't think you can get rid of me like this-ze!" Marisa said.

Spikes suddenly came out from the holes on the shield and impaled both her palms, making Marisa cry from the intense pain. Flames came out from the back of Mecha Kuri and the robot was about to move forward and crush Marisa against the wall entirely, but suddenly, the flames died down and the robot stopped moving.

"What?" Syrup said curiously. She took a mechanical device and looked at the meter that was shown on there. "Looks like it's out of electricity…"

"Ugh…" Marisa pulled her hands out of the spikes and quickly moved aside and sat down onto the floor, panting heavily and looking at her bleeding hands. "Ow… It hurts-ze…"

Syrup walked up to Marisa and said to her, "Little girl, don't you think you have enough now? It's clear that there is no way you can defeat Mecha Kuri!"

Marisa glared at her and then picked up her broom before standing back up and getting into fighting stance. "It's not over yet! I can still… Ow!" The sudden feeling of the pain on her hands made her drop her broom onto her feet. "Yeow!"

"Oh, the bad girl hasn't learned her lesson yet. Too bad…" Syrup said, slowly shaking her head side to side. "I was hoping that there won't be too much bloodshed, but it looks like you really insist on such a thing." She got the gun that was strapped to her waist and fired an electric beam at the antenna on top of Mecha Kuri's head.

When Mecha Kuri was shot by the electric beam, the robot started rumbling and its eyes flashed brightly to signify its resurrection.

"Oh no…" Marisa said in horror.

"Have fun! Let me know if you have enough!" Syrup said as she headed to the back of the room to watch them continue the fight.

As Mecha Kuri came closer and closer to her, Marisa quickly pulled out a pot and hurled it onto the floor before the robot. "Devildom Torch!"

When the pot exploded after hitting the floor, columns of blue fire shot up from the floor one after another and sent the robot into the air when one of them came out from underneath it. Marisa then pointed both her arms at the airborne robot and shouted, "Stellar Missile!" Blue light emitted from her palms and then a ball of light was shot at the robot.

BANG!

The robot spun through the air and crashed back onto the floor on its feet, but it immediately started moving in Marisa's direction again. Marisa got out another pot and was planning to throw it against the floor again, but the robot interrupted her by firing the spikes from its shield. Seeing this, she leaped out of the way before throwing the pot. "Devildom Torch!"

Once again, columns of fire erupted from the floor and sent the robot into the air. Just as Marisa was ready to fire a blue energy ball at the airborne robot, flames came out from Mecha Kuri's back and the robot propelled diagonally downwards at her. "Yikes!" Marisa leaped back and the robot slammed its shield into the floor.

Marisa quickly moved back to safer distance and the robot looked up to face her, and suddenly, the shield extended forward from the arm via a metal pole. "What the?" Marisa gasped. She quickly tried to move out of the way but her right leg was caught by the shield and her entire self was forcefully pushed across the floor and into the wall where her right leg was both crushed and impaled by the spikes painfully. "YAAAAAAAA!"

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt!" Syrup said with a smile.

"Ngh!" Enduring her pain, Marisa looked around the place for her Hakkero, and then she saw it lying towards the center of the room and out of her reach. "Dammit! But at least I still have this-ze!" She desperately got out a card and faced it at the robot. "Narrow Spark!" A concentrate beam shot out from the card and struck the robot in the face, instantly producing an explosion of sparks that made the robot take a step back and retract its shield.

"Ow… I must get to that one fast!" Marisa thought to herself. With a severely wounded leg, she crawled as fast as she could towards her Hakkero. As she was getting closer to it, Mecha Kuri suddenly ran in front of her and knocked the Hakkero across the room with its feet. "Hey! What are you doing-ze?"

Mecha Kuri performed an uppercut using its shield to knock Marisa into the air and then raised its shield over its head so that she would fall back down onto the bed of spikes.

"Oh no!" Marisa gasped. Acting quickly, she pointed her broom downwards and as it was about to come in contact with the spikes, a burst of blue energy came out from the front end the broom. "Star Sign: Gravity Beat!"

An explosion occurred when the energy blast struck the shield at point blank and destroyed the bed of spikes, and Marisa was propelled back into the air and landed onto the floor roughly. "Ow!" she cried, rubbing her back. "At least this is better than falling onto a bed of spikes…"

She slowly stood back up despite her wounds and glared at Mecha Kuri who had spikes back on its shield again. "Dammit… That thing is tougher than I thought…" she said to herself. "Wait a minute…" She then remembered Captain Syrup firing an electric beam onto the antenna on the robot's head. "Maybe if I destroy that thing-ze…"

The robot moved towards her again. Marisa held her broom to the side and the handle started glowing with bright blue light. When the robot was about to touch its shield with her body, Marisa quickly performed an uppercut with her magically enhanced broom. "Upper Sweep!"

The powerful impact from the broom not only caused the robot to be knocked back a couple of steps, but Marisa was also thrown into the air and performed an acrobatic spin with her broom in hand. After positioning herself vertically in the air, she fell towards the top of the robot and slammed down her broom as hard as she could onto the antenna. "Take this-ze!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Marisa fell back onto the floor on one knee and behind her, Mecha Kuri was moving around in place awkwardly due to the antenna being destroyed. "What the?" Syrup said in shock. "You destroyed the antenna! Mecha Kuri won't be able to move around properly anymore!"

"That's exactly what I'm hoping for-ze!" Marisa said. She ran for the Hakkero as fast as she could and snatch it up from the floor and then placed a card in front of it before pointing both the objects at the malfunctioning robot. "Take this! Love Sign: Master Spark!"

The card and the Hakkero glowed brightly with rainbow-colored lights and then with a burst of a shockwave from the center of the card, a massive laser beam was launched at a tremendous velocity, colliding into the robot and totally obliterating it.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"WHAT?" Captain Syrup cried in shock upon seeing the destruction of her robot.

"And now it's your turn!" Marisa shouted. "Eat my Master Spark!" And she turned to aim the giant laser beam at her.

"No! Don't! I give up! I give up!" Captain Syrup cried, but she was engulfed by the laser beam before she could do anything. "YAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Meanwhile, her three lackeys were about to regain their consciousness after knocked out for a while. "What happened…?" Guragura asked, rubbing his eyes. Before they could fully return to their senses though, the giant laser beam came upon them as well as the wall behind them.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the intense laser beam came to an end, Marisa fell on her rear and panted heavily. She looked up at the dissipating smoke and saw a large hole created on the wall, and behind the hole, Captain Syrup and her three lackeys were lying unconsciously on the floor, charred.

"Phew… I win…" Marisa said with a sigh, and then she smiled. "Your attacks aren't flashy enough in the end after all-ze!" Then she suddenly felt pain all over her body. "Ouch!" She fell on her back and let out another sigh before saying, "I really can use one of Reisen's medicine now-ze…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Wario and Reimu were running down the empty hallway. Wario eventually saw light on the other end of the hallway and said excitedly, "There's an exit over there!"

"Let's go then!" Reimu said.

They ran down the hall and through a large room, failing to take notice of a massive being that was also in the room. After stepping out into the light, they saw a staircase leading onto the top of a platform, and on the center of the platform was a giant treasure chest. "There it is!" Wario pointed out. "The Black Jewel is inside that treasure chest! Who would've thought that I would find it so easily?" Punching his palms and then cracking his fist, Wario began to step towards the staircase. "Time to teach that accursed monster a…"

Suddenly, a gigantic snake reached his head out from the door behind them and caught Wario in his mouth before pulling him back into the previous room. "HEY!" the fat man cried.

"Wario!" Reimu gasped. She quickly ran back to the door but it suddenly shrunk in size until it disappeared. "What? Where did the door go?"

The entire place started to shake and the ground slowly disappeared, forcing Reimu to climb up the staircase and onto the platform. She watched as the giant treasure chest before her shake violently and then it suddenly opened up and a dark purple diamond flew out of it and performed spins in the air, eventually growing four pink tentacles and a single eye—the Black Jewel.

As the evil diamond glared at her, Reimu took a step back and then raised her gohei. "So you're the one behind everything here, aren't you? If that is the case, I will do Wario a favor of exterminating the demon that is you! Prepare yourself!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Get ready for the final battle of the arc in the next chapter!

The giant snake that snatched away Wario is the first boss of Wario Land 2, but in this story, this snake isn't meant to be the same one, but rather, a monster created by the Black Jewel using Wario's treasures, just like all the other monsters here.

**Next chapter: Jewel of Evil Incarnate  
**

**Trivia:  
**1. When Alice said "Someone stole his precious thing" two chapters back, it is a reference to the popular music video 'Marisa Stole My Precious Thing'.

2. Mecha Kuri and Guragura, and Beefne for that matters, are actually their Japanese names. Their official English names are unknown.

3. The Famitsu preview (a Japanese video game magazine) for Wario Land: Shake It calls Captain Syrup as Maple, implying that Maple is her first name. This name is never used in the game though.


	14. Jewel of Evil Incarnate

**SBS Time!  
Retasuika: **You have that much free time?  
**Game2002: **You can put it like that if you want to.

Please note that the BGM in this chapter is used both battles.

**Chapter 13  
Jewel of Evil Incarnate**

**

* * *

**

The whole place continued to shake as Reimu watched the Black Jewel float higher and higher into the air. Bright light came down from below and the platform that she was on suddenly disintegrated. "What the?"

Reimu expected to fall straight down, but instead, the platform quickly transformed into a circular arena made of glass-like material and mysterious white patterns were written all over its surface.

The sky, which was originally blue, started to change into various colors every second, such as pink, black, purple, dark blue, green, orange, etc.

"What is happening?" Reimu said in surprise as she looked left to right. She looked at the Black Jewel who descended closer to the arena and stared at her. Reimu held out a paper amulet in between her fingers and said, "All right! Looks like you're ready, so let's settle this!"

**BGM: Black Jewel (Wario World)**

Reimu flung the paper amulet at the Black Jewel who countered by shooting a fireball which burned through the paper and continued heading for Reimu, but she easily stepped out of its way. The jewel then fired an eye beam across the floor and towards Reimu. She moved asides again but a wall of fire suddenly burst out from the part of the floor the beam touched. "Whoa!"

The jewel fired another beam to the left of Reimu and created another wall of fire, successfully trapping the shrine maiden in between them. "Oh no!" she gasped. She looked at the Black Jewel who started shooting fireballs at her, and she had no place to run. "Dammit!"

* * *

"Let go of me!" Wario shouted as he pried open the snake's mouth by force. The snake tried to close his mouth again but Wario leaped out of its mouth in the nick of time and turned to face the snake. "You slimy reptile! Don't think you can get away with this trying to eat me! I'm going to be the one eating you instead!" Wario said angrily while holding up a fist in a threatening manner.

The snake opened his mouth and lunged at Wario, but Wario swung a fist into the side of his face and gave the snake a very powerful punch that may very well break one's jaw.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The snake crashed to the side, but he quickly got back up again and lunged at Wario the second time, ramming him in the body with his snout. Wario flew back into the wall with a thud and the snake moved his forward to swallow him whole. Quickly, Wario rolled to the side and the snake crashed his mouth into the wall instead.

Wario ran up to the snake before he could pull back and gave a shoulder bash to his head. The snake got back to his sense a second later and tried to bite Wario again, but the fat man moved from side to side swiftly despite his weight and managed to avoid each the snake's head jabs. "Just stay dead already!" Wario said with frustration. When the snake lunged forward with an open mouth again, Wario caught him by the mouth and held it open with his strength, but the snake also tried his best to push against and close his mouth over Wario.

"Hiya!" Wario forcefully flung the snake's head to the side and then ran to him to deliver a shoulder bash. The snake quickly recovered and swung his head into Wario, hitting him with his neck and knocking him backwards to the tail which coiled itself around him. "Hey! Let go of me!" Wario shouted while pounding the tail with his arms.

* * *

"Hai!" Reimu quickly leaped back into the air to avoid the fireball that was shot at her, but she jumped too far back and went off the arena instead. "Whoa!" Luckily, she caught the edge when she came down and quickly pulled herself back up again. "Phew… That was close…"

The walls of fire cleared and the Black Jewel fired another eye beam at her. Reimu rolled aside and threw a couple of paper amulets but the jewel easily evaded them. "Hakurei Amulet!" Reimu took out two more pieces of amulet and threw them, and the amulets glowed with orange light that made them look bigger as they flew towards the Black Jewel.

The Black Jewel tried to avoid them, but as these amulets had homing capabilities, the jewel was unable to escape them and got hit in the body. The jewel wobbled awkwardly in the air after being hit and slowly descended towards the floor. "Did it work?" Reimu wondered.

However, the jewel got back to his sense just as it was about to touch the floor and quickly rose into the air again. Its eye glowed with an orange light and then a fireball was shot at Reimu. Reimu easily stepped out of the way to avoid the fireball but then the Black Jewel suddenly dropped like a piece of rock and hit the floor really hard, creating a blue shockwave that spread across the floor.

The shockwave came at such a speed that Reimu was unable to avoid it, and it went through her and zapped her all over the body. "YAAAAA!" While she was stunned, the Black Jewel shot another fireball at her after rising into the air and it collided with her body, creating a fiery explosion that tossed her backwards. "AH!"

As Reimu was trying stand back up, she failed to notice the Black Jewel firing an eye beam that pierced through her right shoulder. "UGH!" And when the beam struck the floor behind her, a wall of fire was created, engulfing her. "YAAAAAAAAAA!"

As Reimu fell to the side and rolled around to put out the fire, the Black Jewel slammed itself onto the floor violently and created another shockwave that zapped Reimu and sent her flying into the air. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

While she was still in the air, the Black Jewel flew above her and flipped himself upside-down before diving onto Reimu's abdomen and smashing her onto the floor forcefully.

SMAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

With an open mouth, the snake pulled his head towards the bounded Wario and tried to bite off his head, but Wario used his arms to grab the snake by the mouth and tried to push him back. "You're not going to eat me!" Wario said loudly while struggling with the snake.

As both sides pushed back and forth, Wario noticed the snake's tongue wiggling around in front of his face, so he reached forward and bit the tongue. The snake yelped in pain and quickly pulled back, and then Wario used this opportunity to lower his head to bite the snake's tail as hard as he could. This made the snake cry even louder and the tail loosened its grip around Wario, freeing him.

"Haha! Now you're going to get it!" Wario said. He ran up to the snake and then leaped at his head, socking him across the face really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

The Black Jewel went back into air above the center of the arena and watched Reimu lying seemingly lifelessly on the floor. The shrine maiden twitched her finger and slowly sat back up, rubbing her abdomen which was struck really hard earlier. "Ugh… That… hurts…" she cried.

Seeing that she was still alive, the Black Jewel wasted no time in shooting a fireball at her. Seeing this, Reimu acted quickly and kicked against the floor to move to the side. She landed on her feet but quickly fell to her knees as her abdomen was still hurting. "Ow…"

The Black Jewel fired an eye beam at her again. "Cautionary Border!" Reimu said loudly as she lifted up her arm to create a blue wall which protected her from the beam, and the barrier disappeared afterwards

Trying to ignore the pain on her body, Reimu forced herself to stand back up and then took out a large piece of blue amulet. "I'm not going to be defeated by a simple piece of jewelry like you!" she said angrily. "Sure, you look like something valuable that I would surely want to put into my donation box, but so long as you are an evil being, I must destroy you at all cost! Spread Amulet!"

She flung the amulet into the air and as it traveled halfway through the air, the amulet suddenly broke down into smaller pieces, all of them heading for the Black Jewel. The Black Jewel quickly flew higher into the air to avoid them, but Reimu pulled out three more pieces of the same amulet and threw them. All of them exploded into smaller pieces and because there were a lot of them, the Black Jewel was unable to avoid them all and was struck by some. The projectiles exploded upon hitting the Black Jewel and made it wobble around in air as if it was made dizzy.

Quickly taking out a card, Reimu ran towards the jewel and shouted, "Dimensional Rift!" The card flashed with white light and Reimu disappeared, only to reappear in front of the Black Jewel where she gave him a powerful smack from her gohei.

SMACK!

The jewel spun through the air a few yards before coming to a stop, and then it flew towards Reimu again before shooting fireballs at her at once from his eye. Reimu leaped back into the air to avoid getting hit by the fireballs. Strangely, she went higher and higher into the air instead of falling back down. "Hey! I can fly again!" she exclaimed happily. Remaining in midair, she looked at the Black Jewel and said to it, "All right! Now that I am able to fly again, I can go all out on you! Prepare yourself!"

* * *

"Raaaah!" Wario jumped onto the snake's neck and forcefully pinned him down onto the floor before punching him in the neck rapidly. "Eat this! Take this! How'd ya like it?" Wario taunted as he threw the punches.

POW WHACK SMACK SOCK POW!

The snake hissed loudly and suddenly raised himself back up again, forcing Wario to let go and hop back. The snake angrily raised his head as high as he could before slamming down onto Wario like a hammer, hoping to flatten him. Wario dodged aside and then leaped into the air above the snake and fell back onto the back of his neck with a powerful butt slam.

SLAM!

"Take this!" Wario said as he raised his fist. "Earth…" But before he could execute the move or even finish calling out its name, the snake brought its tail over to Wario and smacked him away into the wall really hard. "OW!"

CRASH!

While Wario was planted face first into the wall, the snake opened his mouth and lunged at him, taking a huge chomp out of the wall and then pulling back with a mouthful of rocks. Suddenly, his mouth was forced to open when Wario stood up tall, holding his hands underneath the top portion of the snake's mouth. "I SAID YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE EATING ME!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

* * *

Reimu flew in circles around the Black Jewel while hurling amulets constantly. The jewel constantly moved around to avoid getting hit, but was ultimately unable to avoid them all and was struck by some. Reimu then flew at the Black Jewel shortly after it was hit by the exploding tags and performed a backward spin at close range, kicking the jewel higher into the air. "Ascension Kick!"

KICK!

The jewel soared up high into the air while spinning and Reimu gave chase to continue attacking it but the jewel regained its sense in time and quickly moved aside and dived downwards. It turned to face Reimu and shot out multiple fireballs at her, but she swiftly swerved from side to side while moving towards the jewel, landing a dive kick into its eyes.

The Black Jewel shot downwards and bounced off the floor and back into the air. After regaining its sense, the Black Jewel positioned itself in a way so that its top is facing Reimu, and then the jewel shot forward really fast like a rocket. Reimu barely swerved out of the way and the jewel continued flying straight through the air a few more meters before turning around to hit her again. Reimu once again moved out of his way but when the jewel attempted to hit her for the third time, she quickly created a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!"

The Black Jewel rammed into the wall hard but pushed against it and Reimu placed her hands on the other side of the wall and tried her best to push against it as well. Both sides were pushing the wall back and forth for a while until the wall began to crack. It suddenly shattered into pieces and the Black Jewel moved forward, hitting Reimu in the body and pushing her across the air. "Ya!"

The Black Jewel stopped moving but Reimu kept on flying backwards and the jewel launched a couple of fireballs at her. Luckily, Reimu regained control of herself and quickly flew out of the fireballs way and headed for the Black Jewel while throwing amulets at it.

The Black Jewel countered by shooting fireballs at the amulets, destroying each of the incoming projectiles. Reimu approached the Black Jewel and was ready to raise her leg to land a kick into it, but the Black Jewel suddenly raised its tentacles and caught Reimu by her body. "What the?" she said in shock.

With the shrine maiden in the grasp of his tentacles, the Black Jewel surged electricity down its tentacles and into Reimu, zapping her. "YAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As if that wasn't enough, the Black Jewel dropped straight down and smashed Reimu against the floor over and over, each hit creating a shockwave with Reimu serving as its epicenter. The pain of the electricity traveling through her body before coming out as a shockwave was totally unbearable. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

* * *

"Hiya!" Wario reached his hand to the snake's right fang and with a powerful yank, ripped it off from the gum. The snake cried and writhed in pain as Wario leaped onto the floor and turned to face him. "All right! Time to show you who the boss around here is!"

Wario threw himself into the air and rammed his head against the snake by his neck and forcefully pinned him down onto the floor the second time. Wario raised his right arm high over his head and shouted out loud, "Earthshake Punch!" And then he brought down his fist onto the snake's throat, hitting him with an incredibly powerful punch.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The entire place basically shook when the punch was executed. The snake hissed in pain loudly before falling limp, and then his whole body glowed with a bright light before exploding in a huge burst of rainbow-colored light that sent coins flying everywhere

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Wario dropped to the floor and positioned his hat properly and said, "Hmph! Now you know who the boss around here is!"

* * *

"OW! AHHH! YAAAA! UGH!" Reimu cried in pain every time the Black Jewel slammed her forcefully onto the floor.

Knowing that her life will be in critical condition if this keeps on, Reimu quickly pulled out a card as she suffered the blows and slapped it onto the floor when the Black Jewel slammed her down again. "Dream Sign: Demon Sealing Circle!" she shouted.

The card glowed with bright blue light and suddenly, a pillar of light was formed. It went straight up, engulfing both Reimu and the Black Jewel. Obviously, Reimu was unharmed by the light but the jewel suffered from being bathed in the light, forcing the jewel to drop Reimu.

Reimu hit the floor and quickly crawled to a safer distance before turning to look at the pillar of light. When the light disintegrated, the Black Jewel was wobbling in air awkwardly, but remained airborne.

"Time to end this!" she said while taking out a card which she held in between two fingers. "Spirit Sign: Fantasy Orb!" The card glowed with various colors as she raised it into the air, and then five energy balls of red, blue, green, pink, and orange appeared from the card. She pointed her arm at the Black Jewel and the five energy balls flew towards it at a fast speed, exploding upon hitting their target.

KAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Black Jewel fell out of the explosion and bounced along the floor a couple of times, but then it slowly attempted to float back up into the air despite having a body full of cracks. "Oh no you don't! Reimu shouted as she ran towards the jewel. "Sliding Ascension Kick!" She slid across the floor and performed a somersault kick at the jewel to send it high into the air.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The jewel spun through the air and eventually fell back down again, once again bouncing around the arena for a while before lying motionlessly on the floor. Reimu looked at the motionless jewel, but was surprised when the jewel suddenly floated back into the air again, albeit slowly and in an awkward manner. "Still alive?" she gasped.

But the Black Jewel looked like it was suffering this time. As it floated into the air, white light began pouring out from the cracks on the jewel's body and there were no longer had pupils on the eye. As more and more cracks appeared all over its body, the Black Jewel let out a loud shriek despite having no visible mouth before exploding into millions of pieces.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

After the Black Jewel was no more, Reimu let out a sigh and said, "It's over…" Then the scenery started to distort as well as the arena. Reimu looked around with curiosity and suddenly, bright light engulfed the entire place, forcing the shrine maiden to close her eyes. "What's happening?"

When Reimu was able to open her eyes again, she found herself standing among large piles of treasures and her friends were all around her as well as Wario and the knocked out Black Sugar Gang. "Everyone!" Reimu said with surprise.

Youmu looked around and then sighed. "Phew… No more ghosts at last… Thanks goodness…"

Wario looked at Reimu and said, "Hey! Did you destroy the Black Jewel all by yourself?"

"Yeah," Reimu said with a nod.

"Wow! I would never have thought that you could destroy that abomination by yourself!" He turned to a pile of treasure and picked up a handful of coins and shook them in his palm. "Heheh! Even my beloved treasure is back to normal! Good, good!"

"Oh my god!" Sanae gasped upon seeing the badly injured Marisa lying on the floor. "Marisa is bleeding severely!"

The girls ran around Marisa to tend to her and the witch simply smiled and said, "This is nothing. You don't have to… Ouch!"

"We have to treat you fast!" Reisen said. "Good thing I've brought Mistress Eirin's medicines along."

"Aren't they back in the shrine?" Nitori asked her.

"Doh…"

"If you want to blame someone," Marisa said, slowly sitting back up, and pointing to the members of the Black Sugar Gang who were getting back up as well, "Blame them!"

Everyone turned to look at Captain Syrup and her lackeys. The pirate captain looked at the girls and Wario and said, "Well… Nice day, isn't it…?"

"I don't want to hear something like that coming from you!" Wario said angrily. "You steal my key and then barge into not only my castle, but also my treasure vault without my consent! You're not going to get away with this so easily!"

"Listen, we didn't steal anything yet!" D.D. claimed. "We came in here and crazy things happened without a warning!"

"Yeah! We have no idea what was happening either!" Pirate Goom said. Pointing to Marisa, he continued, "That girl popped out of nowhere all of a sudden and attacked us, so we fought back to defend ourselves!"

"Well, you guys are the people that Wario want to kick out," Marisa said, "so I'm simply doing the job for him."

"I don't want to hear any excuses from you dirty rats!" Wario said angrily while rolling up his sleeves. "Anyone who even thinks of stealing my treasures will pay dearly for it!"

The three lackeys hid behind their captain and trembled in fear, but Captain Syrup raised both arms and said calmly, "Okay, okay, okay… We admit defeat. There's no need to be so angry. We haven't stolen anything yet, and we plan to leave empty-handed too. But don't let your guard down, handsome boy. We're going to come back again to steal your goodies, so you better sleep with one eye open if you want to keep your treasures from being stolen!"

Having said this, Captain Syrup and her three lackeys walked past them and headed out of the vault room. Wario wasn't ready to let them go just like this however, and he took a step forward and said, "I said already that you're not going to get out of this so easily! Anyone who messes with the great Wario messes with the gas!"

"Say whatever you want! We'll be taking our leave!" Captain Syrup said before running up the spiraling staircase, followed by her lackeys.

Wario ran up in front of staircase, turned around, and bent over. "Behold and smell it!" he said as his butt started to give off light.

"What's he doing?" Sanae said with surprise.

"Wario Waft!" Wario shouted, and then he unleashed a really loud and monstrous fart.

POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

A thick column of brown gas spiraled all the way up the staircase and went after the fleeing pirates. They managed to make it to the first floor and ran for their lives for the exit before their eyes, but unfortunately, the gas caught up with them. Like a giant fist, the column of gas pushed them out of the door and across the plain. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they screamed

The gas eventually dissipated and the pirates were seen falling onto the ground near the horizon, but they got back up again and continued running until they were no longer in sight. Wario stepped out from his castle and shouted as loud as he could while shaking his fist in the air, "AND DON'T COME BACK HERE AGAIN!"

The girls showed up behind him and Marisa said, "Wow… I wouldn't want to be around this guy when he farts… especially when there is fire nearby-ze…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I could've ended the arc with this chapter, but somehow, it just doesn't feel right to do something like this…

Anyway, I hope both the fights against the Black Jewel and the Giant Snake are satisfying enough for you! I had a lot of fun typing this chapter!

BTW, I can't find the OST for Wario World's final boss theme at all, even on Youtube. I had to resort to watching a video of the final battle in order to hear what the music is like.

**Next chapter: Theory of the Light Essences**


	15. Theory of the Light Essences

**Chapter 14  
Theory of the Light Essences**

**

* * *

**

It had been a day since the incident at Wario's castle and the girls had all fully recovered from their fights, except for Marisa whose leg still hurt a bit.

It was quiet within the dining room as everyone ate breakfast together. Reimu placed her fork down and wiped her mouth before saying, "That was good!"

"Waha! I knew you'd like it!" Wario sfaid as he raised his cup to drink orange juice. "I may not look like it, but I'm a very skilled cook! Mario probably can't cook as well as me!"

Aya looked around the place and said, "It's really hard to imagine that you own this massive castle and live here all by yourself!"

"Of course! I work hard for money and treasure, so it's only fitting that I get to own a castle like this!" Wario boasted. "Enjoy as much as you can before you take your leave!"

"I'm just reminded of something…" Reisen said all of a sudden, "We haven't found the Light Essence yet…"

"Yeah, I almost forgot about it…" Sanae said. "We still don't know where the Light Essence is! Without that, we won't be able to fix the World Light!"

Immediately after saying this, the girls and Wario noticed something glowing at the side of the room. They turned to look at that direction and saw a large piece of coin placed on a wooden stand, and that coin was glowing and sparkling for some reason. The coin was made of platinum and it had a black W imprinted on both sides of it. "What's that?" Cirno asked. "And it's glowing too!"

"Oh, that's a souvenir Master Hand gave to me as I was returning from the Smash Brothers Tournament," Wario explained while taking a sip of orange juice. "They say platinum are more valuable than gold, so I decided to separate it from the rest of the treasures to make it stand out more. I still find gold more appealing though."

"Does it usually glow like that?"

Wario shook his head. "No, and this is the first time I saw it glowing as well."

The coin stopped glowing and something came to Youmu and she said, "You know… When Sanae mentioned the term World Light, that coin…" Before she even finished speaking, the coin suddenly glowed and sparkled again. "It's glowing again!"

"I get what you mean," Reimu said. "Can this have something to do with the World Light?"

"If it has something to do with the World Light," Remilia said, "then it must be the Light Essence we're looking for."

"I think you may be onto something there!" Aya said.

"If that is the thing you're looking for," Wario said, "then feel free to take it."

Sanae turned to him and asked, "Are you sure about this? But I thought…"

"Like I said earlier, I find gold more appealing than platinum. Plus, I should thank you somehow for helping me getting rid of intruders in my castle. Just take it if you want to."

"If you don't mind then," Reimu said as she went over to the coin and picked it up. "So this is the Light Essence, eh?"

* * *

After they had acquired the platinum coin, the girls and Wario returned to the outskirts of Diamond City through the same warp pipe.

After several minutes of flying (riding the motorcycle in Wario's case) down the street, they finally arrived at the Hakurei Shrine. As the girls stepped inside the shrine, Marisa turned to look at Wario and said, "Hey, thanks for the tour! You're a pretty nice guy after all!"

"I'm glad you like my tour!" Wario said. "Remember to buy from my company once in a while!"

"Okay, if we ever come back here again, I will!"

"All right, you girls have someplace to go to, right? Hurry up and move along now."

"So… are you sure you're not… giving us more than just this?" Reimu asked Wario while holding up the platinum coin.

"If you mean the treasures back in castle… NO!!!" Wario said loudly. "My treasures belongs to me! Nobody else can take them!"

"Geez… You're so stingy! Whatever… We'll be taking our leave," Reimu said. She raised the coin into the air and the coin rose from her hand and into the air above the shrine.

The mushroom essence that they acquired in the previous world suddenly appeared next to the coin, and then both the essences started moving in circles around the shrine. As they did, a vortex opened up above the shrine and shined down a beam of light onto the building.

"Looks like it really is the essence-ze!" Marisa said happily.

The girls came out to the porch to take one last glimpse at Wario while waving good-bye to him, and Wario waved back at them as well. "Good-bye!" Cirno said loudly.

"Yeah, and the same goes for you too, girlies!" Wario called back.

The shrine shook around for a while as it slowly rose into the air and then the beam of light became so thick that Wario could no longer see them from the outside. The blinding light forced him to close his eyes, and when he opened his eyes again, there was nothing in front of him anymore.

"Well, there they go," he said. "Anyway, off to work!" He turned around and went back to ride his motorcycle and started its engines before heading down the street.

Suddenly, the engine exploded for no reason and sent Wario snaking down the street uncontrollably. "WAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" And then he crashed into the slow down sign (the same one from the arc's first chapter).

CRASH!

* * *

Back in Gensokyo and within Yukari's house, Chen the two-tailed cat demon walked down the hallway and approached Ran the nine-tailed fox demon. "Mistress Ran," she said to Ran. "Where is Mistress Yukari?"

Ran bent down in front of Chen and said to her, "Mistress Yukari went to look for Reimu and the others."

"Really? How come she didn't take us along?"

"She wants us to remain safe here. Who knows? The world out there may be too dangerous for us, so she thinks it's better that she does this by herself. Don't worry; I'm sure she'll be back someday!"

Back in his castle, Bowser angrily pounded the arm of his throne and said loudly, "Argh! Thinking of it still makes me angry! I can't believe that I lost to some random girl whose name I don't even know!"

"Calm down, your grouchiness," Kamek said to him. "I heard that the girl is no longer in Mushroom Kingdom."

"What do you mean? Did she move to somewhere else?"

"They say the girl and her friends are not from this world," Kamek explained.

"What? That sounds really strange… Bah, whatever… She should be lucky that she won't be running into me again or else she's royally screwed! If I ever get my hands on her again, I'm going to…"

Suddenly a purple portal opened up in the air in front of Bowser and Yukari popped her upper torso out of it. This freaked out Bowser and Kamek and they jumped up a slightly. "What the?!" Bowser said in shock.

"I'm sorry if I spooked you," Yukari said, "but I overheard your conversation regarding a girl beating you up and traveling to another world."

"And what does that have to do with you?" Bowser asked in an annoyed voice. "And who are you anyway? Don't think you can come into my castle without my consent!"

"Oh, don't be so mad," Yukari said with a smile. She looked left to right and said, "My… This place suits only someone the likes of you!"

Thinking that she was praising him, Bowser laughed and said, "Bwaha! I'm glad you like my castle! It is the biggest pride that I have!"

"Your grouchiness," Kamek said to him, "I think her comment is supposed to be an insult, meaning to say that this dirty, old castle looks as bad as you."

"What?!" Bowser said angrily. "How dare you?!" He angrily breathed out fire at Yukari, but the demon quickly closed the portal and the fire went through empty air instead. "Tsk! She's gone! Who on earth is she anyway and how did she do that? And you…" He turned to Kamek and said, "What did you say about my castle being dirty and old earlier?!"

"Your grouchiness… Don't be so angry… Have mercy…" Kamek pleaded nervously, but he received a punch from Bowser to the face instead and flew into the wall. "OW!"

CRASH!

"Now I feel much better!" Bowser said, rubbing his fist. "I had to vent out my anger on someone."

* * *

After closing the portal, Yukari walked through the spacious area that consisted of a purple background dotted with red, eerie eyes. "It would seem that I am on track after all," Yukari said to herself. "I tried tracking down Reimu's spiritual power and it led me here, but according to that big, ugly monster, those girls are no longer here… Oh well, I'll just have to track them down again."

And then she walked away into the endless span of purple to continue her voyage of looking for the missing girls.

* * *

The Hakurei Shrine soared through the passage of white light, heading for its next destination.

As the voyage went on smoothly, all the girls except for Meiling were settled down in the living room. Reisen was helping Marisa change the bandages on her leg. "Ow! Watch it!" Marisa cried in pain. "It hurts-ze!"

"I can't be helped," Reisen said as she applied ointment onto the witch's leg. "But you'll definitely feel a lot better by tomorrow. Mistress Eirin's medicines always work."

"I assume that before they work properly, she would test them on you, right?" Marisa asked.

"Um… Yeah… I remember when I once became the size of a mouse because she tested her prototype aspirin on me… Trust me; it's not fun at all…"

Reimu took a sip from her tea and then said to Remilia who was sitting to the left of her, "Remilia, do you think there's a point for Meiling to stand at the front door?"

"That's her job," Remilia replied.

"I know, but it's not like there is anything to look out for currently. Why don't you tell her to come in?"

"She may be useful in letting us know that we are arriving at the next world."

"Yeah, maybe you're right, though I'm not too sure if we can trust her not to fall asleep on her job…"

* * *

At the front door, Meiling was doing her job, or so it seems. The gatekeeper was sitting in front of the donation box, snoozing peacefully.

Unknown to her, a sphere showing the scenery of the next world was slowly coming into sight at the end of the passage.

* * *

"Okay, now we have an idea on how to find the remaining essence," Reimu said to those present at the living room. "It seems that if we mention the term World Light, the essence, if present, will glow and give off sparkles."

"Just like with the one we found in Wario's Castle," Youmu brought up.

"Right," Reimu said with a nod. "So in the next world, we just have to say out the term World Light on everything we come across and see if it responds to it. If so, then we have proof that it is the Light Essence."

"Do we have to say it to everything we come across?" Reisen asked.

"Well, at least say it in front of anything that looks peculiar…"

"The first essence is a model of a mushroom and the second one is a coin…" Nitori said. "This makes me wonder what the next essence will look like."

"I may have a theory on how the essences look like," Aya brought up. "The first essence is a mushroom and Mushroom Kingdom happens to be full of mushrooms! And then second one is a coin and there are a lot of coins found inside Wario's vault room."

"So are you saying…?" Sanae asked.

Aya nodded. "Yes, I'm saying that the essences look like the most common thing of each world! All we have to do is try to find out what is the most common thing in the next world and then we will have an idea on what the essence will look like! Combined with saying the term World Light, we will be able to find the next essence in no time!"

"Your theory sounds good enough," Reimu said.

Suddenly, the whole place shook around violently, even more so than when the shrine was being transported by the World Light. The girls lost their balance and rolled around the floor, the table slid around, and the closets flung open, dumping out the contents inside.

"What the heck?!" Aya said in shock.

"What's happening?!" Reisen cried.

"Everyone!!!" Meiling's voice shouted from the front door. "We're at the next wor… AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"That's Meiling's voice!!!" Remilia gasped.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And thus we conclude the Wario arc. This chapter isn't very long, but I just don't feel like combining it with the previous chapter for some reason. I hope you enjoyed with arc and will be looking forward to the next arc!

Try to guess what the next arc is from the last part of this chapter! And once again, the preview title of the next chapter will not be typed down in order to keep the next arc a secret.


	16. Phantasmagoria of Ocean View

**SBS Time!  
****the1undzeonli1****: **In between arcs, there should be side stories about the residents in Gensokyo and their reactions to the missing girls and shrine.  
**Game2002: **That's exactly what I have planned in mind. This will be happening between each arc as well as showing Yukari traveling through each of the worlds looking for the girls.

**Ancestor's Dragon: **I have a slight issue with the SFX.  
**Game2002: **That's my style of writing stories, but I'm sorry if it annoyed you somewhat. Maybe I should only use them if I really have to from now on.

Is the shaking at the end of the previous chapter a good enough hint? Anyway, here's the next arc! Let's see if it is really what you think it is!

**Chapter 15  
Phantasmagoria of Ocean View**

* * *

The shrine shook around violently and the girls inside could not stay still at all. "What is happening?" Aya cried.

Suddenly, the backyard door burst open and a large amount of water came rushing inside and instantly filled up the living room. "WATER!" Reisen cried.

The girls cried at the top of their voices as they were forcefully thrown around the place and occasionally forced to take a mouthful of water.

Reimu and Cirno were both washed out of the room and down the hallway and were eventually taken to the porch. Reimu crashed into the donation box which was nailed to the floor while Cirno was not as lucky as she went past the box and out of the shrine completely. "HELP!" the ice fairy cried.

"You can fly, so just flap your wings!" Reimu shouted at her while holding for dear life onto the top of the donation box.

"HELP!" shouted another voice. Reimu looked up again and not only saw Cirno out there, but Meiling as well. Both the girls were being dragged out by the roiling water that surrounded the shrine completely.

"What is this place?" Reimu cried. Suddenly, the shrine tilted downwards almost to the point of flipping upside-down and made Reimu lose her grip on the donation box and fell into the water, joining her two friends out there.

SPLASH!

The shrine fell back down again but the water around it continued to rock it violently, and the three girls were unable to swim properly because of the raging water and they couldn't get back to the shrine either. Cirno flapped her wings to try to escape the water, but a wave crashed down on top of her and forced her back down again. "Ah!"

"Hold on together!" Reimu shouted to the two. "That way we won't be separated from each other!" The three tried their best to swim towards each other and quickly held hands tightly.

"I'm coming to help you!" shouted the voice of Nitori. They looked at the shrine and saw the kappa running out to the porch and diving into the water. "Whoa! The water is rough!" Nitori tried to swim towards the trio, but even though she is an adept swimmer, she still found it hard trying to get through the raging water. "I'm coming!"

Reimu reached out her hand towards Nitori and they managed to come in contact. "All right! Hold still!" Nitori shouted. "I'm taking you all back to the shrine!" She turned around but to her surprise, the shrine had been taken very far from them due to the wind and raging water. "Oh no! We have to get back to it fast before it's too late!"

Kicking her legs as hard as she could, Nitori tried to swim towards the shrine while dragging along her three friends who were all holding hands with each other. Unfortunately, the raging water prevented her from swimming properly.

Suddenly, a massive wave appeared behind them and by the time the four of them noticed it, the wave was about to crash on top of them. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

CRASH!

As for the shrine, it continued to be tossed and turned on top of the water while the waves and wind battered it. Inside, the girls were all holding onto something for their lives to avoid being swept away.

* * *

The sun shined down onto Marisa's face and she held her hand over her eyes. Slowly standing back up, she looked around the living room to see that everything was drenched. "Whoa… This place really is a mess thanks to yesterday…" she said. "What was that all about anyway-ze?" She then turned to the backyard door and was amazed at the sight before her eyes. "Wow!"

Youmu then came into the room and saw her. "Marisa! Thanks goodness you're all right!"

Marisa turned to her and said, "You're here as well! Where is everyone-ze?"

"It seems that everyone is safe," Youmu replied. "Well, actually… I haven't seen Reimu, Cirno, Nitori, and Meiling at all. The others are all here though."

"Why don't you come and see this first?"

Youmu stepped into the room and stood in front of the porch, and she was instantly amazed at the sight before her eyes—an endless span of water. "Wow..."

They looked around the shrine but all they could see was water and nothing else. "What is this place?" Youmu wondered.

"From the looks of it, it would appear that we're out at sea-ze," Marisa said.

* * *

Reimu slowly opened her eyes and the first thing that she saw when her vision became clear was the smiling face of Cirno looking back at her. "Hello!" the ice fairy said cheerfully.

"Wha?" Reimu sat up suddenly and banged her forehead into Cirno's forehead, and both sides fell over holding their foreheads in pain. "Ow… Don't scare me… like that…" Reimu then looked left to right and noticed that she was inside a shelter, albeit a small one. "What is this place?" And to the right of her was Meiling, sleeping peacefully on the floor

"We're on a boat of some nice guy," Cirno told her.

"A boat of some nice guy?" Reimu said curiously. She suddenly heard footsteps and then saw Nitori coming down from a staircase that reached down from an opening on the ceiling.

"Hey! You're awake!" Nitori said happily. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah," Reimu replied with a nod. "But what is this place anyway?"

"We're on a boat. After the storm was over, the three of you were unconscious and floating on the sea. I tried to carry you to any landmass I can find but didn't find any at all, but luckily, a boat passed by and spotted us, so it came over to rescue us."

"The sea?"

"Yes, we're actually out at sea!" Nitori said with excitement. "I've always wanted to come out to the sea and I can't believe that my dream came true at last!"

"Hey, are you all feeling better down there?" asked an unfamiliar voice. Reimu looked at the staircase again and this time saw a middle-aged man dressed in a blue coat coming down.

"Who are you?" Reimu asked.

Nitori pointed at the man and said, "This is the owner of the boat. He's the one who rescued us!"

The man waved at Reimu, who waved back at him, and said, "I'm the captain of this steamboat, S.S. Linebeck. You can refer to me as Captain Linebeck!"

**BGM: Linebeck's Theme (Zelda: Phantom Hourglass)**

"Um… Hi…" Reimu said.

"Well, you girls are lucky to run into me out in the middle of nowhere! Had you stayed out there any longer, you would've become fish food," Linebeck said to them.

"Actually, I can handle any sort of threats coming from the sea with no problem," Nitori said. "But honestly speaking, it would be hard to do so having to defend my friends and fight off threats at the same time."

"That's why I said you are lucky to run into me! So how about we get some explanations done? Did you get into a shipwreck or something?" Linebeck asked them. "No surprise if that's what happened since the storm yesterday night was pretty violent. Even my beloved steamboat almost sank!"

Reimu tried to recall everything that happened yesterday night. "Oh yeah… The shrine rocked back and forth violently and then we were washed out by the water… And then a huge wave crashed down on top of us… That's all I can remember…"

"Okay, so you basically got washed overboard," Linebeck said, trying to summarize what he heard. "Aye, it's a common thing to happen during storms, but you should be happy to know that you are still alive! I can't be sure about what happened to your ship and its crewmates though. If they're lucky, they may be alive out there somewhere."

"They'll be fine," Reimu said. "They're not the kind of people to be taken down by a storm so easily. I'm more concerned about my shrine though…"

"And trying to meet up with them again," Nitori added. "I hope it's not too hard trying to find them…"

"Well, I can't be sure about that," Linebeck said. "The sea is a huge place and trying to find people without any clues offered is just like looking for a needle in a haystack. The best I can do now is to take you all to an island and hope that the islanders there are advanced and smart enough to help find your friends."

"Thanks for your offer!" Reimu said.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other girls were cleaning up the shrine. Miraculously enough, the shrine wasn't damaged by the storm. Asides from having a messy interior, the exterior is completely unscratched.

Reisen moved left to right across the room in a bent position to wipe up the wet spots on the floor using a piece of cloth. She then stopped next to a bucket to squeeze the water from the cloth into it before continuing her work. She noticed Alice sitting on a chair doing nothing and said to her, "It would be nice if you do something to help…"

"I am," Alice told her. "Don't you see my fingers moving?" Reisen looked at her fingers and then looked around the place to see Shanghai and some of the other dolls cleaning up the place.

"Okay…"

Sanae came into the room with a mop in her hand and said, "This is room done yet?"

"Pretty much done," Reisen said as she cleaned up the remaining spots.

"That's good to hear! It's a miracle that the shrine managed to make it through that awful storm last night. I'm worried about Reimu, Cirno, and Nitori though…"

"And Meiling," Alice reminded her.

"Oh yeah, also her… I tend to forget about her existence… Guess I've really never got to know the residents of Scarlet Devil Mansion that much…"

"They'll be all right," Marisa said, walking up next to her. "Nitori is with them, so they shouldn't have to worry about drowning. She's an expert swimmer after all-ze!"

"But still, it makes me worried… We haven't regained our ability to fly either…"

* * *

Remilia came out to the front porch but stayed underneath the shade and said to Aya who was sitting next to the donation box, "Have you seen anything?"

"Nope," Aya said without turning her head. "Not a single soul in sight nor is there any form of landmass."

Remilia sighed and said, "So I guess this is what they call being lost at sea."

"Yeah, I guess so... I've read novels about people being stranded at sea with no knowledge of where to go asides from drifting around aimlessly. But compared to those situations, we're not that bad. At least we still have a form a shelter and foods to help us stay alive!"

"Why don't you fly out there and look for something?" Remilia said to her. "With your flying speed, you can surely make it over the horizon and back in no time to report your discoveries."

"Yeah, that's what I'm planning to do now," Aya said, standing up and stretching her arms over her head and then made her wings appear from her back. "It's better than sitting here doing nothing." As she was getting ready to take off, she suddenly spotted something coming in from the distance. "Hey, I think I see something over there!"

The two looked at the thing that was approaching from afar. As it came closer, it became apparent that the thing is, in fact, a ship. "It's a ship!" Aya said. "Hopefully the people on there are friendly enough to help us! Let's tell the others fast!"

Remilia and Aya went back into the living room which had just been cleaned up and everyone was gathered there as well. When they told them that a ship was approaching, they all ran out to the front door to see for themselves.

The ship got closer but sailed to the side of the shrine, so the girls quickly ran out to the porch on that side of the shrine. That was where the ship stopped moving and the girls looked up to see two men looking down at them. One of them was wearing a red bandana on his head while the other one had an orange bandana.

The man with the red bandana was the first to speak. "What are you girls doing floating out at sea inside a… house…?"

The girls were wondering how to reply to him, but then Aya said to him, "We're lost at sea! It would be nice if you will help us!"

"Lost at sea? That's bad to hear," the man with the orange bandana said. He turned to the first man and asked him, "What do you say? Should we tell the captain about this?"

"I don't see why not," the first man said.

"What are you two doing?" asked a girl's voice suddenly.

The two men turned around and spoke to the person that was hidden from the girls' view. "Captain, there's this… house floating out at sea and the people inside it are lost," the first man said to the person.

"A house floating at sea? Are you pulling my leg?" said the girl's voice. The girls continued looking at the ship, and suddenly, a dark-skinned blonde popped her head over the deck and looked at them. "Well! If this isn't the craziest way of sailing at sea, I don't know what is!"

"Thanks for the compliment-ze!" Marisa said with a smile.

"So you girls are lost?" the blond girl asked. "How about you come aboard first before we get down to business? Do you mind doing that?"

Aya turned to her comrades and showed an 'OK' sign in her hand and winked. "Everything is going as planned!"

"You sound like you have something evil planned out in your mind…" Reisen commented.

* * *

Soon afterwards, the Hakurei Shrine was tied by both its pillars at the front porch and was being carried along behind the ship. The girls were all aboard the ship talking with its crewmembers.

"I'm Tetra, the captain of this pirate ship!" the blond girl said to them.

"Pirate? As in people who rob out at sea?" Sanae asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, that's the kind of people we are!" Tetra said with a smile. "But don't worry; we not really the kind of cold-hearted people who steal for fun. We prefer going on adventures and treasure hunts rather than plundering from the innocent."

"Yeah, that's good to hear," Marisa said. "Stealing is bad after all-ze!" This made her friends stare at her with odd expressions. "What?"

"So how about you tell me why you're sailing out at sea using a house?" Tetra asked them. "I've never heard of anything like this before!"

Hearing this, the girls looked at each other as they were unsure how to answer her. "Do you think they will believe us if we tell her we come from another world?" Reisen said as quietly as possible.

"I think we should just make up a random story," Sanae suggested. "Try to blend in with the people around here as not to cause doubts and ruckus…"

"What are you speaking among yourselves?" Tetra asked in a voice that was louder than before. "Spill it out!"

Aya stepped forward and said with a smile on her face," You see, we are a bunch of hot-blooded girls who hunger for adventure! Since we are attached to our house as well, we decided to take it out to sea. That way, we will never worry about being homesick! It's simple as that!"

"Uh huh..." Tetra nodded, but she was unsure whether or not to believe her. "You lot sure have a strange way of thinking and doing things… I wonder how you managed to get through the fierce storm yesterday night."

This immediately reminded the girls of their missing friends. "Oh yeah! We forgot!" Youmu said. "Four of us here are lost because of the storm!"

"Okay… so four of your crewmates were washed overboard thanks to the storm. That's sad to hear, and I dare say that their dead bodies are floating out at sea already."

"Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine," Marisa said. "I know Reimu too well and there is no way she can die so easily-ze!"

"It's hard to say," Tetra told her. "The Great Sea can be very dangerous place what with sea monsters lurking everywhere. Even if your friends happen to be good swimmers, they're likely to be eaten before they swim onto an island, which is rare around these parts of the sea."

"Sea monsters…?" Sanae asked.

"Of course, the sea is filled with all sorts of danger. Anyone who travels out at sea knows this. By the way, you haven't told me your names yet."

"Oh, how rude of us to not do so yet!" Aya said. "My name is Aya Shameimaru, the news reporter you can trust!"

"Yeah right…" her friends said in their heads.

Marisa then introduced herself, "My name is Marisa Kirisame!"

Sanae bowed down and said, "My name is Sana Kochiya! It's nice to meet you!"

"My name is Youmu Konpaku," Youmu said.

"I'm Reisen Udongein Inaba," Reisen said.

"Alice Margatroid," Alice said, and then she pointed to Shanghai who waved her arm. "And this is Shanghai."

"Remilia Scarlet," Remilia said.

Tetra placed her hand on her chest and said, "As I said earlier, I'm Tetra, the captain of this pirate crew." She then pointed at each of her crewmembers which consisted of a bearded man, the man with red bandana, the man with orange bandana, a short man with blue bandana, a man with eyeglasses, and a man with large sideburns and said their names in order, "These are the ones under me: Senzo, Gonzo, Nudge, Niko, Mako, and Zuko." Her crewmembers raised their hands and waved at the girls and gave them their greetings as well.

"You must have skills and talents to be able to become the captain of this crew," Youmu commented.

"Of course! I have the number one authority around here!" Tetra said proudly. "Everyone here listens to me, even Link! Speaking of Link…" She turned to her crewmates and asked them, "Where's Link?"

"He's still asleep down there," Niko replied.

"Yeah, he did stay up all night trying to keep the ship stable from the storm yesterday after all," Mako said while adjusting his glasses.

"I don't care! Someone go and get him! Use force if you have to!"

"We'll go get him," Gonzo said. Both he and Nudge headed for the cabin, but then the cabin's door swung open and a blond boy dressed in a green tunic stepped out, rubbing his eyes.

He let out a yawn and said drowsily, "Good morning…"

"Oh good!" Tetra said, crossing her arms. "You're up at last! I hope you had a great sleep."

"I'd prefer sleeping in a little longer if it weren't for the fear that you'll throw a fit for oversleeping…"

"Yeah, you better hope that you wake up early all the time! Anyway, show your manners to these guests!"

Link looked at the girls with a drowsy face and waved at them. "Hello… I'm Link… It's nice to… meet… you…"

Tetra suddenly grabbed his right ear and twisted it hard, making him jump up in pain and not mention bringing his sense back fully. "Ow! Hello! My name is Link! It's nice to meet you!"

"Hmph! That's better!" Tetra said.

* * *

Meanwhile, the S.S. Linebeck was sailing peacefully on the sea. Reimu came out from the cabin to the deck and walked up to the port board where Meiling is. "How are you feeling, Reimu?" Meiling asked her.

"I'm fine," she said. She rested her arms on the edge of the railing and said, "It's the first time I came out to the sea."

"Didn't you go to the sea on the moon once?" Meiling asked her.

"Yeah, but we only stayed at the shore and there isn't any fish in the water either," Reimu replied. "Unlike here…" She watched as dolphins and flying fish jumped in and out of the water in the distance.

Suddenly, a large yellow frog leaped out of the water near the steamboat and fell back down with a splash that sent drops of water onto Meiling and Reimu's face. As the girls wiped their faces, the frog poked his head out of the water and waved his arm at them saying, "Hello there! Nice day, isn't it? I'm Wart the Golden Frog! I enjoy traveling to faraway places and giving my greetings to anyone I come across!"

"Um… Hi…" Reimu said, waving back. "It's nice to meet you, but I recommend that you get out of here fast before a certain friend of mine sees you…"

"What are you looking at?" Cirno asked, showing up all of a sudden. Wanting to protect the frog, Meiling quickly covered Cirno's eye with her hands and then pushed her onto the deck. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"There's something out there not suitable for kids to see!" Meiling told her.

Reimu said to the frog desperately, "Get out of here, quick!"

"But we've just met! Can't we chat for a little longer?" Wart replied. "Hey, do you want to hear my story about how I battled a giant Gyorg? It all started when…"

Meiling suddenly stood back up with both hands frozen. "My hands are frozen!"

Cirno stood up and saw the frog. Obviously, she became very excited and jumped up and down saying, "Wow! A big frog!"

Before Reimu could stop her, Cirno fired a white beam using both arms. "So this Gyorg was about to jump onto me and devour me," Wart said, but he never got to finish his story as the white beam struck him, instantly encasing him inside a large block of ice.

"Um… Nice knowing you…" Reimu said as the steamboat sailed farther and farther from the frozen frog. She turned and walked towards Nitori and Linebeck while Cirno continued watching the frozen frog.

Both Linebeck and Nitori were standing next to a crane and Reimu asked them, "What are you two doing?"

"There's a rumor about a castle existing under the sea," Linebeck told her while looking at a map. "Supposedly, we are sailing on top of it even as we speak! If this is true, then I'd like to know if I can salvage any valuables from there. It's a castle, so there's bound to be lots of valuable things! For a treasure collector like me, I'll give anything to obtain valuable stuffs!"

"And I'm modifying this underwater periscope so that it can see in the dark," Nitori said while tinkering with the periscope. "If the castle is deep underwater, then it should be very dark down there. We will need light in order to see where the crane is going." She then put her wrench away and stood up. "Okay, it's done!"

"Good!" Linebeck said. "Let's try it out then! Put it into the water and see if we can find anything!"

Nitori placed the bottom of the periscope into the water and looked through it while Linebeck went to operate the crane which was next to her. "Wow! I can see very far down!" Nitori said excitedly.

"Do you see anything valuable?" Linebeck asked her.

"Wait a minute…" Nitori said as she flicked a switch on the side of the periscope. "Okay, the lights are on. I can see even clearer now! Wait a minute; I think I see something shiny down there!"

"It must be a gemstone or some precious metal!" Linebeck said, sounding excited. "All right! Let's pick it up then!" He pressed a switch on the machine and the crane slowly descended into the water.

Nitori continued looking through the periscope in order to track down the crane's movement. "Okay… Keep on moving, keep on moving… There's nothing getting in its way… Go on, go on…"

After about a minute, the crane came to a stop and Nitori said, "It hit the bottom! The crane is resting on top of the shiny thing!"

"Yes! Now let's bring it back up!" Linebeck said. He pressed another button and the chain of the crane started reeling back up.

"Good, it seems that the shiny thing has been picked up," Nitori said, still looking through the periscope. "Up, up, up, and up…"

A minute passed by again and the crane finally emerged from the water. "Oh yeah! I've got it!" Linebeck said excitedly. The crane turned to the deck and opened up, dropping a sword onto the deck.

"A sword?" Reimu said curiously.

Linebeck went to pick up the sword and examined it. The sword had a bluish-purplish hilt that spread out to the sides like wings bending upwards and there is also a yellow crystal-like object embedded in the center of the hilt. "Nice sword!" Linebeck said. "Even after being submerged in the sea for a long time, it still looks as good as new!"

"How do you know that it's been down there for a long time?" Reimu asked. "It may have been dropped down there only recently."

"I'm a collector of antiques as well, so I can tell how old an object is just by looking at it. I can tell that this sword had been underwater for some time, but probably not over a year yet. Anyway, this is a good start! Let's continue searching for anything valuable!" He placed the sword onto the floor and got back to work with Nitori again to see if they can find anymore treasure under the sea.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Specter24 may have got it wrong about the next world being Hyrule, but the fact that he said it means he thinks the next arc will be a Zelda arc, so he's still right in a way. Let's give both the1undzeonli1 and Specter24 a round of applause for getting it right!

While Specter24 based his Zelda arc off Twilight Princess, I'm basing mines off The Wind Waker. For some reason, I'm very excited about working on this arc, so I hope you look forward to it as well!

Also, if you know what that sword at the end of the chapter is, then I'm sure you know what this means as well, assuming that you've beaten The Wind Waker.

Also note how the having a frog named Wart appearing in each arc has become a running joke in this story as well also being frozen by Cirno all the time...

**Next chapter: The Hero Who Travels the Seas**

**Trivia:  
**1. The chapter title is named after the subtitles of Touhou 5 and Touhou 9, which are "Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dream " and "Phantasmagoria of Flower View" respectively.


	17. The Hero Who Travels the Seas

**SBS Time!  
Kain Everguard: **If this arc is supposed to be based off The Wind Waker, then why is Linebeck from Phantom Hourglass here?  
**Game2002: **TWW and PH take place in the same continuity, so it's not farfetched to include the awesome Linebeck into this story. Plus, it's not like Linebeck exists only in the Ocean King's world as the ending of PH shows that Linebeck is sailing in the Great Sea. And by the way, it's Waker Waker, not Wind Maker.

**Mystery-guy: **How did you and everybody react to One Piece manga chapter 574?  
**Game2002: **Surprised and neutral and I don't care much about other people. I also have question for you. Can you please ask questions that are related to the story from now on? It will be nice if you will comply with this.

**Important notice: Due to certain reasons, Talisman of Light will be officially renamed Light Essence starting with this chapter, so the terms appearing in the previous chapters have been changed as well. It is my own decision to do this, so please do not question any further. Thank you!**

**Chapter 16  
The Hero Who Travels the Seas**

* * *

Afternoon had fallen upon Tetra's pirate ship and everything was going peacefully.

Link, wearing his hat this time, was swinging a wooden sword against the air in order to train himself. Youmu watched from the sideline with her arms crossed and said to him, "So you're a swordsman?"

"Yeah," Link said without turning his head. "You're also one, right? I can see the swords that you're carrying on your waist."

Youmu looked at her swords and said, "Yeah, and I use two swords at once."

"Really? That's not very often around here, though I do know one person who fights using two swords as well. By the way…" Link stopped swinging the wooden sword and turned to point at Myon. "What's that thing following you everywhere?"

Youmu looked at Myon and replied, "That's my phantom. I'm half-human half-phantom."

A question mark appeared over Link's head. "What...?"

"Half-human half-phantom," Youmu repeated. "I exist in the form of a physical body and a spiritual body at the same time. We both share what we experience with each other."

"Um… I guess this world has many things I don't know about yet… Anyway, since I'm trying to improve my sword skills, would you mind…?"

Before Link finished speaking though, Youmu interrupted him, "Sparring with you? Sure! I don't have anything to do at the moment too!"

"Great! I'll go and get some extra wooden swords. You can wield two at once if you like." As Link ran for the cabin, he suddenly heard Niko shouting from the crow's nest.

"Pirate ship on the horizon!" he said loudly.

Gonzo looked at the distance using a telescope on the front of the ship and Tetra walked up besides him and asked, "What ship is that?"

"Seems to be a Miniblin pirate ship," Gonzo replied without taking the telescope off his eye. "And they're heading in our direction too."

"Well, what's new? Get ready for battle then. We'll show them that they've messed with the wrong people!" Tetra then turned around and said loudly, "Attention, everyone!"

Upon hearing her voice, all her crewmembers gathered in front of her in a split second and each of them stood firmly and tall. "We've got company!" she said to them. "So everyone get busy at once to fend off those invaders! Any objections?"

"No!" they said simultaneously.

"Good! Then get the cannons…"

Suddenly, a cannonball dropped into the water next to their ship and sent a gush of water into the air and then onto the ship, wetting everyone. With her hair slightly covering her eyes, Tetra said with a tinge of anger, "Sink their ship at once!"

The Miniblin pirate ship continued to shoot cannonballs at Tetra's ship, and it goes without saying that Tetra's crewmembers were firing their own cannonballs back as well. Despite getting shot in a couple of places, the Miniblin pirate ship continued to come closer and closer until it was close enough for the Miniblins to throw hooked ropes onto Tetra's ship. The Miniblins, armed with swords and guns, hopped onto Tetra's ship and cried in high-pitched voices to signify that they had come to plunder.

Standing before them were Tetra's crewmembers, looking tall and brave, and behind them was Tetra herself standing on top of a barrel to make herself look taller. "So you have come!" she said. "Don't think you can get away with this for disturbing us! We shall show you the power of the Tetra Pirates! She pointed her arm at the Miniblins and said loudly, "Prepare to fight, everyone!"

The crewmembers threw their arms into the air and let out a loud war cry, but then they all stepped aside like a stage curtain to reveal Link standing behind them and in front of Tetra's barrel. "Get them, Link!" Tetra commanded him.

Link sighed and said, "Why do I always have to do this alone...?"

The Miniblins let out a high-pitched cackling as if they were taunting Link, but they charged forward to get him anyway. Link quickly unsheathed his sword and crossed blades with a Miniblin and pushed him away with ease.

Two Miniblins ran to him from both sides but he rolled forward and made them run into each other instead. Link then got up to slash another Miniblin in the body before turning to the side to slash down another one. Some more Miniblins hopped over from their own ship and was about to fall on top of Link, but he performed an upwards slash that knocked them all back their ship. "Hiya!"

As he fought the Miniblins, his crewmates cheered for him from the sidelines and the Gensokyo girls also served as audiences further back. "That kid sure is strong-ze!" Marisa commented.

"Amazing!" Sanae said in awe.

"He's pretty skilled all right," Youmu said while observing the way Link used his sword.

Despite being outnumbered, Link had no problems taking out the Miniblins all by himself. As he continued to take down the Miniblins, a large figure jumped over from the Miniblin pirate ship and landed onto Tetra's ship with a powerful stomp that grabbed everyone's attention. Link turned to look at the newcomer and saw that it was a large, muscular bulldog-like creature—the Big Blin.

"This must be their captain!" Link thought. The Big Blin raised and shook his wooden club in the air and let out a roar-like cry. Link charged at him to attack. "Hiya!" He swung his sword at the Big Blin's body, but the large creature didn't seem to be fazed by the attack.

He raised his club and took a swing at Link, but he ducked under it and rolled to the side to slash him again. The Big Blin suddenly swung his club into him unexpectedly and Link didn't have time to react and was struck in the face hard. He shot back and crashed into some barrels.

CRASH!

His crewmates gasped at such a sight and Tetra yelled at him, "Hey you! Is this how the Hero of Wind who defeated an evil warlock and an ugly squid-like monster and also joined some tournament called Crash Buggers or something should be acting? Get back up and show that big oaf what you've got!" Link, however, had swirly eyes and seagulls circling over his head. "Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Thinking that Link had been dealt with, the Big Blin turned to face the others. Niko, Mako, and Zuko shuddered in fear when the saw the imposing figure of the Big Blin, so they quickly fled while the three larger guys got out their swords and ran to attack the Big Blin. "You shall not a finger on our captain!" they shouted. However, the Big Blin swung his club at them from the side and sent them all flying away. "AAAHHH!"

Tetra looked at her knocked down crewmembers and said, "What? Is that all you've got? I can't believe how useless you guys are!" She turned to see the Big Blin again and saw that it was ready to bring down his club on her when suddenly…

SLAAAAAAAAASH!

All was silent as the Big Blin stood motionlessly while Youmu sheathed her sword next to him. A few seconds later, the Big Blin let out a cry and fell back onto the floor with a thud. Tetra was amazed at such a sight and had almost no idea what happened, but she turned to Youmu and asked her, "Did you… cut him down…?"

Youmu stood up and turned to her, nodding her head. "Yes I did."

The Miniblins were shocked to see their captain defeated. A large number of them quickly gathered around their fallen captain to lift him up and hurry back to their ship. They pulled back the ropes and then sailed off into the distance as fast as they could.

"Watch them run! What cowards they are-ze!" Marisa commented.

* * *

Soon afterwards, Link was back up again and had a bandage tied around his forehead. As he sat on the deck looking around with a bored expression, Youmu walked up to him and patted him on his shoulder. "You sure have skills back there!"

"Nah, I could've done better…" Link told her. "I feel ashamed getting knocked out like that… Guess it's because I haven't been getting into swordfights often nowadays that my skills are going down."

"It's still not bad. You have enough skills to become other people's trainer already!" Youmu said, trying to cheer him up. "And I heard your captain saying that you've fought an evil warlock and a squid-like monster in the past, as well as joining a tournament, right?"

"Yeah, those are two of the toughest battles I've ever fought," Link told her. "But I've also faced lots of challenging opponents in the Smash Brothers Tournament. I had a great time there, making a lot of friends and such!"

"That's nice to hear!" Youmu said with a smile, but then her expression changed. "Smash Brothers Tournament?"

"You sound surprised. What's wrong?"

Suddenly, Youmu grabbed Link by his hand and rushed over to where her friends are. "Everyone! You won't believe this!"

"What?" Reisen asked her.

* * *

Soon afterwards, the girls were all gathered in a circle around Link who told them his story regarding the Smash Brothers Tournament. "There's also this guy who looks like an older version of me," Link said, "and he's even named Link! In order to differentiate between the two of us, I had to be renamed Toon Link while he keeps his original name."

"Well, I would've never thought you are a participant of that tournament!" Aya said happily, and then she brought up her camera. "Mind if I take a picture?"

She took a picture of Link who then asked them, "So you're saying that you came here using the World Light?"

Sanae nodded and said, "Yes, and it seems that the World Light is broken as we aren't taken to Smash World directly."

"In order to fix it," Reisen said, "we need to find the eleven Light Essences. We have two currently."

"Wow, I've never thought that the World Light would be broken…" Link said. "I hope you can fix it soon."

"Do you have any idea about the whereabouts of the Light Essence in this world?" Remilia asked him.

Link shook his head however. "Sorry, I have no idea at all. I have never even heard of the term Light Essence."

"I have a theory that the essence resemble the most common thing of each world," Aya said. "Do you know what the most common thing in this world is?"

"Um…" Link didn't know what to answer at first. He looked left to right and then said, "The sea…?"

"He has a point…" Alice said.

"Okay… So I assume that the essence is a model of the sea…" Aya said. "Now where can we find it?"

"Like I said, I have no idea at all."

Tetra came over to their conversation and said, "What are you lot talking about?" She looked at Link and said teasingly, "Are you having a happy time attracting these girls to your good looks?"

Link's face turned red and he said in an offended voice, "No, I'm not! They came to me first!"

"Heheh! He looks kinda cute when pouty-ze!" Marisa giggled

"We heard you saying that he joined a tournament once," Youmu explained to Tetra, "so we wanted to know more about this by asking him."

"They're not from this world," Link said to Tetra. "They came here using the World Light, the same light that took us to Smash World once."

Tetra raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Oh really? I guess that would explain their style of dressing and unorthodox way of sailing on the sea. So have you girls been to Smash World yet?"

Reisen shook her head and said, "No, we've never been there in the first place."

"The World Light is broken," Link explained to Tetra. "They first ended up in Mario's world and eventually came here. They're looking for something called a Light Essence that will fix the World Light, and then they can go to Smash World afterwards."

"Well, that really must stink… I don't know anything about Light Essence, so I'm afraid I can't help you," Tetra said as she didn't care. "Speaking of the Smash Brothers Tournament… Geez, just when I thought I had the opportunity to make my face known throughout the world… They just had to tell me at the last minute that they have enough participants…"

"It can't be helped," Link told her. "They have thirty-five participants already."

"Of course it's all right for you since you made the cut!" Tetra said in an annoyed voice. "I have everything that qualifies to be a candidate fighter in that tournament—skill, power, speed, good looks, and everything! In that end, that alternate reality version of me made it just because she looks more realistic and attractive! And why on earth was Ganondorf in that tournament anyway?"

"That's not the same Ganondorf we know… At least Master Hand managed to keep in under check."

Mako suddenly showed up and said while adjusting his glasses, "If you want to be precise, that is the same Ganondorf, but from an alternate time period. According to a book I read about in the World Library, there was a time split when…"

"Bah! Who cares? Thinking of this makes me angry!" Tetra interrupted before turning to walk away.

"What's with her?" Remilia asked.

"Sorry about that," Link apologized. "Tetra signed in for the tournament as well but was ultimately rejected because all the spots were taken."

* * *

A loud bellowing sound could be heard as a whale-like creature the size of a ship emerged from the sea. As drops of water splashed everywhere, Linebeck and the girls ran to the deck to see what was happening. "What was that?" Meiling said in shock.

The creature emerged from the water again and they got a better look at it this time. It was purplish in color and had a total of six eyes and four long fins that could be easily mistaken for tentacles. The creature let out another bellowing sound before diving back into the water with a splash.

"That's an Eyefish!" Linebeck said in shock. "Of all things to run into, it had to be this one! We better get out of here while we can!"

"Is that thing dangerous?" Nitori asked.

Linebeck didn't bother to answer her question but instead rushed into the navigation room of the ship. The engine of the S.S. Linebeck was turned on to the max and the steamboat quickly took off.

Suddenly, the Eyefish leaped out of the water behind them and was aiming to dive back down on top of the steamboat. "Oh no! It's going to fall on top of us!" Meiling gasped.

Luckily, the steamboat moved fast enough to escape being destroyed by the Eyefish. The massive creature fell into the water just a few inches behind the S.S. Linebeck, but the massive wave created rocked the steamboat and almost made it tilt over.

Linebeck looked back from the helm and laughed. "Haha! Don't doubt the speed of the S.S. Linebeck! It can escape from any kind of danger!"

But then a massive mound of water rose in front of the steamboat and the Eyefish appeared. Linebeck quickly stopped the steamboat just in time to avoid collision. "Yikes!" he cried. "We better turn back!"

The three eyes on one side of the Eyefish looked at the steamboat as it quickly u-turned with malicious intent, and then the creature bellowed loudly before diving back into the water again. Shortly afterward, a gush of water shot up into the air and the Eyefish emerged from the water and stayed in the air, looking in the direction of the getaway steamboat. "It can fly?" Reimu said with surprise.

"Yes, it's basically swimming through the air current!" Linebeck told her. "That's what makes it a dangerous monster to run into when out at sea! Supposedly, they have the power to summon storms as well!"

The Eyefish started flying in their direction and Linebeck began to scream as it seemed apparent that there was no way the steamboat was ever going to escape its impending doom. Reimu whipped out a card and it glowed with bright blue light before shooting out three energy yin-yang orbs. "Enigmatically Casted Pearl!"

The orbs hit the front part of the Eyefish's head and exploded, making the creature bellow in pain and forcing it to divert into the water at the side of the steamboat.

SPLASH!

"Whoa! What happened?" Linebeck asked in surprise. He looked at the girls and asked them, "What did you do just now?"

"Just control the boat," Reimu told him. "We'll take care of this monster for you!"

The Eyefish reemerged again some distance away from the steamboat and took off into the air. It opened its mouth and shot out electric balls at them. "Incoming!" Linebeck shouted.

"Cautionary Border!" Reimu quickly set up a blue wall which served as a shield blocking the electric balls. Because the electric balls weren't very powerful projectiles, the wall was unharmed after getting hit by them and then Reimu gave the wall a nudge from behind to push it into the creature's head.

This made the Eyefish enraged and it charged at them in an attempt to ram the steamboat into pieces. "OH NO! IT'S HEADING THIS WAY!" Linebeck screamed. "DO SOMETHING!"

Meiling quickly took a stance and her right foot glowed with rainbow-colored light as she leaped off from the boat and landed a powerful kick into the head of the Eyefish. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

KICK!

Despite the difference in size, the kick was still strong enough to make the Eyefish come to a stop and move back, but Meiling herself took a dip into the sea afterwards. She emerged to the surface and quickly swam after the steamboat. "Hey! Wait for me!"

"I'll get him!" Cirno said as she flew to the left side of the Eyefish where three of its eyes were. "Hey you! I'll be the one to take you down!" She held up both her arms and fired a barrage of icicles at a really fast rate from her palms. "Icicle Machine Gun!"

The Eyefish bellowed in pain when the three eyes were stung by the sharp icicles, forcing it to quickly close the eyes. Cirno then created a large sword made of ice by freezing the air. "Sword Freezer!" Grabbing the sword by its hilt, she flew at the Eyefish and swung it into the creature's body. However, the ice sword shattered into pieces upon hitting the creature's skin.

"Aim for the eyes!" Linebeck called out to her. "The eyes are its weak spot!"

Cirno pulled back after her ice sword shattered and said, "All right! Leave it to me, the strongest!"

She flew over to the other side of the Eyefish and created another ice sword and plunged it into one of the eyes on that side. The Eyefish bellowed in pain and shook its head left to right, and as a result, Cirno was knocked back through the air. "Yah!

As the Eyefish shook his head left to right due to the pain inflicted against his eye, Reimu took out two pieces of amulet and hurled them through the air. "Hakurei Amulet!" The amulets homed in on the two remaining eyes that were still open, exploding upon contact.

BANG BANG!

This forced the Eyefish to close its eyes and the creature bellowed in pain. Deciding that it had suffered enough beating, the Eyefish dived into the water, never to come back up again for some time.

Linebeck came out and scanned the water along with the girls to see if the danger was clear. "It looks like that monster isn't coming back up," Nitori said.

"That's good to hear," Linebeck said. "You girls sure are something! Thanks for protecting my steamboat!"

As the steamboat continued on its way, Meiling swam as fast as she could after it. "Wait for me!" she shouted. "I'm not onboard yet! Wait up!"

* * *

"Outset Island is in view!" Niko shouted from the crow's nest.

Upon hearing this, Link rushed to the front of the ship and looked at the island visible over the horizon with an excited face. "Outset Island! I'm home at last!" he said happily.

Tetra walked up to him and said, "It's been a while since you came back here, right? You must miss home a lot, but too bad we'll be returning to the sea again."

"I know, but to be able to come back even for a short while is enough to make me happy! I wonder how Aryll, grandma, and everyone else are doing."

Tetra turned around and said out loud, "Everyone! All hands on deck! We're heading for Outset Island!"

Immediately, the crew got busy to make the ship move faster. As Link ran across the deck, Youmu called out to him, "It seems that we're heading for your home?"

Link stopped to speak to her, "Yeah, Outset Island is the place I was born in. I eventually set off with Tetra to look for new land, but we recently came back here again repay some old friends a visit."

Gonzo came over and said, "It was thanks to a golden frog named Wart that we are able to come back to this part of the sea. Those species of frogs have the ability to send people to any part of the sea using the wind; otherwise we wouldn't have bothered coming back here after sailing out at sea for several months."

"I also wrote a letter to Aryll that I'll be coming back in a few days. She must be waiting for me already!"

* * *

A blond girl was standing on top of a crow's nest built over water, looking into the distance through her telescope. When she saw a ship approaching, she lowered the telescope from her eye and jumped up and down excitedly. "Big brother is back like he promised! Big brother is back!" And she rushed down from the crow's nest using a ladder and returned to her village to report the good news to everyone.

Hearing this, the people who knew Link well immediately gathered at the pier to get ready to welcome their island's hero.

The ship eventually arrived at the pier and the anchor was dropped into the shallow water. When Link showed his face from over the deck, the island natives immediately cheered at the top of their voices. "WELCOME HOME, LINK!"

As the island inhabitants cheered on, Link smiled and waved at them saying, "Thank you for your warm welcome, everyone! I'm so glad to be back again, even if it will be only…"

"Just get down there and meet them already," Tetra said, giving him a sudden push from behind. Link screamed as he fell face first onto the wooden surface of the pier with a thud.

"Ouch…" Link got back up again and rubbed his flattened nose. Suddenly, he heard a voice calling out to him and then a little girl rushed out from the crowd to embrace him. "Whoa!"

"You're back, big brother!" the little girl said happily.

"I'm back, Aryll!" Link said to the girl as he embraced her back. "It's so nice to be back home again!" Link then saw his grandmother coming over to him, and he let go of Aryll and walked up to her. "Hi, grandma!"

"Welcome home, my boy," the grandma said. "You must miss home very much, don't you? I miss you a lot!"

"Sorry for making you worried, grandma, but I made a promise that I'm going to search for a new continent. I'm probably leaving tomorrow or so again."

"Awww, can't you stay a little longer?" Aryll asked.

"Do not burden your older brother, Aryll," grandma said to her. "He has an important task to complete." She then turned to Link and asked him, "You must be feeling tired. Do you want to come home and have something to eat?"

"Sure! It's been a really long time since I had grandma's elixir soup!"

As Link followed grandma and Aryll back to the village, he turned to his crewmembers and said to them, "You can go and do whatever you want! Feel free to treat this place as your home! We'll meet each other again after a while!"

* * *

The Gensokyo girls were led by an island native to a hut and he opened the door for them. "You can rest here," the native said. "This hut is built for outsiders who come to this island."

Remilia walked into the hut and closed her parasol. "As long as strong sunlight doesn't come in, I'm fine with that."

"Feel free to treat this place as your home!" the native said as the girls went in one by one. He then stood there with a smile on his face.

"Um… You can go now," Reisen said to him. "We can handle things ourselves here."

"Of course! Don't forget to give me a call if you need any help," the native said, but he kept on standing there with a smile on his face.

"Um… Do you have anything else to do here?"

Sanae tapped Reisen on the shoulder and said to her, "I think he wants a tip..."

"But we don't have this world's currency," Reisen reminded her. "What do we give him? Wait, I know!" She got out a pill wrapped in a plastic paper from her shirt pocket and gave it to the native who stretched out his hand. "This medicine pill will make you feel energetic the moment you take it. It's very useful when you are feeling tired!"

Though the native was expecting to be given rupees, he stilled smiled and thanked them. "Thanks! I hope you enjoy your stay!" And then he left.

"Phew… That should do," Reisen thought.

Remilia sat down on the bed and said, "So what do we do now? We still have no news on the essence."

"And we haven't found Reimu and the others either-ze," Marisa said. "I'm sure they will be all right, but we must still find them before we leave this world."

"The best way to find out about something is to walk around the island and try to gather information by talking to its natives," Aya said, getting out a notebook and a pencil. "I'm sure the natives here might know a thing or two!"

"Yeah, it's better than sitting here and doing nothing," Youmu agreed. "Plus, it would give us the opportunity to know more about this world."

* * *

There was a knock on the door and Aryll went to open it. When she opened the door, she found a bearded old man wearing only pants standing out there. "Hello, Mr. Orca!" Aryll said.

"Hello there," the old man greeted. "I heard that your brother has returned."

Immediately, Link ran down from the stairs and said to him, "Master Orca! It's been a while!"

"It's been a while indeed, Link!" Orca said to him. "You look like… you haven't grown any taller at all!"

"Um… Yeah… It's not even a year yet…"

"So how long do you plan to stay on this island?"

"I'll probably leave tomorrow afternoon or so."

"If that is the case, would you mind having a bit of sparing with me? Ever since you've left, I haven't been able to find someone who I can spar with and Sturgeon just doesn't have that kind of interest anymore."

Link nodded and said, "Okay, Master Orca! I've been looking for an opportunity to improve my sword skills as well! I'm sure you can teach me more new things! "

Link then went down the dirt path with Orca, but it didn't take too long for them to run into a middle-aged man and a fat woman, both of whom are looking very worried. "Link!" they cried.

"Hello! Mr. Abe and Mrs. Rose!" Link said to them. "Um… What's wrong? You look worried."

"Link! Joel and Zill went to explore a recently discovered cave," Abe told him. "But they haven't returned for several hours already!"

"My cute sons may be in danger!" Rose said. "Joel always wanted to be brave and athletic like you, so he's been getting himself into risky situations nowadays and Zill just follows him everywhere! Please, Link, you must find both my sons!"

"This sounds like a serious case!" Orca said. "Link, we can find some other time to spar. It's more important that you go and save their sons."

"You don't have to tell me that!" Link said with a serious expression. "I'll be on my way!" He rushed back into his house to get his sword and then rushed back out again.

"I'll guide you to the cave they went into," Abe said to him as he led the way. "Follow me!"

The both of them ran down the dirt path as fast as they could. Marisa, Youmu, and Aya happened to be walking down the same path as them and Aya called out to Link, "Hey Link! What's the rush?"

"Two of my friends are lost inside a cave!" Link said without stopping. "I have to go and find them fast!"

The duo continued down the path while the girls watched them run. "Sounds bad-ze," Marisa said.

"Yeah," Aya said with a nod. "I hope he finds those kids soon."

"I think we should go help him," Youmu said.

"Are you sure about this-ze?" Marisa asked her.

"I'm not the kind of person to stand still and do nothing knowing that someone is in need of help!" Youmu said as she ran after Link and Abe.

Marisa and Aya looked at each other for a while and then they both shrugged. "Well? What do you say-ze?" Marisa asked Aya.

"Let's just go and help them too," Aya said. "Plus, we may be able to get ourselves into exciting stuffs out of this!"

Both the girls agreed and thus quickly went after Youmu. "Wait up! We're coming with you!" Aya said loudly.

Meanwhile, a pirate ship was approaching Outset Island from the distance. A Bokoblin looked through his telescope at the island and took particular notice of Tetra's ship. Afterwards, he ran across the deck and into the ship cabin to report to his captain. "Your highness! I have found the ship that bears the same design you showed us! It's docked at Outset Island!"

"Very good!" the captain who was sitting among the shadows said with a smile. "Let us go and pay them a surprise visit! If we cannot find them, then I'm sure they will show up after we have a little fun with the village!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The Eyefish is a mid-boss appearing in Phantom Hourglass. You fight the whale-like monster just before you arrive at Goron Island.

College work is getting harder and longer to complete by the minute, so expect the possibilities of upcoming chapters to come out slower than usual. I apologize to my faithful readers for this inconvenience.

**Next chapter: Ballad of the Dark Wind**

**Trivia:  
**1. One of the lost data in Super Smash Bros. Brawl shows that there was supposed to be a character called Toon Zelda who has the ability to transform into Toon Sheik. Toon Zelda is without doubt WW Zelda, but as there is no Sheik in The Wind Waker, people assume that it is supposed to be Tetra. If this is true, then Tetra was planned to be playable in the game at some point, but is ultimately dropped for unknown reasons. This is why I threw in the part where Tetra complains she didn't make it into tournament despite having signed up for it.

2. However, Sheik's blue costume in SSBB may be a possible reference to Tetra due to dark blue clothing and red scarf, both of which matches Tetra's color scheme.

3. The Eyefish is not actually the monster's name, but that is what most people seem to call it as the monster does not have an official name. Some people also call it Sky Whale.


	18. Ballad of the Dark Wind

**SBS Time!  
Mystery-guy: **Does Fawful have anything to do with the revival of the Black Jewel?  
**Game2002: **I appreciate the fact that you look into detail on everything, but there are some questions that cannot be answered due to spoiler reasons. You will have to find out certain things by yourself or wait until things reveal themselves, so I apologize for being unable to answer your question.

**Nintendogeek: **College work sucks.  
**Game2002: **It's not that bad if the homework's topic is something that you are interested in. And by the way, please refrain from using the word 'suck' if it is used to describe how bad something is. I consider that word to be on the same standing as those s-words and f-words.

**Bunkhead: **'Mistress' should be used in place of 'master' and 'it' should be used to refer to genderless things such as the Black Jewel.  
**Game2002: **Admittedly, I thought 'mistress' applies only to married women. I purposely used masculine pronouns to describe the Black Jewel because I thought using 'it's several times is a bit awkward. Since you brought these up, I still corrected them anyway.

Now that homework is done, I can once again update at a faster pace! Though don't expect me to always update very fast because there are times when I prefer to take a break.

Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year! No, it's not too late to give a Chinese New Year greeting yet.

**Chapter 17  
Ballad of the Dark Wind**

**

* * *

**

Abe finally led Link, Marisa, Youmu, and Aya over to the cave his sons, Joel and Zill, went into. "This is the cave," Abe said, pointing at the opening on the side of the cliff. "They went inside for several hours already and still haven't come back out. I'm very worried that they might be hurt or trapped inside. Please rescue them!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Abe," Link said to him. "I'll rescue your sons for sure!" He then turned to the girls and asked them, "Are you sure you want to come along? It may be very dangerous."

"You don't have to worry about us-ze," Marisa told him. "A little danger won't scare us! And it's not like we cannot defend ourselves either-ze!"

"Yeah, you can expect us to be of big help to you instead!" Aya told him.

Link nodded and said, "All right, but please be careful."

The four of them went inside the cave while Abe remained outside and said to them, "Be careful! I hope you can find my sons fast!"

The group of four traveled into the winding passage of the cave and it didn't take long for them to come across a pile of rocks that blocked their way forward. "Look at these rocks…" Link said. "This must be way they never came back out… We'll have to clear them away somehow…" He felt around his own body and said, "And I didn't even bring any bombs…"

"You don't need any bombs," Aya said as she walked up in front of the rocks. "All you need here is little bit of brute strength." She observed the rocks for a while and then suddenly delivered a kick that caused the pile of rocks to shatter into pieces, and the way was cleared just like that. She turned to them and said, "See?"

"Whoa… How'd you do that…?" Link asked in awe.

"Tengus have superhuman strength after all-ze," Marisa told him.

"Tengu?"

"Yep, that's what I am!" Aya said as she revealed her wings to Link.

"Wow! You're just like a Rito!"

"Rito? What's that?"

"They're basically bird people, but the only difference is that they have beaks as well. But anyway, let's get going. Joel and Zill may be in danger!"

Now that the path was clear, they were able to continue deeper into the cave.

* * *

"Lamp oil, rope, bombs? You want it?" a fat shopkeeper dressed mostly in orange said to Reisen and Sanae. "It's yours, my friend, as long as you have enough rupees!"

The two girls looked around the shop and then Sanae said to the shopkeeper, "No thanks. We're just looking around, but thanks for the offer anyway!" Then they both left the shop that was built in front of the sea.

After going outside, Sanae said, "Rupees are Indian currencies… Does this mean we are in India or is it simply coincidence that they both use the same currencies?"

"I may have never been to India," Reisen said. "But I'm sure India doesn't look like this."

"Yeah, you're right. It's probably just a coincidence."

As they walked down the dirt road, they suddenly saw the same native who brought them to their hut jumping up and down in the distance while shouting happily. "WEEEEEEEE!!!! YIPPEEEEE!!!!! YAHOOOOO!!!!!!"

The bystanders were all watching him with odd expressions as well as keeping their distances from the madman. "I think your pill really is effective after all…" Sanae said, "Perhaps way too effective..."

"I agree…" Reisen said, nodding her head.

They continued down the path while looking at the sceneries and eventually came across Aryll. "Hello! You must be my big brother's friends, right?" Aryll asked them.

"And you must be his younger sister!" Sanae said. "It's nice to meet you! Yes, we are friends with your brother, but we've only met him quite recently."

"How do you like this place?" Aryll asked them. "My big brother's friends are all welcomed in this place, so treat this place as your home and enjoy your stay before you leave!"

"By the way," Reisen asked the little girl, "Why does your brother go out to sea? Why doesn't he stay here instead?"

"Well, it's a long story… I don't exactly know the details, but he made a promise with someone very important that he is going to search for a new continent and establish a new country there."

"I see…" Sanae said. "It seems to be a very important promise…"

"Yes it is. Large continents are mostly unheard of nowadays, so I'm not sure if big brother will ever find one. But still, I believe that my big brother will be able to find a new continent and establish a new country for everyone to live in!"

"Believe in miracles and it surely will happen!" Sanae said to with a smile.

Aryll nodded and smiled back at her. "I have faith in my big brother!" She then turned to the sea and thought she saw something approaching from over the horizon. "Hmm? What's that?" She brought up her telescope and looked through it, and she was horrified when she saw a skull-and-crossbones flag situated on top of ship's main mast. "Oh no! It's a pirate ship! I have to warn the others!" She immediately ran back to the village to report the bad news.

"Uh oh… Looks like danger is coming…" Reisen said.

"In that case, we have to defend the village and get rid of those villains!" Sanae said. "Let's go!" She ran forward and then jumped up to fly, but fell face first onto the ground instead. "Oof!"

"Um… I don't think we have regained our ability to fly yet…" Reisen reminded her.

* * *

When Aryll told everyone about this, the whole village was in an uproar.

"Oh no! What do we do?!"

"We're done for!"

"The pirates will plunder our goods and take our wives and children!"

"Somebody help us!"

Orca stepped forward with his spear in his hand and said, "Have no fear! I will be the one to drive away those pirates! They shall realize that this is no defenseless village and then run off with their tails in between their legs after I teach them a lesson!"

Tetra and her crewmembers then stepped forward and the pirate girl said, "So what if there are pirates coming here? We'll let them know that there is another group of pirates here and that this island needs only one group of pirate!" Without turning her head, she asked her crewmembers, "Right, men?"

"Right!" they all replied.

Meanwhile, Remilia, Alice, Reisen, and Sanae stood at the side and watched the scene happening before their eyes. "What do we do?" Reisen asked. "Are you we going to help them?"

"We have to!" Sanae insisted. "They offered us kindness and we have to repay them with kindness as well! It would be inhuman of us to not help those in danger!"

"I don't see why not," Remilia said. "I was getting bored anyway, so a bit of exercise would be nice."

"I agree," Alice said with a nod.

They turned to look at the pirate ship which gradually got closer and closer to the shore and Remilia said, "All right, let's give them a warm welcome the moment they come ashore!"

Tetra looked left to right and then asked, "Where's Link?"

"I think he went to look for two lost kids," Gonzo told her.

"Man, he just has to disappear at times like this… Hope he comes back fast to help us…"

* * *

The little boys were wandering next to a large pool of water. "Where are we, big brother?" the younger kid with a runny nose, Zill, asked the older kid.

"We're looking for a way out," the older kid, Joel, replied. "I know there is a way out somewhere here!"

"Really?"

"Really! I'm sure of it!"

"Yay!"

"Joel! Zill! Can you hear me?" called out Link's voice all of a sudden.

The two kids turned around to and Joel said, "Someone is calling us! They must be looking for us!"

They ran back down the path they had just been through and came to the entrance of a passage where Link and the three girls suddenly showed up. "Joel! Zill!" Link said happily. "You're all right!"

"It's Link!" Joel exclaimed. "You're back!" Both the kids immediately ran up to Link to embrace him.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" Link said to him. "Your father and mother are very worried about you! And…" He backed off from the both the boys to find out that Zill's mucus was stuck onto his tunic, forming a long line between them two, "would you mind blowing your nose, Zill…?"

"Well, that was easy-ze," Marisa said, "So much for a supposed big adventure…"

"We should be glad that the kids are all right," Youmu said.

"Yeah, so let's get out of here fast. I'm sure their parents are worried to death by now," Link said while using a piece of cloth to wipe the mucus off his tunic.

As they turned to go back through the passage, a piece of rock the size of a basketball suddenly shot in from behind and struck the area just above the passage. This caused the rocks on the ceiling to loosen and the fell down, blocking the way out. "What the?!" Link said in shock. They all turned around to see a large octopus-like creature sticking its head out of the aforementioned pool of water—Big Octo.

"Is that an octopus?!" Aya said with surprise.

Big Octo leaped out of the water and landed onto the dry land using its tentacles as legs and then slowly approached them. Link quickly pulled out his sword and shield and got in front of everyone. "I'll handle this guy! You girls take good care of the kids!"

"Are you sure you can do it-ze?" Marisa asked him.

"Don't worry! I've been doing this for a long time already!" Link assured her. "Just watch! Hiya!"

As Link ran towards Big Octo, the monstrous octopus shot out a piece of rock from his mouth and it collided with his shield with such a force that Link was forcefully pushed back onto the ground. "Whoa!"

"I'll handle this!" Youmu said, rushing past Link while unsheathing one of her swords. Big Octo shot out another rock at her, but Youmu easily cleaved it in two and continued heading for the octopus and brought down her sword into the center of Big Octo's face.

Instead of cutting through the octopus however, the sword bounced back and Youmu took several steps back from the recoil and said with surprise, "What?! I've only heard of things that are too hard to be cut, but not too soft to be cut!"

Big Octo shot out another rock at Youmu, but she quickly cut it into two and then Aya appeared over her and dived at Big Octo. "Tengu Downburst!" she shouted as she landed a drop kick onto the octopus's head. She shattered Big Octo's geological helmet with ease but when her foot landed onto the head underneath; she bounced up into the air and hit her head against the ceiling before falling back down. "Ow!" She sat back up rubbing her head and said, "Looks like this guy has a really bouncy skin…"

Big Octo then scurried forward very fast and Youmu and Aya quickly leaped aside, as well as Marisa and Link who pulled away Joel and Zill respectively. The Big Octo came to stop just in front of the rocks that was blocking the way out and then turned to Link. "Bring it!" Link said while holding up his sword.

Big Octo was about to spit a piece of rock at him, but it was suddenly struck in the back by star-shaped projectiles and the octopus leaped up and then turned around to face its attacker, Marisa. "How'd you like that, you big, ugly mollusk-ze?" Marisa taunted.

When Big Octo was facing Marisa, Link noticed a large green spot on the back of the octopus's body. Thinking that it must be its weak spot, he ran to the octopus and stabbed it right in the green spot. This caused Big Octo to leap up into the air while yelping in an incomprehensible sound. When Big Octo fell back down, Link slashed him in the green spot again and made Big Octo cry in pain, and then the mollusk quickly escaped towards the pool of water and turned to face Link again, this time looking very angry.

"I know your weak spot now!" Link said as he ran towards the octopus. Big Octo shot out a rock at him, but Link held up his shield and charged forward as fast he could, smashing through the rock as a result. He then rolled to the side and got behind Big Octo very fast and slashed the green spot on its back hard.

Once again, Big Octo shot up into the air and fell back down, but then it got back up and quickly scurried back into the pool of water and began swimming away. "Oh no you don't!" Link said as he fired an arrow using his bow. As Big Octo was sinking into the watery depths, the arrow struck the green spot on its back and the octopus cried out one last time before disappearing into the water.

Link observed the water quietly and watched as the surface of the water bubbled, but Big Octo never came back up and so he sighed with relief. "Phew… I guess that's that."

Joel and Zill ran up to Link and the kids exclaimed, "Big Brother Link is so cool!"

"Are you both all right?" Link asked them.

"You are so cool!" Joel said, ignoring his question. "I really want to be like you when I grow up! That is why I came to explore this cave!"

"You really shouldn't be doing this unless you're old enough."

Youmu walked forward and said to Link, "You're pretty good!"

"Thanks for the compliment," Link said to her. "All right, let's get out of here now before the kids' parents get too worried."

"Right, we should get going now," Youmu agreed. Zill suddenly walked up to her. "What is it?"

"Big sister is so cool!" Zill said with a big smile on his face. "You are so cool!" And then he walked up even closer to her, so close that his mucus could've stuck onto her dress.

"Um… Thanks… But please, blow your nose…" Youmu said, quickly backing off from him, but Zill went after her. "Please… You really should blow your nose first…" Youmu backed off again, but Zill followed her yet again. "Stop following me, please…"

Youmu kept on backing away from Zill, but the little boy followed her everywhere much to her dismay, and such a sight looked comical to the onlookers.

"That's Zill for you…" Link said. "He likes to follow people all over the place… It wouldn't be so bad if he would blow his nose for once…"

* * *

"According to this map," Linkbeck while observing a map, "the island before us is called Outset Island. It's a very peaceful island, or so they claim." He looked up and then used a telescope to look at the island that was visible over the horizon. "Hmmm… Let's see…"

Behind him, Nitori looked up into the sky and said, "Looks like the weather is turning for the worse."

"Well, what do we have here?" Linebeck said while looking through the telescope. "It would seem that the island is under attack by pirates. A fight is going on even as I am speaking!"

Reimu walked up to him and asked, "Mind if I take a look?"

"Sure," Linebeck said as he handed the telescope over to her.

Reimu looked through the telescope and to her surprise, noticed familiar people fighting the Bokoblin pirates on the shore. "Hey! I see Remilia, Reisen, Sanae, and Alice over there!"

"What?!" Hearing this, Meiling, Cirno, and Nitori immediately rushed over to her and tried to look at the island in the distance, and then they asked to take turns looking through the telescope.

Reimu handed the telescope over to Meiling and then said to Linebeck, "Go to that island at once!"

"Why? I don't think it's a good idea right now, miss," Linebeck told her. "Here are pirates there, so it is best that we stay from that place until the coast is clear."

"Go there right now! The friends that we got separated from are over there! I want you to take us there now and no objections!"

* * *

With a swipe of her hand, Remilia knocked the Bokoblin back into the air and he fell back down onto the sand unconsciously. Remilia dusted her hands and said, "Well, that was easy."

The villagers and the Tetra Pirates saw everything from the sidelines, and they couldn't believe their eyes when the four girls took out the pirates without an effort.

"Wow! They're strong!"

"We're saved!"

"Hooray for those girls! Even though I don't know who they are..."

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday!" Sturgeon said.

"Youngsters nowadays sure are something!" Orca commented.

"Okay, I admit that I never really expected them to possess this much power," Tetra said. "And they even stole the spotlight from us…"

Remilia looked at the cloudy sky and said, "Good thing that the sunlight is blotted out currently, so I am able to go all out." She then looked at the remaining Bokoblins who were trembling with fear. "And now it's your turn, heheh!"

"Well fought! I didn't think that this place would contain powerful fighters like you!" said a new voice. Everyone looked up at the ship and saw a dark-skinned man with red hair and beard standing at the deck, and he was also dressed in a black robe.

"And who do we have here?" Remilia asked. "Wait, let me guess… You're the captain of the bunch, right?"

The man smirked and said, "Sharp thinker, aren't you? Yes, I am indeed the captain of these weak fools. Rather, I would prefer that you refer to me as their king!"

"My, my… A proud man you are, eh? How about you come down here and prove that you're not a weak fool like your men?"

Hearing this, the man jumped down from the ship and landed onto the shallow water with both feet before walking towards them. "You better watch your mouth, girl," the man said. "I am not one to take insults so lightly."

"This man… I can tell that he is a powerful one…" Sanae thought. She looked back and said to the villagers, "Please stay back! We will deal with him ourselves!" And then she noticed that Tetra had a horrified expression on her face. "Um…? What's wrong, Tetra?"

With widened eyes, Tetra trembled from head to toe and said in a stammering voice, "Ga… Ga… Ganon… dorf…"

The man—Ganondorf—looked at Tetra with an evil smile and said, "Heheh! It's been a while, hasn't it, Princess Zelda? I bet you must be really surprised to see me!"

Tetra backed off and said, "No! This is impossible! You're supposed to be dead! Link plunged the Master Sword right into your forehead and turned you into stone, and then you sank to the bottom of the sea when the king flooded your tower!"

"Tetra, you know this man?" Reisen asked her, and the pirate girl nodded.

"Ah, yes! I remember those very well!" Ganondorf said. "And yet, I am standing here alive and well! But let us get to business, shall we? Where is that boy?"

"You mean Link, right?" Tetra asked. "Too bad for you, he's not here currently! But he's going to show up sooner or later and beat the lights out of you again! You better look forward to it!"

Ganondorf simply laughed at her remark. "Hahaha! I'm looking forward to it all right! I can't wait to see how much he has grown!"

"Don't laugh, or else you're really going to get it!"

"Hey, do you mind if I beat him up before that boy of yours comes back?" Remilia asked Tetra while pointing to Ganondorf.

"Yes! Go beat him up!" Tetra replied. "Go and show him!"

"All right!" Remilia said as she turned to Ganondorf. "I hope you don't mind if I make you bleed!"

"Ha! The little girl speaks!" Ganondorf laughed. "You want to make me bleed? Try and see if you can!"

"You better take back that little girl insult!" Remilia said as she took off from the ground and charged at him with one arm pulled back. "I'm much older than you think! Vampire Claw!" Her fingernails grew long and sharp as she slashed Ganondorf's body, leaving behind red streaks in the air as she did. She did not slash once, but three times consecutively using both hands.

SLASH SLASH SLASH!!!

After she was done, Remilia hopped back and looked at Ganondorf's body to see that there were no visible injuries on him at all. "Well, little girl," Ganondorf mocked her. "Where is the bleeding that you promised me?"

"I don't know what you did," Remilia said, "but let's see if you can withstand this!" She held out her arm to the side and formed a large, red spear in her hand. "Heart Break!" She threw the crimson spear at Ganondorf, creating a red explosion upon impact.

KABOOM!

However, the smoke dissipated to reveal Ganondorf totally unharmed. "I have to admit that the attack itself is amazing," he said, "but it did nothing more than making me take a step back and you still didn't make me bleed."

"Psycho Missile!" A silver energy missile flew at Ganondorf and struck him in the waist, but he emerged from the explosion unharmed as well. He turned in that direction to look at Reisen who was surprised by this outcome. "What?! He's not hurt at all!" she gasped. "How is this possible?!"

"Gray Thaumaturgy!" Sanae shouted as she used her gohei to draw a gray-colored star in the air. The five points of the star glowed brightly and suddenly, the star exploded and five arrows shot out from where the five points of the star used to be, all of them hitting Ganondorf at the same time. Once again, the villain emerged from the explosion unharmed.

"Ambush-Party Dolls!" Alice made four dolls appear behind her, each of them armed with lances. Under her command, the lances glowed with bright blue light and the dolls charged at Ganondorf, ready to impale him with their lances.

Ganondorf simply smirked and crossed his arms, and when the lances touched his body, they broke in half. "What?!" Alice said in surprise. "But it's not over yet! Artful Sacrifice!" The dolls immediately latched onto Ganondorf's body and each of them glowed with orange light before self-destructing.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

"Don't you think you have quite enough?" Ganondorf said as he stepped out from the explosion unharmed. "Now you know very well that none of you can do anything to me, no matter how powerful your attacks are!"

"Impossible!" Sanae said in disbelief. "How can he withstand every attack thrown at him?! He doesn't even look tired!"

"Curses!" Tetra cursed. "It looks like the Master Sword is the only thing capable of hurting him after all!"

"You are right in saying that, princess," Ganondorf said to her. "But unfortunately, that Blade of Evil's Bane is not around here. I have no idea where it is as well, and even if I know where it is, I wouldn't tell you anyway."

"Darn it! Link! Hurry up and get over here at once!" Tetra said under her breath.

* * *

The S.S. Linebeck docked at the shore not too far away from Ganondorf's ship, and Reimu and her friends jumped down from the steamboat and quickly rushed for the scene of battle while Linebeck remained on his steamboat in order to stay away from trouble. "There they are!" Reimu said.

At the same time, Link's group rushed back from the cave and headed for the shore, and the moment Link's eyes widened upon seeing Ganondorf standing there. "Ganondorf?!" the young swordsman gasped.

Tetra heard Link and turned to him. "You're here at last, Link!"

Ganondorf turned to Link and said, "Well, the hero himself comes at last!"

Marisa, Youmu, and Aya were more surprised to see Reimu and the others appearing on the other side however. "Hey! It's Reimu and the ones that were lost at sea-ze!" Marisa pointed out.

Remilia, Reisen, Sanae, and Alice also turned to look at Reimu and the others. "You're all right!" Sanae said happily.

"Everyone! What's happening here?" Reimu asked.

Link could not believe who he was looking at, but he quickly got a hold of himself and unsheathed his sword. "Ganondorf! I don't know what you're doing here, but I won't let you lay a hand on anyone!"

Ganondorf simply laughed and said, "Don't bother trying to point your sword at me, kid. That thing will not do anything to me."

"I don't care what you say! Get out of my island at once!" Link shouted. He rushed at Ganondorf and plunged his sword into the villain's abdomen.

"Did he do it-ze?" Marisa asked.

There was a bit of silence, but then Ganondorf smirked as he grabbed Link by the head and flung him away. "Ah!" Link cried as he landed onto the sand, and then he looked up to see that there was no wound on Ganondorf's body. "No…"

"What?!" Youmu said in shock. "How come there's no visible wound?!"

"It's useless, kid," Ganondorf said to Link. "Without the Master Sword, you can never dream of defeating me. I have spent enough time here already, so let us get down to business at once. Link, I want you to come with me to my old fortress, the Forsaken Fortress."

"Never!" Link said. "I don't know why you want me to go there, but I'm not going to listen to you!"

"You have no choice, kid. I would prefer killing you right here right now, but you are still of use to me. That is why I want both you and Princess Zelda to come to Forsaken Fortress at once!"

"No!" Link shouted at him angrily.

"Persistent, aren't you?" Ganondorf asked. "Very well, I bet you really will go after witnessing this!" He snapped his fingers and suddenly, a large shadow loomed over everyone and all looked up to see a giant monstrous bird up in the air—Helmaroc King.

"Whoa! It's a giant bird!" Aya gasped.

The Helmaroc King dived straight at Tetra and then swooped back into the air with the pirate girl caught in his talons. "Ah! Let me go!" Tetra cried while pounding her fists against the giant bird's talons. "Somebody help me!"

"CAPTAIN!!!" her crewmembers cried.

"TETRA!!!" Link shouted.

"I'll save her!" Aya said as she spread out her wings and took off into the air. Remilia also took off into the air to go after the monstrous bird.

Both the girls flew into Helmaroc King and rammed him in the body hard to push him back through the air slightly, but he continued to grip Tetra tightly in his talons. "You better stay in your place and keep out of this!" Ganondorf said to the two flying girls angrily. He then raised both his arms and formed a ball of dark energy over his head. "Dark Rain!" The ball of energy exploded and sent out several energy beams that homed in on Aya and Remilia.

Because the energy balls shot through the air very fast, Aya and Remilia had no time to dodge them and were both struck and electrocuted by them.

ZAAAAAAAAP!!!!!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" Both the girls screamed in pain and then crashed back down onto the sand, charred.

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped. She angrily looked at Ganondorf and then charged at him. "How dare you hurt my mistress?! Sky Dragon Kick!" Her right foot was covered with rainbow energy as she leaped forward to land a flying kick in Ganondorf, but the villain easily caught her by the foot and hurled her aside with ease. "Yah!"

"It's foolish to come against me!" Ganondorf said. He then looked at Helmaroc King and said to him, "Go back to Forsaken Fortress and keep the girl locked up in the prison!"

The monstrous bird let out a loud cry as if he understood, and then he flew off into the distance while Link ran after him from below. "Come back here!" he shouted, but Ganondorf raised his leg and landed a kick into his abdomen. "Oof!"

"If you really want to rescue her, kid," Ganondorf said to him, "then come to Forsaken Fortress!" After saying this, he turned to walk back to his ship and was accompanied by the Bokoblins.

Link got back up holding his abdomen in pain and said angrily, "Ganondorf! Wait! I'm not done with you yet!"

"Then let us settle things at my fortress," Ganondorf said without turning around. "I will be waiting for you there, so do not disappoint me!"

After the villains boarded their ship, they raised the ship's anchor and slowly departed from the island. The others could do nothing but watch the ship sail farther and farther into the distance.

"I'll go after them!" Cirno said. She was going to take off into the air but Reimu caught her by a leg. "Hey! Let go of me!"

"You'll be going to your death!" Reimu said to her. "I don't know what's going on here, but surely that man is not one to be messed with."

Aryll and grandma ran to Link to help him up. "Are you all right, big brother?" Aryll asked him.

Link gritted his teeth and angrily punched the sand saying, "Darn it! I can't believe that I let Tetra get captured again! Ganondorf! You will pay for this!"

"Do not worry, Link!" said Niko as he came forward to him. "It's not your fault that our captain is captured! We will go rescue her together!"

"Right," Gonzo said. "It is our responsibility as well that we are unable to prevent our captain from being captured, so we are all in this together!"

Tetra's crewmembers continued to support and comfort Link, who then smiled and said, "Thanks, everyone! You're right; this is no time to be crying. We have to go over to Forsaken Fortress and rescue Tetra at once!"

"We'll be going with you!" Youmu said suddenly.

Link turned to her and said, "I appreciate your help, but Ganondorf is a very dangerous man. I cannot guarantee your safety if you…"

"Oh, don't say that," Marisa said to him. "I told you already that a little danger won't scare us and it's not like we cannot defend ourselves either-ze! Oh, by the way… These are the friends that got separated from us during the storm-ze." She pointed to Reimu and the other three girls who went missing with her.

"Nice to meet you!" Link said to Reimu.

"Nice to meet you as well!" Reimu greeted back. "And you are…?"

"He's one of the participants of Smash Brothers Tournament," Sanae explained to her. "We've been traveling with him after the four of you got separated from us."

"Well, how convenient!"

"And by the way," Remilia said to Reimu, "How did the four of you get here anyway?"

"We were rescued by a man named Linebeck," Reimu told her. "And he brought us here."

"Linebeck?!" Link said with surprise. "Where is he?!"

"Over there," Reimu said, pointing to the S.S. Linebeck that was docked not too far away. Linebeck could also be seen getting down from his steamboat and walking over to them as well.

When he saw Link, Linebeck waved his arm at him and said, "Well! If it isn't that little kid who rode on my steamboat before and fought an ugly monster! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Link ran up to him and shook his arms and said, "Linebeck! I'm so glad to see you again! I've never thought that you would come to my homeland!"

Linebeck looked around the place and said, "So you live on this island? Not a bad-looking place if you ask me!"

"I was born here, but now I am traveling the seas looking for a new continent."

"You two know each other?" Reimu asked.

"Yeah," Link said with a nod. "As he mentioned just now, I once rode on his steamboat to rescue Tetra from a monster called Bellum. We went separate ways after the ordeal was over and never met each other again until now, and it's been quite a while as well!"

"So kid…" Linebeck said to Link. "What's the ruckus just now? It seems like you didn't fare too well against the captain of those pirates. This simply isn't like you!"

Hearing this, Link's expression turned sad and said, "Yeah, I admit I didn't do too well against him… But it can't be helped since I don't have the Master Sword."

"Master Sword?"

"It's the only weapon in the world capable of hurting him, but what I don't understand is… Ganondorf was turned into a stone when I plunged the sword through his forehead, and then he sank to the bottom of the sea afterwards. How could he have come back to life?! Did something happen to the Master Sword or what?"

Hearing this, Linebeck rubbed his hand under his chin and pondered for a while before saying, "Wait a minute… You say that the sword along with that guy you just fought sank into the bottom of the sea?"

"To be precise, we battled on top of his tower that is built under the sea, and after he was turned to stone, water engulfed his tower and he was left behind."

"Hey, do you think the sword that he mentioned is the same one that we salvaged from the sea?" Nitori asked Linebeck.

"Oh, you mean that one?" Linebeck asked her. "I don't know. We tried to salvage the place where the castle is supposed to be, so I don't think that is the one. Unless by tower, he means a tower that is part of the castle…"

"Ganondorf built his own tower nearby Hyrule Castle," Link said. "Wait a minute… What sword were you talking about?"

"Um…"

* * *

Soon afterwards, Link followed Linebeck back to the S.S. Linebeck. When Linebeck showed him the sword, Link was very shocked. "THIS IS THE MASTER SWORD!!!!" Link cried.

"Well, figures…" Linebeck said. "You don't think that I am the one who changed that Ganon guy back to normal?"

"Actually, I spotted that sword first…" Nitori said in an ashamed voice while raising her arm. "Did I make a mistake in doing so…?"

"Um… I don't blame the either of you," Link said. "When did you find the sword anyway?"

"Early afternoon today, I think," Linebeck replied.

"If that is the case, Ganondorf shouldn't be able to become the captain of those Bokoblin pirates that fast, unless he happens to be very good at organizing things, but I doubt that… It would seem that the Master Sword got pulled out from his head much longer than that."

"So I'm not responsible for bringing back that villain, right?" Linebeck asked. "Well, that's good to hear; otherwise I would feel guilty for bringing a nasty person like him back into this world."

"I would feel guilty too," Nitori said.

"But now that I have the Master Sword back," Link said, "I am able to stand a chance against Ganondorf! Now I have to go and rescue Tetra!"

He turned around and saw Tetra's crewmembers as well as the rest of the Gensokyo girls standing on the shore near the S.S. Linebeck. "We're ready to go with you, Link!" Gonzo said to him. "Give us the order and we will set sail anytime!"

"Right! We're going to rescue our captain no matter what!" Senzo said. "No one kidnaps our captain and gets away with it unharmed!"

"Take us along too," Youmu said to Link. "We will try everything we can to help your captain!"

"Actually, I don't really feel like getting into the business of someone I barely know," Reimu said, "but seeing how we have no idea where to go or what to do next, we might as well just follow you. You are a participant of the tournament after all, right?"

"Right," Link said with a nod, "And you are looking for the Light Essence, right? Much as I wish to help you, I have no idea where it is, and I have something bigger to take care of right now."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Linebeck said to him. "Let's get going already!"

"You're coming along too?" Link asked him.

"Well, we did travel together for a while back then. It's been pretty boring ever since we parted ways, so I guess I'll go with you just for the heck of seeing something exciting. Don't expect me to be of any help to you however."

"That's all right."

Aryll then came up to the steamboat and said to Link, "Big brother, are you leaving again?"

Link jumped down from the steamboat and said to her, "I'm sorry, Aryll. I promised that I would stay until at least tomorrow, but right now I have to go and rescue my friend."

"It's all right," Aryll replied with a smile. "It is important to rescue people, so go and rescue your friend!"

"Take good care of yourself!" Link said to her, and then he looked up to see his grandmother standing behind Aryll. "Grandma, I'll be leaving again."

"Take care, Link," grandma said. "You are a strong and brave boy. I'm sure you can make it."

"I will, grandma!" Link then turned around and raised the Master Sword high into the air and said loudly to his crewmembers and the girls, "All right, everyone! Let's us head out to Forsaken Fortress together!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

You must be very surprised to see him, right? He's probably the last person you expected to see in this arc, and perhaps the whole story. That's right; the shopkeeper near the beginning of the chapter is Morshu from the ill-fated Zelda: Faces of Evil! He even speaks the same phrase from that game with the only difference being 'rubies' changed into 'rupees'. It's a common mistake back in the days for people to misinterpret 'rupees' as 'rubies'. Why did I put him in this story? Just for laughs, haha!

Also, the Big Octo here is the one from Ocarina of Time, not the one from The Wind Waker.

**Next chapter: Fortress of the Forsaken**


	19. Fortress of the Forsaken

**SBS Time!  
Mystery-guy: **What is the difference between Wario's interest in platinum and gold?**  
Game2002: **It's just a personal preference in taste. Perhaps Wario likes shiny yellow things more than shiny white things.

**Chapter 18  
Fortress of the Forsaken**

* * *

The wooden prison door swung open and Tetra was thrown forcefully inside and hit her back against the wall. She got back up and ran for the door but it closed before she could make her escape. Grabbing the wooden bars and shaking them violently, she yelled in an angry voice, "Let me out, you jerk! Nobody puts the great Captain Tetra behind bars!"

"Then pray for your hero to come," Ganondorf said to her. "Once he is here, I shall explain everything that I have planned in mind to you all."

Just then, a speaker at a corner of the room's ceiling spoke loudly, "Lord Ganon! We have spotted a ship approaching! It appears to belong to that kid you're talking about! What are your orders?"

"Good!" Ganondorf said with a smile. "Let him come, but if he brings anyone else along, feel free to show those people the true terror!"

* * *

Nighttime was approaching as Tetra's ship sailed closer and closer to the towering architecture built out at sea, and several spotlights were shining all over the place from various parts of the architecture.

"That's the Forsaken Fortress," Link, who was standing on the front deck, said. "I've been here at least twice before, so I know the general path to the prison room as well as his room. Tetra must be in either of those two places, but let's head for the prison room first."

Behind him were the rest of Tetra's crewmembers as well as the Gensokyo girls. "It's really hard to believe that your captain is actually a princess-ze!" Marisa said.

"Link's whole story about the history of this world and his adventures are just as unbelievable if you ask me," Youmu commented. "I can't believe that he's been through this much at such a young age…"

Link turned around to face them and said, "I will go into the fortress, and you girls can come along if you want to. As for the others, it's best that you stay behind and guard the ship. You'll never know; they might launch an attack at the ship while we are gone in order to take away our means of escape."

"Leave it to us," Gonzo said. "This ship is as important as our captain, so we will guard it with our lives!"

"Okay, I'm counting on you all," Link said, and then he ran to the edge of the deck and looked down at the S.S. Linebeck which was sailing besides it. "Linebeck! It would…"

Linebeck interrupted him though. "Yes, yes, I know! I'll just stay here and keep watch! It's not like I will be of help if I go in there with you anyway, and I don't even have the courage to do so. Now I'm staring to wonder why I even tagged along with you in the first place…"

As the ship and the steamboat sailed closer and closer to the fortress, a pair of spotlights suddenly shined down onto the both of them. "They've spotted us!" Link gasped.

"Well, if that is the case," Remilia said, "we might as well go all out and get rid of them before they can do anything to us!"

Link wanted to stop her however. "Wait! Don't get too reckless, or else…" But Remilia took off into the air before he could finish speaking. "Wait!"

"Well, that's Remilia for you," Reimu said. "She's normally the kind of person to sit still and let others do the job, but once she gets excited… You can see for yourself…"

A pair of Bokoblins on the balcony saw Remilia speeding in their direction. "Someone's coming!" one of the Bokoblins gasped.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Use it on whoever that person is fast!" the other Bokoblin said to him.

Both the Bokoblins quickly turned a spotlight in Remilia's direction and turned it on, shining a beam of light at her. "Sorry, but only sunlight affects me!" Remilia said when the light was shined into her face. She continued flying forward without hesitation, but all of a sudden, she disintegrated into small black particles which were then sucked into the spotlight.

The others who were back on the ship were shocked at seeing such a sight. "Oh my god, Mistress Remilia is turned to dust!" Meiling gasped. "They killed her!"

"Heheh!" one of the Bokoblins laughed. "Now let us aim for the other people!" Both the Bokoblins were going to aim the spotlight in their direction, but Aya suddenly popped up in the air above them and then landed a powerful drop kick onto the spotlight, crushing it. "EEKS!"

With an angry look on her face, Aya performed a roundhouse kick that knocked both the Bokoblins back onto the floor. She then grabbed one of them by the neck and asked him in a loud voice, "What did you do to my friend?"

"Calm down…" the Bokoblin said to her. "Your friend… is still alive…"

"She better still be alive, or else you'll be joining her!

"She probably… won't be alive for too long… though… That light… is actually a transportation device… that sends people into another dimension… and pits them against a ferocious monster…"

"What?"

"If your friend manages… to beat the monster… she will be able to return to this place… That's assuming… she does beat the monster though… I'm very sure that she won't… win… Heheheh…"

Suddenly, the other Bokoblin raised a pitchfork over Aya from behind and was about to stab her with it, but Aya turned around in the nick of time and used the Bokoblin that she was grabbing by the neck as a shield. "YEOW!" screamed the Bokoblin.

The other Bokoblin gasped upon realizing that he stabbed his own partner and thus quickly pulled back the pitchfork, and then Aya flung the Bokoblin into him and the both of them were knocked out just like that.

Aya then looked down from the balcony to see that both the ship and the steamboat had docked at the dock. She called out loudly to them, "Don't worry! Remilia is simply sent to another place to fight a monster. At least that's what they told me… She'll be back after she beats up the monster, so everything will be fine."

"If it's Remilia we're talking about, then I'm sure winning won't be any problem for her," Reimu said. "We don't have to worry about her."

"Right, Mistress Remilia is very strong after all!" Meiling said.

"Well, if your friend really will be all right," Link said, "then let us move forward first. Be careful; I'm sure this place is up on arms now that we have arrived here."

"Tell them to bring it!" Cirno said with her arms crossed. "I'll show them the power of the strongest which is I!"

"Yeah, good luck trying to live up to your catchphrase-ze," Marisa said to her.

"Do you want to me to fly up to Ganondorf's room first?" Aya asked Link.

Link shook his head however. "I think we better stay together, and you can't hurt Ganondorf without using the Master Sword anyway."

"Well, then lend me your sword and I will deal with him myself!"

"Do you have to be in a rush, Aya?" Reimu asked her. "Why can't we take it easy instead?"

"Oh well, all right…" Aya grumbled as she flew down to join them.

And thus Link and the girls got down from the ship and ran along the wooden walkway that led them around the side of the fortress.

Suddenly, two Moblins armed with bows showed up from around the corner and fired arrows at them. Link quickly held up his shield to block one of the arrows while the others dodged the other arrow.

Cirno suddenly flew ahead of everyone and one of her wings on the left side grew in length and size as she spun sideways through the air vertically like a pinwheel. "Icicle Sword!" She rammed into one of the Moblins and pushed him off the walkway and into the water.

SPLASH!

Sanae got out a paper amulet and threw it at the other Moblin, and then the paper exploded. While the Moblin was fazed by the explosion, Sanae charged at him and swung her gohei which was charged with spiritual energy into him, knocking him off the side of the walkway and into the water as well.

SPLASH!

"Begone, you demons!" Sanae said to the Moblin that fell and sank into the water.

"Those two sure light to steal spotlights-ze," Marisa commented.

"Cirno likes to show off herself and Sanae gets way too serious when it comes to demon exterminating and fighting," Reimu reminded her.

Cirno and Sanae turned around the corner first, but suddenly a beam of light was shined at them, instantly turning them into black dust-like particles and then sucking them behind the corner. "What?" the others gasped.

A pair of Bokoblins showed up from around the corner with a spotlight and they were about to face it in their direction when suddenly a cannonball flew in from the side and struck the part of the floor they were on.

KABOOM!

"AYEEEE!" The walkway was blown apart and both the Bokoblins as well as the spotlight fell into the water. Link and the girls turned to look at the side and saw the S.S. Linebeck floating on the water not too far away from them.

Link gave a thumb up and said loudly to Linebeck, "Thanks for the help!"

"You're welcome, kid!" Linebeck yelled back. "Now hurry up and get going! Don't keep a girl waiting especially when she is a prisoner!"

"Okay!" Link said before continuing on his way. He hopped across the gap created on the walkway and went around the corner, followed by the other girls.

"Do you think Sanae and Cirno will be all right?" Reisen asked.

"I'm sure they'll be all right," Youmu replied.

They eventually came in front of a massive door made of steel grating. Link looked up at the door and said, "Now if only someone can fly over to the other side and flip the switch to raise this door…"

"You can count on me!" Aya said, giving an 'OK' sign, and then she flew into the air and went over the wall. After landing on the other side, she saw a switch behind the door. She pulled the switch and this made the door slowly rose upwards and the others were able to come inside.

"Thanks!" Link said. "C'mon, let's get going!"

They ran across the empty courtyard and headed for the door on the other side, but suddenly several spotlights shined down on them from the walkways built alongside the walls. "Oh no!" Link gasped. "We're surrounded!"

"Then we'll have to fight back!" Youmu said, unsheathing one of her swords.

"Alice and Meiling are disappearing!" Nitori gasped. Everyone turned to look at Alice and Meiling, both of whom were turning into black particles and then getting sucked into one of the spotlights on the walkway.

Suddenly, another spotlight turned on from afar and this one shined onto Nitori and Reisen. They were both disintegrated into black particles and then sucked inside the spotlight.

"Nitori and Reisen are gone as well!" Aya gasped.

Youmu quickly swung her sword against the air and shot out a crescent-shaped energy blade that cleaved through the spotlight that took Alice and Meiling away. Marisa faced the one that took Nitori and Reisen away and fired a stream of energy stars that shattered the glass in front of the spotlight, rendering it useless. "We don't have to worry about them," Reimu said. "If they really are pitted against monsters, then I'm sure they can handle things themselves and then come back here."

Suddenly, a large group of Bokoblins, Miniblins, and Moblins charged in from the door they were planning to go into, all them armed with weapons and yelling war cries. Link and the girls got into fighting stance to get ready to face the incoming mob. "Here they come!" Link said.

* * *

After being turned into black particles and sucked inside the spotlight, Remilia found herself in a large circular room with seemingly no ceiling, and the room was also filled with sand. "What is this place?" she wondered while looking left and right. "And how did I end up here in the first place? Maybe the light that they shined at me has something to do with this?"

She slowly walked towards the center of the room, but suddenly, the entire place shook violently, so she got into defensive stance. "What the!"

A high-pitched cried could be heard coming from somewhere below her, and suddenly, the part of the sand before her burst upwards and a gigantic sandworm appeared and soared into the air while flapping his wing-like extensions on the sides of his head as well as opening and closing his mouth sideways constantly—Molgera.

**BGM: Molgera Battle (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

Remilia wasn't surprised or anything however. With an expressionless look on her face, she said while eying the giant sandworm that flew around in the air, "Well, a pretty big worm we have here, don't we? You want to fight or what?"

Molgera let out his usual high-pitched roar and then dived at Remilia's direction, and so she quickly jumped back to avoid getting hit as the sandworm sank headfirst into the sand.

After Molgera disappeared into the sand, Remilia walked forward a few steps and looked left to right. "A cowardly way of fighting, don't you think?" she commented.

Suddenly, a Molgera larva burst out from the sand behind her and tried to close its mouth over her head. Remilia quickly spun around and with a swipe of her lengthened claws; she slashed the larva across the face and sent it tumbling to the side where it exploded in a burst of purple smoke.

More larvae jumped out from the sand to attack her, but Remilia easily countered them all by swinging her claws in the air while moving around in a graceful dance-like fashion.

As she continued to slash away the larvae, Molgera himself suddenly burst out from the sand on the other side of the room and circled around the air while roaring constantly. Remilia took out another larva that was about to jump into her from the side and then held out her right arm to the side and formed a spear of red energy. "Heart Break!" She hurled the crimson spear into the air, hitting Molgera hard in the side of his body and creating a blood red explosion.

BANG!

The giant monster was seemingly unfazed by the attack as he continued to fly around in the air without having his path being disrupted. The sandworm then faced Remilia and dived in her direction. She quickly leaped back to avoid getting hit and then stayed airborne by flapping her wings, but she had to hold up an arm to keep the sand particles from getting into her eyes

After Molgera disappeared into the sand again, Remilia hovered around a few feet above the sand and said, "You better come out fast. I don't have all day to wait for you if you keep up this cowardly way of fighting!"

Suddenly, a funnel-shaped formation appeared in the middle of the room and Molgera's mouth came out from the center of the formation, and the sandworm also stuck out his blue tongue and waved it around in air.

"There you are!" Remilia said as she held her arm to the side to gather together red energy. "All right! Let's see how you like this!"

Suddenly, a larva leaped out from the sand below her and bit her left leg. "What the?" Remilia gasped as she was pulled down by the larva and onto the sand.

As the sand was flowing down the funnel-shaped formation created but Molgera, Remilia found herself being forcefully dragged down towards the giant sandworm's mouth. "Let go of me!" Remilia cried as she kicked around her left leg to get the larva off it.

She quickly slashed her claws at the larva to kill it, but before she could escape, Molgera bent his head at her and closed his mouth, swallowing her whole. The sandworm then sank back into the sand entirely.

All was silent for a while, but then the silence was shattered when the sand burst open and Molgera's head came back out. Remilia used all her strength to pry the sandworm's mouth open and then quickly escaped into the air. "I'm not going to be eaten by the likes of you!" she said angrily. "You're going to get it for trying to eat me!"

Remilia held up her right hand and formed a red energy vortex on her palm, and then a long red chain was shot out from the vortex. "Chain Gang!"

The tip of the chain, which is shaped like a spike, tied itself around Molgera's tongue and the red vortex started retracting the chain, pulling the sandworm's tongue forcefully towards Remilia as well. When the tongue was near, Remilia used the claws of her left hand to slash it very hard. "Vampire Claw!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Green blood splattered everywhere as the tongue was sliced in half cleanly. Molgera pulled back the remainder of his tongue and roared in pain as he sank back into the sand.

Remilia landed onto the sand and suddenly, the sandworm came out in front of her and flew up high into the air. Thinking that the sandworm was up to something again, Remilia gathered red energy particles in her right hand to get ready to perform an attack, but Molgera suddenly stopped moving in midair.

The sandworm's body slowly turned into sand, and then Molgera exploded from tail to head in a combination of sand and purple smoke.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Remilia held an arm over her eyes as the sand particles slowly fell down, and then she lowered her arm and dusted her hands saying, "Well, that wasn't too hard." And then she looked around the room. "Now how do I get out of here?"

As soon as she said this, white energy particles appeared around her, and in an instant, the scenery around her changed and she found herself standing in midair just outside of Forsaken Fortress. Flapping her wings to stay airborne, Remilia looked around with a confused expression and said to no one in particular, "Hmmm… Strange, looks like I'm back here again. Whatever… Where are the others anyway?"

* * *

Sanae and Cirno found themselves inside a large circular room that was somewhat dark, and there were spikes lines along the sides of the wall as well as giant pillars of spikes situated around the place. "What is this place?" Sanae wondered.

"Hey look!" Cirno said to her while tapping her shoulder. Sanae turned around to see what Cirno was looking at and saw several strange ghost-like beings of varied colors moving around in a dance-like fashion near the center of the room, and they were crying in childish noises as well. "Heheh! They look like clowns dancing and singing like that!"

"What are those?" Sanae wondered.

The ghost-like beings—Poes—suddenly stopped dancing and turned to face the two girls and surprised them both a bit.

Suddenly, a white mask-like object with red markings appeared in the center of the room and the Poes ran in circles around it for a while before jumping and disappearing into the mask one by one. When the last of the Poes disappeared into the mask, the mask started shaking and suddenly grew a large bluish body, literally becoming an obese ghost-like being—Jalhalla.

"What the?" Sanae said in shock as she took a step back and held up her gohei defensively.

Cirno, however, bravely stepped forward and pointed at Jalhalla saying, "Do you think you can scare me just because you are bigger than me? Let me tell you: I'm the strongest around here and don't think you can beat me so easily, fatty!"

Jalhalla then held out his hand to the side and in a puff of smoke, made a lit lantern appear in his hands. The giant Poe then placed one hand on his belly and laughed in a low-pitched, echoing voice.

Seeing the lit lantern, Cirno became nervous and said in a meek voice, "Um… Marisa told me that you shouldn't play with fire… It's dangerous, you know…?"

Sanae then stepped forward and said, "Don't worry! I'll deal with this spiteful demon myself! It's too dangerous for you here!"

"Hey! Don't underestimate me!" Cirno protested. "Just because that guy is using fire doesn't mean I'm going to run away like a coward! I'm the strongest, so I'm going to fight back no matter!"

Sanae held out a paper amulet in between her fingers and said, "Well, if you insist… Just try not to get hurt, okay?"

**BGM: Jalhalla Battle (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

Sanae threw the amulet across the air and towards Jalhalla, but the amulet went through the Poe as if it was flying through thin air and hit the wall behind him before exploding. "What?" Sanae said in surprise.

Jalhalla then inhaled deeply, causing not only the dust and pebbles on the floor to be pulled towards him, but as well as Sanae and Cirno. "He's trying to suck us towards him!" Sanae cried while trying to take steps backwards.

When Jalhalla was done inhaling, he exhaled into his lantern and created a massive column of fire similar to a flamethrower. "FIRE!" Cirno screamed. Both the girls quickly got out of the way before the fire reached them.

After escaping to the side, Sanae got out a card and held it up in the air and shouted, "Sky Serpent!" Snake-like projectiles came out from the card and went towards Jalhalla, but all of them went through the Poe instead and exploded shortly after biting the wall.

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted as she shot out a barrage of icicles from both her palms, but each of the icicles went through Jalhalla as well.

The Poe laughed at their attempts to defeat him, and then he shook his lantern in his hand and caused fireballs to fly out from the lantern and drift down from all over the place. Sanae and Cirno cried as they ran around the place to avoid getting hit by the falling fireballs.

"Whoa! Stop that! It's dangerous!" Cirno cried. A fireball fell down in front of her but she stopped in the nick of time and pulled back. "Phew, that was close…" But then she smelled something burning and turned her head to the side to notice one of her left wings burning at the tip because a fireball fell down next to her unknowingly. "I'M ON FIRE! HELP!" The ice fairy screamed and flew around the place very fast while the fire continued to burn her wing.

Meanwhile, Sanae continued to launch all sorts of attack at Jalhalla, but all of them met with the same futile results. "Gray Thaumaturgy! Fortune Bomb! Disorderly Consecutive Confused Draws! Nine Syllable Stabs!"

And all the Poe did was place one hand on his belly and laugh at her attempts to hurt him. He could stand there and laugh all day.

Cirno, who was still flying at high speed with her wing on fire, accidentally flew into Jalhalla and right through his body. Upon doing so, the ice fairy started to see things unclearly as if she was having a hallucination. "Whoa… The world is wobbling before my eyes…" she said in a goofy voice as her eyes became swirly.

"Cirno! Watch out!" Sanae shouted to the ice fairy who was heading straight for a spiked pillar.

Cirno's sense didn't return in time and she crashed into the spiked pillar very hard, and then fell back down onto the floor with a bleeding forehead. "AAAAAHHHHH! MY HEAD HURTS!" she cried as she held her hands over her forehead and rolled around desperately.

Sanae ran up to Cirno and placed her hands on her and asked in concern, "Are you all right? Let me see your wound."

Cirno slowly brought down her hands to reveal a bloody wound on her forehead, but then she noticed Jalhalla approaching from behind Sanae and thus shouted to her, "Sanae! Watch out!"

Sanae quickly spun around but was too late to do anything as the giant Poe fell over on them both with a body slam. As Jalhalla had an intangible body, both the girls were not flattened by his body slam, but both their minds became confused and they were unable to move and behave properly. "Whoa… What the…?" Sanae said she got up and moved around in an awkward manner while her eyes swirled constantly. "I feel dizzy… for some reason…"

"Me too, and my head doesn't hurt anymore too, lalala!" Cirno sang goofily while moving her limbs against the floor in a way as if she was making angels on the snow.

Sanae suddenly tripped over due to not moving her legs properly and fell face first onto the floor, and this made her snap back to her sense and she quickly stood up to face Jalhalla. "I can't believe I fell to a foul curse from you!" she said angrily. "I'm going to give you divine punish you for this!"

Jalhalla simply laughed her remark as he knew that none of her attacks would work on him. Sanae took out a card and held it up over her head, and the card slowly floated high up into the air. "Daytime Guest Stars!"

The card suddenly released a large amount of white light that was enough to light up the entire room, and then beams of light shot out from the card and struck Jalhalla, making the Poe cry in pain while flailing around his limbs. After being exposed to the bright light for a few seconds, the Poe suddenly solidified and dropped onto the floor and was dazed, and such a sight made Sanae curious. "Uh? It worked?" she thought. "But how come the previous attacks didn't work at all?"

Cirno, who had just regained her sense, formed an ice sword in her hand and flew at the solidified Jalhalla. "It's my turn to attack you! Eat this! Sword Freezer! Hiya!" she shouted as she slashed the Poe hard with her ice sword.

The Poe cried in pain when the ice blade was slashed across his body, and suddenly, Jalhalla exploded in a burst of smoke and normal-sized Poes were shot up into the air before falling back down onto the floor, and then they all cried and ran around the room in panic.

Both Cirno and Sanae were surprised at the sight of the Poes running around like crazy. "That big ghost just changed back into several little ghosts!" Cirno said.

"They look like they're vulnerable now," Sanae said. "C'mon! Let's take them all out!"

"All right! You can count on me!" Cirno said. "Ice Charge!" The atmosphere around her started to drop drastically and then Cirno was encased inside a ball of ice. Despite being trapped inside the ice, Cirno still had control over herself and she charged through the air like a frozen cannonball, ramming down any Poes that got in her way. When the Poes were hit, they floated a few inches into the air before exploding in a burst of purple smoke.

"Fortune Slip Bomb!" Sanae hurled a brown packet at a group of panicking Poes and the packet exploded like a firework, releasing colorful sparks all over the place and destroying the Poes as well.

BANG BANG BANG!

One of the Poes figured that he would be able to take on Sanae himself, so he carefully sneaked up to the shrine maiden from behind and was about to pounce onto her when Sanae suddenly spun around and taped a paper amulet onto his forehead. The paper amulet sent an electrical jolt down the Poe's spine before exploding, destroying the ghost.

There was only one Poe left but this Poe ran for the white mask that reappeared in the center of the room. "Oh no you don't!" Cirno shouted. "Icicle Shoot!" She fired three icicles from her right palm and they struck the Poe just as he was going to jump into the mask, destroying him.

When the Poe was gone, the mask looked left to right to see if there were still any Poes left, but opened his mouth in shock when he realized that all of them were gone. Cirno placed her hands on both sides of her waist and laughed. "Hahaha! Your little friends are all gone! Now you can't do anything, so I'm going to give you the finishing blow!" She then held out both arms in front and a white circle appeared underneath the mask. "Icicle Rise!"

The circle glowed with white light and six large icicles were shot out from it, hitting the mask from below. However, the mask, being an intangible object, was unharmed by the icicles which went through him instead, so he laughed at her futile attempt to hurt him.

The icicles flew upwards until they hit the ceiling and destroyed it, causing sunlight to shine down right on top of the mask. The mask shrieked in agony as sunlight was harmful to him, and suddenly, the mask exploded in a burst of purple smoke, sending white shards flying everywhere.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"You did it!" Sanae said to Cirno.

Cirno looked up at the ceiling and said, "That was unexpected… But anyway…" She crossed her arms and started laughing proudly. "Hahahaha! Now you know why I am the strongest!"

All of a sudden, the scenery around them changed and the duo found themselves out on the walkway. The floor underneath them was destroyed by Linebeck previously however, so they both fell into the water.

SPLASH!

* * *

Alice and Meiling looked around the place and realized that were inside a circular room that was made of wood. "What is this place?" Meiling wondered.

"Looks like we're inside a tree," Alice said. "At least that's what I think… Better be on a lookout for possible dangers…"

As Alice slowly paced through the place, Shanghai flew over to the center of the room to observe a peculiar flower that was on the ground. The doll poked her head close to it, but suddenly, the flower shot up and opened its mouth to swallow the doll whole. Alice saw this and was shocked. "Shanghai! You monster! How dare you eat Shanghai?"

The flower simply laughed at her remark, and then the massive petals around it started waving around before closing over the flower, encasing it inside. Vines came out from the top portion of the flower and latched themselves onto the ceiling before pulling the flower up into the air, and finally, thick vines with decorated with miniature hooks grew out from underneath its body—Kalle Demos.

**BGM: Kalle Demos Battle (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

Meiling ran up to Alice and looked up at the massive flower monster and said, "What is that?"

"That vile monster ate Shanghai!" Alice said angrily. "I'm going to make it pay dearly for this!"

The vines at the bottom of Kalle Demos dug into the ground and came back out in front of the girls. "Watch out!" Meiling shouted. They quickly jumped in separate directions before the vines slammed down and pounded the ground rapidly.

After landing, Alice got out a card and two dolls armed with knives were created from it. "Doll Placement!" The dolls held out their weapons and spun vertically while flying towards Kalle Demos, but they bounced back when they hit the monster's petal encasing and were then swatted down by the vines afterwards.

"Red Cannon!" Meiling shot out a red energy ball using both hands at Kalle Demos, but the monster was unaffected by the projectile. The vines went towards Meiling and tried to hit her, but she jumped to the side.

Suddenly, more vines came out from the ground below her and caught her by the legs. "Yikes!" They rose from the ground and into the air before flinging her against the wall roughly. "Ow!"

Alice summoned more dolls and commanded them to fire energy projectiles from their rifles at the monstrous flower, but the projectiles simply bounced off the petal encasing harmlessly.

When the vines went in her direction, Alice quickly commanded the dolls to get away as well as running away herself, and the vines slammed onto the ground instead. As Alice was running, a vine suddenly came out from the ground and caught her left leg, making her fall over. "Yah!"

This gave the rest of the vines the opportunity to attack her, and when the dolls saw their master in danger, they quickly rushed in front of her to protect her. Unfortunately, they were unable to do anything as the vines slammed down with a powerful force and not only destroyed them, but struck Alice's body over and over constantly as well.

SLAM WHAM BAM!

"Ah! Ugh! Uwa!" Alice cried in pain and tried to use her arms to shield herself from the constant beating. One of the vines then picked Alice up by the waist and surged electricity into her, electrocuting her badly. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Descending Flower Slam!" Meiling fell onto the vine and hit it with a descending leg slam charged with rainbow energy. The vine was severed and Alice dropped to the ground and breathed heavily. Meiling ran up to her and held her by the shoulders and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine…" she replied. "Thanks…"

The vines came forward to attack them again, and seeing this, Meiling quickly delivered a roundhouse kick that was charged with rainbow energy, severing them on contact.

The rest of the vines dug into the ground and came back up from below Alice and Meiling, but because they foresaw this, they managed to move out of their spots in time to avoid getting hit by the vines when they came out from the ground.

Alice then looked up and noticed the vines that were keeping Kalle Demos in the air. An idea came to her and so she summoned and sent several dolls to go behind each of the vines, and then red laser beams formed in between her outstretched hand and each of the dolls. "Trip Wire!"

The laser beam cut through each of the vines in the process, and when all the vines had been cut off, Kalle Demos fell to the ground with a thud and its petal encasing opened up, exposing the flower inside. The dolls returned to Alice afterwards and then disappeared.

"Now, Meiling!" Alice shouted to the gatekeeper.

"I'm on it!" Meiling said. She ran up to Kalle Demos but stopped in front of it with her right palm pointing at it. "Red Inch Punch!" A sudden burst of energy erupted from her palm and blasted off its head.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Kalle Demo's head flew across the air and bounced onto the ground after hitting the wall. The severed head continued to jump around the ground while making painful cries, but it eventually fell limp and exploded in a burst of purple smoke and Shanghai flew out from the explosion and into the air.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The doll fell down onto Alice's hands and she petted the doll on her head and asked her, "Are you all right, Shanghai?" And the doll nodded as response.

With the head destroyed, the rest of Kalle Demos's body twitched on the ground for a short while, but then the entire thing withered and then fell limp.

Meiling struck a victorious pose and said, "We did it!"

Suddenly, white particles surrounded them both and then they were transported out of the place.

* * *

Reisen had every reason to look displeased. After all, this place reminded her of the time when her life flashed before her eyes while she fought alongside Sanae against Red-Brief J.

Both Reisen and Nitori were inside a large circular room that had a pool of lava in the center. Nitori looked around the place and asked, "Are we inside a volcano?"

"I don't know, and I don't like the atmosphere of this place…" Reisen said while taking off her outer coat to cool off a bit. "It's really hot in here…"

Suddenly, the whole place started shaking and both the girls got into defensive stance. The pool of lava started roiling as well and suddenly, a massive scorpion-like monster emerged from the center of the pool and breathed out fire into the air before bending over and slamming her hook-like arms onto the ground—Gohma.

**BGM: Gohma Battle 1****st**** Phase (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

"WHAT IS THIS?" Reisen gasped.

"Wow! This thing is huge!" Nitori exclaimed. "And it's a female too!"

Gohma pulled up both her arms into the air but got ready to slam them back down again. "She's going to attack us!" Reisen gasped. "Run!" Both the girls quickly ran to the side when the arms came down and managed to avoid getting hit.

Reisen then turned to face the monster and fired bullets from her finger, but the bullets bounced off Gohma's exoskeleton harmlessly. "It's not working!" Reisen said, but she continued to fire at Gohma who turned to face them. One of the bullets struck the monster in the eye and Gohma reeled back and cried in pain. "Eh?"

"I know now! The eye is her weak spot!" Nitori pointed out. "Aim for her eye!"

"Okay!" Reisen folded her hands together and took aim at Gohma's eye, but the monster opened her mouth and breathed fire at her. "Eeks!" Reisen quickly jumped out of the way and managed to avoid getting burned in time.

"Hey you!" Nitori shouted at Gohma. The monster turned to face Nitori but laser beams shot out from the kappa's backpack and struck her in the eye, and Gohma reeled back again and cried in pain. "There may not be water around here, but that doesn't mean I can't do anything!"

The monster angrily let out a roar while breathing fire into the air and then slammed down both her arms at Nitori. The kappa hopped backwards but hit her back against the wall instead. "Ow!" When she looked up, Gohma's face was in front of her and the monster opened her mouth and began churning fire within it. "Uh oh…"

Suddenly, Reisen hopped in between the both of them and fired an energy bullet into Gohma's eye, causing the monster to reel back in pain. Reisen held out four fingers with her right hand and shot out green grenade-shaped projectiles from each of them. "Mental Sacrifice!"

The energy projectiles landed onto Gohma's head, but as her head is covered by an exoskeleton, Gohma was unharmed by them. Reisen then pointed one finger at Gohma and shot out an energy missile at her eye. "Psycho Missile!"

Gohma quickly ducked down when she saw the missile coming, but the missile ended up hitting the ceiling directly above her. This caused cracks to appear on the ceiling and suddenly, a large portion of the ceiling fell down on top of Gohma.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Gohma was hit by the piece of the ceiling so hard that cracks started to appear all over her exoskeleton and the monster also looked fazed. "Hey! Cracks have just appeared all over her exoskeleton!" Nitori pointed out.

"It seems that exoskeleton will break apart if we hit it hard enough," Reisen thought. "If that is the case… Psycho Missile!" Reisen fired more energy missiles at Gohma, hitting her all over the body.

The missiles created large explosions that were very destructive, and thus even more cracks appeared on Gohma's exoskeleton. Enraged, the monster slammed down her arms to hit Reisen but she leaped back into the air and this time fired a red energy rocket. "Scars of Stupor!"

The powerful red rocket struck Gohma's head very hard and created a massive explosion that sent a massive crack running all over her exoskeleton. Gohma reeled back and curled her arms together as if she was in pain, and suddenly, the exoskeleton burst into pieces, exposing her softer body underneath.

"Yes! You did it"! Nitori exclaimed.

**BGM: Gohma Battle 2****nd**** Phase (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

Gohma was far from defeated however. The monster roared angrily and breathed a large amount of fire into the air, and then she swung her fire breath downwards to burn the two girls. "Watch out!" Reisen gasped. They quickly ducked down and the fire went over them, but Reisen got the ears burned somewhat while Nitori's hat was singed a little bit. "Ow… My ears… At least they're still on the head…"

Gohma brought up her arms and then slammed them at the two girls. Reisen and Nitori both went separate ways to avoid getting crushed by the arms, but then the right arm swung sideways into Reisen from behind and knocked her away. The left arm was about to be swung into Nitori, but she turned around and planted her feet firmly against the ground and caught Gohma's arm and pushed against it. "Ngh!"

Gohma raised both her arms into the air and then brought down one to crush Nitori. Nitori quickly rolled aside but had to get out of the way again as Gohma brought down her other arm. The scorpion-like monster continued to slam her arms against the ground over and over trying to hit Nitori who ran around the room to escape. "Stop trying to hit me already!" she cried.

"Psycho Missile!" Reisen shot an energy missile at Gohma from behind. After getting hit, the monster immediately spun around in a moment's notice and swung her arm into Reisen and knocked her back into the wall really hard. "AH!"

SMASH!

The monster opened her mouth and churned fire to get ready to roast Reisen who was trying to come back to her sense from being knocked very hard into the wall. "Hey you! Stop at once!" Nitori shouted. She ran to the side of Gohma and lowered her body a bit to allow the lasers gun inside her backpack to shoot the monster, and this made the monster turn to Nitori and breathe fire at her instead. "Eeks!" Nitori quickly leaped forward and avoided the fire.

Gohma then brought down her arms onto the ground on both sides of Nitori and roared into her face loudly. The kappa took a gulp of saliva and crawled backwards in a sitting position. "Please don't hurt me…" she pleaded.

The monster began to churn fire in her mouth, but Reisen suddenly leaped in between them both again and fired a red energy rocket into the monster's eye, hitting it at point blank. "Scars of Stupor!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The massive explosion which also hit Reisen and Nitori blinded Gohma and the monster reeled back and roared in pain from having her only eye destroyed. The monster's body slowly turned as black as charcoal, but then it gave off radiant orange light. As Gohma glowed brighter and brighter, she suddenly exploded in a huge blast of fire and her eyeball shot up into the air.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"All right! You did it, Reisen!" Nitori exclaimed.

Gohma's ruptured eyeball crashed down in front of them much to their surprise, but then it exploded in a burst of purple smoke.

KABOOM!

Reisen wiped her forehead and said," Phew… We did it…"

White particles gathered around both the girls and they were instantly transported back to the courtyard of Forsaken Fortress. "Eh? We're back!" Nitori said. They looked to the side and saw Alice and Meiling standing there as well.

"You're back as well!" Reisen said.

"Yeah, we just came back a few seconds ago," Alice told them.

"That would mean you beat the monster as well," Nitori said. "We were just sent to fight a giant, terrifying monster, but we defeated her and came back here!"

Reisen looked around and said, "Where are the others?"

Alice looked around the place and saw several beaten up Bokoblins, Miniblins, and Moblins lying unconsciously on the floor. "It would seem that there was a fight going on here," she observed. "Reimu and the other won and then went on their way again, I suppose."

"Do we have to go and catch up with them?" Meiling asked.

"I don't see why not. The reason we came here in the first place is to help Link, so let's go."

Having said this, the girls ran through the door before them to try to catch up with the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, Link, Youmu, Reimu, Marisa, and Aya were running through the interior of the fortress. "That door over there leads to the prison room!" Link said, pointing to the large wooden door on the other side of the room. "Tetra must be in there! Let's go!"

As they headed for the door, a trapdoor suddenly opened up beneath Marisa and she fell into it. "YA!"

"Marisa!" Reimu gasped. She tried to reach her hand through the trapdoor but steer grating closed it up. "Marisa! Can you hear me?"

Down there, Marisa sat up while rubbing her rear and looked up at her friends' faces which were looking at her through the steel grating. "I'm all right-ze!" she told them. "It's not a long fall, but…" She looked around the empty room and said, "There doesn't seem to be an exit around here-ze…"

Suddenly, an evil laughter could be heard coming from nowhere. Marisa held up her broom defensively and looked left to right for the source of the laughter. "Who's there?"

"That voice! I think I know that voice!" Link said in surprise.

Suddenly, a black dual-horned knight armed with a large sword materialized out of nowhere in front of Marisa and laughed in a low-pitched echoing voice.

"It's Phantom Ganon!" Link gasped.

Marisa got into defensive stance and said to Phantom Ganon, "So you're the one laughing evilly just now, right? I'll take that as a challenge proposal, so you're getting one from me all right-ze!"

"Marisa! Will you be all right?" Link called out to her.

Marisa looked up and gave a thumb up. "Don't worry! I'll be fine! Once I'm done with him, I'll try to get out of here and join up with you again! Just go and rescue your captain first-ze!"

"She's right," Youmu said. "We don't have time to be standing here. Your captain is just behind that door, so let's go and rescue her!"

"Marisa will be fine," Reimu told Link. "She won't be defeated so easily, no matter who her opponent is."

"All right then," Link said with a nod. "Let us hope she will do fine. Let's go rescue Tetra then!" He then stood up and went for the door while the remaining three girls went after him.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

How does Nitori know Gohma is female? Let's just say that non-humans have ways of knowing things that humans usually don't know. Plus, Gohmas tend to be portrayed as females in the Zelda series because they are usually seen producing offsprings as you fight them, so I would assume that the Gohma in The Wind Waker is also female.

I think this chapter went pretty well until the battle with Gohma. I felt like I'm losing my touch a bit when doing that particular fight, but I still hope that the overall chapter is an enjoyable one. Stay tuned for some exciting stuffs in the remaining chapters of this arc!

**Next chapter: To Recover the Golden Triangle**

**Trivia:  
**1. Despite how arts portray them, angels, in reality, do not have wings as the Bible never mentions anything about this. Seraphim and cherubim are the ones that have wings, and they even have more than two wings. Seraphim have six wings while cherubim have four wings.

2. The number of "BANG" that I typed down when Molgera is defeated is the exact number of "BANG" that you hear when he explodes in the game.


	20. To Recover the Golden Triangle

The title for this chapter was previously shown as "To Recover the Holy Triangle", but it has now been changed to "To Recover the Golden Triangle" because I realized that the Triforce has never been referred to as being holy. How can Ganondorf touch something that is holy if he is full of evil himself? Golden Triangle seems like a better choice if you ask me because of its color.

**Note: I made the mistake of saying 'back tip of the broom' in the chapter where Marisa fights Mecha Kuri when it should actually be the front end of the broom, meaning the part with the straws. It's been corrected now, though none of you would probably care.**

**Chapter 19  
To Recover the Golden Triangle**

**

* * *

**

**BGM: Phantom Ganon Battle (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

"C'mon! Show me what you've got-ze!" Marisa said to Phantom Ganon.

PG laughed in a sinister voice and then floated high into the air and formed a ball of blue energy in his left hand before hurling it at her.

Marisa leaped out of the energy ball's way and then PG charged at her and slammed down his sword. Marisa quickly enhanced her broom with magical energy to block the blow from the sword, but PG brought down his sword with such a force that Marisa was forcefully pushed onto the floor. "Whoa!"

PG brought up his sword again and readied to bring it down on top of Marisa, but she quickly rolled out of the way and the sword struck the floor instead. "That was close-ze!" Marisa thought. "It's my turn! Eat this!" She swung her magically-enhanced broom at PG, but the black knight disappeared without a trace before he got hit. Marisa then looked around the place to find him. "Where did he go-ze?"

Suddenly, several duplicates of Phantom Ganon popped out of nowhere and surrounded Marisa.

"What the? There are a lot of them so suddenly!"

Each of the Phantom Ganon duplicates raised their swords over their heads and slowly moved towards Marisa, but she countered them all by firing star-shaped projectiles using her broom's handle. "Radial Strike!"

The duplicates disappeared one bye one when they were hit by the projectiles. When the ones before and besides her were all gone, Marisa felt someone approaching her from behind and so instinctively jumped out of the way just time to avoid the real Phantom Ganon's sword strike. "Whoa! That was close-ze!" Marisa said. "So you're the real one! Take this-ze!" She used her broom to fire at PG, but he warped into the air to avoid getting shot and then charged at Marisa without a warning.

Quickly, Marisa held up her magically-enhanced broom to block the blow but was forcefully pushed back onto the floor. "Ah!"

PG then created a ball of energy in his left hand and hurled it at her. Marisa didn't have time to get up and move away, so out of desperation, she swung her broom at the energy ball instead and knocked it back to PG.

Seeing the homecoming energy ball, PG quickly knocked it back to her using his sword. "Heheh! This looks fun-ze!" Marisa said as she got back up. "Hiya!" She swung her broom at the energy ball and sent it flying back to PG again, but the black knight also did the same thing.

The both of them kept up their 'tennis match' for a short while until PG failed to deliver a strike to the energy ball and so got hit by it. The black knight cried in pain and fell from the air to his knees, and this gave Marisa the chance to shoot him using her broom. "Radial Strike!"

The star-shaped projectiles struck PG rapidly in the chest and pushed him back with each shot. Marisa began approaching PG while continuing to fire from her broom, and when she was close enough, she performed an uppercut into PG using her broom. "Miasma Sweep!"

POW!

The attack knocked PG up into the air, and then Marisa pointed the front end of her broom at him from below and the broom glowed with bright blue light. "Star Sign: Gravity Beat!" And then a large blue star was shot out from the broom and struck PG from below.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

PG shot to the side like a meteor and crashed onto the floor violently, only coming to a stop after he bounced into the wall.

CRASH!

"Well! How do you like that-ze?" Marisa asked, but then she was surprised to see PG slowly standing back up again. "What?"

The black knight laughed evilly as if he was unharmed, but suddenly fell to his knees and grunted in pain.

"Oh, it looks like you're not entirely all right after all-ze."

Nevertheless, PG stood back up and shouted as he held up both his arms over his head to create a large red energy ball.

"Whoa! What's that?"

PG let out another cry and then the red energy ball exploded, releasing several blue energy balls that flew towards Marisa.

"Yikes!" Marisa quickly got into a defensive stance and when the energy balls were about to hit her, she performed a full 360 degrees spin and managed to hit all the energy balls at once.

The energy balls flew back to PG and struck him, zapping him painfully from head to toe. While PG was stunned by his own attack, Marisa held up a green card in front of herself and shouted, "Green Spread!"

The card glowed with green light and shot out a spread of green laser beams that converged together as they approached Phantom Ganon, striking him in the middle of his chest. The black knight screamed in agony when he was hit, and then his body suddenly released a large amount of white light that eventually engulfed him entirely.

FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

When the light died down, Phantom Ganon was nowhere to be seen, but his sword was left lying on the floor. Marisa placed her broom against her back and punched the air with her other arm. "Yeah! I win! But…" She looked around the place and wondered, "How do I get out of here?"

She then noticed that the part of the wall behind Phantom Ganon's sword looked somewhat different from the rest of the walls, and there was also a strange indescribable symbol on the wall. Marisa walked up to the wall and touched it. "Hmmm… This wall looks suspicious if you ask me…" She then looked down at the sword and decided to pick it up by the handle out of curiosity. "Whoa, this thing is heavy! Oops!" But then she dropped the sword and it fell over, hitting the wall.

When the sword came in contact with the wall, the wall disappeared all of a sudden, revealing a passage behind it. "Whoa! That was unexpected!" Marisa thought. "But at least I can get out of here now-ze!" And so she went down the passage that she just created.

* * *

The massive wooden door was pushed open and Link, Reimu, Youmu, and Aya came into the prison room. Link saw Tetra behind the wooden bars and thus quickly ran to meet her. "Tetra!"

Tetra ran up to meet him and said, "Link! You're here at last! Sure took you long enough!"

"I'll get you out of here in a minute!" Link said, and then he looked around the jail to find a way to open to it.

"Step aside for a moment," Youmu said as she walked up to the jail. "I'll cut it down." Link and Tetra moved away as she said and then Youmu unsheathed one of her swords and slashed the wooden bars several times with it.

SLASH SLASH SLASH!

After she sheathed her sword, the wooden bars suddenly broke into neat squares and Tetra was able to come out through the opening. "That's pretty cool!" Tetra commented. "Link probably can't do something like this."

"Um… Whatever you say…" said Link, sounding somewhat offended by her remark.

"Well, that was easy!" Aya said. "I was thinking that we would have to face a guardian of sorts before we can rescue your captain."

"So what do you plan to do now, Link?" Tetra asked him.

Link held up the Master Sword and said, "Fight Ganon, of course! If we allow him to live, then the world will fall into chaos again!"

"That's the spirit! I'll go back to the ship and wait for you there. You better not…" Before Tetra could finish talking however, Helmaroc King swooped down from the air and caught her in his talons. "YAAAAAAA!"

"TETRA!" Link gasped.

"It's that big bird again!" Aya said. "I'll go after him!" And so she spread her wings and took off after the monstrous bird.

Soon after she left, Link and the remaining girls heard the door behind them slamming shut and then locking up by itself, and then water started to come into the room through a steel grating on the floor. "Uh oh… This is exactly like that time…" Link thought. He looked around and saw a winding walkway that led all the way to the top of the room. "Quick! We have to get out of here before the room becomes flood!"

Reimu looked up and said, "Looks like it's going to be a long way up there… If only we can fly right now…" She thought of the word 'flying' in her head and even jumped up and down, but she still fell back onto the floor. "Nope, not yet…"

"Let's get out of here first!" Youmu said as she followed Link up the walkway, and then Reimu followed suit.

* * *

Helmaroc King flew out from the opening on the ceiling and into the air above the tower. Aya suddenly flew out from the opening at a high speed and rammed into the bird's body, making him let go of Tetra.

"YAAAAA!" Tetra screamed as she fell through the air, but Aya quickly swooped down to catch her and then place her onto the surface of the tower. "Phew… Saved…"

"You stay here," Aya said to her before turning to face the monstrous bird. "I'll deal with that monster myself." And then the tengu girl took off into the air to begin the battle.

**BGM: Helmaroc King Battle (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

Helmaroc King screeched loudly and got ready to take on his attacker, but Aya charged into him really fast and rammed him in the body hard. She pulled back and then charged into him the second time, but when she tried to charge into him the third time, Helmaroc King slammed down his beak and knocked Aya by the head to the surface of the tower.

CRASH!

"Ow…" Aya groaned while rubbing her head. She looked up and saw the bird diving at her, so she quickly held up her arms and caught Helmaroc King by his beak and mustered all her strength to keep the bird from crushing her with his beak. "Ngh! Don't underestimate me… when it comes to physical strength! Hiya!" And she forcefully flung the giant bird aside.

As Helmaroc King was trying to stand back up, Aya whipped out her fan and slashed the air with it to shoot out wind blades. "Breeze Fan!" The wind blades struck the bird's head, but his helmet protected his face from the projectiles and then the bird took off into the air again.

"Don't think you can win in an aerial battle against me!" Aya said before going after Helmaroc King.

Aya swung her fan against the air over and over to shoot out multiple wind blades, but Helmaroc King flew out of the way fast and managed to avoid everything that was thrown at him. The bird flew around to Aya's back and then charged at her, but Aya turned around and landed a kick into his face so that a slight crack appeared on his helmet.

Helmaroc King screeched angrily and quickly pulled back, but this gave Aya the chance to hit him multiple times in the body with wind blades. Helmaroc King then flew higher into the air before swooping down with his talons facing Aya.

Aya quickly flew out of the way but then Helmaroc King did a u-turn to try to hit her with his talons again. "Domination Dash!" Aya shouted before charging into him at a high speed and rammed the bird in the body so hard that he was forcefully pushed backwards.

Helmaroc King let out a painful screech and then started flapping his wings against Aya and at the same time brought down his beak to hit her from above, and Aya held her hands over her face and head to try to endure the blows that the bird was giving her.

"Ugh! Stop it already!" Aya shouted in frustration. "Wind of the Tengu Path!" And then she swung her fan against Helmaroc King's body very hard.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Not only was Helmaroc King slashed in the body by the fan, but the horizontal tornado that was created by the attack also sent him spinning backwards through the air. The bird traveled across the night sky for quite a bit of a distance before falling off the tornado and regaining control of himself, and he screeched loudly and angrily before flying back towards the tower at high speed.

Aya moved back through the air a couple of feet and then charged forward with her arms stretched outwards slightly while spinning like a drill, and as she spun, a large amount of wind gathered around her body until she was encased within a tornado. "Sarutahiko's Guidance!"

And they crashed into each other…

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The tornado-encased tengu girl pushed Helmaroc King across the air at high speed. When she finally came to a stop, Helmaroc King continued flying backwards while his helmet shattered into pieces to reveal his face entirely. He eventually came to a stop and spread out his wings while screeching angrily and loudly.

"Ayayaya! You're not very bad-looking," Aya commented when she saw his face. "You should take off the helmet more often, you know?"

Ignoring what she said, the monstrous bird screeched angrily and then charged at her.

"You know, I really don't like the idea of fighting a fellow bird, but since you're not the kind to sit down and talk things over politely, you leave me no choice but to go rough on you. Don't blame me for this!" Aya then flew at the incoming Helmaroc King and dashed around his neck in a u-shaped angle that left behind a trail of wind.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The trail of wind was in fact sharp as blades and Helmaroc King received deep cuts around his neck when he flew through them. The monstrous bird reeled back into the air and screeched painfully, and then he fell back and plummeted towards the sea below. However, he never reached the water as he suddenly exploded in a mess of feathers just a few inches above the water surface.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Well, that's that," Aya said, looking down at the water. "I feel bad for him though, but then, he made me do this anyway…" And then she returned to the surface of the tower to meet up with Tetra.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Tetra commented. "You really did show that oversized chicken who's boss!"

"Chicken? Heheh, you're funny!"

"Tetra!" shouted the voice of Link as he ran up to the tower's surface along with Reimu and Youmu. "Tetra, are you all right?"

"Well, look who's late?" Tetra said with her arms crossed.

"Sorry… It was quite a long way up here…" Link apologized to her. "Where's the…?"

"Aya took care of that bird already," Tetra interrupted him.

"Oh, that's good to hear. Now we only have to deal with Ganondorf!" Link then looked around the place and noticed that there were three pillars built around the opening on the floor. "Hey, I don't remember these."

"Decorations, I think. Not like it matters to us anyway."

Suddenly, they heard a rumbling sound and noticed that a pair of wooden sliding doors was closing up the opening on the floor. After the opening had been sealed away, they heard footsteps approaching and thus turned around to see Ganondorf walking down the walkway that led to his living quarters.

"Ganondorf!" Link gasped, and then he held up the Master Sword. "I'm going to make sure that you stay dead this time! Prepare yourself! Hiya!" And he charged at the villain to attack him.

Seeing Link coming, Ganondorf slammed his hands onto the floor. "Dark Wave!" Dark energy came out from his hands and traveled like liquid across the floor. A pillar of dark energy then shot up from underneath Link and sent him flying back to the others.

"Yaaa!"

The dark energy continued to grow in size until it was like a tidal wave moving towards them. "Watch out! It's coming towards us!" Youmu gasped.

Aya quickly took off into the air to escape and Reimu yelled at her, "Not fair!"

They quickly turned around to escape but the dark tidal wave caught up with them and crashed down onto them

CRAAAAAAASH!

When the dark energy dissipated, Link and the girls were seen charred by the dark energy and lying semi-unconsciously on the floor. Ganondorf walked up to Tetra and picked her up by her right arm. Tetra immediately returned to her sense and struggled to escape. "Let go of me, you jerk!"

Ganondorf ignored her and carried her to one of the pillars and then cuffed her right arm with the chain that was attached to the side of the pillar and then went towards Link. "Hey! Get this thing off me!" Tetra said, trying to pry open the cuff around her wrist.

Link slowly stood back up and when he saw Ganondorf coming, he quickly pointed the Master Sword at him and said, "Don't come near me!"

"So you brought The Blade of Evil's Bane along," Ganondorf said. "But I'm not going to be intimidated by such a thing anymore!"

"We'll see about that! Hiya!" Link charged at him and attempted to hit him with the sword, but Ganondorf quickly backhanded his hand and knocked the Master Sword away to the side easily. "Oh no!"

Ganondorf then grabbed him by the neck and held him up. "Let go of him!" Youmu shouted. She ran towards Ganondorf from behind and was going to bring down her sword onto him, but Ganondorf turned around and caught the blade with his bare hand. "What?"

"Domination Dash!" Aya shouted as she charged at Ganondorf really fast.

"Hmph! Pests!" Ganondorf grumbled. He twisted the sword off Youmu's hand and backhanded her in the face before swinging the sword at Aya when she flew into him.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"AYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Aya screamed in pain when she was cut across the body by the sword. She crashed onto the floor and tumbled forward violently before coming to a stop after hitting one of the raised blocks on the edge of the tower.

Ganondorf then flung the sword aside and it fell down a few centimeters next to Youmu, stabbing into the floor.

"Hiya!" Reimu shouted as she ran towards Ganondorf to hit him with her spiritually-enhanced gohei, but Ganondorf reached out his hand and caught her by the face. "Ack!"

"Flame Choke!" Ganondorf shouted, and then purple fire burst out from his hand and burned Reimu in the face.

"YAAAAAAAAA!"

"Reimu!" Youmu gasped. She pulled her sword out of the floor and ran to attack Ganondorf, but the villain flung Reimu into her and they both fell back onto the floor "Ah!"

While the two girls were piled up on top of each other, Ganondorf charged up an energy ball in his hand but Link shouted at him, "No! Stop it!"

"Warlock Blast!" Ganondorf shouted before hurling the energy ball at Reimu and Youmu.

BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Both the girls were electrocuted badly by the energy ball and then they fell unconscious.

"Hmph!" Ganondorf turned to face Link who had his bow and arrow pointing at him.

"How dare you do this to my friends?" Link said angrily before firing the arrow, but Ganondorf easily caught and broke the arrow with his hand.

"Resistance is futile, boy," Ganondorf said. "Hiya!" He suddenly lunged at Link and caught him by the neck. As Link struggled to pry open the villain's fingers, Ganondorf carried him over to another one of the pillars and cuffed his hand to the chain there.

"Let me go!" Link shouted as he tried to pry open the cuff, but to no avail. "What is it that you want, Ganondorf?"

Ganondorf walked up to the third pillar and then faced Link and Tetra and explained to them, "Obviously, I want to get my hands on the Triforce!"

"You're dreaming!" Tetra said to him. "That thing is long gone already! My father wished for it to disappear in order to keep it safe from people like you!"

"Yeah! There is no way you can get your hands on the Triforce again!" Link said.

"That is true," Ganondorf said, "until I met two certain people."

A question mark appeared over Link's head when he heard this. "Who?"

"I don't know either. I have never seen or heard of them in my life, but these are the people who brought me back to life."

"What?"

"This is all true, whether or not you want to believe it. After bringing me back to life, they gave me an offer of joining their organization which aims to rule the entire universe."

"And you accepted their offer?" Tetra asked.

Ganondorf shook his head. "No, I turned down their offer because I was skeptical of who they are. They did not force me to join them and even respected my opinion. Apparently, they know all about my history and even know that I am after the Triforce, and thus they offered to help me get my hands on that golden triangle once again. Do you see the pillars here? They are the ones who set up these pillars as part of the method to make the Triforce appear again!"

"How is that possible?"

"Very simple! These pillars are imbued with the power to make the Triforce symbols on the back of our hands react, and if all three Triforce holders are in contact with the pillar, the Triforce will be created once again; simple as that!"

"I won't let you!" Link shouted, trying to pull his hand out from the cuff.

"There is nothing you can do now!" Ganondorf said to him. "Everything is going according to plan now! Once the power of the Triforce has been drawn out from us, the Triforce will be created once again and then I will be able to return Hyrule to its former glory and serve as its king!"

Ganondorf placed his right hand on the side of the pillar and then the Triforce of Power on the back of his hand started glowing. The same thing also happened to Link's Triforce of Courage and Tetra's Triforce of Wisdom, but Tetra also started to glow with bright light. "What's happening to me?" Tetra gasped. "YAAAAAA!" The light engulfed her entirely, and when it died down, she had transformed into a beautiful blond princess dressed in a pink royalty dress. "What…?"

"Zelda!" Link said in shock.

"Hahaha! It looks like everything is working properly!" Ganondorf said with delight. "At long last, the Triforce is appearing before my eyes! Nobody is going to stop me this time!"

Yellow beams of light shot out from the Triforce symbols on the back of their hands and struck each other in midair, forming a sphere. Ganondorf watched with a huge smile on his face as a shape vaguely resembling a triangle started to form in the center of the sphere while Link and Zelda watched with shocked expressions. "The Triforce!" Zelda gasped. "It's starting to appear!"

"Yes! Yes!" Ganondorf said excitedly while reaching his left hand towards the energy sphere. "It's very close now! Very close! I can almost touch it already! Come forth, Triforce! Heed my call and grant me my wish! Return Hyrule to its original…"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The top section of Ganondorf's pillar was slashed off by Youmu and fell down to the side. Ganondorf turned to look at her angrily and said, "What did you do?"

Immediately, the beam of lights stopped coming out from the back of the three Triforce holders' hands, and slowly, the sphere in the air as well as the triangle inside shrunk until they disappeared completely.

There was silence for a while as Ganondorf stared at the empty air with a dumbfounded expression. "Whatever the thing you wanted to have," Youmu said, "It's now gone."

"The Triforce…" Ganondorf said. "It was so close… So close… So close… And yet…" The villain then grinned and chuckled while turning his head to glare at Youmu. "Heeheeheeheehee! You sure are a brave girl." And he suddenly shouted angrily, "HOW DARE YOU CRUSH MY DREAMS IN FRONT OF MY EYES?"

"A wicked man like you only has evil dreams that will hurt people, so I will not allow that to happen!" Youmu said to him.

"YOU MUST DIE!" Ganondorf shouted as he lunged at her. Youmu quickly leaped out of the way and the villain ended up punching the floor, leaving behind a small crater on it.

Meanwhile, Link was still trying to get his hand off the cuff somehow. Reimu came up to him and taped a paper amulet onto the chain, and when the amulet exploded, the chain was blown apart as well and Link's hand was freed. "Thanks!" Link said while shaking his hand. "But my hand also got burned a bit…"

"Sorry about that," Reimu apologized. "But at least you're freed." She then went over to Zelda and used a paper tag to free her as well.

"Thanks!" Zelda said.

"All right, you better go hide in somewhere safe," Reimu said as she turned to face Ganondorf who was fighting Youmu. "I'll deal with him!"

"I'll also deal with him!" Link said. "But where's the Master Sword?" He looked around and saw the Master Sword lying at the side of the tower and thus ran over to get it.

Ganondorf managed to land a straight punch into Youmu's face and sent her flying backwards. Reimu held up two paper amulets in between her fingers and flung them at Ganondorf. The villain raised his arm and the amulets taped onto his oversized sleeves before exploding. Ganondorf then charged out from the smoke and lunged at Reimu, trying to grab her in the face with his hand. Reimu quickly bent backwards and the hand went over her, and then she did a back flip while kicking Ganondorf in the hand and landed a few feet away from him.

Reimu then pulled out a card which glowed with blue light and shot out three energy yin-yang orbs. "Enigmatically Casted Pearl!"

The yin-yang orbs struck Ganondorf and exploded, but the villain charged through the explosion unharmed much to Reimu's surprise and caught her by the neck. "Ack!"

"You brat!" Ganondorf shouted before spinning around and slamming her by the back onto the wooden surface that was sealing up the opening on the floor.

CRASH!

"Hiya!" Link shouted as he ran towards Ganondorf from behind and leaped into the air to get ready to bring down the Master Sword onto his head.

Unexpectedly, Ganondorf spun around and brought his right leg straight up, kicking Link from below and sending him high up into the air as well as disarming him of the Master Sword.

KICK!

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Link screamed as he shot up the air but then fell back down again.

Ganondorf jumped up and caught Link by the face while the boy was still in midair and dark fire was released into Link's face as Ganondorf forcefully pushed him onto Reimu's abdomen really hard. "Flame Choke!"

SMASH!

Reimu cried in pain when Link was crushed against her body, and while the two were piled on top of each other, Ganondorf raised his right leg 180 degrees straight up and smoke came out from his feet. "Volcano Kick!" he shouted.

"Stop it!" Youmu shouted as she ran towards the villain to stop him.

Too late; Ganondorf slammed down his foot onto Link's body and created a massive explosion.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The powerful explosion blew a hole on the wooden floor, and both Link and Reimu shot straight down and fell into the water with a splash.

SPLASH!

The flooding had stopped when the room was filled halfway up with water.

Ganondorf looked through the hole to make sure that those two were nowhere in sight, and then he said, "So much for trying to re-obtain the Triforce… Everything is ruined…" He stretched his arms into the air and somehow produced a pair of katana blades that were each tied with a pair of red strings at the hilts and then turned around to face Youmu. "And it's all thanks to you! You're really going to pay for this, girl!"

Youmu unsheathed both her swords and held them in each hand saying, "I won't forgive you for hurting my friends! I'm going to avenge for them!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Well, isn't that exciting on what? Is the final battle of the arc really going to happen in the next chapter or what? You'll have to find out yourself, so look forward to it!

**Next chapter: Dual Blades Crossing**

**Triva:  
**1. Ganondorf's infamous "YOU MUST DIE!" quote comes from the ill-fated Zelda: Wand of Gamelon.


	21. Dual Blades Crossing

**SBS Time!  
Souldin: **Isn't 11 a strange number?  
**Game2002: **Yeah, you can say that, but I like to break the mold and stay away from clichéd even numbers such as 8, 10, 12 etc. for once.

**bunkhead: **You messed up Kalle Demos big time because he is supposed to be a very easy boss.  
**Game2002: **If the fight was too easy, then it would last very short, so I had to toughen him up in order to lengthen the fight more

**bunkhead: **Remilia is a bit too nice.  
**Game2002: **I admit that I made her that way on purpose. If she is her normal self, then she can easily wreck havoc to all her opponents and not get along with other people as easily, so I had to come up with a way to make her hold back her powers. Don't worry; she will eventually become more and more like the way you want her to be as the story progresses, so stick around until then!

Over one hundred reviews at last! It looks like this story is doing really successful! I'm so happy that many people are enjoying and supporting this story, so I will try my best not to disappoint anyone!

I would appreciate it if you read all the contents in each chapter, even the author's comments at the end of the chapters so that you do not skip certain things. I'm saying this because there are some people who have the tendency to stop reading at the 'TO BE CONTINUED' message and may miss out the trivia and such. Plus, I would like to avoid putting **bolded notes** in the middle of the stories from now on as this sort of interruption is distracting to some people. It was originally done to inform readers of certain important things. Thank you for your cooperation!

God bless you all!

**Chapter 20  
Dual Blades Crossing**

* * *

Youmu turned to Zelda and Aya and said to them, "Tetra! Um… You're Tetra, right?"

Zelda nodded and replied, "This is my true form, Princess Zelda, but you can still call me Tetra if you want to."

"Anyway, Princess Zelda, please take Aya to somewhere safe and stay away from here! I'll deal with Ganondorf myself!"

"How about you?"

"Don't worry about me! Just go and keep yourself safe and also tend to Aya's wound if you can! Hurry!"

"All right, but please be careful yourself!" Zelda then held up Aya by her shoulder and quickly ran towards Ganondorf's living quarters.

"You're not getting away from here!" Ganondorf said as he ran after Zelda and Aya.

"You're not going after them!" Youmu said. She quickly rushed in front of Ganondorf and swung both her swords at him, but the villain leaped back to avoid getting hit.

"Tsk! I'll deal with you first then!" Ganondorf growled in frustration. "It's not like they can escape from this place anyway."

**BGM: Ganondorf Battle (Zelda: The Wind Waker)**

"En guard!" Youmu shouted as she jumped at Ganondorf and brought down both her swords at once. Ganondorf raised his swords to block the blow and when Youmu landed him front of him, she swung her swords at him rapidly, but Ganondorf held up his swords defensively to block them all.

Youmu swung left to right over and over to try to land a hit onto the villain's body, and then she pulled both her swords to her right and delivered a powerful horizontal swipe with them. "Hai!"

Ganondorf easily blocked them by holding his swords to his sides. He then raised his right sword and brought it downwards to slash Youmu's right shoulder, but she leaped off to the left fast and then tried to slash him in the waist. Ganondorf managed to block it with his other sword and then he quickly turned towards her and swung each of his swords horizontally outwards in opposite directions, but Youmu leaped back in time to avoid getting hit.

After landing, Youmu raised her arm underneath Myon and said, "Strange Half-Body!" Myon glowed with a pinkish-purple light and fired a rapid burst of bullets at Ganondorf. The villain quickly leaped backwards but Myon aimed the bullets in his direction and managed to hit Ganondorf in the chest while he was still in the air.

The Gerudo villain grunted as he fell to his knees, and then he surged dark electrical energy into his right blade before slashing the air to shoot out a dark crescent blade. "Dark Cutter!" Myon quickly moved out of the way to avoid getting hit by it.

Youmu then ran at Ganondorf and swung both her swords at him, and he quickly brought up his swords and so they both clashed and locked blades together. As they tried to push down each other, Youmu asked, "I thought you are invincible to everything except for the Master Sword. Why are you still dodging and countering my attacks?"

"Just because I am invincible does not mean I abuse it," Ganondorf replied. "At times when the Master Sword is used against me, I will have to do the dodging myself. That way, my fighting and dodging skills will never fall! Such is the way for one to become stronger and not always rely on his cheap abilities!"

"That's how a true warrior should be," Youmu said. "The only thing you are wrong about is not taking the way of the blade down the right path!"

"I don't care whether or not I am taking the right path. I am content as long I am taking the path that leads me to power!"

"Then I really do feel pity for a power-hungry fool like you."

"Tsk! I do not need a little girl like you to lecture me!"

"Remember this! I am over sixty years old!" Youmu shouted. "Hiya!" She exerted a large amount of strength and managed to overcome Ganondorf, pushing him back a few steps.

"Whoa!" Ganondorf almost lost his balance and fell back for a second and this gave Youmu the chance to slash him across the body. "Ugh!"

"Take this!" Youmu shouted as she continued to slash Ganondorf multiple times across the body, pushing him backwards with each hit. "Crescent Moon Slash!" And then she performed a jumping slash with both swords, knocking Ganondorf back into the air.

SLASH!

The Gerudo spun back through the air but he used one hand to push against the floor and then flipped himself back upright. "Not bad!" Ganondorf commented. "I'm not sure if you are bluffing just now about being over sixty years old, but you sure have skills that are on par with the Hero of Wind!"

"You mean Link?"

"While he is not a descendant of the previous hero who defeated me, he has without doubt inherited his skills. The Triforce of Courage sure knows how to choose its holder, don't you think?"

"Sorry, but I do not know the history of your world that much, and I don't have time to care about it either!"

"Right, there is no time for you to care about history lessons since you are in danger of dying currently. Come, let us enjoy this fight!" Ganondorf then rushed forward as Youmu got into defensive stance, and then the Gerudo thrust his right fist forward with his sword held sideways. "Gerudo Dragon!"

The gerudo delivered an uppercut that was powered by dark flames and struck Youmu's swords which were crossed in front of her defensively, and the uppercut sent both her swords flying into the air much to her surprise. "What?"

Ganondorf then thrust his right leg forward and kicked her forcefully in the stomach. "Oof!"

Youmu flew back and landed on her rear roughly, and then her two swords fell down and stabbed into the floor on both sides of her, just a few millimeters in front of her middle fingers.

"Die!" Ganondorf shouted as he jumped at her with both his swords raised over his head.

Quickly, Youmu pulled her swords out of the floor and held them up in a cross formation and managed to block the blow from Ganondorf.

CLASH!

Ganondorf managed to suppress her to the floor for a while, and then he pulled back and lifted his right leg 180 degrees into the air. Seeing this, Youmu quickly got up and jumped out of the way before Ganondorf unleashed the volcanic stomp. "Volcano Kick!"

BANG!

After landing from her jump, Youmu turned to face Ganondorf and then slashed in a cross formation to shoot out two large crescent-shaped sword beams that were stacked behind each other to resemble an 'x'. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

Seeing the incoming projectile, Ganondorf countered with a similar move, but it consisted of only one crescent-shaped sword beam that was purple in color. "Dark Cutter!"

Both projectiles collided in midair and exploded, cancelling out each other.

"Phosphorus Slash!" Youmu swung her swords in a circular motion and shot out four pink rings that traveled across the air in a curvy path.

Ganondorf leaped over the incoming projectile with ease and when he was in the air above Youmu, dark flames appeared around his right leg as he performed a diving kick at her. "Wizard's Foot!"

Youmu backed off from the attack and Ganondorf's foot hit the floor instead. Youmu then crouched down slightly and sheathed both her swords, but she still kept one hand holding onto one sword. "Human Sign: Slash of Present!" she said. She unsheathed her sword slightly and before Ganondorf could tell what was going on, Youmu was behind him with her sword unsheathed and held to the side. When she sheathed her sword again, Ganondorf let out a scream as he had been cut in the body without noticing it.

SLAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ganondorf screamed as he fell to his knees.

Youmu stood up and turned to look at him with a surprised face. "It worked?"

Unknown to her, a smirk appeared on Ganondorf's face and he suddenly spun around and slashed the air to shoot out a dark crescent wave. "Dark Cutter!" And Youmu was struck in the body.

SLASH!

"Ugh!" Youmu cried as she fell back but managed to retain her footing and said, "How dare you?"

Ganondorf laughed and said, "Hahaha! Did you really think that hurt me just now? Blame your own stupidity for thinking so!"

Youmu held one hand over the wound on her body and thought to herself, "Looks like there really is no way to hurt him asides from using the Master Sword…" She shifted her eyes to the side and noticed the Master Sword lying on the floor. "There it is!" And she quickly ran to pick it up.

"Oh, so you've decided to act smart and use that sword against me!" Ganondorf commented. "Good thinking, but don't think I will let you get your hands on it so easily! Dark Cutter!" He shot a dark wave at Youmu from behind but Youmu jumped up to avoid it and then landed behind the Master Sword.

"Got it!" Youmu thought as she turned around to pick up the Master Sword, but before she had to the chance to do so, Ganondorf fired a second dark wave which struck her in the chest. "ACK!"

Ganondorf then rushed up to her and caught by the face and surged dark flames into her. "Flame Choke!"

Youmu cried in pain as an explosion of dark flames engulfed and burned her face. Ganondorf then spun slammed her face first onto the floor very hard a couple of times before spinning around and hurling her across the place, and Youmu hit the floor and tumbled forward roughly a couple of times before coming to a stop.

As Youmu sat up and wiped the bits of blood off her face while groaning painfully, Ganondorf approached her and said, "I applaud you for being able to hold up against me this long, but this ends here!" He then brought up his right sword over his head. "Any last words?"

Youmu simply grinned and said, "Don't look behind you."

"Uh?" Ganondorf was a bit curious at what she said, but before he could ponder what it was about, a blade came out from the middle of his chest. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The blade was pulled back out and Ganondorf quickly held one hand over the wound inflicted on his chest and spun around to see his attacker, and he was surprised to see another Youmu standing there with the Master Sword in her hand. "What the?" He looked behind him and was even more surprised that see that the previous Youmu was still there. "What is this madness?"

Youmu got up and hopped back saying, "I bet you must be very surprised! I can change my phantom half into a replica of myself! As long as my phantom half has the Master Sword, I can fight on equal terms with you!"

"Tsk! Don't get too cocky just because you have the Master Sword!" Ganondorf growled angrily. "I am not going to be defeated by someone like you so easily!"

"We'll see about that!" Youmu said before charging at him. "Prepare yourself!"

Ganondorf readied his swords to attack her but Youmu and Myon both leaped into the air all of a sudden and as they jumped past each other, Youmu exchanged one of her swords with Myon's Master Sword. Ganondorf was unable to see clearly what they did just now and panicked as he looked in both directions to see who had the Master Sword. Myon charged at him from the left and Ganondorf quickly blocked her attack with his swords, but saw that she didn't have the Master Sword. "Not this one!" he gasped, but before he could react, he was slashed across the back by Youmu using the Master Sword.

SLASH!

"Ugh!" Ganondorf grunted in pain and then angrily spun around to swing one sword at her horizontally, but she did a back flip to escape.

Youmu charged at Ganondorf again and he quickly blocked her incoming attack. As they locked swords with each other, Myon charged in from behind and slashed the villain in the back multiple times, but the hits did not hurt Ganondorf at all, though he still found it annoying. "Argh! Pests!" Ganondorf shouted, and then he landed an unexpected kick into Youmu's abdomen before kicking backwards to hit Myon in the abdomen as well.

"OOF!" Youmu felt like she was kicked twice in the stomach.

"Die!" Ganondorf shouted as he ran up to her and brought down both swords, and Youmu quickly crossed her swords together to block them. While they were locking swords, Myon ran to Ganondorf from behind to attack him, but Ganondorf suddenly spun around and slashed her across the body.

SLASH!

"Ack!" Youmu cried in pain as a slash mark suddenly appeared across her body.

"Huh?" Ganondorf became curious upon seeing this. He looked at Myon to see that she was wounded in the body, but Youmu had also received the same wound in the exact same spot. "Hmmm… Dark Cutter!" He suddenly shot out a dark wave from his sword and attacked Myon. Youmu also cried in pain and another wound appeared on her body. Finally, Ganondorf understood what was going on and said, "I see! So whatever that clone of yours experiences, you will also experience it! It doesn't seem to be a useful ability after all, eh?"

Youmu slowly stood back up trying to endure her wounds and said," So can say that… But I consider this weakness of mines to be something I have to overcome and become stronger as a result."

"If that is the case, I shall help you overcome your weakness! See if you can survive the harsh training I am going to give you!" Ganondorf said before running at Myon at to attack her.

Myon quickly held up her swords and blocked each of the hits Ganondorf gave her. As they were clashing swords with each other, Youmu ran towards Ganondorf from behind to attack him, but the villain spun around and used one sword to block a swipe from the Master Sword while using the other sword to block Myon's swords. Ganondorf then spun in a full circle and somehow pushed the both of them backwards and then he charged at Youmu and swung one sword horizontally.

Youmu bent her body backwards and the sword went over her face instead. Ganondorf then brought up one sword over her and swung it down, but she hopped off the side in the nick of time and then attempted to strike him in the waist, but Ganondorf quickly blocked it.

Youmu then hopped back and threw the Master Sword into the air over Ganondorf. At the same time, Myon threw one of the swords into the air in what appears to be an attempt to exchange swords. At least that was what Ganondorf thought and so he quickly turned his attention to Myon.

However, both the swords hit each other in midair and bounced back to their owners. Youmu caught the Master Sword again and then leaped into the air over Ganondorf and the blade glowed with orange light as she brought it down on him. "Slashing a Flower Upon One's Head!"

"What the?" Ganondorf gasped. He barely had time to block or move out of the attack's way, and thus received a slash across his body.

SLAAAAAAAASH!

"GUUUUAGH!" Ganondorf cried in pain while taking several steps back.

After landing, Youmu rushed at him and dashed past him, slashing him across the waist.

SLAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ganondorf cried in pain once again as he fell back onto the floor, lying flat on his back.

"Phew…" Youmu let out a sigh and turned to look at the fallen Ganondorf. "I did it…" She turned to look at Myon who slowly reverted to her original phantom form and then she flew over to Youmu and hovered over her head.

She then turned to look at Ganondorf and slowly moved closer to him. Suddenly, the Gerudo got up in a moment's notice and swung one of his swords at her legs. "What?" Youmu gasped as she quickly hopped back, but she still suffered from a bit of a cut on her right leg. "You're still alive?"

"You're not going to defeat me so easily!" Ganondorf growled while breathing heavily. "It's just a light wound and I'm not going to get defeated because of this! I have to applaud you however. You surely have the skills of the Hero of Wind!"

"Thanks for the compliment!" Youmu said, holding up both her sword and the Master Sword defensively. "Now I'm going to put an end to this!"

"The only person who is meeting her end here is you!" Ganondorf shouted angrily.

**BGM: Ganondorf Swordfight (Zelda: Twilight Princess)**

The Gerudo's shout of anger was fittingly accompanied by a flash of lightning that was followed a few seconds later by the sound of thunder. He charged his right fist with dark electrical energy before raising it into the air and then punched the floor really hard. "Dark Tremor!"

Upon punching the floor, a shockwave came out from around him and spread across the floor, blowing away the pillars completely as well. Youmu could've jumped up to avoid the shockwave, but the tremor created by the punching of the floor made her lost her balance and she was hit by the shockwave and got electrocuted by it badly. "YAAAAAAAAA!"

"Wizard's Foot!" Ganondorf shouted as he leaped forward to perform a flying kick that was enhanced by dark flames. The kick landed into Youmu and sent her flying back through the air.

KICK!

While she was still in the air, Ganondorf hurled both his swords high into the air before jumping at her and then caught her by her shoulders and started electrocuting her with dark energy. "Dark Dive!"

BZAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Youmu screamed in pain as the electricity ran throughout her body, and then it was followed by a dark explosion that propelled her backwards. Ganondord also flew backwards and he caught both his swords as they fell back down before landing onto the floor.

Just as Youmu was falling back onto the floor, Ganondorf slashed the air twice to release two dark waves. "Dark Cutter!" And they both struck her before she touched the floor.

"Ugh!" Youmu fell onto the floor afterwards with several wounds on her body, but despite this, she struggled to stand back up and gripped her swords tightly in her hands.

"You have good stamina," Ganondorf commented. "But this is as far as you go! Prepare to die!" He ran towards Youmu and swung both his swords at her, and she quickly used her swords to block them.

Youmu tried her best to overcome the locking of blades, but her wounds were hindering her and keeping her from winning. "Ugh… I must not… lose…" she thought to herself.

While they were still locking blades with each other, Ganondorf suddenly threw his right sword away and then charged his right fist with dark energy. He overcame the blade locking using only one sword and pushed Youmu back a step, and before she had the chance to do anything else, Ganondorf slammed the back of his fist into her chest INCREDIBLY hard. "Warlock Punch!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Youmu screamed in sheer pain while coughing a large amount of blood as she shot back and off of the tower, soaring across the air a few yards before starting to descend towards the sea.

As she fell closer and closer to the sea, several thoughts ran through her mind. "Did I lose the fight…? If so, then I will never be able to see Mistress Yuyuko again… and she will be lonely without me… I haven't even found my teacher yet… Ever since he disappeared one day without teaching me everything about the way of the sword, I trained by myself to become stronger… But this is the result… of my trainings…? No… If I fall now… there won't be anymore opportunities for me to strengthen myself… I must not… fall here!"

Meanwhile, Ganondorf was laughing at the edge of the tower for he believed that he had defeated his opponent. "Hahahahahaha! Now you know how powerless you are before me! Anyone who opposed me will die!" Suddenly, he noticed something flying back towards the tower. "Hmm?" Upon closer inspection, he found out that the 'something' is in fact Youmu flying at him. "What the?"

"I'm not done yet!" Youmu shouted as she soared towards the tower as fast as she could. "Now that I have regained my flight abilities, I can go all out on you!"

"What the heck?" Ganondorf said in surprise. He quickly held up his swords and blocked a swipe of the Master Sword from Youmu. "Flight abilities, eh? You remind me of the time when I was able to fly thanks to the Triforce of Power, but that was a long time ago. During all these years, I have lost such a convenient ability."

"Too bad for you," Youmu said. "It is common for the inhabitants of Gensokyo to be able to fly!" Youmu pulled back and then flew over Ganondorf and landed back onto the tower, but suddenly felt the wounds on her body acting up again. "Ugh!"

"It looks like your wounds are still hindering you," Ganondorf said. "After all, Warlock Punch is the most powerful move that I came up with during the Smash Brothers Tournament!"

Hearing this, Youmu said, "That's right! I remember Tetra bringing up your name and saying that you were in the tournament, but Link said that it was a different person."

"Yes," Ganondorf replied with a nod. "They say there have been three tournaments held so far, but I only participated in the second tournament. However, I heard sayings about an alternate timeline of myself joining the third one as well as the Hero of Wind. Hearing this made me wish that I was at least an audience in the third tournament just to see how that alternate timeline of me fared against that boy!"

"To think that Master Hand would invite someone like you to the tournament…"

"Of course, it's only natural that he would invite me! I am a powerful warrior after all, and he wants powerful warriors such as me to make the tournament more exciting. My only complaint that I have is that I was forced to play with the rules in order to prevent fatalities. Wouldn't a tournament with fatalities have been more fun?"

"Do you only think of destroying things and hurting others? I really cannot tolerate a person like you any longer! I'm going to strike you down!"

Ganondorf held up one sword and said, "Very well. I'm going to make sure that I strike you down as well!"

"I won't let this hinder me!" Youmu said as she tried her best to stand back up. "Not until I defeat you!"

She ran towards Ganondorf as fast as she could and the villain attacked her with Dark Cutter, but she leaped up into the air and slashed in a cross formation to shoot out an x-shaped sword beam. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

Ganondorf eliminated the sword beam by slashing against it and then jumped at Youmu to attack her, but she flew higher into the air to escape getting hit. When Ganondorf landed, he stabbed both his swords into the floor and then held his arms over his head to create a ball of energy. "Dark Rain!" The ball of energy exploded into smaller balls of energy, all of which flew towards Youmu at a fast speed.

Seeing the large amount of projectiles approaching, she crossed her swords in front of herself and the blade glowed with blue light and formed a diamond-shaped reflector around it. "Netherworld Reflection Slash!"

The projectiles that struck her from of the front bounced back to Ganondorf, but the ones that came in from other directions managed to hit her body. "Yaa!"

Ganondorf quickly swung his swords at the returning energy balls and managed to send them all back to Youmu. Youmu managed to recover in time and then moved aside to avoid the energy balls, but they turned around to come after her again. Youmu dived at Ganondorf and clashed blades with him, but then she moved out of the way a few seconds later and Ganondorf saw the energy balls flying back to him. "Oh no!" He didn't have time to do anything and was hit by his own energy balls, getting electrocuted by them. "Guuuuah!"

"Looks like you can be damaged by your own attacks," Youmu thought.

"Why you?" Ganondorf growled angrily as he turned to face her and then attacked with Dark Cutter.

Youmu quickly set up another reflector and reflected the attack, and Ganondorf failed to avoid it and was struck by his own attack once again. "Guuuah!"

Youmu dived at him again and swung her swords at him rapidly, and Ganondorf also fought back with an equal intensity. During the midst of the sword clashing, Ganondorf thrust his right sword forward but Youmu ducked underneath it and then quickly jumped over him and slashed him in the head with the Master Sword.

SLASH!

"Gyaaaah!" Ganondorf cried in pain when he was hit, and when he turned around to face Youmu, she was in the air with the Master Sword held over her head.

"Rise from Delusion Slash!" she shouted. Instantly, bright blue aura appeared around the blade, thus making it look longer and larger, and then she brought down the Master Sword onto Ganondorf who desperately tried to block it with his swords.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Not only was Ganondorf slashed badly by the sword, but he was also caught in an explosion of blue flames that was created from the slashing. The Gerudo screamed in agony as he was engulfed by the flames which burned him severely, especially the gash. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion finally dissipated, Ganondorf was seen badly charred from head to toe. Youmu panted heavily and wiped some sweat off her neck. "Did I do it…?"

"Guh… Gah… Impossible…" Ganondorf mumbled. "How can… I… lose…?" And then he fell on knees before falling forward falling face first onto the floor.

Seeing that Ganondorf was finally down, Youmu sat down out of exhaustion and also due the wounds on her body. "At last… I did it… I win…"

"Youmu!" shouted the voice of Zelda. Youmu turned around to see her running out from Ganondorf's living quarters. "Youmu! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine… These wounds aren't anything life-threatening," Youmu told her. "Where's Aya?"

"She's resting in there," Zelda replied, pointing to the living quarters. "She'll recover just fine."

"That's good to hear!"

Zelda looked at the fallen Ganondorf and said, "Wow… You managed to defeat Ganondorf! I was worried for a moment when he punched you off the tower…"

"Yeah, I have to admit that did hurt…"

Suddenly, something came out from the hole on the wooden part of the floor and both the girls turned around to see what came out and saw that it was Reimu hovering in the air and she was carrying Link on her back. "Reimu! Link! You're both all right!" Youmu said happily.

Reimu landed and Link got off from her back and ran up to Zelda saying, "Zelda, are you all right?"

Zelda nodded and replied, "Yes, I'm all right. Youmu defeated Ganondorf!"

Link turned to look at the fallen body of Ganondorf and said, "Wow! Amazing! You used the Master Sword, didn't you?"

"Yes I did," Youmu said as she returned the Master Sword to him. "It really is the only thing capable of hurting him, though I did find it strange that he can be hurt by his own projectiles, or at least get stunned by them." Suddenly, her wounds acted up again and she fell to her knees in pain. "Ugh!"

"Youmu! Are you all right?" Zelda said in concern while placing her hands onto her left shoulder.

"Okay, I admit… That punch really did do a big number on me…" Youmu cried. "It feels like my ribcage is broken…"

"If you mean Warlock Punch, then I can understand how you feel," Link said. "The alternate timeline Ganondorf also used the same move in the Smash Brothers Tournament. Trust me, getting hit by that HURTS like heck! But thanks goodness for the altered physics and reality in that tournament, otherwise I would've died after taking it right into my face…"

"I'm sure Reisen's medicines should be able to do something about this," Reimu said. "C'mon, let's go back to the others now that you have defeated Ganondorf."

Suddenly, they heard grunting noises and so turned around to see Ganondorf breathing heavily while slowly pushing himself back up. "What? He's still alive?" Youmu gasped.

Link got in front of the girls and held up the Master Sword and his shield defensively. "This guy really doesn't want to stay dead, does he? Stand back, everyone! I'll deal with him myself this time!"

Ganondorf slowly stood back up, but because of the severe wound that Youmu inflicted on him earlier, he had a hard time doing so and limped forward a bit. "It's… It's not over… It's not over… yet…" he growled angrily. He then brought up the back of his right hand to show them the Triforce of Power which was glowing brightly. "It's not over yet! Witness the power of the Triforce of Power! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Immediately, bright light appeared from all over his body and the Link and the others were forced to hold their hands over their eyes as not to get blinded. "What's happening to him?" Youmu gasped.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm sure you what to expect in the next chapter.

Exam period has started, so updates may probably come out slower than usual. On the bright side, summer vacation is on after my exams are finished, so I get a lot of free time to update! This is assuming I don't slack off or get too busy with other things, such as playing video games.

**Next chapter: Power, Wisdom, and Courage**

**Trivia:  
**1. As you can tell after reading this chapter, this Ganondorf is not the same one from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Because of the split timeline created by Ocarina of Time, the TP Ganondorf got imprisoned before he could get the Triforce and then everything led up to Twilight Princess from there, but WW Ganondorf is the one that got sealed away in the Dark Realm after the final battle of OOT but eventually broke out again, leading to the events of TWW. Considering that SSBM Ganondorf is based off his OOT model, he follows the continuity up to TWW while SSBB Ganondorf follows the TP continuity. Same person, but different timeline; at least that is how my story goes… And as for his fighting style being similar to his SSBB counterpart... I can do whatever I want with him, okay?


	22. Power, Wisdom, and Courage

I have to admit something: I have never played a single official Touhou game. I have only played fan-made ones such as Megamari. When I saw videos of the games on Youtube, I was turned down by their intense difficulty. I admit that I use cheat codes, Gameshark codes, etc. to help myself get through tough games, so I'm really not that much of a hardcore gamer.

Also, I do not own any of the next generation video game consoles, so there are actually a lot of games I have never played. I did get to play SSB64 through Project 64, an emulator for N64, and I once borrowed my friend's Gamecube for a while and got to play his SSBM on it. Even though there are several great games out there that I have never played, I am still satisfied as long as I have good knowledge about those games. To me, this is equivalent to having played them already, so I have no regrets. Still, it would be great if I do get to play great games such as SSBB and the likes through firsthand experience. Even my younger brother played SSBB at his friend's house…

I think I better mention this just in case some people missed it out: Originally forgot to make mention of the pillars in the previous chapter, so I went an altered the previous chapter slightly to include mention of the pillars, though they're not anything major to begin with.

**Note: If you listen to music that I mentioned in the story while you read, you can also listen to remixed versions found on Youtube instead of always listening to the original versions. Some remixes are actually much better than the original!**

**Chapter 21  
Power, Wisdom, and Courage**

**

* * *

**

Bright light came out from all over Ganondorf's body and the Gerudo villain slowly changed form. Such a sight startled Link and the girls and they could not believe their eyes when the light died down to reveal Ganondorf's altered appearance which was new to them.

Standing in front of them was monstrous blue-skinned boar with curved horns growing out from the sides of his head as well as having a long lizard-like tail behind him—Ganon.

**BGM: Ganon Battle (Zelda: Ocarina of Time)  
**

The monster picked up the pair of katana blades which were lying on his sides and somehow increased their sizes so that they fit in his hands perfectly, and then he swung them around in air a few times before letting out a loud roar which was fittingly accompanied by a lightning flash and then followed by the sound of thunder, and then raindrops started to fall from the night sky while the wind increased in velocity..

"What in the world?" Link said in shock while taking several steps back out of fear.

"Is this is the Triforce of Power granting him this grotesque form?" Zelda said in disbelief. "I don't believe it…"

Ganon glared at them and then took a step forward, stomping the floor really hard, and Link then stepped forward with his sword and shield gripped tightly and said, "It doesn't matter what form you are taking, I'm going to take you down!"

Reimu stepped forward as well and held up her gohei defensively saying, "Count me in too! He did hurt me quite a bit that time, so now I'm going to get even with him!"

"Are you sure you're going to do this?"

"I'm sure about this. You don't have to worry about me. Instead, you should be thankful that there is someone here to help you."

"All right then, I'll accept your help!" Link said, and then he turned to Zelda and said to her, "Zelda! You take Youmu and get out of here! We'll…"

"No, I'll help!" Zelda interrupted him. "Hand me your bow, Link."

"But Zelda…"

"Please, Link! I want to help too!" Zelda pleaded him. "I, too, am one of the holders of the Triforce, so I have the responsibility to be a part of this as well. Didn't we battle Ganondorf together last time? We will do it again this time!"

After hearing this, Link smiled and nodded, and then he took off his bow from his back and threw it to Zelda. "All right, but be careful."

"Are you sure you're doing this?" Reimu asked Zelda. "It's probably going to be very dangerous."

"Don't worry," Zelda told her with a nod. "I'm very good with the bow, so I know what to do in a battlefield to an extent. The two of you try to distract him with your attacks, and then I'll shoot him with Light Arrows. Surely we can take him down with the power of teamwork!"

"All right! Let's rock!" Link said, raising his sword into the air before turning to face Ganon. "C'mon, ugly, show me what you've got!"

Ganon let out a loud roar that could be hear miles away and then took another step forward before raising both his swords to get ready to attack. Everyone leaped out of the way when both the swords were brought down and struck the floor with an intense force. Youmu landed from her jump but her wounds acted up as a result. "Ugh!"

"Youmu, please go and hide somewhere in the meantime!" Zelda said to her. "You're badly wounded from the previous fight. We'll handle everything here ourselves!"

"All right, but please be careful," Youmu said as she slowly got back up. "If only I can help out somehow…" And then she went in the direction of Ganondorf's living quarters.

Ganon swung his blade horizontally at Link and Reimu, but Link leaped back to avoid getting hit while Reimu flew into the air. She then got out a card and pointed it at Ganon to fire energy yin-yang orbs. "Enigmatically Casted Pearl!" The yin-yang orbs struck Ganon all over the body, but the beast was unfazed by the attack and simply let out an angry roar.

"I didn't really believe them at first when they said they can fly around freely back in their own world, but would temporary lose it when they travel to other worlds," Zelda said. "Looks like it's true…"

"It must be very convenient to be able to fly around freely like that," Link commented. "I sure wish I can fly like that too!"

Reimu flew in circles around Ganon's head while continuing to bombard him with energy yin-yang orbs. Out of frustration and anger, Ganon swung both his swords at the shrine maiden but she quickly moved up into the air to avoid getting hit and then continued shooting him with the same attack.

Link ran towards Ganon and the beast turned to him and swung his right blade at him, but Link leaped into the air and slashed him just below the eyes. Ganon roared in pain upon getting hit and Link quickly moved back after landing from his jump. The beast turned to look at him, but he immediately received a glowing arrow to his forehead and the arrow exploded in a burst of golden light upon impact.

BANG!

Link turned around to see that it was Zelda who fired the Light Arrow and the princess smiled and gave him a thumb up, to which he responded with the same gestures.

Ganon was far from defeated however. He stepped forward and then slammed down his right blade on top of Link, but he leaped out of the way in time. Zelda raised her bow again and as she pulled back its bowstring, she surged light energy into the arrow, making the arrowhead glow with golden light. When she let go of the bowstring, the arrow shot forward at a really fast speed and left behind a trail of golden light as it did.

Despite its speed, Ganon saw the arrow coming and quickly used one of his blades to knock the arrow to the side. The arrow struck the floor before exploding in a bright flash.

Both Link and Zelda were surprised by this and as Ganon took another step forward, Reimu threw a yellow card onto his forehead and the beast was suddenly electrocuted by electricity, rendering him unable to move. "What the?" Link said in surprise.

"That should hold him until I set up Duplex Barrier," Reimu said. "Feel free to attack him, but try to distract him for me if he manages to break free from the seal!"

"All right, you can count on us!" Link said before charging at the paralyzed Ganon. "Here I come!"

"Wait a minute!" Reimu shouted to Link, but she was too late as Link swung the Master Sword at Ganon's left leg. When the blade came in contact with the leg, the electricity was passed down through the sword and zapped Link, paralyzing him as well.

"YEOW!" he screamed.

"Link!" Zelda gasped.

"You should use projectile attacks…" Reimu explained, "Otherwise you will be caught in it as well…"

Link struggled to pull back and finally did when he fell flat on his back. "Whoa man… That was quite a jolt…"

Despite his movements being sealed away, Ganon struggled to make himself move again. The electricity around him became stronger the more he tried struggled, but this did seem to faze the beast who continued to struggle against it. Seeing this, Reimu quickly clasped her hands together and concentrated on building up her spiritual energy to set up an attack.

Zelda fired another Light Arrow at Ganon's forehead, creating a bright explosion. Ganon reeled back while letting out a roar, but then he continued to struggle to move his arms until finally, the electricity around him disappeared and he managed to break free from his seal, and the yellow card on his forehead crumbled into pieces as a result.

"Oh no! He's starting to move again!" Link gasped.

Ganon let out another roar before slamming down his blade at Link, but he jumped out of the way and then slashed his left leg. After that, Link ran to his tail and brought down his sword onto it, cleaving the blade into its skin. Ganon roared in pain and swung his tail around to get the blade off of it. When Link pulled out the Master Sword, he was instantly smacked away by the tail to the side. "Yeow!"

Zelda fired another Light Arrow at his head, but with a swing of his sword, he deflected the arrow in the direction of Reimu. "Reimu! Watch out!" Zelda shouted to the shrine maiden.

Reimu opened her eyes and saw the arrow flying towards her, so she quickly swerved aside just in time to avoid the arrow which continued spinning through the air. "Darn it! I lost my concentration and have to start over again!" she cursed.

"Sorry about that…" Zelda said.

"It's not your fault. Try to distract him until I'm ready."

"Okay!"

"Watch out!"

"Huh?" Zelda looked up and saw Ganon about to bring down one of his swords onto her, so she quickly leaped aside. "Whoa!" Though she managed to avoid getting hit, she slipped on the wet floor and fell down. "Ow!" She looked up and to her horror, Ganon was about to bring his foot onto her. "Oh no!"

"Zelda!" Link gasped. He quickly ran towards the fallen princess to help her. He tossed himself forward and slid along the wet floor, pushing Zelda away when he bumped into her, but as a result, he became the victim of Ganon's huge stomp.

STOMP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"LINK!" Zelda gasped in horror.

"You monster!" Reimu growled angrily. She took out a piece of paper amulet and dived at Ganon, but the monster suddenly swung his right blade at her. "Oof!" Fortunately, it was the flat side of the blade that hit Reimu, so she was merely knocked back through the air. "Waa!"

Meanwhile, Link was still crushed underneath Ganon's foot and was groaning in pain. Ganon brought up his foot and readied to bring it down onto him again to crush him in smithereens. "Don't!" Zelda shouted as she quickly fired a Light Arrow at Ganons' leg, making the beast squeal in pain and hop back. She then rushed up to Link and helped him up. "Link, are you all right?"

"My back hurts…" Link cried. "Is my spine still in one piece…?"

Ganon let out a roar as he raised both his swords into the air. Suddenly, several paper amulets latched onto his back and exploded, making the beast turn to face Reimu angrily. "Good thing my paper amulets are waterproof," Reimu said to no one in particular.

Ganon moved in her direction and swung both his swords around in air to hit her, but she swiftly dodged each of the strikes and continued to bombard him with exploding amulets. She flew behind Ganon's head and then charged at him, landing a swift kick against the back of his head before pulling back and quickly escaping a sword swing that Ganon tried to hit her with.

"Take this!" Reimu raised her gohei into the air and surged spiritual energy into it, and then she charged at Ganon and smacked it over his head as hard as she could. The beast roared angrily and tried to hit her, but she moved out of the way again.

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning that was simultaneously accompanied by the sound of thunder, which was incredibly loud due to the lightning coming down very close by.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG!

"Whoa! That was loud!" Link commented.

The large sound made Reimu, Link, and Zelda close their ears as not to go death. Ganon wasn't disturbed by the sound of thunder, and he swung down his right blade at Reimu. She opened her eyes just in time to see the blade coming down at her and so quickly moved back. However, she was a bit too late at the same time and received cut going down her left shoulder. If she had not moved back in time, her left arm would've been sliced off completely.

"Ugh!" Reimu held right hand over her wound and said, "That was close…"

Zelda looked at the stormy sky and said, "The storm is getting stronger! We can't fight properly like this!"

"It makes the fight all the more epic!" Link commented. "But you're right; this is no time to dilly-dallying around! We have to take him out before the weather really turns against us!"

Ganon roared as he swung both his blades at them horizontally, but Link held up shield and managed to block the attack, but even so, he was sent flying back from the sheer force of the sword swings. "Whoa!"

"Fantasy Jewel!" Reimu took out a card that shot out five colorful energy balls in a fan-shaped formation at the side of Ganon's face. This made the beast turn to face her and he pulled his right blade to the side and surged dark energy into it before swinging it against the air to shoot out a dark crescent wave. Reimu easily avoided it by dropping downwards slightly, but then she turned to see that the energy wave was heading for the living quarters. "Oh no! Youmu and Aya are both inside!"

Sure enough, Youmu and Aya were watching the battle through the window, and a shocked expression appeared on their faces as the dark energy wave flew towards them.

KAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOM!

Reimu, Zelda, and Link watched with a horrified expression when the architecture was blown into pieces. "Youmu and Aya are still inside!" Zelda gasped.

Suddenly, both Youmu and Aya flew out from the explosion unharmed, saved for being charred somewhat. "We're fine!" Aya said, waving her arm at them. "You don't have to worry about us!"

"Thanks goodness…" Reimu said with a sigh. "The two of you better get back to the ship and wait for us! You both are too injured to fight!"

"Actually, I'm feeling better already," Aya said, holding her hand over the wound on her body. "But it still hurts a bit, so I think I'll do as you say."

"You can do it, Reimu! I'm sure that the three of you can defeat Ganondorf!" Youmu said to them. "We'll be waiting for you down there!"

"All right! Take care of yourselves! The storm is pretty violent currently," Reimu said.

The two girls nodded before flying down to the pirate ship below. Reimu then turned to face Ganon and said, "All right! Let's do this! We shouldn't keep the others waiting!"

"Right! Time to put an end to this!" Link said.

* * *

The strong wind and the waves beat against Tetra's ship as if being tossed to and fro by the roiling water wasn't enough, and aboard the deck, Tetra's crewmembers were trying their best to keep things in order and protect their ship.

"Do you see the captain and the others?" Gonzo shouted as loud as he could to Zuko who was on top of the crow's nest.

"No! I don't see anyone!" Zuko replied loudly while using a telescope to look around the fortress.

"Then get down from there! It's too dangerous with all the wind and rain beating against you! Come inside first!" Gonzo told him, and then he turned to look at the dock to see Remilia standing there with her umbrella held over her head. "Miss! What are you standing there for? Come inside! It's dangerous out there!"

Remilia seemed to ignore what he said and looked up at the tallest tower of the fortress. "Seems like they're having a big fight up there," she said to no one in particular. "I'd like to go up there and have a bit of fun as well, but… Nah, I'm not in the mood because of the weather currently. Reimu and the others will do just fine." And then she saw Aya and Youmu descending towards her.

"Ugh! It sure is hard to fly properly with such a strong wind blowing against you!" Youmu cried.

"Oh, so you can fly at last," Remilia said to her.

"Remilia! You're back!" Aya said happily. "I knew you would return safe and sound!"

"Did you seriously think that some giant worm can really eat me? Never in a million years! Anyway, where are the others?"

"We got separated from Alice, Meiling, Nitori, Reisen, and Marisa," Youmu told her, "but Reimu, Link, and Princess Zelda are all up there fighting a mutated Ganondorf currently."

"Who's Princess Zelda?"

"Um… Tetra's real name... in her true form…"

"What are you talking about?"

"We can talk about that later," Aya said. "Have you seen Sanae and Cirno? They were sent to battle a monster as well, and we didn't see them afterwards."

Remilia pointed at Tetra's ship which was rocking in the waves and said, "They're aboard the ship, hiding from the rain."

* * *

Somewhere within the castle, Alice, Meiling, Nitori, and Reisen came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. Meiling pounded against the door to try to open it, but it refused to open. "It seems to be locked from the inside," she said.

"I'll try to open it," Reisen said. "Psycho Missile!" She shot out a large energy missile at the door, but the explosion only left behind a charred spot on the door's wooden surface.

"It should work if you keep on firing it. Try shooting it more," Alice suggested.

"All right!" Reisen nodded and continued to fire at the door.

Eventually, the explosions blasted a hole on the door, but a large amount of water came rushing out from the hole as a result. "What the?" Meiling gasped.

"Water!" Nitori said in shock (or maybe she's actually happy to about it).

The girls had no time to run and the water crashed into them, washing them back down the hallway. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

* * *

A secret door on the floor opened and Marisa poked her head out of it. "I know this place-ze!" Marisa said as she climbed back out and pointed in a random direction. "If I remember correctly, going in this direction will eventually lead me to that big wooden door I saw before I fell into the trapdoor-ze." She took a step forward but then heard something. "Hmm? What's that sound?" And then water came rushing down the hallway. "OH MY GOD! LOTS OF WATER!" She tried to run away, only to be washed away by it as well. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

"Heheheh! These pirates sure have stolen a lot!" Linebeck said happily as he came out from the vault room, carrying with him several bags and chests containing treasures. "Stealing from people secretly is my preferred looting method, so I'm gonna take all these if nobody stops me! Heeheehee!" Suddenly, he heard something approaching him. "What's that sound?" He looked around and to his horror, saw a large amount of water rushing at him. "WHAT IN THE WORLD? WATER!"

He tried to run, only to be washed away by the water. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Ganon slammed down both his swords really hard onto the floor and made a shockwave travel across the surface, obliterating the fallen pillars as well. Reimu was in the air, so she was safe from the shockwave, but Link and Zelda had to jump up to avoid getting hit by it.

The beast then came up to Link and swung his right blade at him, and though Link did block the blow using his shield, he was still sent flying backwards by the tremendous force.

Zelda readied her bow to fire a Light Arrow, but when Ganon raised and aimed his sword in her direction, she quickly got out of the way before she got hit. After moving to a safer distance, she turned around to shoot Ganon in the face, making him cry in pain.

From the air, Reimu threw three large paper amulets that exploded into smaller pieces before flying into Ganon and exploding all over his body.

While the smokes were still dissipating, Link ran towards Ganon to attack him, but the beast saw him coming and quickly swung his left blade at him. Link quickly ducked down to avoid getting hit and then slashed him in the left arm after standing back up. After that, he slashed Ganon in the left leg and then ran behind him to slash his tail.

Ganon roared in pain and then spun around to glare at Link, only to get shot in the back by Zelda's Light Arrow. After that, Reimu fired several energy yin-yang orbs onto his head using a card. While Ganon was trying to defend himself from the onslaught of orbs, Link dashed across his right leg, slashing it in the process. With both legs badly cut, the beast could no longer stand properly and so fell forward on his chest with a slam.

SLAM!

"Yeah! We did it!" Link exclaimed.

Ganon growled angrily as he slowly used his swords as support to get back up again. Link and the two girls took a step back and got ready to take on him again. Ganon let out a roar of pure anger as he spun around and slashed the air to shoot out a dark crescent wave from his right sword.

"Watch out!" Link gasped. He quickly jumped in front of Zelda with his shield held up to protect both himself and the princess, but then Reimu dropped down in front of them and stretched out her arm to create a blue wall.

"Cautionary Border!" she said. The dark energy wave struck the wall with such a force that it was pushed back into her, as well as the two behind her. "Oof!"

The wall didn't push them too far back before it disappeared, and then Ganon ran towards them as fast as he could to go in for the kill. Seeing him approaching, Reimu threw a paper amulet at him before taking off into the air. Ganon was unfazed by the explosion of the amulet, and he quickly used the flat sides of his blades to catch Reimu in between them when she was halfway up into the air. "Wha?"

The beast then lifted her into the air using his blades before slamming her back down forcefully onto the floor.

SLAM!

"Reimu!" Link gasped.

"Ugh…" Reimu groaned as she got back up. Ganon raised his right foot over her to stomp her, but she quickly hopped back and took off into the air to avoid getting stomped. When Ganon brought down his foot, he immediately swung his right sword against the air to shoot out a dark wave that struck Reimu in the chest and exploded.

KABOOOOM!

"REIMU!" Zelda gasped.

Reimu fell out from the explosion and landed onto the floor with a thud. Link and Zelda ran up to her and saw that she had a large bloody scar on her body. "Reimu! Are you all right?" Link asked her in concern.

Reimu groaned as she sat back up and held one hand over her wound saying, "I'm all right… I've suffered fatal wounds like this before, so I'm used to it…"

Ganon approached them to attack again. Despite her wound, Reimu took out an orange card and ran towards Ganon who brought down his left sword to hit her, but she swerved aside and then jumped at him and touched his chest with the card. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!"

The card glowed with orange light, and then a circular explosion of orange energy came out from the card in an instant, blasting Ganon backwards, and combined with the wet floor, he had a hard time coming to stop and slid backwards for quite a while before coming to a stop just short of the edge.

Reimu then took out another card which was colored blue and held it up. As the card started to glow with blue light, Reimu said to Link and Zelda, "This attack may take a while to charge up, so the either one of you try to distract him and keep him from coming near me!"

"Leave it to me!" Link said, and then he ran towards Ganon to attack him.

When Link was near, Ganon swung his right sword at him, but Link jumped onto the flat part of the blade and then jumped up from there again. He went just a bit higher than Ganon's head, and then he raised the Master Sword as high as he could before plunging it into Ganon's forehead.

"Whoa!" Zelda exclaimed upon seeing the awesome and familiar sight.

Meanwhile, a blue yin-yang orb of massive proportions had been created in front of Reimu's palm. "Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!" she shouted before launching the energy orb in Ganon's direction.

With the Master Sword pierced through his head, Ganon let out a painful cry and waved his swords violently around in air and Link found himself being shook around the air as he continued to hold onto the Master Sword's hilt. "Whoa! Why didn't he turn to stone?" Link cried.

"Link! Get out of there!" Reimu shouted at him.

"Huh?" Before Link could look back, the large energy orb collided with Ganon and pushed him backwards, but at the same time, it slowly went through his body while burning him with powerful spiritual energy.

The beast roared and planted his feet firmly against the floor as not to fall off the tower, but due to the Master Sword pierced through his forehead, he felt his strength wearing away little by little. Eventually, the energy orb overpowered him and pushed both him and Link off of the tower where they both plummeted towards the sea below. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Link screamed.

"LINK!" Zelda gasped.

"I told him to get out of there!" Reimu said. She quickly ran to the edge and jumped down from there to fly after Link who was still holding onto the hilt of the Master Sword. "I'm coming!" She managed to catch up to them and caught Link by his legs, but unfortunately, she was dragged down along with them.

* * *

The wall suddenly burst open and a large amount of water came rushing out onto the S.S. Linebeck which was docked nearby. When the water flowed away from the deck and into the sea, Linebeck and the girls who were caught in the water were all seen lying on the deck of the steamboat.

"Whoa… That was crazy!" Marisa said shaking her hat to get rid of the water inside. "Good thing we never have water disasters like this back in Gensokyo-ze."

"Had I not punch a hole on the wall with my mechanical arms," Nitori said, "we would probably still be in there being tossed and turned around by the water. Not that it matters to me anyway…"

Linebeck looked around the place and saw the bags and chests that he found where on the deck as well. "Thanks goodness! The treasure I stole from the pirates is still here!"

"Hey! There's something falling from the sky!" Meiling said, pointing to something that was falling down not too far away from them.

Marisa looked closely and said, "It's Reimu and Link! And there's also an ugly monster, I think..."

With the Master Sword still stabbed into his forehead, Ganon fell into the sea with a huge splash, taking along Link and Reimu with him.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I had a bit of writer's block when working on this chapter, so I'm not sure if I really like how this chapter turned out. I still did my best for this chapter, so I hope you still enjoyed it!

And now for some pointless info: It's spelled "yin-yang", not "ying-yang".

**Next chapter: To Where the Wind Blows**


	23. To Where the Wind Blows

**Random Pointless Rambling: **I wanted to play the DS version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, but due to anti-piracy protection, the game doesn't work on the DS emulator. Hopefully hackers will find a way to make the game work. Many games that were originally thought to be hopeless to be played on emulators eventually became playable, so I'm sure this one won't be any different.

Geez, I forgot to put down the preview title in the previous chapter, but even though I added it in now, there's really no point in it for people who are about to start this chapter. The 'defeat' sound effect at the end of the previous chapter as been lengthened as well since I didn't notice a segment of it has disappeared due to the new system or whatever that this site uses to deal with overly long words nowadays.

**Chapter 22  
To Where the Wind Blows**

**

* * *

**

The storm was starting to calm down a bit as the water roiled around due to Ganon, Link, and Reimu falling together into the sea. The S.S. Linebeck bobbled up and down on the water from the ripples created and the people onboard ran to the side of the deck to look at the spot where the three fell into. "Reimu!" Reisen shouted.

"Will she be all right?" Meiling asked.

"I'm sure she'll be all right-ze," Marisa said. "Sooner or later, she's going to fly back to the surface-ze."

"Let me see!" Nitori said. She came over to the side of the deck and looked through the periscope that she stuck into the water. "Yes, I see them! That big, ugly monster kept on sinking downwards as if he's dead, but Reimu is swimming upwards while carrying Link by one leg. They're coming up now!"

Suddenly, Reimu poked her head out from the water and took a deep breath of the air, and a second later, Link emerged next to her and took a deep breath of air as well. "Phew… I though I was going to drown for a minute…" Link said. "I'm not really the best swimmer, but thanks goodness that it's easy to float on the sea…"

"Geez, if you have the brains to let go of your hands, then we wouldn't have to come down all the way here…" Reimu said to him.

"Reimu!" shouted her friends' voice, and she turned to look at the steamboat and saw them over there.

"Oh, you're all here," Reimu said.

Back on top of the tower, Zelda sighed with relief after seeing that they were all right down there. "Phew… Thanks goodness… Link and Reimu are all right… It's over at last, I think…" When she stood back up, she looked around her body and said, "I think I better change back." She folded her hands together and closed her eyes, and then the Triforce of Wisdom on the back of her right hand glowed brightly and encased her in bright light.

When the light died down, Zelda had changed back into Tetra. She looked around her body again and said, "Now that's better! I actually prefer this form rather than the princess one!"

* * *

The S.S. Linebeck sailed back to Tetra's Pirate ship where Tetra's crewmembers and the rest of the girls were. By this time, the storm was starting to cease, so the sea was no longer roiling around and the wind and rain were getting smaller.

"It's Link!" Niko said, pointing to the approaching steamboat. The other crewmembers and the girls immediately rushed over to look at them.

"Hey! Is everyone all right?" Link called out to them while waving his hand.

"We're all right!" Niko replied. "But where's our captain?"

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot about Zel… Er… I mean Tetra…" Link then looked up at the tallest tower of the fortress and thought he could see someone up there waving at him.

Aya held her right hand over her eyes and looked at the tower and said, "Yep, it's your captain all right, and she seems to want to come down." And then she placed her hand next to her ear to listen to what Tetra was saying. "And she wants someone to go and pick her up immediately."

"You can hear this well?" Senzo asked her.

"I can both see and hear very well. I'm a tengu after all! Anyway, I'll go up there and fetch her." And so Aya took off towards the tower to meet Tetra.

A few minutes later, they both came back down and the crewmembers immediately rushed up to Tetra to meet her. "Captain! You're all right!" they exclaimed.

"Of course I'm all right!" Tetra said. "Did you seriously think I'm going to die or get hurt? Anyway, it's all over now, and it's all thanks to Link and them!" She turned to look at Link as well as the girls from Gensokyo.

"Yeah, I guess it's really over now," Link said, looking at the sea. "Ganondorf should be at the bottom of the sea by now. Hopefully this is the last time we'll ever see him."

"Yeah, it better be," Tetra said. "There better not be anyone stupid enough to pull the blade out of his head again, or else I'm going to give whoever did that stupid thing a piece of my mind!"

"Speaking of this… Didn't Ganondorf say that two people resurrected him and even asked him to join their organization that wants to take over the universe or something like that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he said that."

"This really makes me worried…"

"Let's just hope they don't show up or are simply bluffing about taking over the universe thing," Reimu said.

"Yeah, but still… The fact that they were able to provide Ganondorf with the pillars that extract the power of the Triforce from us still makes me worried… Who exactly are the two people that he spoke of…?"

"Woohoo! Lotsa treasure!" Linebeck said happily as he opened up the bags and chests to behold the jewelries inside. "I'm totally rich! I'm a rich man! Yahoo!"

This attracted the attention of Tetra and her crewmates, and they all rushed over to see the treasures.

"Wow! Where did you get them?" Nudge asked.

"Mind sharing some with us?" Senzo asked.

"How come we never thought of sneaking inside and stealing valuable stuffs?" Zuko wondered.

"I'm in a good mood today," Linebeck said, "So you guys can take one-fourth of them while I take the rest!"

"But that's not equal!" Mako said. "You should be dividing it in half instead!"

While the pirates argued with other about dividing the treasure, the girls were standing at the side talking among themselves about something else. "Well, we've been through a whole lot of things here and we still haven't found the Light Essence yet," Reimu said.

"The sea is the most common thing here according to Link," Aya said. "So I think the essence is a model of a sea."

"How does a model of a sea looks like?" Cirno asked.

"Maybe a wave…? Or maybe a nice boat…?"

"I know!" Sanae said. "It might be model of a boat! People use boats and ships to travel across the sea, so boats should be the most common thing on the sea as well as this world!"

"You may have a point there-ze!" Marisa said.

"But we don't know where to find it," Meiling said.

"Meiling has a point," Remilia said. "Even if we have an idea on what the essence looks like, there's no point if it is hidden in a place far away from us."

"All we have to do is say the term World Light and the essence will glow brightly if it happens to be nearby! Simple as that!" Aya said.

"Whoa! This thing is glowing!" said Linebeck's voice.

Hearing this, the girls turned to look at the pirates and then ran over to them to see what was going on. Linebeck was holding a model of a Triforce in his hands. Instead of being pure gold like the real thing, this Triforce had a white triangle at the top while the bottom two triangles were dark green in color.

"Nice model of the Triforce, though the color is totally off," Link commented.

"I bet Ganondorf mistook this for the real thing once and tried to ask for it to grant his wishes, only to make himself look like a fool, heehee!" Tetra said jokingly.

Reimu looked at the Triforce model for a few seconds and then said, "World Light." Immediately, the model glowed and this surprised the pirates, especially the girls.

"So this thing is the Light Essense-ze?" Marisa asked.

Hearing this, Link said to them, "Oh yeah, you girls are looking for the Light Essence, and did you just say that this is the Light Essence?"

Aya nodded and explained, "Yeah, we came up with the theory that the essence will glow if it hears the term World Light. Since this thing reacted to the same term, we can conclude that this is indeed the Light Essence!"

"If that is the case, you should keep it."

Hearing this, Linebeck pulled the Triforce model away behind himself and said, "No way! I found this first! Finders keepers!"

"Don't be like that, Linebeck," Link said to him. "These girls came to this world to look for this. You should give it to them so they can continue traveling to the next world."

"Grrr…"

"I know you will give it to them. You're actually a nice guy, so you definitely will!"

Linebeck hesitated at first, but after thinking over it for a while, he grumbled under his breath and then handed over the Triforce model to Reimu. "All right, it's yours… Consider it a gift for helping me upgrade my periscope so that I can salvage things from the seafloor much more easily."

"Thanks!" Reimu said as she accepted the model, and then she looked at the rest of the treasures and said, "Are you going to give those to me too?"

"Heh… Reimu's at it again-ze…" Marisa said.

* * *

The next morning, Tetra's ship and the S.S. Linebeck were out in the middle of the sea as they had departed from Forsaken Fortress since yesterday night.

The girls of Gensokyo were all gathered together at the front porch of the Hakurei Shrine. Link and his crewmates watched from their ship and Link said to them, "So you girls are leaving now?"

Youmu nodded and said, "We've found the Light Essence, so our purpose here is done. We're going to go to the next world to look for the next essence now."

"Well then, I wish a good luck looking for the rest of the essences! Hopefully you will run into former participants of the Smash Brothers Tournament! I'm sure they'll help you out somehow if you tell them about your situation."

"Thanks for the advice!" Reimu said, "And I'm also thankful for the one-third of the treasure that you gave to me!"

"You should thank Linebeck for that."

"Hmph! I only did this because Link told me to!" Linebeck said from his steamboat. "Otherwise I would've taken everything for myself!"

"Okay then, we'll be taking our leave," Reimu said.

"All right! Good-bye!" Link said as he waved good-bye along with his crewmates. "Hope we can meet each other again!"

Meiling and Reisen each went to the pillars and untied the ropes that were keeping the shrine connected to the ship, and then the shrine slowly drifted backwards. Reimu held up the Triforce model and the model slowly floated high into the air above the shrine.

The mushroom and the coin essence appeared alongside the Triforce essence, and the three essences moved in circles above the shrine several times before a vortex appeared high above the shrine.

A pillar of light came down onto the shrine and slowly pulled it back, and the shrine even shook a bit. Link and the others closed their eyes to keep themselves from being blinded. When they were able to open their eyes again, there was nothing in front of them except for the sky and the sea. "There they go…" Link said.

"Well, let's wish them a good luck then," Tetra said. "All right, men, back to work!"

"Yes, captain!" her crewmates said, and then they quickly got themselves busy with their chores while Tetra yawned and walked towards the ship cabin.

Link turned to look at the S.S. Linebeck and said to Linebeck, "What are you going to do now, Linebeck?"

"Just sail around the place and do my usual treasure hunting," Linebeck replied. "Though I'm not sure which direction I should go now…"

"How about you let the Golden Frog take you along with us? We came to this part of the sea through the help of the Golden Frog in the first place."

"I don't see why not. It wouldn't hurt to go to another part of the sea I've never been to. All right, kid, do your job!"

Link nodded and then ran back into the ship cabin. He came back out after a short while with a pen and a wooden board in his hands. After drawing a triangle that wasn't connected fully at the right corner onto the board, he held it up in front of the sea and then a Golden Frog popped out from the water.

"Wart's here at your service!" the Golden Frog said. "Would you like to return to the place where you took off from?"

"Yes, and take that steamboat over there along with us too!" Link said. "Take us to wherever the wind blows!"

"All right! Brace yourselves! It's going to be a somewhat bumpy ride!" Wart said before diving underwater.

Shortly after diving underwater, wind gradually build up around Tetra's ship and the S.S. Linebeck. The wind eventually became a cyclone and both the ship and the steamboat were picked up into the air by it, and then all of a sudden, they were both shot up really high into the sky.

Linebeck held on for dear life onto the edge of his steamboat and cried, "Isn't this a bit too extreme?! What if my precious steamboat crashes upon falling back onto the sea?!"

"Don't worry; it's perfectly safe!" Link assured him. The Hero of Winds then punched the air and said loudly, "Let's go towards where the wind blows! I'm going to find and establish a new country called Hyrule!"

* * *

Back in Gensokyo, Eirin was carrying a basket of medicines on her back while walking through Bamboo Forest of the Lost.

The Lunarian doctor let out a sigh and said, "It sure has been busy ever since Reisen disappeared… I have to fill in for everything she does since Tewi is too lazy to do anything… Wherever Reisen is currently, I hope she's all right and will come back soon… Whoa!" She fell into a trap hole on the ground.

CRASH!

Tewi rushed out from behind a large rock and ran up to the hole. "Reisen, is that you?! You're back!" She looked down the hole and to her horror, saw Eirin down there instead of her rabbit companion like she had previously thought. "Oops… Mistress Eirin..."

Eirin climbed back out from the hole and looked at her with a smile. It was no friendly smile however; rather, it was a smile with a knife hidden behind it. "Tewi," Eirin said in an abnormally kind voice.

"Um… I have to go… clean the house… and cook for Princess Kaguya…" Tewi said while sweating nervously. She slowly turned around to leave, but when she heard the sound of her master climbing back onto the ground, the rabbit demon ran as fast as she could through the forest. "FORGIVE ME!!!!!!!"

Eirin took out her bow and fired an arrow from it. The arrow, which was covered in a spiraling aura of red and blue, soared through the air and went past Tewi, going through a row of seven bamboo plants. As Tewi ran by the bamboo plants, they fell down on top of her.

CRASH!!!!

"Ow…" Tewi groaned as she tried to get the heavy bamboo plants off of her back. "It's so heavy… I'm getting crushed by it…"

Eirin walked past her and said, "You'll be filling in for Reisen starting today. Whatever she does, you do it."

"Yes, Mistress Eirin... Can you please help me get up…?"

* * *

Back in the main office of Wario Ware Inc., Wario reclined at his chair and ate pizza while watching a miniature television that was placed on his desk.

"Count Cannoli! I will not let you take this piece of Wishstone from me!" the blond actor on the TV said.

"Try to stop me if you can, Carpaccio!" said the actor in a top hat. "I'll be taking the Wishtone if you don't!"

Wario picked up his cup of cola and drank from it, but all of a sudden, a purple portal appeared in front of him and Yukari popped her upper body out of it. "Whoa?! What the?!" Wario said in shock, and then he fell back along with his chair. "Wha!"

"Sorry about that," Yukari said to the fallen Wario.

Wario got back up again and shouted into her face, "Who the heck are you?! Who let you in here without permission?!"

"I go wherever I want to. Anyway, I want to ask you one thing."

"Get out of here at once!" Wario shouted as he threw the cup at her, but Yukari quickly withdrew into the portal which disappeared afterwards, so the cup ended up hitting the TV and smashed through its monitor. "OH NO!!! MY TV!!!"

Yukari showed up from another portal that appeared next to him and said, "I'm looking for a group of eleven girls, and I'm wondering if you have…"

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY ME A NEW TV!!!" Wario shouted as he threw a punch at her, but Yukari and her portal disappeared in a blink of an eye and Wario punched the empty air instead.

The Wario Ware Inc. chairman looked around the place angrily and said, "Where are you?! Come out here at once and face me like a man! I'm going to make you pay me a new TV!"

Just then, the elevator door opened and Dr. Crygor came inside saying, "Chairman Wario, I'm happy to report to you that the game New Super Wario Brothers…"

"Hey you! Fix my TV!" Wario said to him while holding up the broken TV in front of his face

"Um… What happened…?"

* * *

Within her own dimension, Yukari sighed and said to herself, "I'm never going to learn anything from a hot-tempered person like him. What's wrong with him anyway? It's not like I offended him or anything asides from scaring him a bit. Anyway, I managed to pick up a bit of Reimu's spiritual energy in that place, so I guess I'm still on track. All right; time to move on and continue looking for them!"

And so, she proceeded to walk down the vast purple background that was dotted with eyes with eerie red pupils.

* * *

The Hakurei Shrine once again found itself soaring through the passage of white light.

The girls were all within the living room anticipating the next world. Meiling also stayed in the living room so that she could be on the safe side in case they arrive at the next world in a rough manner.

"It looks like my theory isn't correct after all…" Aya said. "The essence for the third world doesn't look like it is related to the sea at all. It's just three triangles stuck together…"

"Well, they say that thing, called the Triforce, is very valuable because it can grant the wishes of whoever touches it," Youmu said.

"This really makes searching for the essences a lot harder since we have no idea what they may look like, doesn't it?" Sanae said. "But at least we can bring up the term World Light to see if the essence is nearby."

"Still, it won't be easy assuming that all the worlds are vast," Reisen said. "Merlon gave us the first one, but we found the next two essences through sheer luck. I have a feeling that it's going to be the same for the next world…"

"Imagine if Tewi is here," Marisa said. "Finding the essences would be a lot easier-ze!"

"Why's that?" Cirno asked

"Tewi has the ability to bring good fortune," Reisen explained. "She's bound to bring good luck to anyone she accompanies."

"Then why does it seem like you never have any good luck on your side?" Reimu asked her.

"Um…"

Suddenly, the scenery outside became brighter than usual, but then the bright light died down again. The girls knew at once that they have arrived at the next world, so they quickly got up and ran out to the front porch. "We're here at last-ze!" Marisa said happily.

The first thing that they saw when they came out was trees. "It looks like we're in a forest," Alice said.

"I think I can see a clearing over there," said Cirno, pointing to the light coming from the far end of the rows of trees.

All of a sudden, there was a massive explosion.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The explosion was accompanied by a violent earthquake that made the girls lose their balance, and then there was a sudden downpour despite the sky being very clear. "What on earth happened?!" Reimu said in shock.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And that ends the Zelda arc! I hope you enjoyed that arc, but now we have to move on to the next arc. Try to see if you know what the next arc is after reading the last part of this chapter!

As usual, the preview title for the next chapter will be omitted on purpose in order to keep people from figuring out what the next arc is so easily.

**Trivia:  
**1. "Nice boat" is a popular meme created by someone from the popular image board 4chan when the last episode of the murder anime School Days was canceled and replaced with a footage of a ship sailing on a river surrounded by beautiful nature scenery. The cancellation occurred because of an incident involving a girl murdering her father, though the final episode was eventually aired in a later date.


	24. Puppet Play

**SBS Time!  
Mystery-guy: **Not only was Zelda's original transformation Sheik, but she also transformed into Tetra in another game? This is somewhat new to me.  
**Game2002: **Zelda only transformed into Sheik in Ocarina of Time. In The Wind Waker, we didn't know that Tetra is actually Zelda in disguise until we've been through a large portion of the game. In fact, Zelda was very surprised and confused when she changed back from Tetra, meaning to say that she had no idea about this in the first place.

**Mystery-guy: **In a future story of yours, how will the Smashers react to Itachi's 'secret life'?  
**Game2002: **I have currently no plans to make a Smash Bros. and Naruto crossover, so I wouldn't care much about that. Please, ask a question that is related to this story in some way instead. I appreciate your curiosity to know more about my future projects, but as of now, I only want to concentrate on this current story. If you really want an answer however, I'll give you one. Considering that the Smashers have absolutely nothing to do with the history of Hidden Leaf Village, they probably wouldn't care at all, or in the very least, find it interesting or a bit surprising.

**JakeCrusher: **You should go to this site and looked at its animated shorts for some ideas that will help you on your story.  
**Game2002: **Can you please show me the link again? This site doesn't show words that are connected with a dot, so you'll have to put a space in between each dot and the words in order to show the URL address. Thanks in advance!

Okay, I have to make it clear now. I do appreciate people asking me questions, but I really would appreciate it more if you ask good questions. Questions that are not related the current story in whatever way or questions that involve spoilers are not the best kinds of questions to ask. Please keep this in mind the next time you want to ask questions, okay? Thank you!

God bless you all!

**Chapter 23  
Puppet Play**

**

* * *

**

It did not take long for the downpour to stop, and then the girls stood back up and looked around to find out what happened. "What was that just now?" Reimu wondered.

"Sounds like something going off," Nitori said. "And it's coming from that direction." She pointed the clearing before them.

"Let's go check it out-ze," Marisa suggested, and so the girls ran down from the front porch and headed for the clearing.

After emerging from the forest, they were surprised to see a massive hole before them, and at the bottom of the hole, which wasn't very deep down, were puddles of water everywhere as well red-colored fish and various strange aquatic life forms flopping around on the muddy ground.

"What is this place?!" Sanae said in shock.

"It looks like a lake that has been drained of its water," Alice said. "That would explain the downpour earlier. It's actually the water being splashed into the air and then raining back down."

"Hey, there are people showing up!" Cirno said, pointing to the far left side of the drained lake.

Several people were climbing down the muddy slope and then they proceeded towards a towering rock in the center of the drained lake. "Who are those people?" Reimu wondered.

Aya held her right hand over her eyes to take a closer look and then said, "Those people are all wearing the same black, white, and gray costumes with the English alphabet 'G' on their chests. They all have the same hilarious bowl-shaped haircuts as well!"

Reisen looked at the towering rock that that those people heading for and noticed an opening at the bottom of the rock. "It seems like they're heading for that cave over there."

Remilia observed the towering rock and said, "It would appear that the rock over there is in fact an island in the middle of this lake."

Nitori then pounded her left palm and said, "I got it now! Those people must have set up a bomb at the bottom of the lake in order to create a hole at the bottom of that island!"

"So they want to go in there?" Youmu asked. "For what reason?"

"To look for hidden treasure, I guess-ze," Marisa said.

The group of oddly-dressed people came up to the front of the cave entrance, and then their apparent leader, a man with blue hair resembling a pair of horns said something to his subordinates before entering the cave alongside two additional members. The others then remained at in front of the cave entrance to keep watch.

The girls continued keeping an eye on them until Cirno asked, "So are we going to stay here and look at them all the way till the end?"

"Um… You have a point…" Reimu said. "We should be looking for the Light Essence instead of observing them pointlessly…"

Just as the girls were planning to leave, two more people showed up at the top of the slope. The strangely-dressed people who were guarding the cave entrance also turned their attentions to those two newcomers.

"When you think of Pokemon," said one of the two people—a blond boy, "There are quite a few Pokemon moves that are related to explosions."

"Yes," said the second person—a boy with a red hat. "Some of the ones that I know are Explosion, Self-Destruct, Egg Bomb, Seed Bomb, Nuclear Bomb, Atomic Bomb, Hydrogen Bomb, Gas Bomb…"

The blond boy then slapped him in the cheek. "The last four aren't Pokemon moves!"

As the duo continued spouting jokes, the strangely-dressed people looked them with faces totally devoid of expressions as if they were unimpressed.

The two boys turned to look at them and the blond boy said, "Just look at them… Totally devoid of expressions…"

"That's how the Team Galactic grunts are," said a new feminine voice. "They obey and serve their superiors without questions, basically turning themselves into robots." Then a unicorn with a flames streaming out from various parts of his body showed up and riding on top of him is a longhaired girl wearing a white hat and a black dress riding on top of him. Looking at those strangely-dressed people, she said out loud, "Team Galactic! What are you people up to again by destroying Lake Valor?"

The strangely-dressed people, called Team Galactic by the girl, simply took out small spheres that were red at the top half and white at the bottom half. "Intruders," they said simultaneously in monotonous voices. "Eliminate all intruders!" They threw out the spheres and when the spheres touch the ground, burst of lights were released from each of them and creatures of various kinds appeared as a result.

"Whoa! Did you see that-ze?" Marisa said in surprise. "Strange animals just came out from those balls!"

As the strange creatures ran towards the slope, the girl said, "It looks like they're the kind of people who prefers actions rather than words. We'll just have to take on them with a Pokemon battle. Let's go, Diamond and Pearl!"

"Yes, Missy!" the two boys said.

The unicorn galloped down the slope while the two boys ran down, but they ended up falling on their rears and slid down awkwardly instead. Once at the bottom, the girl took out the same kind of sphere used by the Team Galactic members and threw it. "Go, Empoleon!"

The ball opened up and released bright light, and then out from the light appeared a tall penguin-like animal.

The boy with the red hat got out his sphere and threw it out, and this one released a large green turtle with trees growing out of his back. "Go, Wig!" the boy shouted.

"Get the, Chimhiko!" the blond boy shouted while trying out throwing out his sphere which released a monkey with fire on top of his head.

The three animals sent out by the three kids ran towards the large group of opposing animals and engaged in a battle with them.

**BGM: Team Galactic Battle (Pokemon D/P/Pt)**

A purple bipedal frog ran towards the monkey called Chimhiko and jab him with his fingers which were glowing with purple light, but Chimhiko rushed at him at really fast speed and landed a punch into the frog's face first, knocking him out.

Two more of the same kinds of frogs jumped at Chimhiko from both sides with their hands pulled back to hit him with finger jabs. The monkey quickly leaped into the air and they ended up jabbing against the muddy ground. From the air, the monkey breathed out a stream of fire at those two frogs and burned them.

"Frog!" Cirno exclaimed happily, but before she could do anything, Reimu taped a paper amulet onto her forehead. The amulet exploded and left Cirno charred, and then she fell back with swirly eyes.

"Keep quiet," Reimu said to her. "We don't want to get involved in this."

The turtle, called Wig, opened his mouth and spit out a bundle of seeds at a group of incoming cat-like animals with curly tails. The seeds exploded upon hitting the ground, blasting away those cats, but one of them leaped into the air and raised his right paw which was encased in shadow-like energy, but before the cat had the chance to hit Wig, the turtle jumped at the cat and rammed into her with the trees on his back and knocked her away.

The penguin called Empoleon opened his mouth and shot out a stream of bubbles that traveled across the air at high speed. It struck a flock of eyeless bats and knocked them out of the air. A larger bat with eyes as well as a really large mouth swooped down at Empoleon to attack him, but the penguin shot out a bluish-white beam at the bat and froze him. The bat fell to the ground afterwards, still frozen in one piece.

As the battle raged on, the girls from Gensokyo watched from their original spot with awe. "Wow… Look at them fight…" Sanae said. "The animals that they sent out sure have amazing techniques…"

"And those animals appeared out of balls as well!" Nitori added. "How did those animals fit in those balls in the first place?"

The three animals sent out by the kids were having an easy time taking on their opponents, but the opposing animals kept on coming in great numbers. Even if the enemies were knocked down, they would get back up again despite their wounds.

"Man! These guys keep on coming!" the blond boy said. "Even if it is obvious that our Pokemon are stronger, they can't keep on fighting forever if the enemies are great in number and refuse to stay down!"

"No use complaining… We were basically asking for this when we came here," the boy with the red hat said, "So we might as well give everything we have. Wig, use Earthquake!" And then he turned to the blond boy and the girl and said to them, "Pearl, Missy! Call back your Pokemon at once!"

His two friends nodded and then they quickly pointed their spheres in the direction of the monkey and the penguin. The spheres opened up in half and shot out red beams, and the two animals disappeared upon getting hit by the red beams which returned to the spheres afterwards.

Once they were gone, the turtle lifted his right leg on the front and then stomped the ground really hard, so hard that the entire place shook violently and cracks spread throughout the muddy ground. Not only that, but pieces of rock also shot up into the air and knocked down opponents who were on the ground. Only the airborne opponents were safe from this attack.

The girls could even feel the ground shaking. "Ayayayaya! That's one heck of a stomp if you ask me!" Aya commented.

When the earthquake had ended, the blond boy and the girl sent out their monkey and penguin respectively again.

The seemingly endless battle between the kids and the Team Galactic members raged on and the animals belonging to the kids were starting to show signs of fatigue.

New animals were sent out by the Team Galactic members again, and this time they consisted of large butterflies and moths.

The moths all flapped their wings and released brownish-orange sound waves that kicked the pebbles on the ground into the air and the three animals belonging to the kids were suffering from the intense volume of the sound waves. The sound waves also irritated the kids so much that they had to close their hands over their ears as well. "Ugh… What horrible noise!" the blond kid cried.

"It's Bug Buzz!" the girl explained with a pained expression. "It's a move where the user flaps its wings to generate a destructive sound wave that also lowers the opponents' special defense!"

While the kids' animals were suffering from the sound wave, the butterflies flapped their wings and shot out silver crescent-shaped projectiles at the three animals. The turtle was hurt the most by the attack while the other two animals weren't hurt as much, especially the monkey.

"Chimhiko won't be hurt that much by Silver Wind!" the blond boy said. "Silver Wind is a bug-type move and Chimhiko is fire and fighting type, both of which are resistant to bug-type moves! Chimhiko, use Flamethrower!"

The monkey raised his head in the direction of the butterflies and the moths and then breathed out a large stream of fire, burning down the oversized insects one by one. One of the butterflies got out of the attack's and then charged in the direction of the girl on the unicorn. "Watch out, Missy!" the boy with the red hat shouted to her.

Seeing the enemy coming, the unicorn stood up on his hind legs and neighed loudly while the girl held tightly onto his back to avoid falling off. The unicorn opened his mouth and shot out a stream of fire that not only burned the butterfly, but pushed her back through the air as well.

"Yeah! Good one!" the blond boy said. "That's our Missy!"

Suddenly the ground underneath the unicorn burst open and a purple bipedal frog leaped out, performing an uppercut that struck the unicorn's belly. The unicorn let out a painful cry and jumped up into the air before falling over to the side and the girl tumbled off his back and onto the muddy ground. "Ah!" she cried.

"Missy!" the boy with the red hat cried.

While the girl was trying to get back up, the frog jumped at with her with his right arm pulled back, ready to jab her with his glowing fingers. "Oh no! Missy!" the blond boy shouted as he quickly ran over to her to protect her.

The girl held her one hand over her face and screamed as the frog got closer and closer to her, but suddenly, a laser beam struck the frog in the back of his head and sent him flying over the girl instead. "Huh?" the girl lowered her hand when she realized that she was never hit.

The two boys were also confused at what just happened and so they turned around to look at the trees that were on top of the slope and noticed the girls from Gensokyo slightly hidden behind the bushes, but Alice was the only one standing up and Shanghai, armed with a rifle, was floating next to her.

"Who are they?" the blond boy wondered.

"I don't know, but it seems like they're the ones who rescued Missy," the boy with the red hat said.

"Alice! What are you doing?! Now you've made them notice us!" Reimu said to the doll maker.

"Somehow, I feel like I can relate myself to these people," Alice said, "So I had the sudden urge to lend a hand."

"Well, if that is the case, I guess there's no point in hiding ourselves anymore-ze," Marisa said, standing up. "Might as well go out and lend a hand!"

Reimu let out a sigh and said, "Oh well, it looks like there's nothing else better to do… Let's get over with this fast…"

"From their conversations earlier, it would seem that those oddly-dressed people are the bad guys while those kids are the good guys," Aya said.

"I have the same feeling as well," Alice said with a nod. "Let's help those kids then." She stepped out from behind the bushes and walked towards the slope, but accidentally tripped on a piece of rock on the ground and ended up tumbling down the slope clumsily and falling face first onto the mud with a splat.

SPLAT!

"Ouch… That's gotta hurt-ze…" Marisa commented.

Alice pushed herself back up and wiped the mud of her face while coughing. "Ack! Cough! Ugh... I've made a fool out of myself in front of everyone…"

The Team Galactic members turned their heads over to the girls as they came down one by one from the slope and said in monotonous voices, "Intruders have appeared. Eliminate them all!" And then they pointed their fingers at the girls and commanded their own animals to go after them.

"Oh no! Team Galactic going after those people!" the blond boy gasped. "We have to help them!"

"Team Galactic or those people?" the boy with the red hat asked.

"Of course it's those people, you dummy! Why should we help Team Galactic?!"

As the animals came closer, Marisa got in front of her friends with the back end of her broom pointing at the enemies. "Have a taste of this! Radial Strike!" And she fired rapidly from her broom and plowed down the enemies one after another.

Alice swing a card across the air and five dolls appeared, each of them armed with rifles. Under her command, the dolls flew into the air and fired at the animals from above.

A bat with an oversized size mouth managed to avoid the laser beams and got close to one of the dolls and destroyed it by striking it with his wings. The other dolls turned their aims to the bat and fired at him, but he flew higher into the air to avoid getting hit and then swooped down at one of the dolls and smashed through it. "Why you!?" Alice said angrily upon seeing the destruction of her dolls.

Alice held out her right hand and one of the dolls flew over to her for her to catch, and when the bat flew in her direction, Alice threw the doll into the bat's open mouth and then detonated the doll, blasting the bat and sending him onto the ground with smoke coming out from his mouth.

"You know… I sometimes wonder why Alice would make her dolls self-destruct if she doesn't like seeing them being destroyed…" Reisen asked.

"Beats me..." Marisa said. "I live close to her house and yet don't know the reason-ze…"

It was now the girls' turn to fight the strange animals. Reimu threw several paper amulets that blasted away those animals, Marisa went trigger happy with her broom, Youmu hacked and slashed with one sword, Alice gave out orders to her dolls to fight, Meiling unleashed martial art techniques, Nitori used her mechanical arms to either punch or grab and throw the animals away, Cirno had a great time freezing those purple bipedal frogs with freezing beams, Reisen used a combination of finger bullets and eye beams, Remilia slashed with her claws on while holding her parasol over her head with her right hand, Aya swung her fan against the air to blow away the animals, and Sanae threw exploding paper amulets just like Reimu.

The three kids were amazed by the girls' fighting styles. "Whoa… Do you see that?" the blond kid asked. "They're not using Pokemon and yet can perform those cool attacks!"

"Maybe they are actually Pokemon who look like humans?" the boy with the red hat said while munching on a rice ball.

"Whatever the case is, it seems like they don't need our help after all," the girl said.

As the girls fought their enemies, the leader came back out from the cave with his subordinates, and his subordinates were carrying together a medium-sized glass capsule in their hands. Inside that capsule was a strange-blue creature with two tails. The leader watched those animals battle the girls and asked, "What's going here?"

One of the Team Galactic members turned to him and replied, "We are dealing with intruders as you have ordered us."

"I see… But you don't seem to be doing a good job at it," the leader said, "But that doesn't matter since we have captured Azelf already. We can leave now that our mission hew is complete!"

The three kids turned to look at the leader and the blond boy said, "Saturn! So you were after Azelf all along, right?!"

The leader—Saturn—turned to the boy and said, "Look at who we have here! It's those three meddling kids who ruined everything last time!"

"What are you going to do with Azelf?" the girl asked him. "Are you trying to create the Red Chain again?!"

Saturn smiled wickedly and said, "What else do you think we are planning to do? The boss's dream to recreate the universe is far from given up. Just because you ruined his plans last time doesn't mean he has given up on it! Yes, it is as you said! We, Team Galactic, are planning to capture the Uxie, Mesrpit, and Azelf again so that we can create the Red Chain used for controlling the legendary Pokemon of Mt. Coronet! Don't think you can stop us this time!"

"And don't think we will let you do what you want as well!" the blond boy said. "Chimhiko! Break that capsule to free Azelf!"

Saturn got out one of those spheres and threw it to release a large blue bell-like creature. "Bronzong, use Hypnosis!"

The eyes of the bell-like creature glowed with yellow light and then fired a pair of yellow ripple beams at the monkey, but the monkey leaped into the air to avoid getting hit. "Use Flame Wheel!" the blond boy shouted.

Chimhiko curled up and started spinning like a wheel, covering himself with fire in the process. As he fell towards Bronzong, the bell stretched out its arms which were above its head and started spinning really fast while giving off silver glow. The bell shot into the air and rammed into the monkey very hard, knocking him out of his attack and then back onto the ground.

"Chimhiko!" the blond boy gasped.

"The bigger difference in speed there is between the user and the opponent, the more powerful Gyro Ball is," Saturn explained. "My Bronzong is a very slow-moving Pokemon while your Infernape is a very fast-moving one, so even if steel-moves are ineffective against fire-type Pokemon, it can still do pretty devastating damage thanks to the difference in speed!"

Suddenly, a large amount of wind came down from above and a shadow also loomed over everyone. Everyone looked up to see that a large helicopter had appeared in the sky.

"Ah, good! Now we can get out of here!" Saturn said with delight.

"You're not going anywhere!" the blond boy shouted at him.

Suddenly, the bottom of the helicopter opened up and a large amount of smoke was released. Saturn and the rest of the Team Galactic members quickly got out gas masks and wore them as well as calling back the animals back to their spheres. When the kids and the girls were exposed to the smoke, they started to feel drowsy. "This is… sleeping… gas…" the girl said before dropping onto the ground.

"Sleeping gases are such a classic, aren't they?" Saturn said through his gas mask. "All right, we'll be taking our leave! You're never going to stop us this time! Hahahahahahaha!"

The powerful sleeping gas eventually made the kids and the Gensokyo girls fall asleep, and then another opening appeared at the bottom of the helicopter and released a claw from it. The claw picked up the capsule containing the Azelf while Saturn held onto the side of the claw and rose with it back into the helicopter.

The Team Galactic grunt left the drained lake on foot instead.

Several minutes later, the sleeping victims were all waking up one by one. "Ah, that was a nice sleep-ze!" Marisa said, stretching her arms. "But my clothes are dirty thanks to sleeping on the mud…"

"Geez… I can't believe I fell asleep in a place like this!" Remilia growled as she tried to wipe the mud off her dress. She then wiped her hands on Meiling's dress, much to the gatekeeper's surprise.

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling said in surprise.

"You have a problem with this?" Remilia said to her in a threatening tone.

"Um... Nothing... Feel free to use my dress as a towel..."

The blond boy looked up at the sky and said, "It looks like they got away…" He turned to the side and saw his two friends getting back up while dusting themselves. "Dia! Missy! Are you all right?"

"I'm all right," the girl said. "But my clothes are dirty from sleeping on the mud…"

"That's what we get for falling asleep here," the boy with the red hat said. "But it's not my clothes I'm worried about…" He picked up a rice ball from the ground and said, "My second rice ball got mud on it… I should've eaten it faster…"

The girl then turned to look at the girls from Gensokyo and said to them, "Thanks for the help earlier."

Reimu scratched the back of her head and said, "Um… Well… I don't really think we did anything helpful at all… I don't really understand what's going on here, but we only hopped in because you seem to be in trouble. Looks like we failed to stop those people… They are the bad guys, right?"

The blond kid nodded and said, "Yeah, those hoodlums from Team Galactic are always up to no good! I can't believe we failed to stop them!"

"Don't worry," the boy with the red hat said while munching on a rice ball. "They won't be getting away with their plans in the end anyway. I'm sure we can stop them eventually."

"I thought your rice ball has mud on it… Why are you still eating it…?"

"Oh, this is a different one," the boy replied while showing the blond boy the one that has mud. "Anyway, I think we should introduce ourselves to them first. I'm Diamond, but you can just call me Dia."

The blond boy pointed to himself using a thumb and said, "I'm Pearl!"

"Just refer to me as Miss Berlitz," the girl said. "That's all you need to know, though you may have heard of the name Berlitz before."

Reimu the others shook their heads however. "Nope," Reimu said. "We've never heard of that name."

"Now that's quite a surprise to hear… I thought my family name is well known throughout the world. Or at least Sinnoh…"

"Her real name is Platinum if you want to know," Dia said while munching on his rice ball.

"Hey, you shouldn't reveal Missy's first name to people just like that!" Pearl said while giving Dia and slap to the cheek, making him choke on his rice ball as a result.

"It's all right," the girl called Platinum said. "I don't mind having my first name revealed to lower classes ever since I've traveled around the continent with the two of you."

"Lower classes…?" Remilia said in her mind, and she was somewhat offended by this as well.

Dia then patted his large turtle on the shell and said, "This is my Torterra, Wig."

Pearl pointed to the monkey and said, "And this is my Infernape, Chimhiko!"

"This is my Empoleon," Platinum said, glancing in the direction of her penguin. "No, I don't give nicknames to my Pokemon, so don't ask."

"Pokemon?" Cirno said curiously.

Sanae bowed down politely and said, "It's nice to know you all as well as your pets! I'm Sanae Kochiya!" And then her friends introduced themselves one by one to the three kids afterwards.

After the introduction was over, Aya asked, "So what happened just now? From what I could gather, those people are capturing that blue creature called Azelf in order to make something called a Red Chain, and this Red Chain thingy is used for controlling something called a legendary Pokemon living in place called Mt. Coronot. Am I right?"

Platinum nodded and said, "Right, and that is why we tried to stop them. They did this before in the past but we managed to stop them, but to think they would be attempting this again…"

"And they want to recreate the universe if I hear correctly, am I right?"

"I'm not sure if that can be really achieved since we stopped them before they got too far."

"But things were pretty chaotic the moment they managed to summon Dialga and Palkia," Pearl said. "But luckily, Giratina appeared to save the day! Sort of…"

"Well, we had to stop Giratina from ruining the world afterwards," Dia reminded him. "Good thing we managed to calm down that Pokemon's anger, but Cyrus was not seen again afterwards and we just assumed that he was still somewhere in the Distortion World."

"Does that mean Cyrus is back again? Or are his subordinates trying to summon Giratina so that they can gain access to the Distortion World in order to rescue him? We didn't see him again after the Giratina incident, so it is possible that is still in that place somewhere…"

"I doubt that is the truth," Platinum said. "Saturn said that his boss hasn't given up his plans on recreating the world yet, so it would appear that Cyrus managed to escape the Distortion World and is leading Team Galactic once again."

"I guess you're right…"

"Um… If you don't mind…" Reimu said to them all of a sudden. "We'd like to take our leave since this has nothing to do with us."

"Oh, I apologize for forgetting about your existence for a moment," Plaitnum apologized to them.

"That's all right!" Sanae said politely. "By the way, we would like to ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"Is there any town or city around this place? Where's the nearest place for resting around here?"

"Veilstone City isn't too far from here," Pearl replied. "But if you want to have a quiet rest, you can head to Hotel Grand Lake. It's south of this place and isn't very far either, and I'm sure you're bound to find some relaxation there!"

"Thank you!" Sanae thanked them.

"From the sound of it, you people don't appear to be from this continent, don't you?" Dia said while finishing up his rice ball.

"Yeah, we're not from around here," Reimu said with a nod. "We're… traveling…"

"Then I'm sure you'll want to head to Hotel Grand Lake if you need to live somewhere temporary," Pearl told them.

"All right, we'll be taking our leave then. Thanks for the advice."

As the girls started to make their leave, Dia looked at Reisen and said, "Nice bunny ear accessories! Where'd you buy them?"

"Um… These…?" Reisen asked, pointing to her ears, and Dia nodded.

Platinum got close to Reisen and observed those ears. "Hmmm… They look very real… The people who made these must have very good skills and used high quality materials to make them look like the real thing," she said.

Reisen became a bit nervous as she didn't know how to explain to them about her ears. Just when she was about to say something, Sanae interrupted her and said to the three kids, "It's a special accessory from our country! You probably can't find something like this here, I think!"

"You're right," Platinum said with a nod. "I don't remember seeing anything like this being sold in the department stores.

"What about this lake?" Alice asked. "It's busted up pretty good."

"Don't worry. The rangers can bring this place back to normal. It's the second time that this happened to this lake."

* * *

Soon afterwards, the Gensokyo girls were traveling down a road called Route 213. As they walked down the dirt path, they noticed several strange animals frolicking on the grassy patches along the sides of the road.

"This world sure has a lot of strange animals, don't you think?" Reimu asked.

"It would appear that they are called Pokemon," Aya said, "And I have every reason to believe that they are the most common things in this world as well!"

"And there are several kinds of them as well, it seems," Nitori said. "If your original theory about the Light Essences' appearances still hold true, then what will this world's essence look like?"

"Um… I have absolutely no idea…"

They came across two people who appeared to be pitting their Pokemon against each other in a Pokemon battle. The fat trainer was commanding a Staravia while the skinny trainer was commanding a Politoed.

"Go, Staravia! Use Sand-Attack!" the fat trainer said to the Staravia, and so the starling Pokemon kicked up sand from the ground into the Politoed's eyes.

"Use Water Gun, Wart!" the skinny trainer said to his Politoed. After the frog Pokemon had rubbed his eyes, he shot out a stream of water from his mouth, but the attack went past Staravia as the sand that got into the Politoed's eyes lowered his accuracy somewhat.

"Use Aerial Ace!" the fat trainer said to his Staravia, and then the starling Pokemon flew at Politoed really fast, ramming him in the belly.

The Politoed fell back but got back up again and then, under his trainer's command, shot out a white beam that struck the Staravia as the starling Pokemon was unable to dodge it in time. The Staravia fell to the ground and the ice shattered, freeing the Pokemon, but he was now unconscious.

"Oh no! Staravia!" the fat trainer gasped.

"Yes! You did it, Wart!" the skinny trainer said to his Politoed. "You did it!"

The Politoed also jumped up and down happily to celebrate with his trainer, but suddenly, a white beam shot in from the side and struck the frog Pokemon, freezing him. Both the trainers were shocked at the sight of this and in the background, one could see Reimu bonking Cirno over the head and then dragging the ice fairy away by the back of her collar.

"Wart! Who did this to you?!" the skinny trainer cried. "Wart! Wart! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!!!"

* * *

Meanwhile, a glowing figure was traveling across the sky at a really fast speed, heading in the direction of a resort in the distance.

* * *

Within the registration area of the Hotel Grand Lake, a teenager wearing a red cap and dressed in a red vest and blue jeans walked up to the front table to speak to the registrar there, "I would like to rent a bungalow please."

"Okay, please sign your name here," the registrar said to him while presenting him the registration book.

The teenager wrote down his name and then the registrar looked at it and said, "Pokemon Trainer? Is that really your name?"

"Oops… Wrong name…" the teenager said embarrassingly as he erased the name to put down a new one. "There! That's my name! And I was complaining about that name, if you can even call it a name, when they used it at the tournament… Now I'm using it unknowingly myself at times…"

"Okay, Mr. Red," the registrar said after looking at the rewritten name, and then he gave the teenager a key. "This is the key to your bungalow. I hope you enjoy your stay here!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And the Pokemon series is the next arc! Congratulations to everyone who guessed that it would be the Pokemon arc! But then, everyone who guessed said that it would be the Pokemon arc. Congratulations anyway!

While Specter24 based his Pokemon arc off the anime, I base my Pokemon arc off the games as well as the manga, Pokemon Adventures (better known as Pocket Monsters Special).

It's actually a hybrid of both. The character portrayals are based off the manga counterpart while the general plot is based off the games. It's true that the manga is based off the games, but it also has its own twists and changes as well. In this story, I aim to make the Pokemon characters more like their manga counterparts, but the plot will be closer to the games' continuity.

Also, I will assume that random Pokemon's genders are known. Only genderless Pokemon will use "it" as their pronoun while the others will use either masculine or feminine ones.

Hope you will look forward to this more hardcore portrayal of the Pokemon series!

**Next chapter: The Emotion that Wanders**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is a reference to Touhoumon's actual name: Touhou Puppet Play.

2. For people who don't know, Touhoumo is fan-made hack for Pokemon Fire Red. It changes all the Pokemon to as many Touhou characters as you can think of and even adds new moves as well as changing the type weaknesses and strengths a bit. Music is also remixed to incorporated music from the Touhou music.


	25. The Emotion that Wanders

**SBS Time!  
Kain Everguard: **Is Missy's name really Platinum? It sounds more like a boy's name…  
**Game2002: **Yes, Platinum is her real name, even though it sounds more like a boy's name. But then, Pearl sounds more like a girl's name and yet it belongs to a boy…

**bunkhead: **You called Politoed and Staravia by their names before their names were given.  
**Game2002: **I called Politoed and Staravia by their species names right away because there's really no point in saying things like frog-like animal and bird-like animal. Pokemon are animal species of their own world, so there's nothing wrong calling them by their species' name before giving them a description. I expect everyone to have good knowledge of Pokemon and their appearances just by hearing the names alone. You cannot expect me to spoon-feed everyone, can you?

**bunkhed: **Torterra is REALLY HEAVY. How can it jump? Seriously!  
**Game2002: **Just because Torterra is heavy doesn't mean he/she cannot jump. The move that Wig used when he jumped is actually Wood Hammer, which involves hitting the opponent with the user's own body in return for taking recoil damage. Since Torterra is slow-moving on foot, it doesn't seem possible for him/her to ram into someone forcefully by simply moving on foot, so jumping into the opponent is the best method for Torterra to use. Of course, he/she probably can't jump very high, but at least he/she can jump somewhat. Pokemon moves tend to defy physics and reality, so it is best that you don't think too deep about this.

**bunkhead**: It's doesn't work out that the girls know squat about Pokemon, and since Sanae is from the outside world, shouldn't she have rudimentary knowledge about Pokemon?  
**Game2002: **I think that it's best to say that our world and the Touhou series outside world are not exactly the same in terms of pop culture and such, so we can pretend that there is no such thing as the Pokemon series in their outside world. Maybe there is a rip-off series in their outside world, haha!

I apologize for the long wait. Sometimes I take too long typing and revising the chapters that I end up taking too long post them.

**Chapter 24  
The Emotion that Wanders**

**

* * *

**

The girls arrived at a resort-like area and looked at the beautiful bungalows and the people walking around the place casually with their Pokemon. "Wow! This place is beautiful!" Sanae commented.

Reimu noticed a wooden sign placed at the side of the road and the sign wrote _Welcome to Hotel Grand Lake! _

"Looks like we're here," she said.

"Before we go in there," Reisen said, "Shouldn't we do something… about my ears?"

"Right… It seems obvious from our conversation with those three kids from earlier that there exists only humans in this world," Sanae said. "With those obvious rabbit ears, you're bound to attract everyone's attentions towards you…"

"Not only that…" Marisa said, looking at Remilia and Cirno.

"You mean our wings, right?" Remilia said. "We can just pass them off as accessories. Nobody should question any further that way."

"Until they start asking where you bought them…" Nitori reminded her.

"I'll just come up with random answers to keep their mouths shut."

"It's a good thing that I can make my wings disappear and reappear at will unlike the both of you," Aya remarked.

"Then maybe I can pass off my ears as accessories too," Reisen said, and then she pushed aside the hairs on both sides of her head to reveal the lack of human ears. "As long nobody notices this… But it shouldn't be a problem since my hair is always covering these two spots, right?"

"Yeah, so keep them covered," Reimu told her.

After that, the girls continued traveling into the resort area and looked around the place. They did receive some stares from the people, but they were all casual stares that didn't make them feel threatened in any way.

Then a man dressed like a staff member of the resort came up to them with a smile on his face and bowed down respectfully in front of them. "Welcome to Hotel Grand Lake!" he said cheerfully. "Would you like to rent a bungalow? I will take you to register your names if you want to!"

"Thanks, but we would like to take a walk around this place first," Reimu said to him.

"Then feel free to do so! You can head to the registration building if you have decided to stay here overnight!"

After that, the staff member stepped aside and the girls continued on their way to take a good look at the place.

As they walked down the place, they noticed a large number of people gathered in front of a Mr. Mime which was doing what a mime does best—pantomiming. The barrier Pokemon performed acts as if he was trapped inside a sphere and was trying to get out and also pretended to ride a motorcycle or something like that. The people laughed and clapped their hands upon seeing such hilarious acts.

"Is that also a Pokemon? It looks like a human…" Reimu commented.

"Well, I guess they come in all sorts of appearances," Aya said.

Just then, a Buneary came hopping up to them and looked up at the girls. "Hey! It's a rabbit just like you, Reisen!" Cirno pointed out.

Reisen bent down in front of the Buneary and said her, "Hello! How can I help you?" The rabbit Pokemon just looked back at her without making a single sound, but when Reisen reached an arm to the rabbit Pokemon to touch her head, the Pokemon suddenly uncurled her right ear and slammed it into Reisen's face really hard, knocking the lunar rabbit backwards.

SLAM!

After Reisen was knocked out on her back, the rabbit Pokemon quickly hopped away. "Uwaaaaa…" Reisen groaned while rabbits hopped around in circles over her face which had swirly eyes.

Soon after Reisen had recovered, the girls headed in the direction of a restaurant. "What say we head over there and have something to eat first?" Reimu suggested.

"Good idea! I feel like sinking my teeth into something at the moment-ze!" Marisa said, rubbing her belly.

"Wait a minute… We don't have the currencies of this world, do we?" Sanae said all of a sudden.

"You have a point," Alice said.

"Um… You're right…" Aya said. "We can't buy anything in this world if we do not use this world's currency."

"Who cares? We just only have to pay them money and then we can have whatever we want!" Cirno said.

"You're not listening, are you…?"

As the girls were talking among themselves about this matter, the same teenager who registered under the name 'Red' went into the restaurant. The moment he stepped inside the restaurant, all the diners turned their heads to look at him, and then an elderly pair of gentleman and lady stood up from their chairs and threw out their Pokeballs, sending out a Hoppopotas and a Bibarel respectively.

"Heh! Exactly what I expected to happen!" the teenager said as he reached for two of the six Pokeballs strapped around waist. "Go, Pika and Lapras!" And then he threw those two Pokeballs to send out a Pikachu and a Lapras. "Pika, use Thunderbolt on that Bibarel and Lapras use Ice Beam on the Hippopotas!"

The Pikachu jumped near the Bibarel and then released a large amount of electricity from all over his body to electrocute the beaver Pokemon. Meanwhile, the Lapras fired a white beam out from his mouth and the Hippopotas froze into a block ice upon getting hit by it.

"Oh my!" the elderly lady said. "It looks like we've lost, and so easily as well!"

"It's been a while since I witnessed such a quick but exciting fight!" the elderly gentleman said. "Well done, kid! You seem to have a talent in Pokemon battling after all!"

The teenager scratched the back of his head and said with a blushing face, "Yeah, that's what everyone says to me all the time! I can't deny that I really do have talents in Pokemon battling after all!"

Suddenly, the door behind the teenager swung open and the girls came rushing in. "What happened in here?!" Reimu asked. "We heard some loud noises from the outside!"

"Oh, sorry for frightening you," the teenager apologized to her. "We were just having a Pokemon battle in here."

"Pokemon battle?"

"Yes, it is common for Pokemon battles to occur in this Seven Stars Restaurant," the elderly lady replied.

"The moment someone who looks like a trainer comes inside," the elderly gentleman further explained, "the diners will immediately challenge him or her to a two-on-two battle. It's basically to test the trainers on how they react to people suddenly attacking them. This place is quite popular among trainers because of this and many of them come here every day just to engage in Pokemon battles!"

"I see… This place sure has strange policies-ze..." Marisa commented.

"So… do you get anything in return if you win the fight?" Reimu asked, "Or do people engage in battles just for the heck of it?"

"Well, if the losers are generous enough, they would reward the winners with some prize money," the elderly gentleman replied.

Hearing this, Reimu turned to her friends and asked them, "What do you say we have a Pokemon battle with some of the people here? We can earn some big bucks if we win!"

"Are you forgetting the fact that we do not have Pokemon with us?" Alice reminded her.

"Um… You're right… But maybe they won't mind if we fight by ourselves?"

"You don't have a single Pokemon with you?" the elderly gentleman asked them. "That's not exactly a surprise considering there are also many people out there who aren't trainers and don't carry any Pokemon around with them. Sorry, battles between humans and Pokemon aren't allowed. Pokemon moves are usually too dangerous to be used against humans."

"Okay… Never mind… Forget that I said anything in the first place…"

The girls then turned to leave the restaurant, but as soon as they stepped outside, a bright flash suddenly appeared in the air and grabbed everyone's attentions. "What is that?!" a random person exclaimed.

The thing continued to glow in midair for a few seconds, but then the light disappeared to reveal a blue creature with a partially magenta face and four droopy appendages coming down from the sides of its head.

The sight of the strange creature made everyone curious, and the people started to move closer to the creature to get a better look.

"What is this?"

"Is this a Pokemon?"

"I have never seen this kind of Pokemon before!"

"It must be an undiscovered one!"

"Quick! Someone call the news reporters!"

Hearing this, Aya raised an arm and happily said, "Here I am!" The tengu girl got out her camera and ran up close to the strange Pokemon and said to it, "Stay still and don't move! I'm going to take a nice picture of you! I can give you a copy of your picture afterwards if you want to!"

Just as she brought up the camera in front of her face to take a picture, the sound of engine could be heard and suddenly, a jeep came rushing into the place and the people who were in its way quickly moved aside as not to get hit by it.

"Hey! Vehicles aren't allowed in here!" a staff member shouted to people driving the jeep. "Who let you drive into this place?!"

"Oh really? Unfortunately, we ran through the front door without bothering to stop to listen to what the gatekeeper had to say," said a red-haired woman who was sitting at the back of the jeep. She stepped down from the jeep and looked at the strange Pokemon that was hovering in the air. "We found at last, Mesprit! Did you really think you could escape us?" She held up a handheld device that had a small screen on it, showing what appears to be the map of this region. "As long as we have this Pokemon tracking device, there is no way you can escape from us! No matter where you go, we will always be able to track you down! We tried to capture you in Lake Verity, but you made a run for it and we had to chase you all over the place until we finally came here. You better not run away this time! We're going to catch you right here and right now! Catch that Pokemon at once!"

"Yes, Commander Mars!" the two people sitting at the front seat the jeep said. They got out from their seats and each threw out their Pokeballs to send out a Golbat and a Dustox (the Dustox belongs to the one driving the jeep).

"Hey! Those people are wearing the same costume as the ones we encountered at the drained lake-ze!" Marisa pointed out.

"Those people are from Team Galactic!" a random person pointed out.

"Isn't that the evil organization that once terrorized Sinnoh, but has now decided to become a more beneficial organization?" another one asked. "If so, why are they after this Pokemon and even drove into this place when such a thing is not allowed?!"

The Golbat and Dustox flew towards the Mesprit to attack it. Seeing the enemy Pokemon approaching, the Mesprit raised his arms in their direction and formed yellow energy stars that shot forward a high speed, striking both the Pokemon and knocking them onto the ground with ease.

The woman was unpleased to see this. "Tsk! Useless bunch of fools! Looks like I'll have to do this myself! The both of you go and get the capsule ready while I deal with this Pokemon!"

"Yes, Commander Mars!" both the Team Galactic grunts said. After the woman named Mars stepped out from the jeep, they went to the back seat and took out a glass capsule from there.

Mars took out a Pokeball and threw it to send out a Purugly. "Purugly! Use Shadow Claw on Mesprit! Ghost-type moves super effective against psychic-type Pokemon!"

The tiger cat Pokemon leaped into the air and a shadow-like energy appeared around her right arm as she swung her claws at Mesprit. Mesprit quickly moved back to avoid getting and then countered by firing energy stars. The Purugly was struck in the face by the energy stars, but she managed to endure it and then jumped at Mesprit again, this time with her limbs sprawled out to hit it with a body slam.

Mesprit flew out of the way to avoid getting hit but Mars immediately sent out both her Crobat and Bronzong to go after the emotion Pokemon. The Crobat slashed her wings against the air to shoot out wind blades while the Bronzong flipped over to point its underside at Mesprit, and out from the opening in its underside, a ball of silver light was fired.

Mesprit saw the attacks coming at it and thus stretched out its arms to create a spherical barrier that was greenish-blue in color. Both the attacks were nullified the moment they touched the shield.

"Tsk! That's why I hate the move Protect!" Mars grumbled upon seeing it. "They're capable of stopping almost every move you throw at it!"

The Mesprit then pointed both its arms at the Crobat and the Bronzong and launched an energy wave of sorts that sent both the Pokemon spinning backwards through the air.

Suddenly, the Purugly leaped up into the air from behind and raised her claw over Mesprit. The emotion Pokemon was caught off guard by the tiger cat Pokemon's sudden appearance and was struck by her Shadow Claw attack and sent hurtling through the air.

The Crobat and the Bronzong recovered from being attacked and then charged at Mesprit while it was still hurtling through the air to attack it. The Crobat used her left wing to smack Mesprit in the other direction and then the Bronzong slammed its own body onto Mesprit from above to knock the Pokemon forcefully onto the ground.

SLAM!

"Good!" Mars said with delight. "It seems that it still hasn't fully recovered from our previous battle at Lake Verity! All right, boys, time to trap it inside the special capsule!"

"Yes, Commander Mars!" the two Team Galactic grunts said. They both carried the capsules in their hands and ran towards the fallen Mesprit to capture the Pokemon, but suddenly, a pair of vines was swung at them and knocked them to the side while the capsule fell onto the ground, but did not break. "Uwa!"

"What?!" Mars gasped. She turned to look at the attacker and saw that it was a Venuaur who did this and standing next to him was that same teenager. "Hey you! Who do you think you are? Don't think you can get away with it by getting in the way of Team Galactic's business!"

The teenager pointed to himself using his thumb and said, "I'm Red, and I don't know what you are doing, but I can tell that you are not doing the right kind of thing!"

"Oh? How can you tell? What if we are simply trying to catch a rare Pokemon?"

Red pointed to the glass capsule on the ground and said, "That's not something you would normally use for capturing Pokemon, and I heard the other people saying that your organization used to be evil. By connecting the pieces together, I somehow deduced that you are trying to capture that Pokemon over there for selfish reasons."

"Well, I can say the same for everyone else as well! Everyone captures Pokemon for no better reason than to own them, am I right?"

"That may be true, but we treat Pokemon with love and respect after capturing them. Knowing you people, you're probably going to capture it and then perform dangerous experiments on it. Whatever the case is, I won't let you lay a hand on that Pokemon! And also, did you seriously think I have no idea on what that Pokemon is?" Red pointed at Mesprit and said, "That is the legendary Pokemon, Mesprit!"

Mars smiled and said, "So you did your homework after all! Correct, that is the legendary Pokemon of Lake Verity, Mesprit the Emotion Pokemon! My companions are sent to capture the other two and from what I've heard, they managed to get their hands on them already. I'm the only one left who hasn't captured my target, so I'm not going to waste any more time here! I'm going to capture Mesprit no matter what it takes or else the boss will not be pleased!"

"But like I said, I won't let you capture Mesprit!"

"You're asking for a fight if that is the case! Get them, my Pokemon!" Mars shouted at her Pokemon, and so all three of her Pokemon charged at Red to attack him and his Venusaur.

"Saur, use Razor Leaf!" Red said to his Venusaur. Saur nodded and then shot out a barrage of razor-sharp leaves out from the flower on his back.

The Purugly was cut in various parts of her skin by the razor-sharp leaves and yelped painfully while pulling back. Both the Crobat and the Bronzong were also hit, but due to typing advantage, they weren't hurt very much by the razor-shaped leaves and then flew higher into the air. As the two Pokemon attempted to dive them down at them, Red quickly pulled out another Pokeball and threw it to send out a Charizard. "Go get them, Charizard!"

The flame Pokemon let out a roar before taking off into the air to engage the two enemies. "Fire Blast attack!" Red commanded the Charizard, and so the flame Pokemon took a deep breath before shooting out a large burst of fire that resembled the Chinese character for 'big' (大).

Both the Pokemon were unable to avoid the incoming attack and got engulfed by the flames and knocked out of the sky and onto the ground. "What the?!" Mars gasped in shock.

"Heheh! How'd you like that? Hot enough for ya?" Red taunted.

"Argh! Don't get too cocky just yet!" Mars growled. She then turned to look at the Mesprit and saw that it had gotten back up and was taking off into the air again. "Oh no, it's escaping again!" She turned to look at the two grunts and said to them, "What are the two of you still doing over there?! Hurry up and capture that Mesprit at once before it escapes!"

"Yes, Commander Mars!" they said. They picked up the capsule and set it upright before opening the top. After that, they held up the capsule and pointed its opening at the escaping Mesprit, and then electrical currents came out from the interior of the capsule and caught the Mesprit, and then it began pulling the emotion Pokemon inside it.

Suddenly, a pair of dolls armed with sticks charged at the grunts and struck them in their legs to knock them over as well as making them drop the glass capsule onto the ground. After that, the dolls transformed their sticks into hammers and then used them to smash the glass capsule into pieces.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!

"OH NO!!!" Mars gasped. "Now we won't be able to capture Mesprit with ease!"

The Mesprit looked at Alice and seemed to smile and nod its head, and then it quickly took off into the air as fast as it could. Mars turned to look at Alice and said, "Those dolls that are moving by themselves! It was your doing, right? How dare you?!"

"Do you have anything against my way of doing things?" Alice asked her in a threatening tone.

Suddenly, a loud voice could be heard. "Team Galactic, stop there at once and don't move!" the voice said. Mars turned to see the source of the voice and to her horror; saw the police running over to the scene.

"Curses, it's the cops! I'm out of here!" she growled. She quickly called her Purugly and Bronzong back into their Pokeballs and then grabbed onto the legs of her Crobat. The Crobat flapped her wings as fast as she could and then took off into the air, carrying along her master.

"Commander Mars, don't leave us behind!" the two grunts shouted as they ran after her, but Saur used his vines to catch them by their legs and made their fall over. "Ow!"

"Sorry, but I think it's better that you submit yourselves to the police rather than going back to face your boss's wrath," Red told them. "Though admittedly, I have no idea on how your boss is like."

Soon afterwards, the two Team Galactic grunts were rounded up and taken away by the police. As for Red, he was talking to a police officer dressed in a brown trench coat. "I'm Officer Looker," the police officer said to Red while showing him his police certificate. "I assume that you are the one who stopped Team Galactic from capturing that Pokemon, right?"

"Yeah, I'm the one," Red said with a nod, and then he pointed to Alice, "But that girl over there also helped out a bit."

Looker turned to look at Alice and the other girls and smiled at them saying, "I would like to thank you for your help as well!"

"That was nothing," Alice said. "I was just doing what I think should be done." Shanghai, who was being carried in her arm left arm, waved at him as well.

Looker turned to look at Red again and asked him, "May I have your name, kid? Wait, calling you a kid wouldn't be appropriate…"

"Never my mind, I'm still young after all, haha! Anyway, my name is Pokemon Trainer," Red replied, but then he quickly changed his answer. "Wait a minute! That's not it! Dang, the name they gave me in that tournament really is starting to make me forget my real name! Anyway, my real name is Red."

"Tournament?" Reimu said in a surprised tone upon hearing that term.

"Red… I believe I know that name! Are you not the champion of the Pokemon League in the Kanto region?"

Red nodded and said, "Yep, that's me!"

"I knew it! Your name is pretty well known throughout the world! They said you accomplished several feats such as defeating the evil organization of Kanto and Johto, Team Rocket. Is that true?"

"I can't deny that one as well. Yeah, I did put an end to their evil antics."

Looker stretched out his arm to shake hands with Red. "It's a pleasure to meet a well known person like you! I may be asking too much from you, but perhaps it would be of great help to us if you can help us defeat Team Galactic. The International Police has been on their trail for quite a while already, and we thought our job had come to an end when their leader Cyrus went missing, resulting in the organization wanting to become more beneficial to the society, but rumor has it that their leader has returned and made the organization do evil once again…"

"I'll be glad to help!" Red told him. "I'm not really the kind of person who would tolerate evil and let bad people such as Team Galactic run around doing whatever they want."

"That would be great! I'll contact you if any problem regarding Team Galactic arises."

"Okay," Red said with a nod. "I'll give you my phone number if you want to. Give me a call if you need any help!"

"Okay, we'll be looking forward to cooperate with you!" Looker said, and then he walked over to the girls and said to Alice, "May I have your name as well?"

"Alice Margatroid," Alice replied.

"Red said that you also helped him, so I would like to thank you for your support!"

"Like I said earlier, that was nothing," Alice told him. "I'm afraid I have to turn down your offer if you want me to cooperate with you. At least you will have to get the consent of my friends over here first."

Looker looked at the other girls but Reimu raised her arms and shook her head saying, "No thanks… We don't want to get ourselves into situations like these… We'll take the pass."

"I won't force you," Looker said to her. "But I would still like to thank you for your help as well!" After that, Looker turned to Red and said to him, "I'll have to leave now. It's better to take these two Team Galactic grunts into confinement as soon as possible. We will also interrogate them to learn something useful from them. I'll be letting you know if we need your help."

"I'll be anticipating it!" Red said, waving good-bye to him.

Looker waved good-bye to him as well before leaving the place with the other police officers and the handcuffed grunts. After they have left, Red turned to the girls and said to them, "Hey, thanks for the help earlier! I saw what you did just now and that was pretty amazing! Are those two dolls your Pokemon or what?"

Alice shook her head. "No, they're simply dolls that I was controlling."

"Cool! I know there are people who work as puppeteers, but I have never seen one who can controls puppets to that extent!"

"They're dolls, not puppets!" Alice said, sounding rather offended.

"Um, sorry… Dolls, not puppets… I'll remember that…"

Reimu then walked up to Red and said to him, "Excuse me, but from your conversation with that police officer from earlier, I heard you saying something about a tournament, is that true?"

Red nodded and said, "Yes, but I've been in several Pokemon-related tournaments before. If you want to be precise, the tournament I was referring to earlier would be… Nah, you probably won't believe what I said since not many people are aware of this tournament's existence…"

"If I guess correctly, you're referring to the Smash Brothers Tournament, am I right?"

Hearing this, Red's eyes widened in surprised and said, "Whoa, you're right! How did you guess that it was the Smash Brothers Tournament?!"

"What if I tell you that my friends and I all came to this world using the World Light? I'm sure you've heard of the term World Light before, right?"

Within a secret area, two groups of people were met together face to face. The leaders of both groups were sat on a couch facing each other while their subordinates stood all around them, and sitting in the center and in front of them was a third person hidden in the shadows, and the third person was sitting behind a podium of sorts as well.

"Well, Cyrus," said the leader of the group on the left side. He is a man with neatly trimmed hair and is dressed in a brown suit. "I hope that our alliance will help you achieve your goals which will in the end benefit the both of us!"

"Let's hope that it does, Giovanni," said the leader of the group on the right side. He is a man with spiky blue hair and was dressed in a combination of black, white, and gray, and there is also a capital letter 'G' imprinted on the left side of his shirt.

"Just think of it!" said the first man, Giovanni, "Two of the most notorious criminal organizations working together to achieve the goal of world domination! Imagine how the world will tremble if they hear about this! Fufufufufu!"

"I have no interest in minor goals such as world domination," said the second man, Cyrus. "What I am seeking to accomplish is to recreate the world into my own liking! I shall create a world where the weak-spirited do not exist! Last time I failed thanks to the appearance of Giratina as well as the meddling of some kids. After that, I stayed in the Distortion World for a while to come up with a new plan. Now that I am once again the leader of Team Galactic, I shall bring this organization back to its former glory and accomplish the plan which I previously failed!"

"Fufufufufu! You really are an interesting person!" Giovanni said, sounding amused. "Your ambitions indeed are a big one! Admittedly, I never h much ambition asides from making Team Rocket well known throughout the world, but hearing about your plans really makes me more ambitious! Surely we can work together to build a world where we shall rule!"

The person sitting in the center and among the shadows shuffled a deck of cards in his hands over and over laughed and said, "Heheheheheh! I would say that the both of you made the right choice in joining my own organization as well! We are currently looking for more people to help increase the number of people in our organization, but things haven't been so successful. The both of you are without doubt welcome additions… as long as you can prove yourself to be competent enough."

Cyrus turned to face the shadowy person and said to him, "Don't get me wrong. I do not have much interest in ruling the kind of world that you told us. I am only thankful for the fact that you provided us with the technology that will help us accomplish our plans with ease."

"Oh, don't say that! I'm sure you will change your opinion soon! You definitely will not be disappointed in the new world that I spoke of!"

Suddenly, he received a phone call and so he quickly reached into his pocket to take out his cell phone. "Excuse me…" he said before answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Boss, is that you? This is me, Mars!"

"Mars, what is it? Have you accomplished in capturing Mesprit yet? Saturn and Jupiter have both captured Azelf and Uxie respectively. You are the only one left who hasn't report to me your result."

"I'm sorry, boss… Mesprit managed to escape from Lake Verity. I chased it all the way to Hotel Grand Lake, but it managed to escape again thanks to some meddlesome brats. On top of that, the special capsule used for capturing the legendary Pokemon… has been destroyed by them as well…"

Cyrus was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then he said, "Mars."

"Um… Yes, boss…?"

"This is my order for you: Go and capture Mesprit at once. Do you have any objections?"

"Um… Yes, boss… But how do I…?"

Cyrus interrupted her however. "Do you question my orders?"

"No, boss… I wouldn't dare question your orders… I'll go… capture Mesprit… at once… I will not fail you… I promise you… I will not fail this time… Definitely won't…"

"Good, so get to it," Cyrus said ending the call. "Useless underlings… After I have recreated the world, there will be no more weaklings existing. I shall make a world where only the strong ones exist!"

"If you want to," Giovanni said to Cyrus, "I can send my Rocket Executives to capture Mesprit in case your admin can't do things by herself."

Cyrus nodded and said, "Very well. This is the perfect opportunity to see what you Team Rockets are capable of. Do not disappoint me."

"Fufufufufu! I assure you that you will not be disappointed! Come to think of it, our organization names fit with each other perfectly, don't they? Team Rocket and Team Galactic... A rocket that soars through the galaxy! Haha, this is way too fitting!"

"I assume that you are right. Let us hope that this alliance will pay off in the end."

"Well then," the shadowy person said as he continued to shuffle the same deck of cards over and over, "I hope the two of you gentlemen succeed in what you do if you want to prove yourself competent enough to be part of my organization, heheheheheh!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

**Next chapter: Raid on the City, Knock Out, Evil Tusks**

**Trivia:  
**1. While Mr. Mime's name may imply that it is a male-only species, but that is far from the truth. Mr. Mime's Japanese name, Barrierd, is a gender-neutral name, so finding female Mr. Mime is not surprising. The gender ratio is even fifty-fifty.

2. In the Pokemon Adventures manga, Diamond and Pearl also battled against an elderly pair of gentlemen and lady who used a Hippopotas and Bibarel respectively inside the Seven Stars Restaurant.


	26. Raid on the City, Knock Out, Evil Tusks

**SBS Time!  
Kain Everguard: **Didn't Giovanni die after rescuing Silver in the Pokemon Adventures manga?  
**Game2002: **Giovanni did not die after rescuing Silver; instead, he was taken to one of Silver's secret hideout by Silver's Ursaring. We only know that Giovanni has acquired an illness and may someday die, but there is no proof that he really died afterwards. Furthermore, the closing notes at the end of the previous chapter clearly stated that even though the character portrayals are based off their manga counterparts, the plot is closer to the games, so things that happened in the manga may not have happened in this story. Therefore, Giovanni is not ill in this story, but Silver is still his son as Heart Gold and Soul Silver confirmed it.

**Chapter 25  
Raid on the City, Knock Out, Evil Tusks**

**

* * *

**

The girls were all invited by Red to his rented bungalow. Red sat on a chair as he explained to them the concept of the Pokemon world while the girls were seated all over the place listening to him.

"To put it simple," Red explained, "Pokemon are captured to be treated as pets. They can help people with everyday tasks and also fight for them. As you know from earlier, Pokemon battles are a very popular pastime in this world."

"But isn't it a bit cruel to pit Pokemon together just to watch them fight with each other?" Sanae asked while raising an arm.

"Actually, the Pokemon themselves actually enjoy the battles. Of course, there are rules on how Pokemon should fight so that fatalities wouldn't happen. Plus, most Pokemon usually have strong enough bodies to resist attacks thrown at them, so they should survive most attacks with no problem, as long as the attack isn't too powerful or if the Pokemon are well trained enough. Injured Pokemon can be taken to Pokemon Centers, or hospitals for Pokemon, to be treated."

"Wow… A world where strange animals called Pokemon are a huge part of everyday life…" Aya said as she jotted down everything that she heard onto her notebook. Most of them anyway...

"Are there several kinds of Pokeyman in this world?" Cirno asked.

"It's Pokemon, not Pokeyman… But yeah, there are a lot of species," Red replied. "If I remember correctly, there are currently 493 known species discovered in the world…"

"Wow! That's a lot!" Nitori exclaimed.

"Though it's a bit too little compared to the number of real life animal species from our world…" Sanae commented.

"But they say that new Pokemon are being discovered in other regions as well," Red continued. "I remember Professor Oak talking about a newly discovered pair of Pokemon called Zorua and Zoroark before I left Kanto to come here for a vacation, thus boosting the number to 495."

"Thanks for giving us a lesson about your world. We really appreciate it!" Reimu thanked Red. "If you don't mind, we would like to hear more about the Smash Brothers Tournament from you."

"Oh, so you want to hear more about that?" Red asked her. "Okay, I don't mind sharing with you about my experience at the tournament! Now I'm once again reminded of the name change that they gave me…"

"You said that they called you Pokemon Trainer, right?" Remilia asked.

"Right… That's only because the registrar at that time thought he was reading my favorite color when he saw my name. Because he thought I didn't put down my name, he registered me under my occupation instead, and thus I ended up with Pokemon Trainer as my name during the tournament… I wanted him to change it to my real name, but he didn't want to go through the trouble of reentering the data, so I got stuck with that name instead…"

"Poor guy-ze…" Marisa commented.

"Oh, by the way… Did I tell you that I'm a very original participant in the tournament?"

"I don't think you have told us that one yet," Sanae replied.

"You see, all the other characters fight by themselves using their strengths, skills, and weapons, but I don't actually participate in the fighting myself. Instead, I rely on the help of three of my Pokemon to fight. Actually, only one of them belongs to me while the other two belongs to my friends." Red took out three of his Pokeballs that were strapped around his waist and then placed them on the table for the girls to look at.

The girls went over to the Pokeballs and looked through the see-through tops of the spheres and inside each of those spheres were a Venusaur, a Charizard, and a Blastoise. "They weren't this small when they came out," Nitori said. "But I guess this explains how they are able to fit inside these balls…"

"Yeah, Pokeballs are made to capture these Pokemon," Red explained to her. "Don't worry; they are very comfortable inside as you can see that they are smiling at you!" He pointed to the Venusaur and said, "This is my own Pokemon, Saur!" And then he pointed to the Charizard and the Blastoise and continued saying, "The Charizard and the Blastoise, named Turtley, belong to my friends Green and Blue respectively."

"So why are they with you now-ze?" Marisa asked.

"I traded my Aerodactyl to Green for his Charizard while trading my Poliwrath to Blue for her Blastoise. These three Pokemon originally hanged out with each other until the each of took one of them. When I invited to enter the tournament, Green and Blue thought it would be a good idea for these three to be fighting alongside each other since they are good friends since the beginning. Because I wanted them to be with each other when I come to this place for a vacation, I traded my same two Pokemon for them again from Green and Blue."

Nitori noticed the water cannons that were sticking out form the both sides of Blastoise's shell and commented, "Nice cannons! Hey, maybe I can create something like this too!"

Red then took out his remaining three Pokeballs. "And these are my other three Pokemon in case you want to look at them as well!" Inside each of those Pokeballs were a Pikachu, a Lapras, and a Snorlax. "This is Pika, Lapras, and Snorlax! The Lapras the newest addition to my team, and I haven't thought of a name for him yet, so I'll just be calling him by his species name in the meantime until I can think up of one."

"This mouse-like Pokemon is so cute!" Sanae commented when she saw Pika waving at her.

"Oh, it should also be noted that Turtley and Saur had to be temporarily devolved while they were still in the tournament."

"Devolved?" Alice asked curiously.

"You see," Red started to explain, "Pokemon will evolve when they reach a certain level, meaning to say that they change forms to become more powerful due to having enough experiences and skills in fighting. Some Pokemon evolve using other special methods though, such as using evolutionary stones, trading, and several more. Not all Pokemon evolve, but the majority of them do. Anyway, Master Hand said that it is way too cheap to have three fully evolved Pokemon representing me. As a result, he invented a kind of machine that is used for devolving Pokemon, and so he used it to devolve Saur back to his previous form, Ivysaur, while Turtley devolved back to his earliest form, Squirtle. They had to stay in those forms for the rest of the tournament, and then Master Hand changed them back to normal again using the same machine."

"But wouldn't they both evolve again during the midst of the tournament due to the fighting?" Aya asked.

"Actually, the laws of reality and physics had been altered for the tournament so that even incredibly lethal attacks are unable to make flesh wounds or kill anyone. Several other things were altered as well, such as Saur and Turtley being unable to evolve during the midst of the fights as well as also being able to double jump. Anyway, the rule of the tournament is to knock your opponents off the stage. The participants also have damage ratios to determine how far they will fly when hit. The higher the damage ratio is, the farther they will fly and the harder it is for them to come back to the stage."

"What happens if someone does not make it back to the stage?" Cirno asked.

"They fall to their doom below, but they show up again on a platform that descends out of nowhere above the stage in order to continue fighting. One would keep on fighting until they run out of stocks or when time is up. Stock means how many times the fighter can be knocked out of the stage before he or she is disqualified from the current match. Beating up each isn't the only form of competition there is. There are also several other method of competing such as collecting coins, beating up strange metallic beings called Alloys, breaking targets, and hitting a sandbag as far as you can."

"Wow… The tournament sounds very interesting…" Youmu commented in awe.

"It sure is!" Red told her. "I only jointed the tournament when it got held for the third time. Whenever there was no fighting, we would treat Smash World as a vacation resort where you can find the ultimate relaxation! There are all sorts of fun for everyone and people who seek knowledge can also visit the World Library to learn even the most obscure information!"

"Wow! It sounds really relaxing and fun!" Nitori commented. "I really want to go there now!"

"It sure is, and I'm sure all of you will enjoy that place! Everything about the tournament is plain spectacular!"

"Now I really feel like giving that place a visit!" Aya said. "It sounds really spectacular all right! I can't wait until we obtain all the Light Essences so that we can pay that place a visit!"

"Oh yeah, about the World Light… So you said that it is broken?"

"Yeah, and so we ended up in a place called Mushroom Kingdom," Reimu said while nodding her head.

"That would be Mario's world, right? I wonder how he is now."

"He's doing fine from what we've seen."

"That's good to hear! And about the Light Essences that you've talked about… I'm sorry, but I don't know anything called a Light Essence, so I'm afraid I can't help you on this matter…"

"It's all right. I wasn't expecting much help from you to begin with, but thanks for the information on Smash World anyway, even though it won't be of use to us until we get to that place ourselves."

"Okay… I'll take that as a compliment…" After that, Red looked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to set. "Night is approaching, it seems..." he said, and then he turned to girls. "Why don't you girls stay here for the night? If you want to, I can rent you bungalows!"

"Is that all right?" Sanae asked. "Wouldn't it be too expensive having to pay for our bungalows?"

"Nah, that's all right," he said. "I don't mind helping you girls out a bit! Since there are eleven of you here, I think it's best that I rent two bungalows in order to fit you all somehow. Okay, I'll go rent them for you now!" As Red got up and headed out of bungalow to go rent more bungalows for the girls, he said to himself in his mind, "Should I also tell them about that incident? Nah, it's best that I leave out the bad parts now that they have become excited about Smash World. They're better off not knowing about that incident until... Who knows?"

* * *

That night, the girls stayed at the bungalows Red rented for them. Reimu, Marisa, Alice, Remilia, and Meiling stayed in one bungalow while Sanae, Cirno, Nitori, Aya, Youmu, and Reisen stayed in the second bungalow which was situated across the other one.

* * *

The next morning, Red walked up to one of the bungalows that he rented for the girls and saw Meiling, dressed in a bathing robe, sitting on a chair placed on the right side of the door. "Good morning, Mei… Ling…" Red greeted her. "Did I get your name right?"

"Good morning! Yep, that's my name, Hong Meiling!" she said cheerfully.

"Why are you sitting out here?"

"I'm a gatekeeper, so keeping watch of doors and not letting people inside is my job."

"Okay… So, are you girls ready to go to Veilstone City for a tour?"

"Please wait until our clothes have dried first, okay? They're still wet from the washing we gave them yesterday, and currently we only have these bathing robes to wear."

"Okay, take your time! I'll be taking a stroll around here, so give me a call if you're ready!" Red said before taking his leave.

* * *

Inside the bungalow, Alice was sitting next to the window. When she looked through the window, she saw little kids playing happily with their Pokemon as well as some people giving orders for their Pokemon to perform. She let out a sigh and then looked at Shanghai, who was placed on her lap.

Marisa walked up to Alice and patted her on the shoulder saying, "Hey, what's up-ze? You seem to be in a bad mood judging from the sigh earlier. Mind telling me what happened-ez?"

"Nothing," Alice replied. "Remember what I said yesterday about being able to relate myself to people with Pokemon?"

"Yeah," Marisa said with a nod. "What about it-ze?"

Alice stroke Shanghai's hair and said, "I find it very similar to the way I command my dolls to perform tasks, but there seems to be something missing."

"What is it-ze?"

"You know that my dream is to create automated dolls that can move on their own and have their own free will, right? Even until now, I still cannot create a single doll like that."

"But you still seem happy having several dolls on your side and helping you with various stuffs! Albeit you're the one controlling them-ze…"

"I know, and I always pretend that they are moving by themselves…" Alice looked at Shanghai's face and hoped that the doll would respond in some way. For once, she refrained from taking control of the doll to see what would happen, but Shanghai remained motionless like a lifeless doll that she is.

"Hey, the clothes are dry now," Reimu said as she came over to them in her usual shrine maiden attire. "You can put them on now."

* * *

After getting dressed and then having breakfast, the girls went over to Red who was having a Pokemon battle with a skinny Pokemon trainer. The battle had just ended when they came up to him, and so he called back his Pokemon and then waved good-bye to the skinny trainer before taking his leave with the girls.

As they were leaving, the skinny trainer walked up to his tired-looking Politoed that was sitting on the ground and then patted him on the head. "Don't worry, Wart!" he said to his frog Pokemon. "You've tried your best, so I'm still proud of you! Come, let us go and have some relaxation! You deserve a well-earned rest!"

Suddenly, a white beam shot in from behind and struck Wart in his back.

"They say Veilstone City is one of the biggest cities in Sinnoh," Red said to the girls as he led them out of Hotel Grand Lake. Along the way, they came across the same staff member that the girls met yesterday and Red handed over the keys of the rented bungalows to him before continuing on their way. "Thank you for staying!" the staff member said happily. "I hope you will come again!"

"That city has a very big department store that sells all sorts of things as well as several other tourist attractions!" Red continued explaining to the girls.

"Attractions? Ayaya! Then I'm going to get my camera busy once again!" Aya said with enthusiasm.

Cirno then caught up with the others from behind. "Where did you go just now?" Reisen asked her.

"I saw something interesting," the ice fairy replied cheerfully. "So I went to have a bit of fun with it!"

Suddenly, they all heard a loud screaming. "WART!!!! WART!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!"

"Um… I think we should get out of here fast…" Reimu suggested nervously, and then she gave Cirno a glare. The ice fairy only responded with a big smile on her face.

* * *

Red and the girls went down the path the girls previously took to come to Hotel Grand Lake, and as a result, they came across Lake Valor once again and saw some workers at the lake doing cleanup job. "What are they going to about this lake?" Sanae asked.

"From the looks of it," Red said, "it looks like they're going to fill it with water again."

"Is this even possible?" Nitori asked.

"I'm not sure… I read the news once that Team Galactic destroyed this lake in the past, but in the end, the lake was restored to its original form. I'm sure those workers and rangers have their own method of doing so. Anyway, let's go to Veilstone City!"

And so they continued on their way.

* * *

After about twenty minutes of walking, the group eventually arrived at Veilstone City, where they were immediately greeted with the sights of towering buildings and large rocks with houses built on top of them.

"Wow! Look at this place-ze!" Marisa said as she looked at the tallest building—the Veilstone Department Store.

"I have a limited amount of money," Red said. "So I'm afraid that I can't buy everything you want for you girls."

"That's all right," Reimu said. "We're not planning on buying anything anyway."

"But can you please buy me some water?" Nitori asked Red

"That should be all right. Are you thirsty?" Red said to her.

Nitori shook her head however. "Not really; I just want to save them for something else."

* * *

"When you think of Pokemon," Pearl said. "There are rumors that some Pokemon come from outer space!"

"Yeah," Dia said with a nod. "From what I know, the Clefairy, Solrock, and Lunatone species are rumored to have come from outer space. The Psyduck species may have come from outer space as well!"

"Why's that?"

"Because they tend to stand in one place spacing out!"

"Haha! That's funny!" Pearl laughed as he patted Dia against his back so hard that it looks like he's beating him up. "Your jokes are improving every time! And you're starting to spout lesser and lesser food jokes as well!"

Pearl then turned to Platinum and asked her, "Missy, what do you think of our double act just now? Missy? Hello?"

Platinum wasn't listening to their double act however. She was more interested in looking at the large chunk of rock that at the bottom of a medium-sized crater. There was not one crater, but three of them, and one of the craters was larger than the rest and had two rocks at the bottom of it instead of one.

"Meteorites from outer space…" Platinum said with interest. "Scientists claim that these meteorites give off an unknown kind of energy that doesn't seem to have any sort of special affect, but the scientists are still trying to look into it and hope that someday this strange energy will be of help to mankind. Very interesting indeed… All right, let's go somewhere else. I'm done with viewing these meteorites."

"Missy, maybe you should pay a little bit more attention to our double act next time…" Pearl said to Platinum, but she seemed to ignore what he said.

As the trio began to leave, they spotted Red and Aya heading in their direction. Aya immediately waved at them saying, "Ayaya! It's those kids that we've met yesterday at the drained lake!"

"Hey, it's that girl from yesterday!" Pearl said. "I didn't expect to meet her here!"

The trio went up to Red and Aya and Platinum said to the tengu girl, "Well, we meet again."

"Ayaya! It's quite a surprise to see you here!" Aya said to her. "How's everything?"

"Everything's fine!" Pearl said cheerfully. "And where are your friends?"

"They went on a tour around the place by themselves."

Dia looked at Red and said, "Who is this guy?"

"Hello, I'm Red!" Red greeted him. "I'm the one who took Aya and her friends here for a tour!"

"Are you friends?" Pearl asked.

"Well, yeah… We've only got to know each other yesterday, and seeing how they are unfamiliar with this world… Um, I mean region… Anyway, since they are unfamiliar with this world, I've decided to take on a tour around this place."

"Red… I'm sure I know that name… Are you from Kanto?" Platinum asked Red.

Red nodded and said, "Yep, I'm from Kanto."

"Then you wouldn't happen to be the champion of Kanto's Pokemon League, right?"

Red nodded again. "Yep, that's me!"

Hearing this, Pearl became surprised and said in an excited voice, "Wow! You're Red, the champion of Kanto's Pokemon League! Whoa, I've never expected to run into a famous person like you! Please, shake my hand and give me an autograph!" He whipped out a miniature notebook and a pen from his bag and then handed it to Red.

"Okay, here's my signature, Red!" Red said as he put down his signature onto a page of the notebook. When he handed the notebook and the pen back to Pearl, he shook hands with him.

"Yes! I've shaken hands with a well known Pokemon trainer!" Pearl exclaimed happily.

Aya then went over to one of the craters and looked at the meteorite that is down there. "Oooh, what's this rock? Who cares? I'm going to take a picture of it!" She brought up her camera to take a picture of the meteorite, only to realize that the camera is out of film. She took out the film to look at it. "Ayaya, out of film…"

Red came over to her and asked her, "What's wrong?"

Aya showed him the film and asked him, "It's out of film. Do you know where they sell film like these around here?"

Red looked at the film for a few seconds and then told her, "I don't think they sell these kinds of things anywhere anymore…"

A question mark appeared over Aya's head. "Why's that?"

"Cameras that use film are out-of-date. Digital cameras have pretty much replaced them all."

"Digital camera... Sounds familiar… Is it the kind of camera that doesn't produce photos?"

"Yep, that's the kind. Instead, you will have to upload your pictures onto the computer and then print them out. That's how photos are published nowadays."

"Doesn't sound very useful… I prefer the good 'ol fashioned cameras; they're much more useful!"

* * *

"Wow! Look at those cute rabbit ears accessory!" a young woman exclaimed upon seeing Reisen's rabbit ears.

"Um…" The lunar rabbit was lost at words as the woman moved from place to place around her to look at those rabbit ears from all angles, and even touched them. "Would you mind…? I don't feel very comfortable like this…"

"Where did you buy them?" the woman asked her. "I really wanna buy these for my cute little Pachirisu so that he will become even cuter!" Just then, Cirno came passing by and when the woman saw her, she rushed behind the ice fairy to look at her icicle-like wings. "Wow! These wing accessories are just as awesome! They look like they're made of ice and even feel cold to touch! You really must tell me where you've bought them!"

"What's with this woman?" Cirno asked.

Reisen looked around nervously as she wasn't sure what to reply to the woman. She then laid her eyes upon Veilstone Department Store which is nearby and said to her, "Over there!"

"Veilstone Department Store? I didn't know they sell these over there! Thanks a lot!" the woman said before rushing towards the department store. "With those, my Pokemon are bound to win the Pokemon Super Contest for sure!"

After the woman entered the department store, Reisen sighed with relief. "Phew... This is what I am afraid of the most…"

"But at least you made her go away," Cirno said to her. "Cheer up!"

Suddenly, something shot down from the air and crashed onto the pavement really hard, so hard that a cloud of dust was kicked up into the air and everyone turned to look at it. When the cloud of dust cleared, Mesprit was seen standing back up from a miniature crater that the legendary Pokemon created after striking the pavement really hard.

"What is that thing?!"

"Is that a Pokemon?!"

"I have never seen any Pokemon like that before!"

Reisen and Cirno immediately recognized Mesprit however. "It's the Pokeymon that was attacked by bad guys from yesterday!" Cirno pointed out.

"What is it doing here?!" Reisen said in surprise.

Suddenly, several people dressed in black uniforms and hats showed up, and each of them has a capital letter 'R' imprinted on their shirts, and up in the air above them were several Zubat, Golbat, Koffing, and Weezing.

However, there were three people who stood out very much among the group. Both of them are dressed in white, but one of them was a man with bluish-green hair while the other one was a woman with red hair. The third person that stood out from the rest of the group was none other than Mars herself.

"Well, it looks like the legendary Pokemon isn't so legendary anymore!" said the man—Archer.

"After all, it has been on the run from us for quite a while already, so it has to have lost its strength," said the woman—Arianna.

Archer turned to look at Mars and said to her, "Looks like we'll have to thanks you for this, but now it is Team Rocket's turn to show you how things should be done!"

"Hmph! I don't see how you're any better than us!" Mars said to him, sounding unimpressed.

"Oh, is that what you think? Maybe you will have a change of opinion after seeing us catch Mesprit." Archer then stretched forth his hand and said to the Team Rocket grunts, "Everyone, attack that Mesprit until it is too weak to move!"

"Yes sir!" the Team Rocket grunts said simultaneously, and then the stretched forth their hands to make their Pokemon charge at Mesprit.

A Golbat dived at Mesprit and swung her right wing like a blade at the legendary Pokemon, but Mesprit quickly shot up into the air to avoid getting hit. The moment Mesprit stopped moving, a Weezing appeared in front of it and coughed out black sludge from his mouth. Mesprit quickly held up its arms to the front to create a greenish-blue barrier that protected it from the sludge.

When the spherical barrier disappeared, a swarm of Zubat showed up from all sides and cried loudly to release supersonic sound waves that made Mesprit's head hurt. While the legendary Pokemon was unable to concentrate due to its head hurting, the Weezing tackled it in the body really hard and then the same Golbat from earlier struck it in the back with her wing. The Mesprit spun through the air and then crashed onto the ground roughly.

"What are those people doing?!" one of the bystanders asked.

"They're ganging up together on that poor Pokemon!" said another.

"That's not how you catch a Pokemon!" said yet another bystander.

"I know who they are!" another random bystander shouted. "They're Team Rocket! I recognize that insignia on their shirts! They're a well known evil organization in Kanto and Johto! What are they doing here?!"

"Well, it looks like our fame reaches even to Sinnoh!" Archer said with delight. "Just look at the shocked expressions on their faces!"

"It sure does make me feel proud!" Ariana said. "But we have no time to talk about fame. Now that Mesprit is down, we should be capturing it before it attempts to escape again." She turned to look at Mesprit to see the Pokemon trying to get back up. "Still not down yet? This should put you in your place!" She took out a Pokeball and then threw it to send out a Vileplume. "Vileplume, use Sleep Powder to put Mesprit to sleep!"

The flower Pokemon nodded and then started to release green spores from the opening on the center of the flower on her head, but before she could unleash those spores, energy bullets flew into her face and caused her to flinch.

"Hey! Who did that to my Vilelpume?!" Ariana asked angrily after seeing her Pokemon getting hit. She turned to look at the attacker and saw that it was Reisen. "Hey you, little girl, how dare you attack my Pokemon?!"

"I won't let you capture that Pokemon!" Reisen said to her. "That Pokemon tried to escape its captors yesterday and succeeded, so I will not allow villains like you to try to capture it again!

"Yeah! I will not allow anyone to capture that Pokayman!" Cirno said. "Wait a minute… Is it Pokeymon or Pokayman? I know for sure that it isn't pronounced Pokeyman."

"I do not know who you are or what you did just now," Archer said to the two girls. "But you better not get in our way of completing our mission or else you will face consequences!"

Reisen pointed her finger at him and said, "You cannot intimidate me with that verbal threat of yours!"

"A brave little girl we have here, don't we?"

"I know those two girls! I remember seeing them at Hotel Grand Lake yesterday!" Mars pointed out.

"It doesn't matter who they are," Archer said as he reached for one of his Pokeballs. "Anyone who gets in the way of Team Rocket shall face consequences! If you are not threatened by verbal threats, then let me threaten you with physical threats instead!"

"Physical threats or verbal threats, we're not going to be intimidated by any of those!" said a new voice. Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw Reimu and her friends standing there. Red, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum were standing there as well.

"Team Rocket! I'd never though that you people would show up here of all places!" Red said. "It looks like you have teamed up with Team Galactic, am I right?"

"Well, if it isn't the champion of Kanto's Pokemon League!" Archer said. "You're also well known among Team Rocket for being the first person ever to defeat our boss in Pokemon battles and even made him disband Team Rocket temporarily!"

Red reached for one of his Pokeballs and said, "I'm going to bring down you villains here once and for all!"

"Oh yeah? What if it ends up being us who brings you down once and for all? We're going to strike you down in order to avenge for our boss! Go, Houndoom!" Archer threw out his Pokeball to send out his Houndoom.

Red was going to throw out one of his Pokeballs but Reimu stepped in front of him. "I'll deal with this," she said.

"Are you sure?" Red said to her. "But can you…?"

"Don't worry; I don't need any Pokemon to win this fight."

"Did I hear that right?" Archer said. "You said you're planning to bring me down without the usage of Pokemon? You must be kidding me!"

Reimu held up her gohei and said, "You better not underestimate me, or else you will be the one crying in the end."

"You sure talk big, don't you? Well, do not blame me if my Houndoom leaves behind painful bite marks on your body! Show her your power, Houndoom!" Archer said to his Pokemon. The dark Pokemon barked loudly before running towards Reimu, and then he pounced at her with his mouth wide open, ready to bite her.

"Watch out!" Pearl shouted at Reimu.

"Ascension Kick!" Reimu shouted as she performed a back flip and landed a kick into the Houndoom's chin, knocking the dark Pokemon back into the air, much to everyone's surprise.

The Houndoom wasn't without skill however; he managed to flip himself back upright in midair and then landed on all four feet. "Well, that was pretty impressive!" Archer said. "It looks like you're a pretty athletic girl!"

"And that is why I said you shouldn't underestimate me," Reimu said to him.

"In that case, how about you try to take down a large number of Pokemon at once?" Archer then raised his right arm into the air and the Zubat, Golbat, Koffing, and Weezing all showed up to charge at the girls.

"Incoming!" Nitori shouted.

The girls got into fighting stance to get ready to repel the incoming Pokemon, but Alice walked in front of everyone with a card held in her hand. "I'll take care of this," she said. She swiped her card across the air and made several armed dolls appear in the air.

Under her command, which consisted of arm and finger movements, the dolls charged at the incoming Pokemon to attack them. The dolls w were armed with rifles fired laser beams while the ones armed with melee weapons charged into the Pokemon to attack them from close range.

With experienced doll-controlling skills, Alice managed to amaze everyone as her dolls knocked down the Pokemon one by one. Some of the dolls were still taken out and destroyed by the Pokemon, but Alice's army of dolls was the one prevailing in the end.

"Amazing…" Red said in awe.

"Wow! I have never seen this kind of technique!" Pearl said with excitement.

"It sure is amazing all right!" Dia said with a mouthful of cracker.

"Amazing and artistic, I would say," Platinum commented.

As the dolls continued to fight the Pokemon, a new voice was suddenly heard. "What is all this about?" the voice said.

Everyone from Team Rocket and Mars turned around and looks of shock appeared on their faces when they saw that it was their respective leaders—Giovanni and Cyrus—standing behind them. "Boss!" Archer and Arianna gasped, and then they fell onto one knee to pay respect to Giovanni. The Team Rocket grunts also did the same while Mars bowed down in presence of Cyrus.

"I thought I told you to capture Mesprit," Cyrus said in serious tone. "Instead, I see you fighting some unnecessary people. You better give me a good explanation for why this is happening."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Archer and Ariana are the English names for Apollo and Athena respectively, the last two Team Rocket Executives fought in Goldenrod Radio Tower when Team Rocket took over it.

**Next chapter: The Road to Distortion**


	27. The Road to Distortion

Lately, I have been giving myself too much pressure working on this story. Admittedly, the habit of procrastination is starting to get onto me, and combined with the fact that I don't like to keep people waiting too long for the chapters, I end up staying up late at night just to rush out the next chapter, and as a result, the grammar and quality may sometimes be a bit poor and I even wake up in the middle of the night just to make sure that the chapter is done correctly and that nothing is missing.

My mother isn't too happy about my habit of staying up late at night, so I think I really should do something about this. One of the bigger problems that I have is the lack of patience. Sometimes, I rush out chapter just so I can see reviews for it fast, but now that I think of it, I really do not deserve those reviews if I rush out a chapter that has flaws.

From now on, I wish to get rid of the habit of procrastinating before it really gets onto me. Does this mean the chapters will come out faster than before? I cannot guarantee that, but I wish to dedicate myself into improving the quality of the story and make sure that everything in the chapter is done perfectly before uploading it. That way, I do not have to worry at night about whether or not I got that chapter done correctly and thus give myself a good sleep at night.

Anyway, I would like to thank you all for having the patience to wait for the chapters!

God bless you all!

**Note: There is a special extra at the end of the story, so please do not stop reading when you see the phrase 'TO BE CONTINUED'.**

**Chapter 26  
The Road to Distortion**

* * *

The appearance of the two team leaders was a surprise to everyone. "That's Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic!" one person said.

"I know that other person!" said another person. "He's the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni!"

"Giovanni…" Red said in disbelief. "So you have resurrected Team Rocket again…"

"And I am surprised to see you here, Red!" Giovanni said to him. "Are you enjoying your stay in Sinnoh before it disappears from the world?"

"Disappear from the world? Don't tell me…" Pearl said in shock.

"I'm going to recreate the world in my own image," Cyrys interrupted him. "This world is incomplete and it makes me feel sick. Last time, I failed thanks to the meddling of you kids, but now this will not happen again! Team Galactic has formed an alliance with Team Rocket in order to accomplish this goal successfully. Mesprit is the only lake guardian left to be captured, and once it is captured, I will be able to create the Red Chain and use it to control the legendary Pokemon of Mt. Coronet, and then the world you know it shall disappear from the face of the world!" As he said the last part of his line, his voice had already increased in volume and tone to the point he sounds like a madman. "And then my world shall come into existence—a world where I am its god and where the weak-spirited ones will not exist!"

"A world where you are god?" Marisa asked, and then she shook her head and waved her hand. "Nah, stop dreaming. I have never of mere humans becoming gods. That's totally not possible, so stop dreaming-ze."

"Right," Reimu said with a nod. "It is impossible for humans to become gods."

"And don't forget that Giratina will come out to stop you if you awaken Dialga and Palkia again!" Pearl reminded Cyrus. "You're only making history repeat itself! You're bound to fail in the end!"

"Pearl is right," Dia said with a mouthful of cracker.

"If you think that I'm going to allow the same thing to happen again," Cyrus said, "then how wrong you are! I am not going to make the same mistake again, so instead of using the Red Chain to summon and control Dialga and Palkia, I will use it to summon and control Giratina instead! With Giratina under my control, nobody will be able to interfere with me as I summon Dialga and Palkia afterwards. With all three legendary Pokemon under my control, the world that I long for shall be created! Thanks to the new technology given to us by a certain person, the Red Chain can be created much faster than before and also be used to summon Giratina, something that originally couldn't be done!"

"And having said that," Giovanni said as he turned to look at Mesprit who was getting back up and starting to fly away, "it is time we capture the Pokemon that we are looking for." He took out one of his Pokeballs and then threw. "Go, Beedrill!"

The Pokeball opened up to release a Beedrill, and under his master's command, the poison bee Pokemon flew towards the escaping Mesprit at high speed.

"Beedrill, strike down Mesprit with your signature move, Twineedle!"

Before Mesprit could get away, the Beedrill flew up to it and then started hitting it rapidly with his spear-like arms. Being a psychic-type Pokemon, Mesprit was really weak to the bug-type move and was jabbed in the body multiple times before falling back onto the ground. Mesprit was still twitching a bit and trying to get back up, but the Beedrill charged at it and pummeled it rapidly with Twineedle again until the emotion Pokemon finally fell unconscious.

"You monster!" Red yelled at Giovanni.

"Good," Cyrus said, sounding impressed. "Now that Mesprit has been knocked out, it is time to put it into the special capsule designed to store the lake guardians."

A Team Galactic grunt walked forward with a glass capsule in his hand and he opened its top. Electricity came out from the capsule interior and started pulling the unconscious Mesprit inside, but Red quickly threw out a Pokeball in the grunt's direction. "Stop him, Pika!"

The Pikachu came out from the Pokeball and launched a lightning bolt at the grunt and zapped him, making him cry and drop the capsule. Red then called out Saur and ordered him to catch Mesprit with his vines and bring the legendary Pokemon to a safer place. The Venusaur nodded and then released a pair of vines from the flower on his back, but before the vines came in contact with Mesprit, a Dugtrio shot up from underneath the legendary Pokemon and knocked it high up into the air.

"What?" Red gasped.

The Mesprit fell back down and right into the glass capsule that was in Archer's hands. "Good," he said. "We've caught Mesprit in the end!"

"Fufufu!" Giovanni laughed. "You're not fast enough, Red"

"Why you?" Red growled angrily. "Saur, use Vine Whip to take the capsule from them!"

The Venusaur was about to grab the capsule with his vines, but Giovanni's Beedrill charged at him and struck him in the face rapidly with Twineedle. While this was happening, Cyrus said to his men, "Now hurry up and take Mesprit back to the headquarters. We will not waste time in creating the Red Chain.

"Do as he says," Giovanni said to his men. "Go and do what you must do. I'll take care of everything here myself."

"Yes sir!" the Team Rocket and Team Galactic members said, and then they quickly headed in the direction of a large building in the distance.

Suddenly, Aya dropped down in front of the evil team members with her fan gripped tightly in her hands. "Oh no, you don't!" she said. "You're not getting away that easily!" With a swing of her fan, a powerful gust was created and the evil team members were blown back while the capsule flew off from Archer's hands and went backwards into the air.

"I'll get it!" Cirno said as she flew towards the airborne capsule. Just as she was going to catch it, Giovanni's Beedrill suddenly flew at her from below and jabbed her in the abdomen with one of his spear-like hands. "Ugh!" The ice fairy cried in pain as she held her hands over the wound inflicted on her abdomen, and then the Beedrill caught the capsule in between his spear-like hands and returned it to Archer.

"Just because you've got it back doesn't mean you can get away from here!" Aya said. She got ready to swing her fan again when suddenly Ariana's Vileplume shot out a purple blob from the flower on her head. The blob struck Aya's right arm and burned against her skin, causing the tengu girl to drop her fan and cry in pain. "YAH! IT BURNS!"

"Put her to sleep with Sleep Powder!" Ariana said to the Vileplume, and so the flower Pokemon fired a burst of green powder from the opening on her flower. When Aya was exposed to the green powder, she started to feel drowsy and not matter how hard she tried to stay awake, she eventually fell forward onto the ground, asleep. With Aya out of the way, the evil team members ran past her and continued on their way.

"Don't you think you can stop us so easily," Giovanni said. "Do you realize who you are dealing with here?"

"Bah, who cares?" Marisa said as she held up her broom like a gun. "Get ready for some flashy attacks of mines! Radial Strike!" Star-shaped projectiles were shot out in Giovanni's direction, but the Team Rocket leader simply smiled as he quickly dropped a Pokeball onto the ground before him.

The Pokeball opened and a Rhydon came out of it, and the star-shaped projectiles bounced off his belly harmlessly.

"What the?" Marisa said in shock.

Reimu took out a paper amulet and was about to throw it when suddenly the Dugtrio from earlier emerged from underneath her feet and made her fall backwards. "Whoa!"

Moving at a blinding speed, the Dugtrio charged at each of the girls and slash marks mysteriously appeared on their legs as the mole Pokemon went past them.

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

"Yah! My legs!" Sanae cried as she fell to the ground in pain.

"Why you!" Remilia cursed angrily as she tried to swing her claws at the Dugtrio, but the mole Pokemon disappeared into the ground at the speed equivalent to the blink of an eye. The mole Pokemon came back out from underneath Remilia as fast as he went into the ground and knocked the vampire girl high up into the air. "Whoa!"

Just as she was trying to recover, the Beedrill charged at her and started hitting her rapidly with his spear-like arms. "Ugh! You jerk!" Remilia shouted angrily as she tried to slash him with her claws, but the poison bee Pokemon zipped behind her in a blinding speed and continued hitting her in the back nonstop. Enraged, the vampire girl spun around to hit him, but the poison bee Pokemon quickly moved behind her again. Remilia wasn't fooled this time though. She did not swing her claws when she turned around to face the Beedrill; instead, she performed a 360-degrees spin and then slashed the Beedrill across his body, and the poison bee Pokemon was knocked out of the air like an insect exposed to insecticide and fell onto the ground.

After taking of care of the Beedrill, Remilia turned to face Giovanni and his Rhydon and then threw her parasol aside before charging at them. "You're next!" she said as she pulled back her right hand, ready to slash them with her claws. "Vampire Claw!" She swung her claws at the Rhydon, but the drill Pokemon raised his right arm and used it as a shield to block the attack. Quickly, the Rhydon grabbed Remilia's hand with his other arm and then swung the vampire girl in a full circle before flinging her across the place and through a building door.

CRASH!

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped upon seeing her mistress being knocked out. She angrily turned to the Rhydon and charged at him. "How dare you hurt Mistress Remilia? I shall avenge for her!" The gatekeeper ran up to the drill Pokemon and landed a powerful flying kick into his belly. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

The force of the kick was actually strong enough to make the Rhydon take a step back in pain, but before Meiling had the chance to pull back from her attack, the Rhydon quickly grabbed her by the head and then lifted her up into the air before slamming her back down forcefully.

"YAH!"

CRAAAAAAASH!

Suddenly, Saur swung a pair of vines that caught Rhydon by his right arm. Red then threw out another Pokeball to send out a Snorlax. "Go, Lax!" The Snorlax threw himself into the direction of the Rhydon to body slam him.

In an instant, Giovanni whipped out two Pokeballs and threw them both, and a Nidoking and a Nidoqueen appeared from those Pokeballs. The Nidoqueen got in front of Lax and held out her arms to stop the sleeping Pokemon in his tracks, and then they both wrestled against each other.

The Nidoking ran towards Saur and used his hands to tear down the vine that was holding onto Rhydon. Saur quickly moved back and fired razor-sharp leaves from the back of his flower at the Nidoking. The Nidoking held up his arms to block the incoming attacks and then he charged at Saur and threw a fiery punch into his face, making the seed Pokemon cry in pain and reeling back.

Meanwhile, the Nidoqueen suddenly unleashed a two kicks in a row into Lax's large belly and it hurt the Snorlax really bad as the move, Double Kick, is a fighting-type move while Lax is normal-type. Nidoqueen's tail glowed brightly with silver light and then she spun around to hit him with her tail really hard, knocking the sleeping Pokemon away.

SMASH!

"Lax! Saur!" Red cried.

"C'mon! We can't just stand here and do nothing!" Pearl said. "Let's call out our Pokemon to help them!"

"All right," Dia said with a nod. "Let's go them!" And so Dia and Pearl sent out their Torterra and Infernape respectively.

Seeing the newcomers approaching, Nidoking turned to face the both of them and when Chimhiko charged at him with a high-speed Mach Punch, the Drill Pokemon amazingly caught him by the fist and then squeezed it hard. When he let go of Chimhiko, the Infernape suddenly felt pain traveling down his arms and into his body, and then he fell onto one knee as if he is suffering.

"Chimhiko! What happened to you?" Pearl gasped.

"My Nidoking's ability is Poison Point," Giovanni explained. "He has a chance of poisoning anyone who attacks him directly, and that is exactly what happened to your Infernape!"

"Dammit!"

Wig opened his mouth and shot out seeds at the Nidoking, but the Nidoqueen got in front of him and then took the exploding seeds to herself. She emerged from the smoke unharmed however and then charged at the Torterra before he had the chance to escape and threw an icy punch into his face, freezing the continent Pokemon's head.

"Wig!" Dia gasped.

"Fufufu!" Giovanni laughed. "Now you know that you are still a far step away from beating me in a Pokeman battle!"

"Then you probably can't handle a direct battle!" Youmu said as she rushed at Giovanni. When she swung her sword at him, Giovanni displayed quick reflexes by bending his body backwards and then hopping back to a safer location. "What?"

"To be an expert Pokemon trainer," Giovanni explained, "one has to train his or her body as well. I bet you weren't expecting me to dodge that sword strike, right?"

"Strange Half-Body!" Youmu raised her hand underneath Myon and her phantom-half glowed with purplish-pink light before firing a barrage of shots at Giovanni, but he jumped out of the bullet's way.

"Interesting thing you've got there! That's not a Pokemon, is it? It would seem he is right about a group of girls traveling from world to world after all!"

Hearing this, the girls from Gensokyo became surprised. "How do you know that we are not from this world?" Youmu asked in surprise. "And you even know that we've been traveling to several worlds already!"

"Someone told us about it, that's all."

"I do not care who you girls are," Cyrus said, sounding unimpressed. "Anyone who gets in the way of my plans must suffer consequences."

"The only person who is suffering consequences here is you!" Alice said to him coldly. She moved her fingers and Shanghai appeared behind Cyrus with a sickle in her hand, ready to strike him in the back of his neck.

With an unfazed look, Cyrus held up a Pokeball behind his neck and opened the Pokeball to release a Weavile who quickly swung his claws at Shanghai before she had the chance to swing her sickle, and the doll was knocked back through the air.

After landing onto the ground behind his master, the Weavile turned to look at Alice and then charged at her at a high speed. Alice was about to jump out of the way herself when suddenly Youmu got in front of her to swing her sword at the Weavile. The Weavile's claws glowed with bright silver light when he swung them at Youmu's sword and he managed to block it.

Youmu pulled back and then swung her sword horizontally, but the Weavile leaped into the air and then fell towards Youmu to hit her with a downward slash from his claws. She quickly moved back but then the Weavile kept on moving in her direction while swinging his glowing claws rapidly and Youmu had to constantly block every blow. The Weavile suddenly sensed an incoming attack, and so he leaped back into the air to avoid a laser fired from a doll armed with a rifle.

"This Pokemon has very hard claws…" Youmu thought. "Normally swords should be able to cut through those things…"

"As long as Metal Claw is used," Cyrus explained to her, "the user can make his or her claws as hard as steel and not to mention as sharp as swords." Cyrus then looked up and saw more dolls in the air aiming their rifles at him. "Annoying things…" He took out another Pokeball and this one released a Honchkrow. "Honchkrow, use Heat Wave."

Under his master's command, the Honchkrow flew into the air and started to puff up his chest while a ball of orange light slowly formed in his mouth. Alice commanded the dolls to take aim at the big boss Pokemon, but before they could pull their rifle triggers, the ball of fire in the Honchkrow's mouth exploded and then he exhaled a heated breath. The heated breath struck the dolls and instantly burned them to crisps, and then the dolls fell to the ground, some of them breaking into pieces. "My dolls!" Alice gasped.

Suddenly, Cyrus received a phone call and so he took out his cell phone to answer it, "Hello?"

"Hello? Boss, this is Saturn speaking!" said the voice of Saturn from the other side of the cell phone. "The Red Chain has been created! We can now head out to begin our operation!"

"Good; head to Turnback Cave then. I will go there with Giovanni first, and you better not keep me waiting for too long after I get there."

"We're on it, boss! We won't disappoint you for sure!" Saturn said before ending the phone call.

"Well, it would seem that everything is going smoothly, eh?" Giovanni said to Cyrus while giving his Beedrill a small, yellow spiky object. The Beedrill consumed the spiky object and instantly felt strength returning to his body.

"It's time to put an end to this pointless fight," Cyrus said to him. "Finish them at once."

"As you wish!"

"Whatever you're doing, I won't let you!" Reimu shouted as she ran toward Giovanni, ready to hit him with her gohei. Before she could get near him however, the newly revived Beedrill charged at her with a blinding speed and attacked rapidly with his spear-like arms. Reimu desperately swung her gohei around to block the attacks, but ultimately couldn't keep up with the poison bee Pokemon's attacking speed and was struck in various parts of the body before falling back onto the ground. "Ugh!"

Giovanni then turned to face his four ground-type Pokemon and said to them, "All right, let's finish this with your strongest attacks! Use Fissure!"

"Fissure? That one-hit KO ground-type move?" Red gasped. He turned to the others and said to them, "Run as fast as you can away from here! Or stay airborne if you can!"

"I am airborne!" Cirno said, but suddenly, Cyrus's Honchkrow charged at her before she could react and rammed his beak into her abdomen really hard, knocking her backwards and eventually crashing onto the pavement. "Ow!"

The three heads of the Dugtrio started bobbing up and down separately while the Rhydon, Nidoking, and Nidoqueen stomped the pavement as hard as they could.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

This created a powerful earthquake that could be felt throughout the entire city. Instantly, massive cracks spread throughout the place and large fissures were created. "What the heck?" Reimu said in shock.

A fissure opened up underneath the Gensokyo girls as well as the trainers, and because this came so suddenly, they had no time to get out of the way and thus fell into the bottom of the fissure. "YAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Missy, watch out!" Dia shouted at Platinum as he threw himself at her to push her away to safety, but Dia himself fell into the fissure as a result. "Whoa!"

"Diamond!" Platinum gasped. Behind her, a lamppost lost its footing due to the shaking and fell over on top of her. "YAAAA!"

As the shaking continued, buildings all over the place started to break apart and even sink into the ground slightly. The citizens screamed and ran for their lives to avoid falling into the fissures, and people who were inside buildings came running out like crazy. It was as if a disastrous earthquake had struck Veilstone City.

After a while, the shaking stopped and all was at peace, but the sight of the ruined city was proof that a powerful artificial earthquake had once happened here.

"Oops, looks like things went a little bit overboard," Giovanni said with a wicked smile.

"It doesn't matter," Cyrus said with an expressionless face. "The recreated world has no need for cities and locations of the old, so the destruction of this place is most welcomed. Well then, let us go to Turnback Cave right now."

"I agree with you," Giovanni said as he called back all his Pokemon into his Pokeballs. "So how are we going to get there in a short amount of time?"

"My Pokemon shall carry you if you wish," Cyrus said as he released his Crobat from another Pokeball. Under Cyrus's command, the Crobat flew above Giovanni and the Team Rocket leader grabbed onto the Crobat's stubby pair of feet and the bat Pokemon flapped his wings to carry him into the air. As for Cyrus, he grabbed with one hand onto one of his Honchkrow's talons and the big boss Pokemon flapped his wings to fly into the air.

As the two evil team leaders ascended into the air with the help of their Pokemon, Giovanni looked down at the girls and the trainers who were at the bottom of the fissure and said, "I had a fun time fighting you, but this is it for now! If you think you have what it takes to stop us, then come to Turnback Cave and we will have another fight!"

"Whether they come or not," Cyrus said, "nothing will change." And then they flew away into the distance.

Shortly afterwards, Officer Looker and a large group of policemen came running over to the scene of the earthquake aftermath. "We're too late!" Looker said. "The villains got away before we got here and they even wrecked up this city! This is unforgivable!" He turned to the other policemen and said to them, "Hurry up and call the ambulances and the rescue squad! This place is in dire need of help!"

"We'll get to it right away, Officer Looker!" one of the policemen answered before getting down to business.

Looker went up to one of the fissures and looked down it to see the Gensokyo girls and the trainers lying down there, seemingly unconscious. "Can you hear me?" Looker called out loudly to them. "Are you awake? Hello?"

Red was the first to open his eyes and after he slowly sat back up and rubbed his head, the others started to get up one by one as well. "Ow… It hurts…" he groaned.

"Good! You're still alive!" Looker said with relief. "Wait a moment! We'll get you out of there real soon!" He then looked to the side and saw Platinum lying on the pavement with a lamppost lying on top of her. "Miss Berlitz!" He ran over to her and with the help of some policemen, managed to get the lamppost off of her back.

Platinum slowly sat back up and rubbed her back saying, "Ow… My back hurts… Is my spine still all right?"

Meanwhile, the Gensokyo girls managed to climb back up to the surface by themselves, as well as Red. Reimu took a look at the wrecked city and said, "This is even worse than what Tenshi can do…"

"Well, she might be able to create a worse earthquake," Youmu told her. "But as far I know, she never really caused that much destruction asides from destroying your shrine."

"Please do not remind me about that…"

"Hey! A little help here please-ze!" shouted the voice of Marisa. The other girls looked down the fissure to see that Marisa and Sanae were still down there. "We can't climb up there by ourselves-ze!"

* * *

Soon afterwards, the rescue squad was busy throughout the entire city, trying to clean up the place as well as helping the injured people.

Meiling placed her hand onto Remilia's shoulder and said to her, "Are you all right, Mistress Remilia?"

Remilia took huge gulp of water from a bottle and rinsed her mouth before spitting it out onto Meiling's face. "Ptooey! Yuck! Of all the things that I had to fall into my mouth when I crashed into the cupboard of that house, it had to be garlic! I hate garlic more than anything, even more so than sunlight!"

Aya let out a yawn and then rubbed her eyes saying, "That was a good sleep… I can't believe I slept through an earthquake…"

As Platinum rubbed her back, Dia walked to her and asked her, "Are you all right, Missy?"

"It doesn't hurt as much as earlier anymore," she replied. "But it's still a bit painful…"

Pearl walked up to Youmu and asked her, "I've wanted to ask you this… What is that white thing that is floating around you?"

Youmu looked at Myon and told him, "That's my phantom-half."

"What?"

"Well, I think you've already heard from that villain earlier that my friends and I are not from this world, and in our world, there are a lot of species that you do not find elsewhere, even in your world."

"I see… Strange…"

"I thought it was a helium balloon, but the string is too thin to be seen," Platinum said. "That's why I didn't ask anything about it."

"So they've headed to Turnback Cave?" Looker asked Red, who nodded in response.

"Yes, they want to summon Giratina and the control it," Red told him. "That's why I'm heading to that place right now in order to stop them!"

"Good, you go there fast and stop those villains from succeeding! Meanwhile, we will go to the Team Galactic Headquarters to see if we can find anything there. I'd never thought that they would make their base there once again… I originally they wouldn't be dumb enough to make base in an old place as that would make the police find them easily…" He looked at the wreckage of the city and then said, "The Team Rocket leader must've used very Pokemon in order cause such a large-scale damage… It's almost as if a natural earthquake struck this place…"

"Giovanni of the Land… That's what he calls himself…" Red explained. "He used to be a ground-type gym leader, so creating powerful earthquakes like this is what his Pokemon do best…"

"Whatever the case is, you better go to Turnback Cave now. You must stop both Team Rocket and Team Galactic at once!"

"I'm on it!" Red said as he began to take his leave.

"Travel down Route 214 and pay attention to your left. You will eventually find a path that leads to Sendoff Spring. At the shore on the center of the lake, you will find the entrance to Turnback Cave, but be careful; I've heard that it very easy to get lost inside Turnback Cave, so you should be careful."

"Got it! I'm on my way!" Red got ready to leave again but then he heard Reimu calling out to him.

"Wait a minute! We're coming with you!" Reimu said to him.

Red turned to her and asked, "Are you sure you're coming along? I don't mind if you do since it would be nice to have some help."

"Yeah, we figured that you probably can't take on all those bad guys at once-ze," Marisa said. "So we might as well tag along with you to help you out-ze!"

"And since we've been getting ourselves into situations that does not concern us in the previous worlds, we might as well just do the same thing here," Youmu said. "Plus, I admit I wouldn't like to sit back and do nothing while the world falls apart due to those villains' evildoings."

Red nodded and said, "All right then! Thank you all for your support! Let's all go to Turnback Cave to stop Team Rocket and Team Galactic from taking control of Giratina!"

"We'll go to Team Galactic's hideout instead," Pearl said to Red. "The lake guardians might still be trapped in there."

"Right, once we've rescued the lake guardians, they will be able to help you stop the legendary Pokemon in case Cyrus managed to gain control of Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina," Dia said with a nod.

"History is repeating itself, isn't it?" Platinum asked.

"But missy, the incident that happened last time wasn't really that long ago..."

"All right; let's get moving!" Looker said to everyone. "We don't have time to waste! Let us to an end to Team Rocket and Team Galactic's evil plans once and for all!"

* * *

It didn't take too long for Red and the girls to find the path leading to Sendoff Spring—the Spring Path.

After traveling down the short and simple path, they arrived at a mountain which they had to climb. Once at the top of the mountain, they discovered a valley which contained the lake at the bottom and at the far side of the lake was a miniature shore that had a cave opening on the wall. "That must be Turnback Cave," Red thought.

They made it to the bottom of the cliff and when they got in front of the lake, Red called out Turtley and the Blastoise jumped into the water in order to carry people on his back. "Turtley can't carry too much people at once," Red told the girls, "but he can take a few people at once to that side and then come back to pick the remaining ones again."

"Don't worry about me," Nitori told him. "I can swim across to the other side by myself. I love swimming!"

"And three of us here can fly," Aya told him. "So we will get there by ourselves first."

Reisen let out a sigh and said, "If only we have regained our abilities to fly…" The moment she said the word 'fly', her feet suddenly took off from the ground and she found herself hovering in midair. "Hey! I can fly already!"

"Really-ze?" Marisa said in surprise. She got onto her broom and then levitated into the air. "What do know know? We can fly at last-ze!"

"I guess it's true," Reimu said when she floated into the air as well. "That makes things a lot useful!"

"Heheh, how useful it would be if I can fly around freely like that as well!" Red said. "All right; let's head over to the other side now!"

Red surfed on top of Turtley to the other side while the girls flew alongside him, but Nitori was the only that swam by herself as she had mentioned earlier that she loves swimming. Once at the shore, Red called Turtley back into his Pokeball and then went into the cave with the girls.

The moment they stepped inside Turnback Cave, they were greeted with a bunch of Team Rocket and Team Galactic grunts. "Intruders have appeared!" the grunts said as they pulled out their Pokeballs. "Get them at once!"

Red took out one of his Pokeballs while the girls got into fighting stance. "Get ready! Here they come!" Red said.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I really enjoyed typing the part where Giovanni's Pokemon battle the Gensokyo girls and the trainers! I hope you found that part enjoyable as well! Expect to see some exciting Pokemon battles in the next chapter!

As promised, the special extra is just below the preview title, so read on!

**Next chapter: The Rocket that Soars through the Galaxy**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Like most stories, there were some ideas tossed to and fro before the final version was released. As I was deciding the eleven starring girls of this story, there were also some other Touhou characters that were thought up but didn't make the cut in the end. Below are characters that were candidates for the story, but didn't make it in the end.

**Sakuya:** Admittedly, I'm not that big of a fan of her, and I also find her time-manipulating powers a bit too cheap. Imagine freezing her opponent in his or her track and then walking up to him or her to score a fatal blow from her knives… But even with this cheap ability, you have to wonder how she isn't one of the most powerful characters in the series…

**Mokou: **I really might've used her if it wasn't for her immortality. Even though none of the girls will die in this story (OMG, spoilers!), they will still suffer from fatal blows that leave them in near-death experiences, but Mokou's situation is entirely different. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY she can die and she can even regenerate from a single hair strand! The 4-koma series 'Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth' also shows that her favorite fighting style involves allowing herself to get hit in order to take advantage of her immortality. However, she is still vulnerable to feeling pain, but you have to agree that immortality alone makes her a really cheap and unfair character. Admittedly, it would've been cool to see her fight with fire in this story as well as seeing her awesome fiery wings.

**Keine: **While it would've been hilarious to see her headbutting her opponents, I thought her ability to manipulate history is a bit too cheap. She can make people think that something doesn't exist in history, such as making Cyrus think that the legendary Pokemon do not exist so that he would never think about recreating the world using them. It's true that she cannot do things like preventing those legendary Pokemon from existing in the first place, but she can make people believe that they do not exist so that there would be no historical records of such Pokemon existing even though they do exist.


	28. The Rocket that Soars through the Galaxy

I made a mistake regarding Adrianna's name; she's actually called Ariana. This spelling mistake has been corrected in the previous chapters as well.

**Chapter 27  
The Rocket that Soars Through the Galaxy**

* * *

A chaotic battle was happening inside the entrance of Turnback Cave as Red and the Gensokyo girls fought against the Pokemon sent out by the Team Rocket and Team Galactic grunts.

Even though the evil teams' Pokemon were getting knocked down over and over by Red's Pokemon and the Gensokyo girls, they kept on getting back as their trainers constantly used healing and stat-enhancing items on them.

"Pika! Use Thunderbolt!" Red commanded his Pikachu. After Pika shocked a group of group of Rattata and Raticate, Red said, "These guys won't give up at all! We're only wasting our time if we keep on fighting them here!"

Youmu took out some Ekans and Arbok with a swing of her sword and said, "I'll keep them busy! The rest of you head deeper into the cave first!"

"That's a good idea!" Reimu said while whacking a Koffing in the face using her spiritually-enhanced gohei. "Keep them busy, Youmu!"

"Leave it to me! Lotus Stance Cut!" Youmu slashed in the direction of the grunts that were standing in front of the passage leading to the deeper area of the cave and shot out a green cross-shaped sword beam. The grunts were surprised to see the large projectile coming towards them and so they got out of the fast to avoid getting hit. "Go now!"

"Let's head through that door!" Red said, and so they headed towards the passage that was at the far end of the room rather than the ones on the sides of the room. They went in one by one, but Meiling stopped in front of the passage and turned to look at Youmu who was still fighting the Pokemon by herself. Meiling got into fighting stance and said to Remilia who was standing in the passage, "You go on ahead, Mistress Remilia! As a gatekeeper, I will do my duty of guarding this passage and not let the enemies inside!"

"Okay, do whatever want," Remilia said to her as she went to catch up with the others. "And make sure you do it properly!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"They got away!" a random Team Rocket grunt shouted. "After them!"

Some of the grunts ran with their Pokemon towards the passage, but Meiling took her stance and said, "You're not passing through me! Hiya!" With her leg covered in rainbow-colored aura, she performed a roundhouse kick that knocked away the villains who tried to get pass her.

* * *

Red emerged from the passage and found himself inside another room, and when he looked around the place, he found three more passage on the other three sides of the room. "There seems to be more passages around here…" he thought. "I wonder which one we have to go through. What do you think?" He turned to ask the girls but didn't see them at all. "Hey, where'd they go? They were following me earlier…"

* * *

Reimu and Marisa emerged into a large room that was filled with rocks of all shapes and sizes, but for some reason, they were the only ones that emerged into this room while their comrades were nowhere to be seen. "Where did they go-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Strange… Were there branching paths in the passage?" Reimu wondered.

"I don't know… We went straight ahead and followed the light at the front end, but I don't see any of them asides from you now…"

Reimu looked around to see three more passages. "Looks like there are still more passages leading to other rooms… Which one do you think we should choose?"

"I don't know. Let's just pick whichever we want to, what do you say-ze?"

"Yeah, whatever you say," Reimu replied with a nod.

They ran towards the passage that was at the far end of the room. After emerging at the other side of the room, Reimu saw a large pillar situated in the center. "There doesn't seem to be anything in this room," she thought, and when she looked around, she noticed that Marisa wasn't with her anymore. "Marisa? Where are you? Marisa?" She looked into the passage but didn't find her there as well. "Marisa? Marisa? Marisa?"

"Dazee…? Where did Reimu go…?" Marisa wondered as she looked around the room that was filled with nothing but rocks. "I could've sworn I was moving behind her the whole time-ze…"

* * *

Cirno and Sanae emerged into a room that contained nothing but rocks and looked around the place. "Where is everybody?" Sanae wondered. "How did we get separated from them?"

"They got lost, I think," Cirno said. "Geez, getting lost at times like these…"

"Maybe we are the ones who got lost… Um… Let's take the passage on the left, what do you say?"

"Whatever you say," Cirno said with a nod, and so they headed into the passage on the left.

Shortly after they left the room, Nitori came into the room and looked around the place. "Aya? Alice? Where are you? Strange… They disappeared all of a sudden even though we were traveling close to each other…"

* * *

"Aya? How did you end up next to me?" Aya asked Remilia as they both emerged from the same passage and into a room with a pillar situated in the center of it.

"I was going to ask you that," Remilia told her. "I somehow ended up traveling with Alice, but she disappeared after we went into one of the passages together, and now you're standing next to me instead of her."

"Strange… I was with Alice and Nitori a while ago... We're getting separated from each other constantly, and all the rooms resemble each other as well… There's something strange with this place if you ask me…"

* * *

"Okay… What are you doing here-ze…?" a confused Marisa asked Cirno who was standing next to her.

Cirno shrugged and said, "I don't know. A short while ago, I was with Sanae, but I got separated from her somehow and ended up with Reisen before finally ending up with you."

"That's really strange-ze… First, I followed everyone into the passage, but they all disappeared except for Reimu. Next, I got separated with her and so traveled by myself, and then I ran into Red, so I traveled with him. Next, I came across some random guy with green hair who seems to be a villain because his shirt has the letter 'R' on it…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Proton was lying beaten up on the floor with a knocked out Golbat next to him. "What was with that girl…?" he mumbled. "She threw a pot at me, and then the next thing I knew… it went kaboom…"

* * *

"And then I ended up with you," Marisa said, concluding her 'story'.

"Geez, you must have a really bad sense of direction to keep on getting separated from everyone else!" Cirno told her.

"Tell that to yourself if you keep on getting separated from the others as well! I think it's safer to say that this place is… abnormal-ze..."

* * *

As Youmu and Meiling continued to beat up the Team Rocket and Team Galactic grunts' Pokemon, Reisen emerged from the passage that Meiling was guarding. "Hey, I'm back at the entrance, am I?" Reisen asked.

Meiling turned to face her and said, "Reisen! What are you doing back here?"

"Um… I don't know… I got separated from the others somehow and thus ran around by myself to find my way around this place, and then the next thing I knew, I am back here… Did you see the others?"

"Nope," Meiling said while punching a Koffing in the face. "Asides from Youmu, that is."

"All right… I'll go back in there to look for them again…" Reisen said before disappearing into the same passage.

Meiling continued to beat up her opponents when suddenly another person emerged from the passage that Reisen just went into. "Hey! I'm back at the entrance!" the man with purple hair said. "And what's going on here?"

Meiling turned around to face him and said, "Who are you? Wait, you're wearing the same kind of clothes as those people! You're one of the bad guys!"

"Who are you?" the man asked. "Wait a minute... From the sight of our team members getting beaten up, you must be people who are trying to stop us!"

Meiling got into fighting stance and said, "You bet!"

"Very well! You're asking for it then!" the man said as he took out a Pokeball. "Consider yourself unlucky to run into one of the Team Rocket executives, Petrel! Get ready to… OOF!" He never got to finish his line or throw his Pokeball as Meiling landed a flying against into his abdomen before any of those happened.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The man named Petrel was sent flying back into the same passage he came out from. "How'd you like that?" Meiling said as she did a victory stance.

Suddenly, Aya showed up from the passage on the left and witnessed Youmu beating up her opponents. "Hey! What am I doing back here at the entrance?" the tengu girl said.

Youmu turned to face her and asked her," What are you doing back here, Aya?"

"That's what I wondering about too! How did I get back here? Where are the others anyway? I still haven't found any of them yet and even if I did, they would disappear without a trace after I traveled with them into a passage!"

"What do you mean?"

"It seems that this place can make us become separated just by entering the passages… I still cannot figure out how to get around this place, and to make matters worse, the passages may even lead us back into the same room!"

"That's strange… This place sure is something…"

"Anyway, I'll go back in there to see if I can find the others. You keep an eye on this place for any possible appearances of our comrades, okay?"

"Okay," Youmu said with a nod while avoiding an s-shaped wind blade fired at her by a Golbat.

Shortly after Aya left, Alice stepped out from the same passage the tengu girl disappeared into. "Isn't this the first room we came into when we entered this cave?" she asked.

* * *

Cyrus emerged into a room with a pillar and looked at it saying, "This would be the second pillar. Only one more pillar before I find Giratina." He entered into the passage on his right and emerged into a room filled with rocks. "28th room… I will need to find the third pillar before I go through the 30th room; otherwise I will be sent back to the entrance."

* * *

Reisen emerged into a room filled with nothing but rocks, and she even saw Marisa coming out with Sanae and Cirno from the passage on the left while Remilia emerged from the one on the right. "Marisa, Sanae, Cirno, and Remilia!" Reisen shouted. "Where have you been?"

"Like heck I would know-ze!" Marisa told her. "I'm even surprised that I've emerged from the passage with Sanae and Cirno, and I even got separated from Cirno earlier!"

"Well, it looks like I've found some of you," Remilia said. "But who knows? We might get separated from each other again the moment we entered into one of those passages."

"Well, look who we have here!" said a familiar-sounding voice. The three girls turned to the source of the voice and saw Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn standing in front of another passage. "It would seem that some intruders have showed up!" said Jupiter.

"And they happen to the same girls that I've met at Lake Valor," Saturn said.

"They were also present at Hotel Grand Lake and Veilstone City if I remember correctly," Mars added. "Don't tell me that they followed us all the way here? Great, as if getting separated from the boss isn't enough!"

"Hey, it's those people from Team Galactic-ze," Marisa said. "Never thought we would run into them!"

Jupiter took out a Pokeball and said, "I've heard that the boss is being annoyed by some brats, and I have every reason to believe that you are the ones."

"You're going to regret coming against us as well as coming here," Saturn said as he took out his Pokeball. "We shall show you the true terror of Team Galactic!"

"Get ready to meet your makers, brat!" Mars said, taking out all three of her Pokeballs.

The Gensokyo girls quickly gathered together and got into fighting stance. "All right, if it's a fight you're asking for," Marisa said, "you're going to get it-ze!"

"Don't underestimate us!" Sanae said as she held up in gohei.

"I'm the strongest, so there's no way I'm going to lose to the likes of you!" Cirno said with her arms crossed.

"Oh really? I'd like to see what you little girls can do!" Jupiter said as she threw her Pokeball to release a Skuntank. After that, she got out her remaining two Pokeballs to release her Bronzong and Crobat as well.

"Fine, I'll send out all my Pokemon as well!" Saturn said as he took out two more Pokeballs, and then he released his Croagunk, Bronzong, and Crobat.

"You can have them all!" Mars said as she threw all three of her Pokeballs to send out her Purugly, Bronzong, and Crobat.

As the nine Pokemon gathered together to battle, the Gensokyo girls got into fighting stance. "Here they come!" Marisa said.

"I'll take on those three bats," Remilia said. "The rest of you can take care of the others if you want to."

"So you feel like fighting someone that is related to you somehow? Suit yourself-ze! All right, let's get this show on the road-ze!"

* * *

Aya emerged into a room and saw Nitori coming out from the passage on the left. She waved at the kappa girl and said, "Nitori, where have you been?"

Nitori shrugged and shook her head as response. "I don't know. I simply ran around the place and eventually ended up in this room with you."

"Oh look! We've got company!" said a voice. Aya and Nitori looked at the where the voice came from and saw Archer and Ariana standing in front of a passage. "Wouldn't the two of you happen to be the same girls that tried to get in our way back in Veilstone City?" Ariana asked.

"They sure are," Archer said. "Looks like they've come to stop us, but it will be us who are going to stop them instead!"

Nitori ran up to Aya who said to those two Team Rocket executives, "Oh really? I have every reason to believe that we are the ones who are going to stop you instead!"

"Right! We'll take you down together!" Nitori said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Platinum and her two followers as well as the members of the International Police had just made their way into the deepest part of Team Galactic Headquarters and came into the room where the lake guardians were imprisoned. "There they are!" Dia said, pointing to the three separate capsules that each of the lake guardians was imprisoned in.

"Quick! Let's get them out of their prisons at once!" Pearl suggested. "I bet we only have to press that red button on the controller over there to free them!"

The trainers ran up to the aforementioned controller and Platinum pressed the clichéd red button there. After the button was pressed, the capsules that were containing the lake guardians opened up their lids by themselves. Instantly, the lake guardians felt strength returning to themselves and then they floated out from the capsule and looked at the three young trainers as if they were giving their thanks to them, and then the lake guardians immediately rushed out of the room and went down the hallway while the members of the International Police watched on.

"Good, we have rescued Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf!" Looker said. "I have a feeling that they must be heading out to stop Team Galactic and Team Rocket from accomplishing their plans."

"Things sure went pretty smoothly, didn't it?" Pearl asked. "We didn't even run into any of the bad guys at all!"

"Yeah, but it's a bit strange if you ask me," Dia commented.

Looker placed his hand underneath his chin and said, "Now that you've mentioned it, it's very strange indeed… How on earth did the Team Rocket and Team Galactic members move out from this place so fast? We should at least run into them at the building's entrance even if they were planning to leave as early as they could. It's as if they took some kind of secret passage to get out of here…"

"Yeah, you have a point there…" Pearl said. "It's very strange that they managed to leave this place so fast…"

"Do you think we should still be standing here and doing nothing?" Platinum asked. "What about the others who went to stop villains first?"

"Right! We should head to Turnback Cave now that our job here is complete!" Looker suggested. "C'mon, let's head out at once!"

As they were heading out of the room, they suddenly spotted a man sitting behind a very high tech-looking podium. "Well, it looks like some rats came in here! And regarding the secret passage you said earlier, you are not entirely wrong about that either!" the man said.

Because not all the lights in the hallway were turned on, it was a bit dark and the man's face was mostly hidden in the shadow, though one could make out that he had a thin moustache and was shuffling a deck of cards in his hands.

* * *

**BGM: Galactic Admin Battle (Pokemon D/P/Pt)**

Remilia rushed at the three Crobat and swung her claws to attack them. "Vampire Claw!" But the bat Pokemon moved out of the way swiftly and then the each of them spread out in different directions.

Saturn's Crobat flew back towards Remilia and swung her wing at the vampire girl, but Remilia quickly flew up into the air avoid getting hit. The moment she stopped in midair, Jupiter's Crobat flew at Remilia to hit her with her wing as well. Remilia quickly countered by swinging her claws at the Crobat's wing, but the Crobat hardened both her wings and made them as hard as steel before clashing with Remilia's claws violently.

Mars's Crobat then appeared from behind and charged at Remilia with her mouth wide open, ready to bite her. Suddenly, Remilia spun around and slashed her claws at the Crobat's face, knocking her out of the way. Remilia then moved back before Jupiter's Crobat had the chance to hit with her wings and then the vampire girl held out her right hand and shot out red bat-shaped projectiles.

The Crobat got out of the way and headed for Remilia again to hit her with her wings. Remilia held up her hand and readied to swing her claws at her, but suddenly Saturn's Crobat shot up from above to hit Remilia with her hardened wing. This took Remilia by surprise and she was struck from bottom to top in front of her body by the tip of the Crobat's wing. "What the?"

Before she had the chance to fully recover, Jupiter's Crobat swung her wing at Remilia and struck her hard in the abdomen using Steel Wing.

"Ack!" The vampire flew back through the air and rammed into the wall.

BANG!

"Ugh… Try to piss me off, will you?" Remilia growled angrily as she got off from the wall and remained hovering in midair.

"I'm going to freeze ya, froggy!" Cirno said. She shot out a white beam from her palm at Saturn's Toxicroak, but the toxic mouth Pokemon jumped into the air and then fell towards Cirno with her right arm pulled back into the air. Cirno quickly jumped out of the way when the Toxicroak slammed down her fist at her. "Whoa! I can't believe you've managed to dodge my ice beam! You're the first frog ever to do so! Well, Suwako managed to avoid my attacks several times, but I'm not really sure if she can be considered a frog…"

The Toxicroak ran up to her and threw a punch, but Cirno quickly dodged aside. The Toxicroak continued to throw punches and kicks at the ice fairy and landed a kick into her body.

"Ow!" Cirno cried as she fell back onto the ground. When she saw the Toxicroak heading for her again, she quickly fired a barrage of icicles from her palm at the incoming toxic mouth Pokemon. The Toxicroak swiftly dodged aside and then jumped at Cirno and swung a fist at her, punching her away in the face. Cirno tumbled roughly onto the ground but came to a stop and said, "You mean froggy! This is the first time a frog has beaten me up like this, not counting that one time when a giant frog ate me! I'm going to show you that I am the strongest and that no frog can make fun of me!" She held out both her arms and fired a rapid burst of icicles. "Icicle Machine Gun!"

The Toxicroak ran towards the incoming icicles and jumped into the air right before they hit her and went all the way over Cirno. As the toxic mouth Pokemon fell back down, she spun around right before her feet touched the ground and stabbed Cirno in the back using the spike on her hand.

"YAH!" The ice fairy cried in pain and fell forward, landing on face. When she got back up while groaning painfully, she placed her hand on her back and then looked at her hand to see a mixture of blood and purple liquid. "What… is this…?"

"You have been poisoned by Poison Jab," Saturn explained to her. "Unless you take an antidote in time, the poison will slowly weaken you until you are too weak to get back up! Don't worry; the poison isn't a very powerful one and therefore will not take affect so fast."

Cirno tried to ignore the pain and slowly stood back up. "I'm the strongest!" she said. "I'm not going to fall to any poison, especially if it comes from a frog! I'll never let a frog beat me!"

"Oh really? You have some neat skills all right, but that will not save you! Toxicroak, give her another taste of your Poison Jab!"

The Toxicroak ran towards Cirno with her arm pulled back and then threw a punch into the ice fairy's body.

"Cirno!" Sanae gasped upon seeing the ice getting hit.

"Do you really have time to care about other people?" Jupiter said to her.

Sanae quickly looked in front of her to face Jupiter's Skuntank as she breathed out a stream of fire in her direction, and Sanae quickly rolled out of the way to avoid getting burned.

Meanwhile, Saturn thought that his Toxicroak had landed a successful blow onto Cirno. "Good job! Well, little girl, how do you feel know? It's got to hurt, right?"

Suddenly, the Toxicroak's arm slowly froze over and then the toxic mouth Pokemon quickly pulled back and panicked at the sight of her frozen arm.

Saturn was shocked by the sight of this. "What the?"

Cirno turned to him with a smirk on her face and explained, "I caught her hand just before it hit my body and then froze her arm, simple as that!" She then turned to face the Toxicroak and held up both her arms. "All right, time for you to freeze up, froggy! Freeze Beam!" A white three-way beam shot out from her hand and the beam in the center struck the Toxicroak, instantly encasing her in a block of ice while the other two beams struck the wall and froze a portion of it.

"What have you done to my Toxicroak?" Saturn shouted angrily.

Cirno got behind the frozen Toxicroak and said as she gave the block of ice a strong push, "Froze her, can't you see? You can have her back if you want to! Here, take this!"

The ice block slid towards Saturn and struck him before he had the chance to escape, pushing him all the way to the wall behind him.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The block of ice shattered into pieces and both Saturn and his Toxixcroak were knocked out on the ground. Cirno crossed her arms and laughed, "Hahahahahaha! Now you know why I am the strongest!"

Mars and Jupiter looked at the unconscious Saturn and Jupiter said, "Tsk, how shameful… Losing to a little girl who doesn't even use a Pokemon… How worse can he get?"

"At least we are still around to avenge for him," Mars said. She turned to look at her Purugly who had just performed a body slam at Reisen, but the lunar rabbit leaped out of the way to avoid getting crushed underneath the tiger cat Pokemon's obese body. "Purugly, go and get that little girl dressed in blue!"

The Purugly obeyed her master's order and then ran towards Cirno. "Wait! I'm your opponent!" Reisen said to tiger cat Pokemon. "Cirno, be careful!"

Cirno got into a fighting stance when the Purugly ran towards her and said, "Bring it, fat cat! I can still fight!"

The Purugly leaped into the air and then fell towards her with limbs spread out, trying to smash her with a mighty body slam. Instead of running, Cirno fired some ice shards from her hand at the Purugly, but the ice shards shattered into pieces upon hitting the tiger cat Pokemon's belly. "Eh?" She never got the chance to run away as the Purugly fell down on top of her.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"CIRNO!" Reisen gasped.

"Hahaha! That's going to make a delicious flapjack!" Mars laughed as Purugly got off from Cirno to reveal the ice fairy flattened out of consciousness on the ground. She then saw that Saturn's Bronzong and Crobat were looking at their fallen master, and so she said to them, "Don't just remain in one place doing nothing! If your master is fallen, you can still fight on your own, right?"

"How dare you?" Reisen said angrily to the tiger cat Pokemon as she fired energy bullets from her finger at her.

The Purugly endured the shots and then ran towards her to attack her again. Reisen quickly leaped back into the air when the tiger cat Pokemon swung her claws at her and then remained floating in air. "What the? You can fly?" Mars said in shock.

Reisen ignored her remark and then fired from both her fingers at the Purugly. The Purugly growled in pain and then quickly got out of the firing range to be in a safer location. When she turned to face Reisen again, the lunar rabbit's eyes glowed with bright red light and instantly, the Purugl's vision started to become wavy and distorted, and slowly, she started to feel dizzy and couldn't walk properly anymore.

"Purugly? What happened to you?" Mars asked in surprise. She looked at Reisen and asked her, "Did you use some sort of a confusion move on her?"

"Driving people lunatic is what I do best!" Reisen said as she took aim. "Take this, Psycho Missile!" A ball of silver light appeared on her fingertip as she charged up to launch an energy missile.

POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

The loud noise was accompanied by purple gas which quickly filled up a good portion of the room. When Reisen smelled it, she quickly held her fingers over her nose as the smell was really horrible-smelling. "Ugh? What is this?" she cried.

"Ugh! You should've given us a warning before you tell your Skuntank to do this!" Mars said to Jupiter with a disgusted look while closing her fingers her nose. "And you've even put on a mask to avoid smelling this horrible gas! Not fair!"

"I didn't tell her to do this," Jupiter told her through her mask. "She did this on her own will."

"Ugh… I'm going to throw up…" Sanae said with her fingers closed over nose. She was on the verge of crying because she was the closest person to the Skuntank when the skunk Pokemon released the foul-smelling gas and therefore took the heaviest blow from the smell.

Being unaffected by her own smell, the Skuntank lunged at Sanae and rammed her hard in the body, pushing her back onto the ground. "Use Flamethrower to ignite the gas, Skuntank!" Jupite said to the skunk Pokemon, and so the Skuntank moved back out of the cloud of purple gas and opened her mouth to breath out a stream of fire. When the fire and the gas came in contact with each other, a fiery explosion was created.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Mars and Jupiter were almost blown back by the force of the explosion, but because they were not within of the explosion's range, they were not hurt by it. "Whoa! You just had to give that kind of command to your Pokemon, don't you?" Mars said. "You've could've harmed us and our Pokemon."

"Don't worry," Jupiter told her. "You can see that our Pokemon managed to escape to a safer distance and are all unharmed by the explosion. We're also unharmed ourselves, so you should be glad about it!"

"But that doesn't mean you can tell your Skuntank to perform an attack combination like that! What if the entire place collapses because of this?"

"Geez, you're annoying! Just shut up and concentrate on the battle, okay?"

"Tsk…"

Marisa and Reisen were both shocked at the sight of the explosion as Sanae was within the cloud of gas when the Skuntank breathed fire at it. "Sanae!" Marisa gasped. Suddenly, Saturn's Bronzong came spinning into her and struck her hard in the body with a Gyro Ball attack. "Ow!" She fell back on her rear, but before she had the time to get back up, Jupiter's Bronzong hit her with Gyro ball from the right and sent her flying to the left, only to ram into and bounce off of Mar's Bronzong, who was spinning in place. "Ugh!"

When Marisa fell to the floor and slowly sat back up while rubbing her head, she saw all three Bronzong charging at her from three directions. "Yikes!" Because she didn't have time to get out of the way, all she could do was fall down flat onto the ground and the three Bronzong crashed into each other instead.

DONG!

Being Pokemon that resemble bells, the Bronzong produced a loud ringing sound upon hitting each other and Marisa's eardrums nearly burst because the sound was incredibly loud to her. "Dazeeeeee…" And as if that wasn't enough, all three Bronzong suddenly dropped down on top of her back. "YAAAAAAAAA!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Marisa!" Reisen gasped when she saw her getting crushed underneath the three bronze bell Pokemon. Suddenly, Mars's Purugly fell on top of her. "YA!"

SMASH!

"You sure have a lot of free time to pay attention to your comrades rather than focusing on your opponent, don't you?" Mars said to Reisen. "This is what you deserve for losing focus on your opponent!"

Suddenly, Sanae flew out from the large mass of smoke that was left behind by the explosion. Asides from getting charred badly in various parts of her body, the shrine maiden seems to be good condition. "What? You're still alive?" Jupiter said in shock.

Sanae landed onto the ground and explained, "Shortly after the explosion was created, I quickly used Revitalizing Wave to create water from the ground around me. Of course, the water itself cannot be used as a shield to protect me from the explosion, but in the very least, it helped douse out the flames and kept me from being severely burned by the fire."

"Tsk! You're very lucky, girly!"

"No, it's not luck. It's a miracle!"

Suddenly, the Skuntank lunged at her from behind, but Sanae sensed this and thus leaped out of the way and then turned to face the skunk Pokemon. The Skuntank opened her mouth to breathe out fire at her, but Sanae quickly slammed the back end of her gohei onto the ground very hard. "Create Waves!" A blue line formed a circle around Sanae and then a wall of water shot out from the line, eliminating the fire on contact.

When the attacks of both sides had ended, the Skuntank lunged at Sanae and the shrine maiden quickly used her gohei to draw a colorful grid in the air. "Nine Syllable Stabs!"

The Skuntank ended up jumping into the energy net and was electrocuted by it. While the skunk Pokemon was still stuck in the net in midair, Sanae held up several paper tags in between each of her fingers and flung them all at the Skuntank, and the paper amulets exploded when they touched the energy net.

KABOOOOOM! KABOOOOOOOOOOOM! KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion cleared, the energy net was gone and the Skuntank was lying unconsciously on the ground. "Skuntank!" Jupiter gasped.

Reisen was flattened on her face after the Purugly fell on top of her. Sensing that the lunar rabbit was still conscious, the tiger cat Pokemon leaped into the air to hit her with another body slam. Reisen managed to turn around on her back and saw the Purugly falling back down, so she quickly fired a large black bullet from her finger. "Mind Dropping!"

The bullet collided with the Purugly in midair and blasted her higher back into the air. After the tiger cat Pokemon fell back down with a crash, Reisen stood up and wasted no time in firing red energy rings from her eyes. "Ripple Vision!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The barrage of energy rings blasted the Purugly constantly and the tiger cat Pokemon was eventually knocked out on the ground.

"Purugly!" Mars said in shock.

Remilia looked down from the air and said, "Looks like they're doing fine by themselves." Suddenly, all three Crobat flew at her and tried hit her with the attack Steel Wing. Remilia managed to defend herself by crossing her arms in front of her body, but she was still knocked back through the air. "That does it! I'm putting an end to the three of you all at once!" She flew up to the highest part of the room and planted her feet against the part of the wall that was the closest to the ceiling. "Midnight Sign: Bad Lady Scramble!"

She kicked off the wall and shot down at an angle, and a blood-red aura appeared around her as she spun through the air, giving her the appearance of a cyclone. The three Crobat were unable to get out of the way in time when Remilia rammed into them. Mars and Saturn's Crobat were knocked aside while Jupiter's Crobat received a direct hit and was forcefully pushed all the way to the ground. Upon hitting the ground, an explosion of dust and rocks was created.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"What the?" Jupiter gasped.

When the dust cleared, Remilia stood back up and in front of her was an unconscious Crobat while lying next to the crater that was created by her attack were the other two Crobat, also knocked out of their senses.

"How dare you?" Mars said angrily to Remilia.

"They were asking for it the moment you told them to attack us," Remilia said to her.

Meanwhile, the three Bronzong were still resting on top of Marisa's back, but suddenly, there was an explosion of blue fire that sent all three bronze bell Pokemon flying away.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

"What the?" Jupiter said in shock.

Marisa, who was slightly charred, sat up and adjusted her hat saying, "Dazee… Thanks goodness that my back is still intact, but it sure does hurt a lot-ze…"

The three Bronzong returned again to attack her.

"Geez, you guys are pretty persistent, aren't you?" Marisa grumbled as she stood back up. "The others are done fighting already, so I might as well finish you off fast-ze!"

The three Bronzong spun at a high velocity as they charged at her from three directions. Marisa quickly got onto her broom and took off into the air, and the bronze bell Pokemon ended up hitting each other. Marisa then took a pot and threw it at them. "Deep Ecological Bomb!"

The three Bronzong turned to face the incoming pot, but they were too late to do anything as the pot hit the Saturn's Bronzong, who was in the middle, and exploded in a huge burst of blue light.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Mars and Jupiter's Bronzong flew out from the explosion and towards their respective trainers. "Hey! Don't come over here!" Mars shouted, holding up her arms.

The two Team Galactic commanders were unable to get away in time and ended up getting hit by their respective bronze bell Pokemon.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

After Mars and Jupiter were knocked out underneath their Bronzong, Marisa descended to the ground and then got off of her broom and let out a sigh. "Phew… Well, that's that!" She looked at her comrades and said, "The rest of you did a great job as well-ze!"

"Yeah, but I think Cirno is still knocked out," Reisen said, looking at the unconscious ice fairy.

* * *

**BGM: Team Rocket Battle (Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver)**

Aya flew around the place as Archer's Houndoom breathed fire into the air to shoot her down, but the tengu girl was simply too fast for the dark Pokemon to hit. "You cannot hit me!" Aya taunted him.

Suddenly, Ariana's Honchkrow showed up in front of her and flew past Aya, hitting her in the face with her right wing.

"Aya!" Aya was knocked out of the air but managed to land on her feet. The Houndoom immediately breathed fire at Aya, but she quickly leaped to the side to avoid getting burned by it. "Phew, that was close..."

"You have impressive dodging skills," Archer said to Aya, "but there is no way you can keep this up forever!"

"We'll see about that!" Aya said, holding up her fan.

Meanwhile, Nitori was fighting Ariana's Vileplume not too far away from Aya. Her backpack opened up and a pair of guns came out. "Let's see how you like my newly modified backpack cannon!" Nitori said. "This is inspired by the appearance of Red's Turtley! Take this!" And then bursts of water shot out from the cannon and struck the Vileplume, but the flower Pokemon was unharmed by it in whatsoever way. "What?"

"Oh my, you're not very smart, are you?" Ariana said. "Grass-type Pokemon have good resistance against water-type moves, so you won't be able to do much against my Vileplume if shooting water is all you can do."

Nitori gritted her teeth in frustration and said, "And I even asked for Red to buy me as many water bottles as I can carry! I guess I'll have to use other methods to fight you instead…"

"Nothing will make difference! Vileplume, use Petal Dance!" Ariana commanded her Vileplume. The flower Pokemon nodded before spinning in place, and as she did, pink flower petals appeared around her and then the Vileplume moved towards Nitori at a fast speed, still spinning.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Nitori said as she stomped the ground and took a stance similar to that of a sumo wrestler. "Bring it on!" And then she charged at the incoming Vileplume and went through the petals to ram into the flower Pokemon.

The Vileplume was pushed back onto the ground and was also a bit dizzy due to the high speed spinning. Nitori brushed off some flower petals from her body and said, "Haha! How'd you like that?"

Suddenly, the Honchkrow swooped down and struck Nitori in the head, knocking the kappa girl onto the ground. "Ow!"

"That's what you get for not paying attention to your surroundings!" Ariana said. "Vileplume, use Sunny Day!" Bright light came out from the hole on top of Vileplume's flower to form a ball of light which floated into the air, shining brightly as if it was a sun.

Nitori held up her arms over her eyes and said, "Whoa! It sure is bright! It's just like a real sun!"

"Of course, it has to be like the real thing in order to benefit Pokemon who can take advantage of the sun's warmth!" Ariana explained to her. "You shall now experience it through the move Sunny Day!"

Hearing her master's command, the Vileplume released a large amount of light from the hole on her flower, and in an instant, a yellow beam with a tinge of white was shot out from the hole.

"What the?" Nitori was unable to dodge the incoming beam and was blown back across the room and into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Nitori!" Aya gasped upon seeing her friend getting caught in the blast.

"Do you have the time to care about her?" Archer said to Aya. "Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" The Houndoom opened his mouth and shot out a blast of fire that was larger than the previous ones.

"Aya!" Aya quickly dodged aside again. "Did the fire get bigger than before?"

"Sunny Day also increases the power of fire-type moves," Archer explained to her. "Trust me; you're going to get more than just burnt wounds if you get hit by Houndoom's fire at this state!"

The Houndoom breathed out fire at Aya again, but instead of running, Aya swung her fan against the incoming stream of fire really hard to whip up a strong gust which blew the fire backwards. The fire went back to Houndoom and the dark Pokemon received a taste of his own attack instead.

"What the?" Archer said in shock.

While the Houndoom was dazed from getting hit by his own fire, Aya flew at the dark Pokemon and dashed past him to sent him flying up into the air and then back down onto the ground with a crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ayayaya! It looks like your little doggy can't handle his own heat as well!" Aya taunted.

"Well, I guess that is true since my Houndoom's ability is Early Bird rather than Flash Fire… Don't get too cocky however!"

Ariana's Honchkrow appeared behind Aya to try to hit her with her wings, but Aya ducked down in time and then turned to look at the big boss Pokemon. "Man, you're starting to get really annoying!" Aya said in frustration. "We're both crows! Can't we get along with each other or at least talks things over politely?"

Suddenly, a Weezing came flying into Aya from behind and rammed her in the back of her head to knock her on her face. "Ah!"

Aya quickly sat back up and turned around to face the Weezing just as Archer commanded him to perform a Sludge attack. The Weezing spewed purplish sludge at Aya, but she quickly swatted it away with her fan. Suddenly, she sensed something coming towards her from the side and looked in that direction to see an Arbok lunging at her. "Aya, what the?" She managed to leap back in time to avoid getting bitten by the Arbok, and the cobra Pokemon ended up biting the ground instead.

"You're finished, little girl!" Ariana said to her. "There is no way you can beat all of our Pokemon by yourself now that your friend is knocked out!"

Aya turned to look at Nitori was still unconscious from getting hit by Solar Beam and said, "So what if my friend is knocked out? I can still take on every single one of you all by myself!"

"Oh yeah? Blame your own arrogance if you lose then!" Archer said. "Weezing, use Smokescreen to blot out her view!" The Weezing opened his mouth and released a large amount of brown smoke that quickly spread in every direction.

"That's not going to work on me!" Aya said. She swung fan really hard to blow away the smoke, and then she flew at the Weezing and landed a powerful kick to his face, sending the poison gas Pokemon across the place and eventually crashing into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Don't think it's over yet!" Ariana said to Aya. "Arbok, use Gunk Shot!"

Aya turned to face the Arbok who started puffing up her cheek to perform an attack. Suddenly, the Honchkrow flew down in front of Aya and flapped her wings against her face over and over. "Hey, get away from my face!" Aya cried.

Ariana's Arbok suddenly spit out a large amount of indescribable objects that was mixed with purple sludge from her mouth. When the Honckrow got out of Aya's view, the attack was already heading towards her and she had no time to dodge it at all. "Yikes!"

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

"AYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Aya screamed as she fell back to the ground and was covered from head to toe in purple sludge.

"Haha! How'd you like that?" Ariana laughed. "Getting hit by everything that my Arbok has eaten isn't very pleasant, isn't it?"

Despite this, Aya slowly stood back up and wiped the sludge of her face, but she noticed that her vision was starting to blurry, not to mention her legs feeling wobbly. "Ugh… What the…? I'm feeling… weak…" she groaned.

"You've been poisoned as well," Archer explained to her. "The purple sludge that came out along with the garbage is actually poisoned liquid. It will invade your nervous system and slowly rob you of your life. If not treated soon, you will have to say good-bye to this world."

"I will not die… so easily…" Aya said weakly.

"Then how about I give you a quick and painless death instead?" Ariana asked her. "That way you do not have to suffer the painful effects of the poison! Arbok, go ahead and give her a strong bite, one that is strong enough to break her bones!" The Arbok opened her mouth as wide as she could and then lunged at Aya.

Despite her failing vision and strength, Aya managed to catch the Arbok by her mouth when the cobra Pokemon lunged at her. "I told you already…" Aya said in a voice that had a tinge of anger, "I will not die… here! Hiya!" Mustering all her strength into her hands, she pushed the upper and lower jaws of the Arbok in separate directions sideway.

SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

With a sickening snap, the Arbok's jaw was broken and the cobra Pokemon hissed in pain before falling back onto the ground unconsciously. "ARBOK!" Ariana gasped.

After that, Aya's legs started to wobble again until she eventually fell to her knees. "Ugh… I can't… take this… anymore…" And then she fell onto the floor unconsciously.

"Ha! Looks like you really cannot handle the effects of the poison!' Archer said to her.

"For breaking my beloved Arbok's jaws, you shall pay!" Ariana said to the unconscious Aya. "Give her the finishing blow using Drill Peck, Honchkrow!" The Honchkrow flew above Aya and then dived down at her while spinning like a drill, ready to crush her head when suddenly a pair of water bullets came flying into the big boss Pokemon and knocked it out of the air. "What?" Ariana turned to look at her Honchkrow's attacker and saw that it was Nitori who did this.

"Aya fought for me just now, so now it's my turn to fight for her!" Nitori said.

"Tsk! I'm going to make sure you stay down this time! Vileplume, use Energy Ball!"

The Vileplume shot out a green energy ball that had a leaf inside it from the holes on her flower, but Nitori flew into the air to avoid getting shot. She then reached into her backpack and took out a total of five water bottles and held them in her arms. "You said you're not afraid of water, right?" Nitori asked the Vileplume. "But I'm still going to beat you with water!"

She threw all five bottles into the air and then shot them from below using her backpack cannons. The bottles broke apart upon getting shot and water splashed everywhere, but Nitori caught the water in her hands, forming it into a blob. "Water Sign: Water Carpet!" She flung the water at the Vileplume and the blob of water quickly molded itself into a flat piece of square before going underneath the Vileplume's feet.

The water 'carpet' suddenly erupted, sending the Vileplume into the air and all the way to the ceiling where she bonked her head against it really hard.

BONK!

The Vileplume fell back onto the ground, and then the drops of water slowly drifted back down and exploded into smaller water particles upon touching the now unconscious Vileplume. "Well, that was easy," Nitori thought. "I still beat you with water in the end!"

"How dare you?" Ariana said angrily. "It's not over yet! I still have one more Pokemon!"

"That would be the crow, right?" Nitori said as she quickly turned around to face the incoming Honchkrow. Mechanical arms came out from both sides of her backpack and caught the Honchkrow by her beak and her neck. "Gotcha! Take a load of this!" She spun in the air and swung the caught Honchkrow around in circles as well.

Eventually, she swung her mechanical arms in the direction of both the Team Rocket executives. "Watch out!" Archer cried, but they were unable to get away as the arms rammed into them from the side. The mechanical arms let go of the grip on the Honchkrow and then all three villains were sent flying into the wall really hard.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The mechanical arms returned to the backpack and Nitori floated back down onto the ground. "Yay! I did it!" she exclaimed while jumping up and down happily. "I beat them!" Suddenly, she remembered about Aya and thus ran up to her to pick her up by the shoulder. "Aya, are you all right?"

Aya slowly opened her eyes to look around, but her vision was still somewhat blurry. "Nitori…" she said weakly. "I feel… sick…"

"Don't worry! I'll try to get you out of here and then acquire medical aid! You really look like you're in really bad shape!"

* * *

Cyrus and Giovanni emerged into a room that had a pillar situated in the center together . "At last, the third pillar!" Cyrus said. "And this happens to the thirtieth room as well."

"We sure are lucky to run into the last pillar just before we got forced back into the first room, eh?" Giovanni said to him.

"It is fate that brought me to this place," Cyrus said as he headed towards the door on the other side of the room. "Now I only have to step into the next room and Giratina will be mines!"

"You go on ahead," Giovanni said to him. Such a statement made Cyrus turn to look at him curiously. "It's possible that some intruders may show up to you, so it's better that I stay here and keep an eye on them."

"You have a point. Very well; stay here and make sure that nobody comes disturb me while I summon and take control of Giratina," Cyrus said to him stepping into the passage.

Giovanni walked up to the passage that Cyrus went into and stood in front of it. "Well then," he said to no one in particular. "I wonder who the lucky winner is going to be."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

This is probably the without doubt the longest chapter in the story to date, so I hope you enjoyed what you just read!

Also, I will have to apologize to people who want to see Giovanni using a Persian in the future. Because he does not use a Persian in the games, he will not have a Persian here as well. No, Pokemon Yellow does not count because that game is based off the anime, and is therefore non-canon. The only reason he has a Beedrill is because he has one in the manga as well.

The Pokemon lineups for the Pokemon characters here are based off both the games and the manga, but I also gave their Pokemon a further step in evolution. For example: Archer has a Koffing in Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver, but since all Koffing evolve into Weezing, it only makes sense for him to have a Weezing here. However, I left out his Houndour on purpose because it will evolve into a Houndoom and I don't really see a point for a person to have two Pokemon of the same kind. If the Houndour does not evolve through level up, then that's another case.

I've also did a bit a update to Chapter 24: The Emotion that Wanders. Nothing big; I just added a bit more details to the mysterious person in the conversation between Giovanni and Cyrus.

**Next chapter: Fight the Land**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If I had used Keine in the final version of the story…**

Saturn's Bronzong charged at Keine while spinning at high speed to hit with a Gyro Ball attack. Seeing the bronze bell Pokemon coming, the were-hakutaku ran towards her attacker and rammed the Bronzong in its body as hard as she could with her forehead.

DONG!

"Ow!" Keine fell back from the impact and held her hand over her bleeding forehead. "Ugh… It hurts…"


	29. Fight the Land

**SBS Time!  
JakeCrusher: **Out of curiosity, approximately how long will we have to wait for each chapter?  
**Game2002: **An average wait will take about three to six days, but there are possibilities that I may update later than that. It's even possible that I will update in a single day or update with two chapters at once, but that's only if I'm really in the mood to type.

**Kain Everguard: **I don't know the point and what is the last part with Keine is about.  
**Game2002: **As mentioned a couple chapters back, Keine was planned to one of the main characters in this story, but was ultimately dropped out of the final version. The Extra Show in the previous chapter is simply showing what role she might have in that chapter if I still used her in the final version of the story.

**Chapter 28  
Fight the Land**

**

* * *

**

Red, Reimu, and Alice emerged into the same room from each of the doors and saw the pillar that was situated in the center in the room. They were also surprised to see each other. "Alice! Reimu!" Red said. "You're here!"

"Yeah, but I don't see the others," Reimus said to him as they gathered together.

"But at least we found someone we're looking for," Alice said, looking at Giovanni.

"Fufufufufu!" Giovanni chuckled. "Congratulations on making it to this room! Now that you have found the third pillar, you will be able to find Giratina's room just by entering any of the doors again."

"Giovanni!" Red said. "Where is Cyrus and what are you talking about?"

"Have you not figured out the mystery of this cave yet? Here in Turnback Cave, the dimension is abnormal and the passages will lead you to random rooms in the cave as well as separating you with the people that you are traveling with. In order to make it into the Giratina's room, you will have to test your luck and find the three pillars first. This room contains the third pillar, and if you go through any of the doors again, you will end up in Giratina's room."

Reimu turned around to look at the passage that she just came out from and said, "I see… That explains a lot of things, even if it sounds strange… So I'll just have to go through it again to find the room Giratina is in, right?"

"Right, but I will not allow that to happen so easily since I have told Cyrus that I will keep an eye on this room and not let any intruders get past me!" Giovanni said. He quickly took out a Pokeball from underneath his coat and dropped it, and as it was falling through the air, he quickly kicked the Pokeball in Reimu's direction. The Pokeball struck the wall next to the passage and opened to release the Beedrill.

"It's you again!" Reimu said as she jumped up and held up her gohei defensively.

The Beedrill charged at her and started attacking with his spear-like arms rapidly, but Reimu blocked them with her gohei and then leaped back to a safer distance before throwing a paper amulet at him; however, the poison bee Pokemon flew of the way to avoid getting by it.

"I'll go after Cyrus!" Alice said as she quickly turned around to return into the passage that she came out from earlier, but Giovanni kicked another Pokeball in her direction and it released the Nidoqueen after hitting the wall next to the passage. The Nidoqueen let out a feminine-sounding roar before slamming down her fist at Alice, but the doll-maker jumped out of the way in time.

"Giovanni!" Red said as he ran towards the Team Rocket leader. "I'm your opponent! Let's have a battle!"

"I will accept your challenge then!" Giovanni said as he took his remaining Pokeballs from underneath his coat. "How about we go all-out and use all six of our Pokemon to battle each other at once?"

"You bet!" Red said. "Come out, everyone!" He took out all the Pokeballs that were strapped around his waist and threw them to release all six of his Pokemon at once.

"Go, my ground-type Pokemon!" Giovanni said as he threw his remaining four Pokemon. Three of the Pokemon consisted of the same Dugtrio, Nidoking, and Rhydon, but the fourth one was one that Giovanni did not use previously in Veilstone City. It was a massive Pokemon that resembles a Rhydon greatly, but had two horns instead of one and not to mention having orange plates covering various parts of his body—Rhyperior.

"That's a…" Red said in shock, "Rhyperior!"

"Yes," Giovanni said with a nod. "As you know, I used to have a Rhyhorn and a Rhydon, but the Rhyhorn has already evolved into the Rhydon that is now standing in front of you while the old Rhydon has now evolved into Rhyperior when I made it hold the Protector and then traded it with one of my subordinates. Through this process, I am able to make my Rhydon evolve into Rhyperior and then traded him back from my subordinate again. You shall now behold the power of the Rhyhorn species' final and strongest form—Rhyperior!"

"Doesn't make any difference to me!" Red said. "My Pokemon is still going to take down all your Pokemon!"

"You are a strong trainer all right, and I acknowledge that. Let us have a great and enjoyable Pokemon battle then! Let the fight begin! Go, my Pokemon!" Giovanni pointed at Red's Pokemon and then his Pokemon let out their cries before charging forward.

**BGM: Gym Leader Battle (Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green)**

"Saur! Use Vine Whip!" Red said to his Venusaur. Saur nodded and then released several vines from the flower on his back at once.

The Dugtrio quickly disappeared into the ground upon seeing the incoming vines, but the other vines caught the Nidoking, the Rhydon, and the Rhyperior by their legs, and then Saur gave the vines a powerful yank to make both the Nidoking and the Rhydon fall over on their backs. The Rhyperior, being heavier than them, did not fall over; instead, the vine broke apart upon being yanked.

"Use Rock Slide!" Giovanni said to his Rhyperior. The drill Pokemon raised both his arms into the air and then shot out several chunks of rocks from the each of the holes on his palms into the air, and then the rocks rained back down onto Red's Pokemon.

Red quickly held his arms into the air to shield himself from the falling rocks, but the Charizard used his body as a shield to protect him instead. As a result, the flame Pokemon was struck by the falling rocks. "Charizard!"

The flame Pokemon cried in pain, but managed to endure the attack to the end. The rest of his Pokemon managed to survive the attack as well. "Thanks, Charizard," Red said to him, "but you're fire and flying-type, so rock-type moves are incredibly effective against you. Please be careful next time and don't risk your life into doing something like this, okay? How am I going to tell Green about this if something bad happens to you?"

Suddenly, Reimu and Alice jumped towards Red from both sides with backs facing him, and they were facing the Beedrill and the Nidoqueen respectively as they were fighting them the whole time. "Alice! Reimu!" Red said to them. "I don't think we have time to be fighting Giovanni here!"

"So what do say we should do?" Reimu said to him. "Giovanni isn't letting us out of here!"

"I'll try to distract his Pokemon while the two of you quickly head for one of the doors. I'm putting my trust in the two of you stop Cyrus!"

"Sounds like a good idea," Alice said with a nod.

"Yeah, we'll do it," Reimu said. "You can count on us!"

"Don't think you're getting out of here so easily!" Giovanni said. "Rhydon, use Megahorn!" Under his trainer's command, the Rhydon lowered his head and then charged in the direction of Red's Pokemon, and the drill Pokemon's horn was also glowing with bright white light.

"Lax!" Red shouted. "Stop him!" The Snorlax stepped out from the rest of the Pokemon and ran towards the incoming Rhydon. With his arms stretched forward, he managed to catch the Rhydon by the snout, successfully stopping the drill Pokemon his tracks. The Rhydon's horn also stopped glowing and then the two Pokemon wrestled against each in a showcase of strength.

Suddenly, the ground underneath the rest of Red's Pokemon burst open and the Dugtrio popped out from there, startling the Pokemon. The Lapras opened his mouth and shot out a white beam at the Dugtrio, but the mole Pokemon quickly disappeared into the ground again, and then beam merely formed an icy cap on top of the hole.

Reimu looked to her right and pointed at the passage over there saying, "Alice! Let's go through that door!" And so the two girls ran for the passage as fast as they could, but suddenly, the Beedrill flew down in front of them and raised his spear-like arms as well as his stinger to intimidate them. "Get out our way, you oversized bee!" Reimu swung her gohei at the Beedrill, but the poison bee Pokemon flew out of the way.

Suddenly, Pika leaped into the air and unleashed a Thunderbolt attack, releasing a large amount of electricity in the direction of the Beedrill. However, the electricity changed directions and split in two before heading for the horns of the Rhydon and the Rhyperior. "What?" Red said in shock.

"Surprised, eh?" Giovanni asked him. "But this shouldn't be much of a surprise to those who know well about Pokemon's abilities. My Rhydon and Rhyperior have Lightning Rod as their abilities, so all electric-type moves are absorbed into their horns. Your Pikachu's electric moves will have no use in this battle!"

The Beedrill dived at Pika and tried to him with his spear-like arm. The mouse Pokemon moved left to right swiftly to avoid getting hit, and then he suddenly zipped into the air and landed behind the Beedrill in a moment's notice. Grabbing tightly onto the Beedrill's back, Pikachu surged electricity into the poison bee Pokemon's body and zapped him badly.

!

Badly charred, the Beedrill fell over to the ground unconsciously while Pika jumped down in front of him and gave a victory sign using his tiny fingers. "Haha! Who said electric moves are completely useless here?" Red asked.

"Heh! Such is to be expected from a champion trainer like you!" Giovanni said, looking amused. "You sure know how to come up with ways to get around disadvantages like these!"

"Thanks for the help, Red!" Reimu said to the Pokemon trainer before heading for the passage again. Just as they were heading into the passage however, the Dugtrio emerged from underneath Reimu and knocked her back through the air slightly. She fell back down with a thud and said, "It's you again, darned mole!"

"Get out of our way!" Alice said as she moved her fingers to make Shanghai fly towards the Dugtrio and swing her sword at him, but the mole Pokemon quickly withdrew into the ground.

Suddenly, they felt the ground shaking and thus turned around to see the Nidoking and the Nidoqueen charging at them. Suddenly, Charizard flew down in front of the Nidoqueen and stopped her in her tracks while Saur released several vines that caught the Nidoking from behind to stop his movements. "Go quickly!" Red shouted to the girls. "My Pokemon and I will deal with them myself!"

"Okay!" Reimu said. "Thanks for helping us stop them!"

The Dugtrio popped out behind the two girls and was about to perform an attack when suddenly he was hit by water from the left side. Being a ground-type Pokemon, the Dugtrio was weak to water-type moves and thus shook around as if greatly pained by it before turning to face his attacker—Lapras.

Giovanni watched as the two girls disappeared into the passage and said, "It looks like I failed to stop them in the end…"

"Well, how do you like that, Giovanni?" Red asked him. "It's only you and me now! They will both stop Cyrus and then all your evils will come to naught in the end!"

Giovanni simply smiled however. "Not like it matters to me anyway. Honestly saying, I don't really have any interest in recreating the world. I only care about making Team Rocket well known throughout the world as well as making everyone bow down before me, so I don't care if Cyrus's plans fail in the end. All right, let's continue our battle, shall we?"

* * *

Reimu and Alice emerged from the passage together and stepped into a large room with a large stone structure in the center, and standing in front of the structure was Cyrus. The Team Galactic leader had his arms held up into the air and holding in his right hand is none other than the Red Chain. There was also a black vortex swirling on the ground in front of him.

"There he is!" Reimu said. "We have to stop him fast!"

Cyrus turned to his head to the side to look at the two girls and said, "So the both of you made it to this room at last. It would seem that Giovanni has failed to stop intruders from coming in here, but that does not matter; you are already too late to stop me from summoning Giratina! The ruler of antimatter shall soon appear!"

* * *

Back in the previous room, the battle between Red and Giovanni's Pokemon continue to rage on. A white aura appear around Turtley's head as he tossed himself through the air like a rocket and delivered a powerful headbutt into Rhyperior's chest.

BANG!

However, the Rhyperior strong defense protected him from the headbutt, and being a rock-type Pokemon also protected it from normal-type moves. Turtley pulled back and he suffered from quite bit of a headache as the result of headbutting the Rhyperior. The Rhyperior held up his right arm and shot out a chunk of rock at Turtley, but the Blastoise quickly withdrew his head into his shell and the chunk flew over his body instead. After his head emerged from the shell again, Turtley lowered his body a bit to point his water cannons at the Rhyperior before firing powerful blasts of water.

The Rhyperior was unable to get out of the way in time and was struck by the water and nearly fell back while crying loudly. "Take that!" Red said. "Water-type moves are super effective against a Pokemon that is both ground and rock-type!"

"Well, I do lament at the fact that my Rhyperior does not have Solid Rock as his ability," Giovanni said, "but even so, they are not without ways of countering enemies who have typing advantages over them! Rhyperior, use Thunder Punch!"

The Rhyperior took a step forward and then pulled back his right arm to charge up his fist with electricity, and then he charged at Turtley at an unexpectedly fast speed and landed a powerful Thunder Punch into the shellfish Pokemon's body.

SMASH!

The Blastoise was badly electrocuted by the electrified punch and thus flew back, crashing into the pillar.

CRASH!

"Turtley!" Red gasped.

"Don't you think you should be concerned about your other Pokemon as well?" Giovanni reminded him.

"Oh right!" Red looked around the place and saw his other Pokemon fighting the rest of Giovanni's Pokemon. The Lapras was fighting the Dugtrio, Lax was fighting the Rhydon, Saur was fighting the Nidoking, and the Charizard was fighting the Nidoqueen. The Beedrill was the only one defeated currently.

The Dugtrio shot up from the ground and launched several large rocks into the air where they rained back down on top of the Lapras, striking him very hard. The transport Pokemon cried in pain because the impact from the rock-type move is super effective against an ice-type Pokemon like him. Suddenly, the Dugtrio shot up from underneath him and sent him flying into the air and then back down. The Dugtrio then rushed past him and a huge slash appeared on the side of his body.

"Lapras! Behind you!" Red shouted to him.

The Lapras quickly looked back and then shot out a burst of water from his mouth, hitting the Dugtrio in the back of his heads before he had the chance to turn around. The mole Pokemon shook around pain upon getting hit, and then the Lapras leaped into the air and fell back down on top of him with a mighty Body Slam.

SLAM!

Though the Dugtrio was hit over his three heads, he sank into the ground afterwards and popped back out a few yards in front of the Lapras. "Lapras! Use Hydro Pump!" Red commanded the transport Pokemon. The Lapras opened his mouth and shot out a huge blast of water at the Dugtrio, and before the mole Pokemon had the chance to withdraw into the ground, the water hit him in his three faces and pushed him across the ground, leaving behind a path of tilled dirt as he did until he hit the wall.

!

"Yes! Another one taken down!" Red said as he clenched the air in triumph.

Meanwhile, Lax punched Rhydon hard in the body with a glowing fist. The Rhydon easily shrugged off the punch and then lowered his head before slamming his horn into Lax's body. The Snorlax cried in pain and took several steps back, and then the Rhydon spun around and hit Lax with a tail that was glowing with silver light.

SMACK!

The Snorlax flew back and landed onto the ground roughly, and then the Rhydon ran towards him and jumped into the air above him, attempting to hit him with a powerful Body Slam. "Watch out, Lax!" Red shouted. "Use Dynamic Punch!"

Quick as a flash, Lax threw a punch into the air and landed it into the Rhydon's belly.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

An explosion occurred when the fist came in contact with the Rhydon's belly, and the drill Pokemon shot back into the air and struck the ceiling before falling back down, but the Snorlax had already rolled out of the way to avoid getting crushed by him. "Lax, use Blizzard!" Red commanded him.

Lax took a deep breath and then exhaled a large amount of cold air as well as snow. Despite his size, the Rhydon was sent rolling across the ground by the powerful Blizzard attack until he hit the wall. Being ground-type, such a powerful ice-type was super effective against him and the drill Pokemon fell unconscious as a result, not to mention being buried in snow after the attack had ended.

"That's three down!" Red said.

"Heh! It looks like you're doing a splendid job, Red!" said Giovanni, looking amused for some reason.

Saur unleashed a plethora of vines at the Nidoking and hit him nonstop. Enraged and annoyed, the Nidoking caught some of the vines and then with a powerful yank, tore them off. After that, his fist started to burn with fire and then he punched and burned his way through the vines until he was very close to the Venusaur, ready to hit him with a Fire Punch. "Saur! Use Sleep Powder!" Red shouted to the Venusaur.

Saur quickly fired a burst of green powder from his flower into the Nidoking's face. The Nidoking quickly pulled back after receiving a face full of sleeping powder and started to feel drowsy. "Now use Razor Leaf!" Red commanded. Saur then shot out several razor-sharp leaves that spun through the air and left behind several cuts on the Nidoking's body.

As the drill Pokemon was trying to defend himself from the leaves, Saur suddenly shot out a green energy ball that had a leaf in the center of it from his mouth. The Energy Ball attack struck the Nidoking in the body and blasted him back several steps.

"Saur! Use the ultimate grass-type move, Frenzy Plant!" Red shouted. Saur's body glowed with a green aura and then he stood up slightly on his hind legs before stomping the ground with his front legs really hard.

STOMP!

This caused a large amount of spiked roots to grow out of the ground and towards the Nidoking at high speed. The Nidoking was unable to escape the incoming roots and was knocked by them into the air. He fell back down into the roots which squirmed around like tentacles and was whipped all over his body by them rapidly. Eventually, the roots sank back into the ground and the Nidoking was lying unconsciously on the ground.

Seeing that the Nidoking had been defeated as well, Red turned to look at Charizard who was flying in circles above Nidoqueen while shooting her with fire constantly. "Charizard, use Wing Attack!"

The Charizard swooped down at the Nidoqueen and went past her, hitting her with his left wing on the way. However, the Charizard never got the chance to fly back into the air as the Nidoqueen quickly spun around and caught him by the tail. She spun in a full circle before letting go of her grip to hurl the Charizard towards the center of the room.

The Charizard quickly spun around before his head struck the pillar and planted his feet against the side of the pillar firmly before pushing off it to shoot back at the Nidoqueen, but the drill Pokemon landed a Thunder Punch into his face and knocked him backwards onto the ground violently.

SMASH!

"Charizard!" Red gasped. The Charizard slowly stood back up again, but the Nidoqueen immediately ran up to him to land another Thunder Punch into his chest. However, this gave the Charizard the opportunity to grab her arm before she could pull it back, and then the flame Pokemon lifted the drill Pokemon over his shoulder and slammed her onto the ground behind him violently—judo style.

When the Nidoqueen got back up, Charizard used both his fists to perform Fire Punches into her face over and over. "Whoa… I didn't know Green taught him how to use both arms for performing Fire Punch…" said Red, sounding rather surprised.

The Charizard then pushed her backwards by the shoulder and then a red aura appeared around his body as he slowly opened his mouth to churn fire within it. "Charizard, use Blast Burn, the ultimate fire-type move!" Red shouted to him. The Charizard opened his mouth and an explosion similar to that of a dynamite going off erupted from his mouth.

!

The explosion engulfed the Nidoqueen and sent the drill Pokemon flying backwards and crashing through the pillar, destroying it. She came to a stop when she hit the wall above the passage on the other side of the room.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"All right! There's only one more Pokemon left!" Red said. Suddenly, Turtley flew into the remains of the pillar in the center of the room with a violent crash.

CRASH!

"Turtley!" Red gasped. He looked at the Rhyperior who was pointing both his arms at the Blastoise.

"Did you enjoy the taste of the ultimate rock-type move, Rock Wrecker?" Giovanni asked.

Red ran up to the injured Blastoise and touched him by his shell and asked in concern, "Are you all right? Quick, apply this hyper potion to feel better!" He took out a mostly blue spray bottle and sprayed its contents onto Turtley's body. Immediately, the Blastoise felt strength returning to his body and then stood back up again.

"Whether or not you are able to stand back up does not make any difference!" Giovanni said. "Do not think you have victory on your side just because I'm down to my last Pokemon! Rhyperior, take him out instantly using Horn Drill!"

"Oh no! It's that one-hit KO move!" Red gasped.

The Rhyperior's lower and larger horn started to spin furiously as the drill Pokemon ran as fast as he could towards Turtley. Turtley quickly held up his hands and amazingly caught the drill Pokemon by his spinning horn. Despite the drill spinning against his hand and hurting his skin badly, Turtley endured the pain and mustered all his strength to push back the Rhyperior. "Turtley! Don't push yourself too far!" Red said to him. "Hang in there!" He turned to his other Pokemon and said to them, "Go and lend Turtley a hand! He needs your help!"

The other Pokemon nodded and then started to head for those two Pokemon. However, Turtley let out a loud grunt that made the Pokemon stop in their tracks. Even though Red didn't understand 'Pokemon language', he could still tell what Turtley was telling the other Pokemon. "What? You can handle this by yourself?" Red said. "But…"

Turtley let out another grunt to assure him that he can handle by himself. Still holding onto Rhyperior's spinning horn, the two Pokemon started moving in circles as they pushed each other back and forth. Rhyperior pushed forward his head as hard as he could and his spinning horn inched closer and closer towards Turtley's head until it was in danger of touching his skin. Immediately, Turtley mustered all his strength into his hands and then with a powerful yank, ripped the horn right off the Rhyperior's snout.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

"WHAT?" Giovanni gasped in horror.

The Rhyperior held his arms over where his horn used to be and cried in sheer pain as he took several steps backwards. A blue aura appeared around Turtley's body as Red shouted to him, "Turtley, use the ultimate water-type move, Hydro Cannon!"

Bright blue light came out from the water cannons on Turtley's back, and then huge bursts of water were fired from those cannons at high velocity. The pair of water blasts combined together as they traveled through the air to become an even larger stream of water that resembles a giant blue laser beam.

The Rhyperior lowered his hands slightly to take a look at the incoming stream of water, but before he had the chance to react, the water collided with his body and splashed everywhere as a result.

!

The force of the water pushed the Rhyperior all the way into the wall next to the passage that Giovanni was guarding. In fact, the Rhyperior was pushed into the wall so hard that cracks started to appear all over the wall and even went all the way to the ceiling! Giovanni looked at the cracking wall and ceiling and said in horror, "Oh no!"

He quickly tried to run away, but before he could run far enough, a portion of the ceiling suddenly collapsed on top of him as well as his Rhyperior. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

!

Dust particles were thrown into the air as a result, but when they finally settled down, Red saw a large pile of rubble on the ground and the ceiling was entirely busted, revealing nothing but darkness above it. Giovanni and his Rhyperior were nowhere to be seen.

Red punched the air in triumph and exclaimed, "Yes! We did it! We've defeated Giovanni! We win!" His Pokemon also celebrated with him by crying out loud into the air while Pika jumped onto his trainer's shoulder and punched the air as well.

* * *

Meanwhile, both Reimu and Alice were lying on the ground, each of them with a large slash mark on their bodies. There were also motionless dolls lying around Alice. Reimu slowly sat back up with one hand placed over her wound and said to Alice, "Alice… Can you still get up…?"

Alice slowly sat back up and replied, "I'm fine… A light cut like this is nothing to me…"

The two girls looked at the vortex on the ground in front of the stone structure and Reimu said, "Cyrus and Giratina must've gone into that vortex. Let's go after them fast!"

* * *

A lone Lucario was standing on top of a snow-covered rock that was situated among the higher areas of the snowy Mt. Coronet. Standing tall and with one hand placed on his forehead, the Lucario slowly opened his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Disturbance… I sense disturbance in the space-time continuum…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Were you expecting something as violent as ripping off a horn in this Pokemon battle? Hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one!

**Next chapter: Shadow Takeover **

**Trivia:  
**1. The chapter title is slightly named after the subtitle of Touhou 9.5: Shoot the Bullet.

2. The part where Turtley rips off the Rhyperior's horn is inspired by the last part of Gamera and Zeedus's final battle in the movie Gamera the Brave.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Below are ramblings on some of my other favorite characters in the Touhou series as well as characters I have a soft spot for. There will be more coming in the future. While we're at it, why not try talking about who your favorite Touhou characters are as well?

**Suika: **I can see why is very popular among fans. Her sprite in Touhou 7.5: Immaterial Missing Power is plain adorable, what with shaking left to right like a drunkard that is and running around with arms stretched out like an immature little kid. You have to agree that her playful personality makes her really cute! Sadly, her overpowered abilities prevented me from making her one of the main characters of this story… Monstrous physical strength, size-shifting, clone producing (even if the clones are smaller than her), changing into mist at will (think Logia Devil Fruits of One Piece), breathing fire, creating and throwing HUGE boulders… If those abilities don't scream overpowered, I don't know what do…

**Eirin: **Actually, the main reason I like her is because her theme song, History of the Moon, is plain awesome. Admittedly, she's very attractive herself as well, though it would be nicer if she treated Reisen with a little more respect…

**Suwako: **How can you not like her? She's without doubt one of the cutest and most adorable characters in the series! Don't you want to give her a great big hug? Just look at her jumping around like a frog! And let's forget that hat! Awwww, she's way too adorable! *passes out from cuteness overload*


	30. Shadow Takeover

**SBS Time!  
Ancestor's Dragon: **Giovanni kind of stopped being evil in the manga, right?  
**Game2002:** I'm not sure. Giovanni is last scene being taken to one of Silver's secret hideout by his (Silver's) Ursaing. Considering that the Heart Gold/Soul Silver arc is starting in the manga, we may very well find out what became of Giovanni after that and whether or not he is still evil.

**Chapter 29  
Shadow Takeover**

**

* * *

**

Seven minutes ago, Reimu and Alice had just come into the same room as Cyrus, and there they saw the Team Galactic leader standing in front of a stone structure and there was a black vortex on the ground before him. "Giratina shall now come forth!" Cyrus said as he held up the Red Chain into the air.

"You're not having things your way!" Reimu said as she took out a paper amulet and flung it at Cyrus. Cyrus saw the paper amulet coming and thus stepped to the side. The amulet taped itself onto the stone structure and exploded.

KABOOM!

"It's too late for you stop me already," Cyrus said to her. "Giratina will come forth any time now!"

Suddenly, black beams of light shot out from the vortex and startled the two girls. Cyrus turned around to look at the vortex and an evil smile appeared on his face as he watched the vortex release beams of light into the air. "Yes! It's coming! It's coming!" Cyrus exclaimed. "Giratina is coming out!"

The vortex spun more furiously than before and even increased in size. As Cyrus continued to watch on, a figure slowly rose from the center of the vortex. The figure was pitch black in color as it slowly came out from the vortex, but after fully rising out from the vortex, the black color started to fade away to reveal its real colors as well as its true form.

It was a large gray Pokemon with a centipede-like body and a pair of black wings decorated with a total of six red, conical objects—Giratina.

"What the?" Alice said in shock.

"Is that Giratina?" Reimu asked.

Giratine stared down at Cyrus, the person who summoned him, but the Team Galactic leader was not fazed by the renegade Pokemon's towering size and his fierce appearance. "You have showed up, Giratina!" Cyrus said, sounding pleased. "Remember how you messed up my plans to recreate the world last time? This time I'm going to do the same thing again by summoning Dialga and Palkia and then controlling them, but since you are likely to show up to get in my way if I summon them right away, I'm going to make it so that you are under my control as well! That way, all three of you will fall under my control and I shall be able to recreate the world into my own image and becomes its god!" He held up the Red Chain in front of the renegade Pokemon and said loudly, "Behold the Red Chain! Look at it and become my slave!"

The Red Chain glowed with red light and then shot out a beam of light at Giratina. Like a red, glowing string, the beam went around Giratina's body and bounded the renegade Pokemon tightly. Giratina looked around with confusion and started to shake its body to try to take the red string off, but suddenly, the renegade Pokemon felt a strong electrical flowing through its body, and such a feeling made the Pokemon cry out in pain.

"Yes! The Red Chain is doing its job!" Cyrus exclaimed. "It is brainwashing Giratina to make it do my bidding!"

"We're not letting you do this!" Reimu said as she held up her gohei while Alice made several dolls appear around her. "Your evil plan ends here!"

Both Reimu and Alice took off from the ground and flew towards Cyrus to attack him. Suddenly, they were slashed in the chest by purple slash marks.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUAH!" Both the girls cried in pain and then fell back onto the ground unconsciously.

Cyrus turned around to look at the girls and chuckled, and standing behind him was Giratina, who now has a red energy ring formed around his body. "This is what you get for trying to attack me!" Cyrus said. "Giratina is now under my control and it acted according to instinct upon seeing its master being attacked! You are too late to stop me! I shall now to go to Mt. Coronet to summon Dialga and Palkia!"

After saying this, Giratina slowly sank back into the vortex, and then Cyrus stepped onto the vortex afterwards and sank into it as well.

A few minutes later, Reimu slowly sat back up with one hand placed over her wound and said to Alice, "Alice… Can you still get up…?"

Alice slowly sat back up and replied, "I'm fine… A light cut like this is nothing to me…"

The two girls looked at the vortex on the ground in front of the stone structure and Reimu said, "Cyrus and Giratina must've gone into that vortex. Let's go after them fast!" And so they quickly ran towards the vortex and jumped into.

After disappearing into the vortex, they found themselves landing onto a rocky platform that was floating in the middle of thin air. When they looked around the place, they were surprised to see that the place consisted of rocky platforms floating around in air, and the background consisted of nothing but blue swirling clouds.

"What is this place…?" Alice wondered.

"I don't know," Reimu replied, "but it sure looks strange… I wonder where Cyrus and Giratina went to though." She looked around the place and suddenly noticed two figures moving about in the distance. "I think I see them over! C'mon, let's go!" And so the two girls took off into the air and flew after those two figures.

* * *

A vortex opened up on the ground and Cyrus rose from it. He took a couple of steps forward and then looked around the place to see various ancient pillars. "Good, I'm at Spear Pillar!" he said. "Turnback Cave does indeed connect to Spear Pillar after all!"

Behind him, Giratina slowly appeared from the vortex and watched as its master walked several more steps forward and held up the Red Chain. The Team Galactic leader held up the Red Chain by both ends and the chain glowed brightly in red light. As soon as this happened, distortion started to in the air before him. "Come out, Dialga and Palkia!" Cyrus said loudly. "I summon thee!"

The distortion became stronger and stronger until something new happened. On the left side, a blue symbol resembling a clock appeared out of the thin air while on the right side, a large crack started to appear in the air.

There was a loud roar as a large sauropod-like Pokemon stepped out from the clock-like symbol—Dialga.

On the right side, fingers came out from the crack in the air and then a hole was torn open, revealing a bipedal Pokemon standing behind it—Palkia.

Both the Pokemon stepped forward and looked around the place for a while before fixing their gazes upon Cyrus and Giratina. "Long time no see, Dialga and Palkia!" Cyrus said. "Do you remember me? I was the one who previously summoned you so that you will follow my bidding and recreate the world for me! Giratina interrupted my plans and made things a mess however, but that was the past! Now I have Giratina under my control, so nothing will go wrong again!" He held the Red Chain in their direction and said, "Now you shall fall under my control as well! The Red Chain shall be the one to make it happen!"

The Red Chain began to release red light, but all of a sudden, three figures zoomed into the place and flew in circles around Cyrus, much to his surprise. "What the?"

The three figures then moved back through the air and hovered in front of Dialga and Palkia, revealing themselves to be Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf.

"The lake guardians!" Cyrus gasped. "How come? Someone must've freed them from the headquarters!"

The lake guardians' eyes glowed with rainbow color and then shot out eye beams at Cyrus, aiming for the Red Chain. Cyrus quickly ducked down and then moved away to the side and said to Giratina, "Giratina! Destroy them!"

The renegade Pokemon roared and then took a step forward. Shadow-like energy appeared on the tips of the cones on its wings and then with a flap of its wings, black crescent blades were fired at the lake guardians. Uxie quickly got in front of its two comrades and used its own body as a shield, taking the blow from them. The knowledge Pokemon fell to the ground afterwards, seemingly knocked out. However, it slowly sat back and moved to the side and suddenly fell asleep in a sitting position.

Meanwhile, the other two lake guardians fired eye beams at Giratina, blasting it in the body, but their attacks didn't seem to do anything to the renegade Pokemon. Pieces of rock suddenly floated into the air and gathered together in a circle in front of Giratina. A white energy ball formed in the middle of those rocks, and then the entire thing shot forward at the two lake guardians, but they moved out of the way.

"You have the typing advantage over them!" Cyrus said to Giratina. "Take them out and there will be no more people who can stop me!" Suddenly, the Team Galactic leader was struck in the back of his body and fell over to the ground, dropping the Red Chain as well. "Gah!" He sat back up and turned around to look at his attacker to see that it was a Lucario. "Who's there? A Lucario?"

The Lucario got into fighting stance and said, "You are disturbing the balance of time and space! I will not allow it!"

"Now that's a rare sight—a Pokemon capable of human speech! But that doesn't matter; you will not stop me!"

"The power of the aura is with me to stop you!" Lucario said before lunging at Cyrus. However, a black crescent blade was fired at the aura Pokemon's direction, so he quickly jumped out of the way and turned to face the Giratina who launched the attack at him. "Giratina is under the being controlled of the Red Chain… I must destroy the Red Chain in order to free it from control at once!"

He saw the Red Chain lying on the ground and thus rushed over to get it. "Oh no, you don't!" Cyrus said as he crawled over to the Red Chain as fast as he could.

Suddenly, Mesprit swooped down at the Red Chain and snatched it up into the air.

"No! Give it back!"

"You're not getting anything back!" said Reimu's voice. Cyrus looked up and saw Reimu and Alice appearing from over Giratina, and both the girls landed on his back before falling onto the ground. She pointed her gohei at the Team Galactic leader as he slowly sat back up and said to him, "All right, everything ends here!"

"No! It's not over yet!" Cyrus said. "Giratina is still under my control! I just have to get back the Red Chain and victory is on my side again!" He turned to look at Giratina and said to it, "Giratina, retrieve the Red Chain at once!"

A blue energy ball slowly formed in front of Giratina's chest. "It's Aura Sphere, a fighting-type move that never misses its target!" Lucario pointed out.

The Aura Sphere shot through the air and headed for Mesprit, but suddenly, a pair of dolls appeared in front of Mesprit and used their shields to block the shot, though they were still pushed back through the air when the energy ball struck their shield.

At this moment, Uxie woke up and let out a yawn. The knowledge Pokemon had regained its strength through the usage of Rest. The three lake guardians gathered together in the air and then Mesprit held out the Red Chain. The Red Chain floated into the air in the middle of them and then they pointed their arms at the chain and encased it in a sphere of white light.

"No! Don't!" Cyrus shouted, reaching towards the lake guardians, but he was too late to do anything as the Red Chain slowly cracked apart within the sphere of white light, and then the chain shattered into pieces. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Yes!" Lucario said.

The moment the chain shattered into pieces, the red ring around Giratina's body also disappeared, and thus the renegade Pokemon immediately regained its own mind. Even though it was previously controlled, Giratina could still remember everything that happened and it was enraged that a mere human had taken control of it. With a loud roar, the dark vortex behind him started to grow in size and the scenery around it also became distorted.

Everyone turned to look at the enraged Giratina and Cyrus said in horror, "Oh no! Giratina is free from my control and is now enraged!"

Dialga and Palkia had been standing in one place watching everything the whole time, and they weren't quite sure what was going on. However, they sensed impending danger upon seeing Giratina's fury and so, thinking wisely, the temporal Pokemon and the spatial Pokemon retreated back into their dimensions. Dialga returned into the clock-like symbol while Palka walked back into the hole in the air and sealed it up again.

Cyrus reached out his arm in the direction of where those two Pokemon used to be and shouted, "No! Don't go! How can I summon you again without the Red Chain?"

Giratina let out another roar and then slowly sank back into the vortex. After the renegade Pokemon disappeared into the vortex, the vortex continued to grow in size until it was reaching Reimu and the other's feet. "What the?" Reimu said in shock. She quickly took off into the air, but there was a strong gravitation force that was pulling her down into the vortex. "What's this? It's pulling me down!"

Alice also tried to escape into the air, but the gravitational force of the vortex was pulling her in as well.

Needless to say, Cyrus was unable to escape the vortex and was the first to be sucked inside it. Lucario quickly leaped onto the nearest pillar and clung onto its side firmly, but the vortex continued to grow in size and eventually swallowed up the nearby pillars. The pillar that Lucario was on also sank into the vortex, and he disappeared along with it as well.

Reimu and Alice could no longer fight against the gravitational pull, and thus they were sucked into the vortex. As for the lake guardians, they chose to fly into the vortex by themselves rather than fighting against its gravitational pull.

* * *

In the surrounding towns, the people could see a large black vortex slowly increasing in size at the peak of the mountain.

"What is that?"

"I have never seen anything like that before!"

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

"I have heard legends regarding this! It has something to do with a legendary Pokemon if I remember correctly…"

After falling through the darkness for a while, Alice eventually landed onto solid ground. She got up while dusting herself and then looked left and right to find herself standing on a floating platform. "I'm back inside the vortex again…" she thought. She then noticed Cyrus lying on the ground in front of her. "It's you…"

Cyrus slowly got back up and said angrily, "It's all ruined… Things aren't supposed to become like this! It's all ruined! It's all ruined! It's just like last time!"

"Alice!" shouted the voice of Reimu. The doll-maker turned to the side and saw Reimu and Lucario standing on a floating platform that was quite a bit of a distance away from the one she is on. "Are you all right, Alice?"

Alice waved at her and said, "I'm all right!"

Suddenly, a large figure zoomed across the air and flew into the distance. Everyone watched as the figure disappeared into the distance and the Lucario said, "That was Giratina! We have to stop it before the Distortion World swallows everything!"

"Right!" Reimu said. "And by the way, who are you?"

Lucario bowed down and said to her, "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. You can simply refer to me as Lucario. I was training myself at Mt. Coronot when I suddenly sensed disturbance in the space-time continuum, so I came to investigate it. Now that the worst has happened, we will have to try to stop Giratina together."

"Whatever… You seem to know your way around here, so it will be nice to have a little help from you."

Lucario shook his head however. "No, I am not familiar with this place, though I am well aware of the legend surrounding Giratina. Giratina is a Pokemon that got banished from the world due to its violent nature."

"Yeah, save the history lesson for some other day… How do we get to where Giratina is?"

Lucario pointed into the air and Reimu looked up to see that he was pointing to the lake guardians. "They shall lead the way," Lucario said.

The lake guardians nodded and then flew in the direction that Giratina went to. Lucario and Reimu followed them and when they came to the edge of the platform, a new platform appeared out of thin air in front of them. "Strange…" Reimu thought. "I thought I would have to fly by myself…" She turned to look at Alice one last and time and yelled out to her, "Can you fly over here, Alice?"

"Never mind!" Alice yelled back. "You go after Giratina! I have someone to deal with over here!"

"Okay! Be careful! We'll meet again somehow after we resolved everything!" Reimu said before hopping onto the new platform and then followed the lake guardians along with Lucario.

Alice turned to Cyrus and said to him, "All right; it's just you and me now. I'm going to put you in your place!"

Cyrus gritted his angrily and said, "If you have never showed up, none of these would happen! Looks like he was right when he said that you girls could a potential obstacle to my plans! I should've listened to him! Now I'm going to do what I should've done the first time I met you!"

With a swing of a card, Alice made several dolls armed with guns and melee weapons appear around her. "Try me if you dare," she said in a threatening tone.

"You're asking for it!" Cyrus said angrily as he sent out all five of his Pokemon. His Pokemon team consisted of a Houndoom, a Crobat, a Gyarados, a Honchkrow, and a Weavile.

The five Pokemon stood around their master and glared at Alice and her army of dolls menacingly.

"What can your girly, little dolls do to my Pokemon?" Cyrus asked her. "They shall crush your dolls one by one!"

"Your ugly pets are the ones who will fall to my army of beautiful dolls, and then you yourself after that," Alice said to him coldly.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

This chapter may be very short compared to the previous ones, but think of it as a setup for the final battles in the upcoming chapters. I hope you will look forward to it!

**Next chapter: Puppet Battle**

**Trivia:  
**1. Notice how Sakuya and Dialga both have very similar color schemes and can manipulate time. Likewise, Yukari and Palkia both have similar color schemes and can also manipulate space and boundaries. This is most likely a coincidence as the 4th generation Pokemon games are released after both Sakuya and Yukari made their debut in the Touhou series, or maybe the Pokemon series took inspirations from them?

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Below are some of my favorite Touhou soundtracks. This is only the first part, so you can expect more in the future chapters. Note that these songs aren't listed in any particular order. What are you favorite Touhou soundtracks?

**U.N. Owen Was Her?: **This song is largely responsible for introducing people outside of Japan to the Touhou series through the popular McRoll fad. Admittedly, that is how I became aware of the series in the first place, but my liking for the series didn't really pick up until I saw a certain fan art depicting a crossover between One Piece and Touhou. Anyway, this song really is a good one and without doubt fits a maniacal destroyer like Flandre.

**Gensokyo Millenium ~ History of the Moon: **The Oriental vibe of this song really grew onto me pretty much the first time I heard it, and there are way too many good remixes of this song out there as well!

**Native Faith: **Cute little Suwako has an awesome theme song for herself! Even when not remixed, this song is still really good in its original form. Who would've thought that someone as adorable as Suwako would have such a hardcore theme song?


	31. Puppet Battle

**SBS Time!  
Ancestor's Dragon: **Was it really a Charmeleon? I could've sworn that all the starters had evolved during the Pokemon Tower arc of Pokemon Adventures.**  
Game2002: **No, they haven't fully evolved yet; they have only evolved from their first stage during that arc, so it was a Charmeleon that cut Koga's Arbok in half that time.

**Chapter 30  
Puppet Battle**

**

* * *

**

**BGM: Cyrus Battle (Pokemon D/P/Pt)**

"Get rid of her!" Cyrus said to his Pokemon, and then his Weavile was the first one to charge at Alice.

Alice stretched out her arm and one of her dolls charged at Weavile and swung her sword at the sharp claw Pokemon, but the Weavile leaped over the doll and continued heading for Alice.

Another doll appeared in front of Alice and used her shield to block a claw strike from the Weavile. The doll that tried to hit the Weavile with her sword earlier swung her sword at him again from behind, but the Weavile quickly leaped out of the way.

The Houndoom opened his mouth and breathed fire at Alice. The fire burned down the doll armed with the sword but the other doll that had the shield managed to block the fire as well.

While she was blocking the fire, the Honchkrow flew over Alice and went behind her before taking a deep breath to exhale heated breath at Alice. Seeing this coming, Alice and her dolls quickly flew off to the side to avoid the heat and then went higher into the air.

Cyrus looked at her and said, "Just because you have the ability to fly does not mean you can win against me so easily!"

Alice raised her arm in the direction of the Honchkrow and said, "Returning Dolls!" Two of her dolls that were armed with knives started spinning at a fast rate and then charged at the Honchkrow. The big boss Pokemon quickly escaped higher into the air and then the dolls returned to Alice like homecoming boomerangs.

Suddenly, Alice heard a loud roar and so looked to the side to see the Gyarados charging at her. The atrocious Pokemon lunged at her with his mouth wide open, but she and her dolls managed to get out of the way in time. When the Gyarados turned around to look at her, she commanded the rifle-wielding dolls to fire at him rapidly. The atrocious Pokemon was blown back a bit by the exploding energy bullets, but he managed to shrug them off in the end and then shot out a burst of water from his mouth at the dolls and then Alice, pushing them backwards.

"Ugh!" Alice stopped flying through the air after the Gyarados had stopped his Hydro Pump attack. She suddenly sensed something approaching her from behind and thus quickly moved aside in the nick of time to avoid getting hit by the Crobat who tried to hit her with his wing.

Alice quickly moved backwards to a safer distance and then held out her arm to gather four of her dolls in front of her. Armed with bows, the dolls raised their weapons and pulled back their bowstrings to ready to fire arrows, but before they had the chance to let go of the bowstrings, the Crobat slashed against the air to shoot out s-shaped wind blades that sliced through the dolls, destroying them as well as hitting Alice in the body.

"Ugh!" she cried upon getting hit. Suddenly, the Honchkrow flew at Alice really fast and struck her in the abdomen with his left wing, knocking her out of the air. "Ya!"

As Alice was falling towards the ground, the Weavile dashed at her and pulled back his arm to ready to swing his claws at her. Alice quickly took out a card and made a doll armed with a shield appear in an instant, and the doll managed to protect her master from the claw swipe. Alice fell onto the ground but quickly stood back up and then moved away to a safer distance.

She turned to the side to look at Cyrus and then made more dolls appear around her. "It's my turn to attack now!" she said.

"Houndoom, use Dark Pulse," Cyrus said, and then the Houndoom hopped in front of his trainer and shot out a beam of black and purple circles from his mouth.

"What?" Alice was taken by surprise by this move and the dolls in front of her were blown away by the dark beam while she received the blast to her body and was blown backwards into a tree. "Ugh!"

After that, the Weavile charged at her and swung his claws. Because she had no time to get away or block the attack, Alice quickly fell over to the side instead and the claw swipe went over her body and hit the tree behind her. At first, the tree was intact from getting hit by the claw, but a few seconds later, the upper half of the tree slid off to the side. "Such sharpness…" Alice said in shock, and she shuddered at the thought of what would happen to her if she had not avoided that claw swipe in time.

The Weavile turned to attack her and so Alice quickly summoned more dolls armed with swords to fight back against him. The Honchkrow flew at Alice and tried to hit her with his wing, but she ducked down fast and then sent a doll armed with a lance after the big boss Pokemon. When the doll thrust her lance at the Honchkrow, the big boss Pokemon moved aside and then caught the doll by her head using his talon and then crushed her head.

Alice felt the ground rumbling and so turned around to see the Gyarados charging at her. She quickly jumped out of the atrocious Pokemon's way and then the Gyarados leaped into the air and onto the side of a large floating rock and somehow stood on the side of it, much to Alice's surprise. "What?"

The Gyarados opened his mouth and then fired a huge orange beam in her direction. Alice quickly retreated into the air, but the force of the explosion created when the beam struck the ground sent her propelling backwards at a fast speed. "Ah!" Alice flew through the air and eventually hit the side of a floating rock. Like the Gyarados, she found herself 'stuck' to the side of the rock without falling off, even after she stood up.

"This is strange…" Alice thought.

"You seem to be surprised by this," Cyrus said to her. "Of course you would be surprised since this is the first time you are here. In the Distortion World, reality and laws of physics do not apply, so it is possible to stand on anywhere in this place."

"I see…"

"However, knowing such a fact will not help you either way. Your downfall will still be inevitable!"

The Weavile leaped onto the same piece of land as Alice and ran towards her, so Alice quickly jumped into the air and fell back onto the same piece land as Cyrus. When the Weavile jumped towards her and tried to hit her from above, Alice quickly summoned dolls over her head to protect her using shields. After that, four dolls appeared around the Weavile while he was still in the air and fired energy projectiles at him from their guns. Acting fast, the Weavile spread out his arms and pulled a spin that somehow deflected the projectiles fired at him and then he bounced off of the shield and flew back through the air before landing onto solid ground.

Immediately after landing, the Weavile kicked off against the ground and towards Alice at a blinding speed. Quick as a flash, Shanghai, armed with a sword and shield, appeared before her master to block the sharp claw Pokemon's claw swipe.

Shanghai then held her sword out to the side and spun furiously while moving towards the Weavile. The Weavile hardened his claws and used Metal Claw to counter the spinning doll, but when Shanghai moved closer and closer to him, the sharp claw Pokemon quickly leaped back to a safer distance.

The Crobat then flew over the Weavile and slashed his wings against the air to shoot out s-shaped wind blades, but Shanghai managed to deflect them with her spinning attack.

As Shanghai continued to head for the two Pokemon, the Honchkrow charged at Alice from behind to hit her with his back. Alice sensed him approaching however and thus quickly summoned four dolls armed with lances behind her. The Honchkrow stopped just short of the lances to avoid getting impaled by them, and then he flew upwards to avoid getting hit when the doll thrust their lances forward.

Meanwhile, the Weavile managed to knock Shanghai backwards with a clw covered in dark energy. Alice quickly caught Shanghai when she flew towards her and looked at the doll to see that there was slash mark on the side of her body. "Shanghai!" Alice said, sounding shocked. "Don't worry; I'll fix you after this is over." Then she glared at the Weavile angrily. "For now, let me avenge you."

Both the Crobat and the Weavile charged at Alice to attack and so she quickly summoned three dolls around her. "SP Doll." Covered in blue auras, the dolls orbited their master at a high speed, serving as a shield. Both the Crobat and the Weavile were pushed back upon getting hit by the fast-moving dolls. "Thousand Spear Dolls." Another doll appeared alongside the existing three dolls and each of them became armed with spears, pointing them at the two Pokemon.

When Alice moved forward, the dolls moved ahead of her shaking their spears against the air in a threatening manner to ward off those two Pokemon. However, they were not fazed by such an attack and thus they leaped over the dolls (or fly in the Crobat's case) to attack Alice from above instead.

The dolls immediately flew upwards to attack them. The Weavile quickly swung his claws at one of the dolls and managed to knock her away, but he was unable to avoid the second doll entirely and the doll's spear went past the side of his body and knocked him off to the side. The Crobat, however, fared much better against the dolls. He spit out a large amount of purple sludge from his mouth to push the dolls back down. Alice quickly jumped aside to avoid getting hit by the sludge as it hit the ground with her two dolls which were now covered in sludge.

"Is that poison?" Alice wondered. Suddenly, a stream of fire was shot by the Houndoom in her direction, so she quickly rolled to the side in the nick of time to avoid getting burned, but a bit of her skirt was still singed a bit. "That was close…"

"Houndoom, Use Smog," Cyrus commanded his Houndoom, and so the dark Pokemon opened his mouth and to exhaled a large amount of purple smog.

"Poison gas?" Alice thought when the purple smog started to fill up the place around her. She quickly closed one hand over her mouth and nose and then hopped back to escape the incoming smoke. She then summoned dolls that were equipped with fans and made them swing the fans to blow away the smog.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over Alice and when she looked up, she saw the Gyarados falling onto her. "What?" Alice quickly jumped out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed by the Gyarados when hit the ground with a powerful slam.

SLAM!

However, the Gyarados swung his tail at Alice afterwards and she was unable to avoid this, and thus she got swatted across the place and crashed into a thin tree and knocked it over.

CRASH!

"Ugh… It hurts…" Alice cried as she got back up again. The Crobat appeared over her and started slashing his wings against the air rapidly to shoot out multiple s-shaped wind blades. Alice used her arms to defend herself from the wind blades at first, but then one of her dolls came over to her to shield her master from the wind blades.

While the doll was shielding the attacks for her, Alice summoned four more dolls and quickly threw the each of them at the Crobat. "Doll Cremation!" The Crobat quickly avoided the dolls as they fell towards him and the dolls exploded upon touching the ground.

KABOOM! BANG! BOOM! BAM!

Suddenly, a burst of water was fired from the Gyarados's mouth. The doll with the shield was unable to block such high pressure water and thus got pushed back into Alice, who was blown back by the water as well. "YA!"

The water pushed Alice all the way off the landmass, but she managed to escape the water current and flew into the air. The Gyarados aimed his attack at her and continued to shoot water from his mouth. Alice flew around as fast as he could to escape the Hydro Pump attack and then quickly summoned even more rifle-wielding dolls and commanded them to fire at the Gyarados. When the Gyarados was pelted rapidly by the energy bullets, he reeled back in pain and halted his attack.

Alice then landed onto the center of the piece of land with all the Pokemon staring at her from all sides. The dolls gathered around Alice as she said, "Foggy London Dolls." Then the dolls then started firing nonstop from their rifles while moving circles around their master.

Seeing the energy projectiles heading in his direction, Cyrus quickly jumped behind a rock for cover, but the rock disappeared mysteriously when he went behind it. "What?" Just as the projectiles were about to hit him however, his Gyarados used his body as a shield to protect his master from getting shot.

The dolls continued to fire nonstop at the Pokemon who had no place to run, and then Alice eventually increased the moving speed of the dolls as well as their fire rate. "Spring Kyoto Dolls." Seemingly thousands of blue, green, and yellow bullets filled the air to the point were it was almost impossible to avoid them unless one is an expert in dodging things. The Pokemon were unable to avoid any of the projectiles and were pelted constantly by them.

For a while, the dolls kept up their attack until the Pokemon all fell to the ground unconsciously, and then Alice ordered her dolls to stop attacking. She looked at the fallen Pokemon and then at the Gyarados and saw Cyrus coming from behind the atrocious Pokemon. "Your Pokemon are all down," Alice said as her does pointed their rifles at Cyrus.

"Well, I do say that I am impressed by the way you fight," Cyrus said. "You use your dolls similar to how we Pokemon trainers order their Pokemon."

"I'll take that as a compliment, but that does not change the fact that you have lost the battle already," Alice said as she walked closer and closer towards Cyrus.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YA!" Alice was suddenly slashed across her back by the Weavile really hard. As if her spine was sliced in half, the doll-maker fell onto her knees out of sheer pain and was in too much to stand back up properly. "Ugh… I got… too careless…" She looked up and to her horror, saw the Crobat flying towards her with his mouth wide open. Alice quickly held up her right arm to shield her face, but the Crobat bit her arm really hard. "Ya!"

Alice managed to stand back up and tried to shake the Crobat off of her arm, but while she was doing this, the Houndoom ran up to her and bit her in the left. "Ow! Let go of me!"

"Honchkrow, use Drill Peck," Cyrus commanded the big boss Pokemon. The Honchkrow pulled back through the air and then shot forward while spinning like a drill. The Crobat and the Houndoom quickly got out of the way as the big boss Pokemon came over to Alice and rammed his beak into her abdomen really hard, pushing her backwards as well.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Alice screamed as the big boss Pokemon's beak drilled against her skin. She was pushed all the way into a rock before coming to a stop.

CRASH!

The Honchkrow flew back into the air and Alice fell forward onto her knees again and groaned in pain as she held one hand over the wound inflicted on her abdomen. "Ugh…"

"Gyarados, use Aqua Tail," Cyrus commanded the Gyarados. The atrocious Pokemon raised his tail into the air and water appeared out of nowhere around his tail and spun at a high rate, literally forming a waterspout around his tail.

Alice, still groaning in pain from her wound, looked up and saw the Gyarados charging at her very fast. "I must… get… away…" she thought. However, she never had the chance to get out of the way as the Gyarados spun around and hit her in the side of the body really hard with a powerful water-powered tail whip. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The devastating tail whip sent her shooting across the air until she crashed into a large piece of rock that was floating in the air.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Alice was knocked out of consciousness for a while after the impact, but she slowly regained her senses and then sat back up. "Ugh… It hurts…"

"So you are still alive," Cyrus said, sounding a bit surprised.

"Even if we magicians are not any physically stronger than humans…" Alice explained as she slowly stood back up, "we still have a greater survivability." She returned onto the same piece of land as Cyrus and then took out a doll and placed it onto the ground, "Edo High-Explosive Pawn."

The doll walked towards the five Pokemon and they watched with curiosity at the little doll that slowly approached them. "What is that supposed to be?" Cyrus asked. "Have you lost your will to fight that you are starting to throw weak things at me?"

The doll kept on walking towards the Pokemon, but then the Houndoom breathed a small amount of fire at it. The moment the fire came in contact with the doll, the doll exploded in a huge blast.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The massive explosion caused the five Pokemon to be blown backwards; even Cyrus was almost blown back by the force of the explosion. "What the heck!" he said in shock.

"Never underestimate something that is small," Alice said. "They can pose big threats as well if you let your guard down." She then took a card and used it to summon even more dolls. "Spy Sign: Seeker Dolls."

The dolls above Cyrus and his Pokemon and fired red beams diagonally downwards from their hands. The beams were not aimed at Cyrus and his villains; instead, the beams were fired in a way that they crossed over each other and formed a cage that trapped them inside. "What's this?" Cyrus said. "You plan to trap us in here?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" Alice asked him.

"Don't think you can trap us in here so easily! My Pokemon can easily break through this sort of thing!" Cyrus told her. Under his command, his Gyarados charged at the beams, but he quickly pulled back when he got burned by the beams, only to accidentally touch the tip of his tail against the beams at the back.

The Crobat saw a gap in between the beams that was large enough for him to go through, but when he attempted to do so, a doll appeared from outside of the gap and used her gun to fire an energy projectile into his face, blasting him backwards.

"Give it up," Alice said. "I will not be letting you or your Pokemon out of there. The result of this battle has already been decided." She then summoned a large amount of dolls and sent them inside the laser cage by flying through the gaps.

Cyrus's Pokemon tried to fight back against the dolls, but they were ultimately overpowered by the large amount of dolls which latched themselves onto various parts of their body, including Cyrus himself. "What are you doing?" he said.

"I told you already," Alice said. "The result of this battle has already been decided."

The dolls started to glow with orange light and Cyrus became more and more nervous. "What's happening? Are they… Are they going to explode?"

"You've guessed it," Alice said as she raised her right arm slightly. "Artful Sacrifice." And then with a snap of her finger, all the dolls exploded at the same time.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The dolls that were holding up the red laser beams were also blown back by the explosion, but not all of them were destroyed by it. They quickly went over to their master and watched as the smoke slowly dissipated.

When the smoke cleared, Cyrus and his Pokemon were seen lying unconsciously on the ground.

* * *

Led by the lake guardians, Reimu and Lucario made their way into the deepest part of the Distortion World and eventually came to a series of small floating landmass. Reimu looked around the place and asked, "Okay, where are we heading for anyway?

They both looked up and saw the lake guardians flying in circles up in the air. The lake guardians then looked at them and glowed with bluish light. Lucario also glowed with bluish light and he nodded his head slightly a few times as well. "What are you doing?" Reimu asked him.

"I am communicating with them," Lucario told her. "It would seem that they have done all that they can already, and now they will be leaving everything else to us."

"You mean we will have to deal with Giratina ourselves from here on?"

"Yes, and they believe that we will succeed."

The lake guardians then flew into the air and towards a white portal, and the portal disappeared after they went through it. "And I thought they would be doing something more spectacular then leading us here considering they are supposed to be legendary Pokemon," Reimu thought, looking somewhat disappointed.

Suddenly, there was a loud, high-pitched roar as something zoomed ovr\er them at a really fast speed. Reimu and Lucario got into defensive stance as Giratina returned to face them.

This time, Giratina had a more serpentine appearance and also had six black streamers coming out of his back, each of them ending with red spikes. His legs were also gone and replaced with golden, spike-like protrusions.

Giratina glared at them and then let out a loud roar. "What is it trying to say?" Reimu asked Lucario.

"It said, 'To think that you humans would go as far as making me your slave!" Lucario replied. "You humans really want to ruin the balance of the world, don't you? If this is what you are asking for, then I shall bring chaos and destruction to this world! You shall regret trying to toy with me in the first place!'"

Reimu held up a paper amulet in between her fingers and said, "Sorry, but that will not happen as long as I am around here! Just because one person disturbed you doesn't mean the whole world deserves face destruction!"

Lucario got into fighting stance and blue fire appeared around his hands as he said, "I also will not sit back and watch the destruction of the world unfold! The power of the aura is with me to stop you!"

Hearing this, Giratina let out another roar as if accepting their challenge. Reimu and Lucario both got ready to take on the legendary Giratina—the ruler of antimatter.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Admittedly, I had a hard time trying creating the fight between Alice and Cyrus since they do not fight each other directly. To my knowledge, Alice relies solely on her dolls to fight, so it wasn't easy trying to come up with things that she can do if the enemy comes directly against her rather than her dolls. Still, I tried my best trying to type this chapter, so I hope that it is still worth it in the end.

The reason why I didn't include the battle with Giratina in this chapter is because I prefer it more if the major battles of each arc have their own chapters. Minor battles will, for the most part, be crammed together into a single chapter unless there is a special exception.

**Next chapter: Distortion World Rhapsody  
**


	32. Distortion World Rhapsody

**SBS Time!**

**the1undzeonli1****: **Does Cyrus have a Gyarados in Pokemon Platinum? I don't remember that he has one in Pokemon Diamond.  
**Game2002: **He has a Gyarados in both Pokemon Diamond and Platinum.

**the1undzeonli1****: **What is your favorite IOSYS song?  
**Game2002: **I have three favorite IOSYS songs. They are Cirno's Perfect Math Class, Eirin's Clinic That People Queue Up For, and Hakurei Shrine Neighborhood Association March.

**Chapter 31  
Distortion World Rhapsody**

**

* * *

**

**BGM: Giratina Battle (Pokemon Platinum)**

Immediately after roaring, the tip of the red spikes on the tip Giratina's streamers glowed with purple light and then the renegade Pokemon flapped its streamers against the air very hard to shoot out black crescent blades with purple outlines.

"Watch out!" Lucario shouted as he hopped back to the previous platform to escape the wind blades while Reimu flew into the air.

After taking off into the air, Reimu took out several paper tags and threw them at Giratina, each of them exploding after touching the renegade Pokemon's body.

"Foresight!" Lucario fired pair of red eye beams from his eyes at Giratina and moved his head up down against the renegade Pokemon's body as if scanning it. "Good, now fighting moves will be able to hurt ghost-type Pokemon such as Giratina." He brought his arms to the side and cupped his hands together to charge up a blue energy and then fired it at Giratina. "Aura Sphere!"

The energy ball shot through the air and struck Giratina in the body, creating an explosion of blue flames. The renegade Pokemon let out a roar and made pebbles float up from the pieces of land and gather together around a white energy ball that was formed in front of its body, and then the attack of Ancient Power was fired at Lucario. The aura Pokemon quickly leaped into the air and landed onto the side of another floating landmass.

"Hey, that's pretty cool!" Reimu thought when she saw Lucario standing on the side of the landmass, but then she quickly turned to look at Giratina again. "Wait a minute... This isn't the time to be impressed by something else…"

Giratina turned to her direction and formed a blue energy sphere in front of its body and then fired the energy sphere at her. Reimu attempted to avoid the incoming energy sphere by flying aside, but the energy not only flew at a really fast speed, but also homed in on her and she was struck in the body and blown across the air a couple of yards before coming to a stop. "Ah!"

"That is Aura Sphere, an attack that never misses its target unless there is a special exception!" Lucario explained to her.

"Thanks for the late warning…" Reimu said. She turned to face Giratina and saw the renegade Pokemon charging at her, so she threw some paper amulets at it before getting out of the way

Giratina turned around and shot black crescent blades at Reimu who moved around swiftly to avoid them, but then Giratina formed a blue energy sphere in front of its body to get ready to use Aura Sphere again. "It's that move again!" Reimu gasped. Knowing that this move cannot be dodged, she quickly set up a blue wall in front of herself. "Cautionary Border!" The Aura Sphere was fired at Reimu, but thankfully, the Cautionary Border was strong to defend from the attack.

Suddenly, Lucario leaped into the and launched an Aura Sphere onto the back of Giratina, and then he fell onto the renegade Pokemon's back with an aura-powered drop kick.

KICK!

Giratina didn't seem to be hurt by such a kick however. Lucario quickly leaped back through the air and as he was flying backwards, he thought in his head, "Giratina is a ghost and dragon-type Pokemon, so his weaknesses would be ghost, dark, dragon, and ice-type moves. In that case…" A greenish aura appeared around Lucario's body and then he thrust both his arms forward to shoot out a green energy ball. "Dragon Pulse!"

The energy ball soared through the air and crashed into Giratina, exploding and blasting the renegade Pokemon backwards a bit. After Lucario landed onto the side of a piece of landmass, Giratina moved closer to him and then let out a roar, making a yellow aura appear around its body. Immediately, the surface that Lucario was standing on started to shake and crack apart, and then yellow light burst out from the cracks and blasted Lucario across the air. "UWA!"

He flew in the direction of Giratina who spun around and whipped him with its tail to send him flying into another piece of landmass.

CRASH!

After that, Reimu flew above Giratina and threw several more paper tags at the renegade Pokemon and each of the amulets exploded after taping themselves onto its body.

BANG! KABOOM! BAM!

Giratina roared angrily and then turned to Reimu and then flapped its streamers to shoot out black crescent blades at her, but she managed to dodge them while continuing to throw paper amulets at the renegade Pokemon. Giratina then took a deep breath and breathed out green fire from its mouth, but Reimu moved out of the way and flew towards Giratina. She slammed a piece of card onto its head and shouted, "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" The card glowed with orange light before creating a circular explosion that propelled Giratina by the head downwards.

BANG!

When Giratina stopped moving, it roared in anger before flying at Reimu and started swinging its streamers at her over and over to try to hit her, but Reimu managed to dodge them with ease. She approached Giratina and performed a back flip to kick it in the chin. "Ascension Kick!"

After that, she moved back through the air and then took out four pieces of square-shaped paper, two of them colored blue and the other two colored red. She threw the papers into the air and in a puff of smoke, the papers transformed into miniature yin-yang orbs which gathered around her body. When she pointed her gohei at Giratina, the yin-yang orbs glowed with white light and then fired a rapid stream of replicas of themselves at Giratina, pelting the renegade Pokemon in the body constantly.

Frustrated, Giratina fought back by firing black crescent blades from its streamers constantly, but as Reimu was used to avoiding projectiles in her long history of aerial combats, she had an easy time avoiding the Shadow Claw attack. "I've seen better danmaku than this," she said.

In the midst of firing black crescent blades, Giratina took a deep breath and then breathed out a stream of green fire. Reimu quickly flew to avoid the Dragon Breath attack and then continued to attack Giratina by throwing paper amulets at it. The miniature yin-yang orbs which were following her also contributed to the assault with their own projectile attacks.

Giratina stopped breathing green fire and charged at her without a warning. Reimu quickly moved back just in time to avoid a swipe from one of its streamers and then took out a blue card that fired three blue energy yin-yang orbs at Giratina. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!"

The energy yin-yang orbs exploded upon hitting Giratina in the chest. Giratina roared angrily and then its body started to turn black. A few seconds later, the renegade Pokemon disappeared into thin air

"Huh? Where'd it go?" Reimu wondered, and then she looked left and right for signs of the renegade Pokemon. "Or did I defeat it?"

"Be careful!" Lucario shouted to her from afar. "That is Giratina's signature move, Shadow Force! It is a very powerful ghost-type move that makes itself disappear and then attack the opponent when he or she least expects it!"

"What?" Reimu said in shock, and then she looked around desperately. Unknown to her, Giratina slowly reappeared behind her, but by the time Reimu noticed it, she was rammed in the back forcefully and sent flying across the place at high speed. "YAAAAAAAAAA!" And then she crashed face first onto a piece of landmass.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Reimu!" Lucario gasped.

* * *

Meanwhile, Red had just applied potions onto his Pokemon and brought them back to perfect health. "You're all feeling better, right?" Red said to his Pokemon. "We may have to battle again shortly afterwards. Are you ready for it?" His Pokemon nodded in response. "Okay, let's get going then!" He called back his Pokemon into their Pokeballs and then left the room through the eastern passage.

Shortly after he left, a mild earthquake occurred in the room and the pile of rocks that were blocking the northern passage shook and sank into the ground slightly.

* * *

Youmu and Meiling just beaten up the last of the evil organizations' grunts and were panting heavily due to exhaustion. "They're easy to deal with, but they're pretty persistent all right," Youmu as she sheathed her sword. "I'm glad that they're finally down for the count."

"I can still fight," Meiling said. "I'm not tired at all. Phew… Okay, only a little bit tired…"

"Hey! We're back at the entrance!" said the voice of Nitori. Youmu and Meiling turned to look at the eastern passage to see Nitori standing there and one of her mechanical arms was holding Aya. "Not that it's a bad thing since I'm planning to look for medical aids outside…"

"Nitori!" Youmu said to her. "What happened to Aya? She looks like she had been doused in purple liquid!"

"She's badly poisoned! We have to get her medical aids fast!"

"We're back at the entrance…" said another voice. They turned to look at the western passage and saw Remilia standing there with Reisen.

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling said happily. "You're all right!"

"Yeah, fighting those opponents inside is no big deal," Remilia told her. She looked around and said, "The others aren't here… I guess they must've made it to the room where that Pokemon called Giratina is."

* * *

"Did they go in here…?" Red wondered as he looked at the black vortex on the ground.

"Hey, it's Red-ze!" said the voice of Marisa. Red turned to look at the southern passage and saw Marisa, Sanae, and Cirno standing there.

"The three of you made it here at last!" he said.

The three girls ran up to Red and Sanae asked, "Have you found Giratina or the evil organizations' leaders yet?"

"I've found Giovanni, but Reimu and Alice went to deal with Cyrus by themselves. This is supposedly the room where Giratina is, but there's nobody here when I came…"

"Where can they be then-ze?" Marisa asked.

Red looked at the black vortex on the ground and said, "I think they must've disappeared into this vortex… I've heard legends of Giratina living in another dimension, and this vortex must be the entrance to its dimension… They must be inside this dimension even as we speak!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Cirno asked. "Let's go inside and see if they in there or not!"

"Yeah, that's what I was planning to do, but then the three of you came in here. Okay, let's go!" Red said. Just as he was about to step onto the vortex, his cell phone rang and so he answered it, "Hello? This is Red speaking."

"Red, how is everything there?" said the voice of Looker from the other side of the cell phone.

"Officer Looker! Things here… Well, um… We're not done with our business yet."

"We have done everything we have to do over here, but something strange is happening with Mt. Coronet even as we speak!"

"What's happening to Mt. Coronet?"

"A massive, black vortex is currently above Mt. Coronet and is growing in size! It also seems to be sucking everything inside with its powerful gravitational pull! At this rate, the towns around it will be sucked inside and eventually the whole of Sinnoh! They say that it is the entrance to the Distortion World where Giratina lives, and if Giratina is enraged, it will cause the vortex to swallow everything!"

"That sounds bad… Don't worry; we will stop Giratina at all cost!"

"We are heading for Turnback Cave currently! Hold on until we get there! Over and out!" And then Looker ended the phone call.

Red put away his cell phone and said to the three girls, "The situation outside is getting worse, it seems… We have to put an end to Cyrus's evil plans at once! C'mon, let's go!"

"Okay, let's get going-ze!" Marisa said, and then they stepped onto the vortex one by one and sank into it.

* * *

Back in the Distortion World, Lucario was fighting Giratina by himself.

The aura Pokemon attacked with Dragon Pulse constantly while standing on a piece of landmass. When Giratina launched an Ancient Power attack at Lucario, the aura Pokemon quickly leaped into the air and then dashed at Giratina really fast, striking it in the head at the same time. "Extreme Speed!"

Lucario went through the air and landed onto another piece of landmass, but when he turned to look at Giratina, the renegade Pokemon was getting ready to fire an Aura Sphere at him. Lucario closed his eyes and held out his right hand as his body started to glow with blue light, and then he opened his eyes to reveal that they were glowing with the same color. The moment the Aura Sphere was about to hit Lucario, he quickly sidestepped and the energy ball went past him and collided with a rock.

"Take this! Aura Sphere!" Lucario said as he charged up Aura Sphere and fired it at Giratina, blasting it in the body.

The renegade Pokemon let out a roar and then its body slowly turned black before disappearing into thin air. "Oh no!" Lucario thought. He looked around for Giratina and then quickly closed his eyes with his right arm stretched forward.

Suddenly, Giratina appeared from behind Lucario and rammed him in the back really hard to send flying across the place until he crashed face first into a piece of landmass. He got back up and said, "Ow… Detect cannot defend against that move…?"

Reimu pushed herself back up from the piece of landmass that she crashed into and groaned in pain before standing back up, and she was surprised to find herself standing sideways on the landmass's side. "This is strange…" she thought. "I didn't know I could do this… Or is it something that can only happen in this strange place?" She turned to look at Giratina and saw that it was heading for Lucario to attack him. "No time to be thinking about this…" And she quickly took off into the air and towards Giratina.

She took out some paper amulets and threw it at Giratina, and the renegade Pokemon turned to face her after getting blasted by those exploding amulets. Giratina breathed out a stream of green fire at Reimu, but she moved out of the way and started flying in circles around Giratina while bombarding it with paper amulets and spiritually-enhanced needles nonstop, and at times she would flip upside-down and twirl her gohei to rain down energy projectiles onto Giratina's back. "Rain Dance!"

Eventually, she took out four pieces of red and blue paper and scattered them around her to create miniature yin-yang orbs again as the previous ones had disappeared after she got hit by Giratina's Shadow Force.

As the shrine maiden flew around and bombarded Giratina nonstop, the renegade Pokemon roared with frustration and then its body slowly turned black before disappearing into thin air. "It's that move again!" Reimu thought. She remained hovering in one place while looking around with awareness. "Let's see… I was hit from behind last time, so I have every reason to think that the same thing is going happen again, so…" Immediately, she spun around and quickly created a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!"

Immediately after she created the wall, Giratina appeared out of thin air and charged forward, and much to Reimu's surprise, the renegade Pokemon smashed through the wall like it was nothing and rammed the shrine maiden with full force in the body. "YAAAAAAA!" Reimu shot backwards through the air really fast, but when she was about to hit a piece of landmass behind her, she quickly pointed her legs backwards and planted her feet against the side of the landmass firmly before kicking forward into the air at an equally fast speed.

She flipped around and landed a kick against Giratina's chest, and then she tapped her feet rapidly against the renegade Pokemon to hit it several times. After landing one final kick onto Giratina, Reimu bounced back into the air and performed an acrobatic flip before unleashing a plethora of paper amulets and needles at Giratina while the miniature yin-yang orbs bombarded the renegade Pokemon with projectiles.

Giratina let out a roar of anger and then slashed its streamers against the air to fire black crescent blades at her, but Reimu easily avoided the Shadow Claw attack by moving left and right. In the midst of firing the black crescent blades, Giratina charged up a blue energy sphere in front of his body. "It's that move!" Reimu gasped.

Reimu realized that she did not have time to use Cautionary Border to protect herself from the attack; so instead, she took out a white card and shouted, "Dimensional Rift!" In a moment, Reimu disappeared in a burst of white light and the Aura Sphere kept on moving forward until it struck a piece of landmass.

Giratina was surprised at the shrine maiden's sudden disappearance and so looked around for signs of her. Suddenly, Reimu reemerged next to the renegade Pokemon's head and landed a powerful kick into the side of its head. Angrily, Giratina spun around and swung one of its streamers downwards onto Reimu, but she held up her gohei to block it.

Though she was able to block the strike from the streamer, Reimu was still knocked downwards from the sheer force of it, and then Giratina continued to fire black crescent blades at her. Reimu quickly moved left to right to avoid getting hit by them as she flew upwards again. She went underneath Giratina and kicked it from below really hard.

Giratina roared in anger and then moved back before firing black crescent blades at her. Once again, Reimu had an easy time dodging them, but in the midst of using the attack Shadow Claw, Giratina charged up an Aura Sphere and fired it at her. Because Reimu was too busy dodging the Shadow Claw attack, she had no time to take out the card used for performing Dimensional Rift. "Oh no!" And as a result, she was blasted by the Aura Sphere and flew back through the air. The miniature yin-yang orbs that were following her also disappeared after she got hit. Giratina continued to use Shadow Claw and managed to land hits onto Reimu this time. "Ugh!"

Reimu eventually came to a stop and used her gohei to deflect as many black crescent blades as possible, and then she quickly flew off to the side, trying to ignore the cuts that she received all over the body. "This guy is tougher than I thought…" she thought. She took out several paper amulets and flung them at Giratina.

Giratina charged up an Ancient Power attack and fired it at the incoming paper amulets. The attack plowed through the amulets and continued heading for Reimu, but she was able to dodge this one with ease while continuing to throw a combination of paper amulets and needles at Giratina.

When Reimu got close to Giratina, the renegade Pokemon swung its streamers at her and she desperately tried to dodge them and would use her gohei to block them at times. Reimu moved backwards to avoid another swipe from the streamer, but this one shot out a black crescent blade at her without a warning, and so she got hit in the chest. "AH!" This gave Giratina the chance to hit her with its streamers and knocked her backwards through the air. "YAAAAAAA!"

Reimu was sent flying towards the side of a landmass and was in danger of crashing into a piece of rock, but Lucario suddenly jumped over the rock and caught Reimu just as she was going to bang her against it. The aura Pokemon landed and then placed the shrine maiden onto the ground. "Are you all right?" Lucario asked her.

Reimu stood up and said, "I'm all right…" She held her hand over one of her cuts and said, "These aren't anything. I've gotten wounds worse before."

Giratina attacked with Ancient Power, but they quickly jumped out of the way before they got hit by the white energy ball surrounded by rocks. They landed upright onto another piece of landmass and Lucario said to Reimu, "Buy me a little bit of time! I'm going to use my most powerful attack!"

"I'm planning to use a powerful attack as well, but if you insist, I'll buy you a bit of time. Just remember to buy me some time afterwards as well, okay?"

"No problem!" Lucario said as he brought his arms into the air and started charging up aura on his palms.

"Cautionary Border!" Reimu set up a blue wall and then took out a blue card and charged it up.

Giratina attacked them with Shadow Claw again, but the blue wall protected them from the black crescent blades. When Giratina saw that Shadow Claw wasn't strong enough to break down the wall, the renegade Pokemon used Aura Sphere instead. Due to the beating the wall received from Shadow Claw earlier, Aura Sphere managed to shatter it this time.

By this time, Reimu had formed a blue yin-yang orb of massive proportions in front of her palm. "Holy Relic: Yin-Yang Sanctification Jade!" And then the energy orb was fired at Giratina.

Giratina tried to push back the energy orb, but its body sank into the energy orb as a result and got burned by spiritual energy.

At the same time, Lucario had finished charging up his most powerful attack and said, "Watch the power of aura! Aura Storm!" He pointed both his arms at Giratina and then shot out a gigantic laser beam.

The laser beam struck the energy orb from behind and gave it strong push, forcing the energy orb to engulf Giratina completely. The renegade Pokemon was not only burned by the spiritual energy, but also blasted by the Aura Storm.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Amazing!" Reimu said in awe. "Wait a minute… This is my chance!" And then she clasped her hands together and made blue aura appear around her body.

After a few seconds, the Aura Storm attacked ended and Lucario fell onto one knee and panted in exhaustion. "Using this move wears me out a bit…" he said.

After being hit by the powerful attack, Giratina was blown across the place and crashed into a large piece of landmass. Despite this, the renegade Pokemon got back up and roared loudly in anger, and then it charged at the Lucario and Reimu again.

"Are you not giving up?" Lucario asked in frustration. "Luckily, my aura powers grant me more strength the more exhausted I feel!" He cupped his hands together to charge up a larger than usual blue energy ball and then fired it. "Aura Sphere!"

However, Giratina easily shrugged off the attack after getting hit by it and continued moving in their direction.

"Oh no!"

"Dream Sign: Duplex Barrier!" Reimu shouted. Suddenly, a wall appeared in front of Giratina and the renegade Pokemon crashed face first into it. The renegade Pokemon then looked around and found itself encased inside a translucent, blue barrier, and there was another layer of barrier outside it. Reimu let out sigh and said, "I did it…"

"Reimu!" shouted a voice that was familiar to her. Reimu turned to the side and saw Alice, Marisa, Sanae, Cirno, and Red standing on a piece of landmass that was quite a bit of distance away from her and Lucario. "Reimu! How is everything over there-ze?" Marisa called out to her.

"You're all here!" Reimu said.

"Don't worry! I'll be there in a minute to help you out!" Cirno said. Just as she was about to take flight, the ice fairy suddenly fell forward onto the ground.

"Cirno, what happened to you?" Sanae asked in shock.

Red bent down and saw some purple stains on Cirno's back and said, "It's poison! It must've weakened her. Good thing I've brought some antidotes." He took out a yellow bottle and sprayed its contents at the purple stains on Cirno's back.

Reimu turned to look at the barrier and saw that Giratina was ramming the interior barrier really hard, trying to break through it. "That will not work," Reimu said to the renegade Pokemon. "It takes more than brute strength to break through that barrier!"

The interior barrier glowed for a few seconds, and then it exploded in a huge blast.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

As smoke filled up within the exterior barrier, Reimu sighed with relief, thinking that it was over at last. Suddenly, there was loud roar as Giratina emerged from the smoke and rammed its head against the exterior barrier very hard. "What?" Reimu said in shock. "It's still not defeated yet?"

The exterior barrier reached its time limit and then disappeared, and this allowed Giratina to charge at Reimu and Lucario. Lucario quickly jumped to the nearest piece of landmass while Reimu took off into the air. After crashing into the landmass that they were originally on, Giratina looked up to face Reimu and then charged at her.

Reimu quickly took out card and held it up between two fingers. "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!" Immediately, energy balls of various colors appeared around her in large amounts. As Giratina closed in on Reimu, the energy charged at Giratina and blasted it in the face as well as various parts of its body.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

With a loud roar, Giratina reeled back from the explosion and then shook around violently. Finally, the renegade Pokemon fell sideways onto the piece of landmass from earlier.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Lucario watched from the piece of landmass that he was standing on and said, "Did she do it?"

Reimu panted heavily as she watched the knocked out Giratina and said, "Please… No more… Stay down already…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I think I handled this chapter better than the previous one. Hope you enjoyed it!

**Next chapter: Shadow Recession**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Touhou 10.5's subtitle, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody.


	33. Shadow Recession

**SBS Time!  
Anxestor's Dragon: **Do you listen to Cool & Create?  
**Game2002: **I have listened to Touhou remixes done by several music circles, and Cool & Create is one of them.

**Chapter 32  
Shadow Recession**

**

* * *

**

After Giratina had been defeated, Reimu and Lucario went over to the platform where Alice and the others were.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Red said to Reimu. "You managed to defeat Giratina!"

"It's been a while, Red," Lucario said to Red.

Red looked at Lucario and said, "Uh? A Lucario?"

"Does our reunion bring back any memories?"

"You can talk… Wait a minute; you're the same Lucario from the Smash Brothers Tournament, right?"

"It is as you said!"

"Smash Brothers Tournament?" said the girls in shock. Cirno didn't say anything because she was still weak from the poison and was being carried Marisa's back.

"Yeah, there was a Lucario that entered the Smash Brothers Tournament, and he is that same one."

"Whoa… I didn't know about this at all…" Reimu said.

"In fact, there were four representatives from our world participating in the tournament. Asides from the both of us, there was also a Pikachu and a Jigglypuff. And by Pikachu, I'm not talking about my Pika; it's a different Pikachu."

Red then explained to Lucario about the girls' situation, and then Lucario nodded. "I see… So you are looking for the Light Essence," the aura Pokemon said. "I have the very essence that you are looking for with me."

"Really?" Marisa said in surprise. "You have it with you-ze?"

"Master Hand gave it to me as a souvenir before I left Smash World. It is currently in my lair up in Mt. Coronet. I will go back to my lair and give it to you after this."

"By the way, where's Cyrus?" Reimu asked.

"There he is," Alice said, pointing to Cyrus who was bounded and sitting in front of a rock. A doll was holding one end of the rope while Shanghai held a knife in front of his neck to keep him from doing anything.

"You have ruined everything!" Cyrus said angrily. "I could've recreated this world if it wasn't for your meddling!"

"Too bad," Marisa said to him. "We don't agree with your evil plan-ze!"

"Right! The evil plans of an evil man like you should never come true!" Sanae said.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of growling coming from behind. When they turned around, they were surprised to see Giratina floating in front of them. "It's still not out for the count yet?" Reimu said in shock.

As the girls, Red, and Lucario got into fighting stance, Giratina let out a roar. "Wait, it is trying to say something," Lucario said.

"What did it say?" Red asked him.

"It said, 'I can't believe that a mere human like you defeated me!" Lucario said, translating Giratina's roar. Giratina continue to let out cries while Lucario kept on translating what the renegade Pokemon said. "If you really want to protect this world, then so be it! I will not let the Distortion World destroy your world any longer, but never try to upset the balance of space and time again!'"

After that, Giratina reeled back and roar at the top of its voice.

* * *

The black vortex above the peak of Mt. Coronot stopped expanding and began shrinking. The people who were living in the towns and cities around it were surprised by such a sight.

"The vortex is shrinking!"

"How come?"

"Does this mean we're saved?"

"Hooray! I don't have to run away from my beloved house anymore!"

The vortex kept on shrinking until it completely disappeared.

After Giratina was done roaring, the renegade Pokemon looked at the girls, Red, Lucario, and Cyrus and let out another cry which Lucario translated. "It said, 'Never appear before me again!'"

With that, Giratina turned around and then took off into the distance until it could no longer be seen. "That's that, I think," Reimu said.

"Now that we've done everything we have to do here, what say we go back outside and meet up with the others?" Red suggested. "They must be waiting for us already."

And so, they backtracked all the way to the exit.

* * *

After leaving the Distortion World, Reimu and the others found themselves back inside Turnback Cave, and after going through a the southern passage, the were back in the cave's first room and met up with all their comrades. The International Police was also there and they had rounded up the evil organizations' grunts

"Red!" Looker said to Red when he saw him. "I have just received word from one of my men out there that the vortex over Mt. Coronot has disappeared! You did it!"

"Actually, the credit goes to them," Reimu said, looking at Reimu and Lucario.

Dia and Pearl walked up to them and Pearl said in an excited voice, "Wow! You managed to stop Cyrus from recreating the world! Man, you're awesome! And who is this Lucario? Did you catch it?"

"No," Reimu said, shaking her head.

Lucario bowed down politely and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you. You may simply call me Lucario."

Pearl hopped back in surprise and said, "Whoa! It can talk as well! Amazing!"

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing all right!" Dia said while munching on a piece of cracker, "Though the name is a very generic one…"

Alice handed Cyrus over to the police and then Cyrus said to her, "You girls did a great job capturing Cyrus for us!"

"I'm glad that we were of help," Alice said, "but what about the rest of the members?"

As she was saying this, more policemen came out from the passages on all sides of the room, each of them bringing along the Team Rocket and Team Galactic executives. "They're being captured one by one," Looker said. "So far, the only person we haven't found yet is Giovanni."

"Giovanni? You haven't found him yet?" Red said in shock. "But I've defeated him already!"

"Nope, my men never found him. They've searched in every room possible but didn't find any signs of the Team Rocket leader. They did find a peculiar room that has a lot of holes on the ground and also piles of rocks on the northern part of the room. When they tried to go into the holes, they found that the holes were buried from the inside, so they couldn't go in too deep."

"Holes on the ground? He must've escaped by burrowing underground... And those holes must've been made by his Dugtrio to call back his Pokemon from underneath them…"

As Cyrus was being led by two policemen towards the exit, the Team Galactic leader suddenly pushed his captors away by the side and then ran for the exit by himself. "Cyrus is getting away!" one of the policemen shouted.

"I will not get captured here!" Cyrus said as he ran outside the cave, but when he came outside, he realized that there was the lake in front of him and he couldn't swim with both arms bounded. "Darn it!" He turned around and saw the policemen, the Pokemon trainers, and the Gensokyo girls standing in front of the cave entrance.

"Give it up, Cyrus!" Platinum said to him. "There is no escape for you! You're going to be brought to justice no matter what!"

"I will not be captured here!" Cyrus said. "You may think that this is the end of the road for me, but there is still someone who is backing me up! Once he shows up, he will help me get out of here and then I will get my revenge on all of you!"

"Oh really? Who may that be now? Are you talking about the Team Rocket leader Giovanni?" Pearl asked, and then his expression suddenly changed. "Whoa, what the?"

Cyrus saw that everyone's expression had changed. It was as if they were surprised by something behind him, and so he turned around to see what surprised them. Hovering above the surface of the water was a high tech-looking podium and sitting behind the podium was man with neatly trimmed black hair dressed in a dark blue suit decorated with yellow adornments. He also had a thin moustache as well as dark blue markings around his eyes. "Does the person you talked about happen to be me?" the man asked while shuffling a deck of cards in his hands over and over.

Cyrus ran to the edge of the land and said to him, "Mr. King! Help me fast! We made a promise with each other that you will support me, right? Quick, I'm in trouble here!"

"My, my… Look at your current state!" said the man named Mr. King. "You look pathetic! But then, this is to be expected since you're merely a human."

"It's that same guy we met at Team Galactic's headquarters!" Pearl pointed out.

"It's him all right!" Looker said. "He's the one who transported the Team Galactic and Team Rocket grunts to this place in a short amount of time—through the usage of a special door that leads to any place!"

"A door that leads to any place?" Sanae said curiously.

Mr. King looked at them and said, "How rude of me to not introduce myself!" He bowed down slightly and said, "My name is Mr. King. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"Mr. King! Help me!" Cyrus called out to him desperately.

"You want me to help you? Hmmm… I wonder what happened to the person who said that he has no interest in the new world that our organization is going to create."

"I take back my words! I'll do anything to getting arrested! Quick! Do something!"

"Unfortunately, our organization does not take interest in failures. I did say that you will only be accepted if you prove yourself competent enough, right? Your failure has proven that you are not competent enough to become part of our organization. Sorry, but I have no business with people who isn't part of us."

"Please! I beg you! Save me!"

"Hey you!" Red said to Mr. King. "What is this all about?"

Mr. King looked at Red and replied, "It is simply an alliance that we made a while back. You see, I came to this world to see if I can recruit new members for the organization that I am a part of. Cyrus and Giovanni were just about to form an alliance with each other when I came to meet them, and thus I offered them both positions to become members of our organization under the circumstance that they are able to prove themselves a big enough threat to this world. As you can see, his failure means that he is not qualified enough for our organization, and the same goes for Giovanni who has ran off like a coward. Actually, I didn't really expect much from them in the first place since they are nothing but humans. Humans are, after all, weak and pathetic creatures!"

"Excuse me," Reimu said, stepping forward. "You talk like you have a poor view on humans. What are you?"

"Ah, the girl from another world speaks!" Mr. King said. "I am human myself as well. Why do you ask?"

"If you are also a human, then why do you look down on your own kind?"

"Am I not right? Humans are pathetic, and it makes me sad to see how humans try to prove themselves as superior beings, only to fail miserably in the end. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that there needs to be a powerful leader over them in order for humans to prosper, and I am the perfect candidate!"

"How can you say such a thing?" Sanae said, sounding offended. "Not all humans are weak!"

"I have to admit that as well," Remilia said with a nod.

"In denial, are we?" Mr. King, shaking his said slowly as if he was disappointed. "Humans refuse to acknowledge the fact that they are weak, and so they make up false beliefs to make themselves look as if they are powerful. No matter what they do, they can never escape the fact that humans are weak! It makes me sad to know that my own kind is so pathetic, so I have decided that this must not go on. Every team, group, and organization needs a good leader in order to bring them success, so I have chosen myself as the ruler of humans in order to make the human race more powerful and successful!"

"Such an improper way of thinking!" Sanae said, sounding very angry. "How can you think of such a thing? Humans are not as weak as you say!"

"Okay, let's keep that debate for some other time," Reimu said. "I have another question to ask you. You called me earlier the girl from another world. Are you saying that you are aware of the fact that my friends and I have been traveling throughout several worlds?"

Mr. King put down his cards and then clapped his hands. "Well said! You are very right in saying that! The whole world may not know it, but our organization happens to be aware of the fact that you girls have been traveling throughout several worlds already! You are in your fourth world currently, am I correct? I know the answer to that already, so there's no point in asking that!"

Reimu then pointed her gohei at him and said, "Then I'm sure you know something that we don't, such as how all these started in the first place. You better start giving us the answers now or else we will force it out of you!"

"Hohoho! Is that supposed to be a threat? I'd like to answer that, but the others back in the organization are expecting us to be back right about now. Sorry, but we'll have to save the chat for some other time, even though I'd like to stay behind for a little while longer. However, I will leave behind a bit of a parting gift. Check out the sides of the cave entrance! I'm sure you will like it!"

Everyone turned to look at the sides of the cave entrance and discovered a total nine green faces with large grinning smiles and swirly eyeglasses embedded into the rock. The eyes suddenly flashed and then the faces began laughing in high-pitched voices, and then they exploded all at the same time.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion blasted everyone away, sending some of them into the water. The explosion also caused rocks to fall down and closed up the entrance, trapping those who were still inside the cave.

"Hahahahaha!" Mr. King laughed while clapping his hands. "I hope that you enjoyed the parting gift! You should thank Fawful for his hard work in preparing those bombs!"

"Geeheeheeheehee!" laughed a high-pitched voice, and then a short green-skinned person dressed in a red robe flew out from above the cliff using a headgear worn on his head. "I have chortles! The Fawful Bomb is but a little toy that I made for annoying fink rats such as you!"

"Well, let us go take our leave now, shall we?" Mr. King said as he took out remote control-like device and pressed the purple button on it. This caused a large door to appear out of nowhere behind him, and when the door swung open, nothing but darkness was seen behind it.

The green-skinned person—Fawful—disappeared into the darkness behind the door while continuing to chortle, and then Mr. King slowly moved backwards using his flying podium to enter into the darkness.

Sanae slowly got back up and shouted as she took out a card, "Don't run away! Sky Serpent!" She shot out a pair of white missiles at the Mr. King, but the villain had already disappeared into the darkness and the door was closing by the time she fired the missiles. The snake-like missiles collided into the door just as it closed instead and exploded. After that, the door disappeared as mysteriously as it showed up. "They got away…"

Marisa climbed back onto dry land and said, "Well, that went off with a bang, but it's a good thing that nobody is hurt-ze!"

"Save for being wet…" Reimu grumbled as she emerged from the water.

Looker wasn't blown into the water and he said to his men, "Quick! Get those rocks removed from the entrance! We need to let the people inside get out!"

"I'll handle it!" Red said. "Come out, Lax!" He called out his Snorlax and told him to break down those rocks. "Use Rock Smash on those rocks!" The Snorlax nodded and then approached the pile of rocks to deliver a powerful punch to it. When hit, the pile of rocks shattered into pieces and flew everywhere, and just like that, the entrance is unblocked and the people instead could come out again. "There!"

"Wow! You sure got it down in a split second! The International Police could really use someone of great talent like you!" Looker said, sounding impressed.

"I think I'll pass. I don't think I'm really suited for that kind of job. By the way, what should we do about Giovanni?"

"We can't deny the fact that he has escaped… We'll have to search for him some other time. With the majority of the Team Rocket members arrested, I'm sure he won't be able to do much. It's safe to say that the threat of Team Rocket is gone for now."

"Yeah, let's hope…"

Unbeknownst to them, Giovanni had been hiding behind a tree somewhere on top of the cliff the whole time. He walked up close to the edge of the cliff and carefully peeked down without being noticed. "I sure have lost a lot this time, and I though that this alliance would benefit Team Rocket greatly…" he said to no one in particular. "Victory is with you once again, Red, but we shall meet again!" With that, the Team Rocket leader turned around and quietly slipped into the woods to disappear from the public for some time.

* * *

Mr. King and Fawful stepped into a large room that was mostly devoid of light. The only source of light came from a small light bulb at the top of the room, but even so, it was nearly impossible to make out the faces of eight other people who were seated around a round table, though some parts of them could still be made out an extent.

Mr. King's flying podium placed itself at an empty in front of the table and said, "Giovanni and Cyrus both failed in the end. They're humans after, so their failures were expected."

"And that is why I told you that it is pointless trying to recruit new members!" shouted one of the dark figures. "This organization only needs the eleven of us! No other people out there are competent enough to join our organization!"

"I have to admit that I did not find anything impressive with Giovanni and Cyrus," said a person who was holding a large staff, "but I did find Ganondorf to be a very good candidate. Too bad he didn't accept my offer even after I changed him back from a stone statue…"

"Did you really think he would trust people who is talking about something that he never knew in the first place?" said a bulky person. "He only cares about that Triforce thing and nothing else!"

"But the both of us did offer him the chance to reclaim the Triforce, though he still failed in the end."

"Hahahaha! That serves him right!" laughed the person who shouted at Mr. King. "He got defeated by a little kid and a pair of girly girlies! And speaking of girly girlies, we should be doing something about those world-hopping girls! If they find out more about us…"

"Are you implying that you are afraid of them?" a person with a hat said. "Ha! This is to be expected since you're the weakest among us here! There is no way I would be afraid of those little girls!"

"What? I didn't say anything about being afraid of those little girly girlies! And don't interrupt me whenever I'm talking! You dare say that I am weakest here? Do not forget that it was thanks to me that you lot are gathered here in the first place."

"Oh, shut up!" said a bald person. "You said that several times already and I'm totally sick of hearing it! So what if it was thanks to you that we are all here? Remember that you couldn't have made it here by yourself in the first place either!"

"I don't care! You should give more respect to me! I'm the right-hand man after all!"

"Sorry, but I fail to see how you are a suitable right-hand man," said the person with the staff. "If anything, I am the one who is most suited to be the right-hand man, and perhaps even the leader! A person with childish attitude and actions like you can never make a competent right-hand man and even a ruler."

"What!" the person who shouted at Mr. King got onto the table and bent over in front of the staff-wielding person. "You better take back those words because I am not a child!"

"May I ask again why is this man with us?" asked a person with a goatee. "He is without doubt the most annoying and uncouth human being I have ever seen!"

"He does make things here livelier, doesn't he?" said a person with really sharp teeth "Admittedly, it would be a bit stale if every one of us here are dark and gloomy."

"Heeheehee! I like him! He's a very silly fellow!" said yet another person who was bouncing up and down on a ball.

"Fawful agrees!" Fawful said. "Geeheeheeheehee! Such evilness can become super awesome when one adds a bit spicy sauce to spice things us! A spicy sauce coming from a man who has madness!"

The annoying person pulling his hair while stomping the table over and over. "Yargh! You're all making fun of me! Not fair! Not fair! I demand respect! Respect! Gyaaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, a new voice spoke out of nowhere. "Let us not get into an argument now. After all, we are in the same group and it would not be of any good to us if are relationship worsens."

"Our relationship with each other is as bad as it is already," said the person with a hat.

"Honestly saying, I am not fond of working with humans, but I can tolerate it as long as it benefits me in the end," said the person with a goatee.

"It's all right," said the voice. "I am not forcing you to be on good terms with each other, but in the very least, let us cooperate with each other until our goal is achieved. Okay, on the subject of those girls…"

"We should get rid of them right now!" said the annoying person. "They may become a threat to us in the future!"

"Like I said! You are a coward who is afraid of little girls!" said the person with crossed arms.

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF LITTLE GIRLS! AND I ALSO HAVE ENOUGH OF YOU CALLING ME A COWARD!" He then turned to Mr. King and asked him, "And you! Why didn't you get rid of them when you had the chance? You could've at least gotten rid of one of them before you come back here!"

"Honestly saying, I am not sure if I can deal with all of them at once by myself," Mr. King replied. "Plus, I'd prefer letting other people do the cleanup business unless I have no choice but to settle things myself."

"Perhaps we should let them wander around for a while," said the voice. "After all, it wouldn't be fair for them to meet their ends before they find out why exactly all these are happening to them, don't you think? Let us not rush and see first how they fare in their journey."

* * *

The next day, Red and the girls came out from a hospital in Veilstone City. Aya stretched her arms into the air and said, "Ah! I feel refreshed! The sun is warm and bright as well!

"You really should be thankful that you survive getting poisoned badly," Nitori told her. "The doctors said it's a miracle that you managed to survive after coming in contact from such a powerful poison!"

"Survivability usually isn't an issue as long as you are not human!" Aya said as she did a victory sign with her hand while winking.

"So what are you planning to do now?" Red asked them.

"Well, Lucario said that he's going to give us the Light Essence today," Reimu told him. "We have to wait for him to give it to us before we can leave this world." Immediately after saying this, Lucario jumped from the air and landed in front of the shrine maiden. "Whoa!"

"I'm sorry for surprising you as well as making you wait," Lucario said to her.

"Where did you jump down from?" Cirno asked him.

"It is uncommon for wild Pokemon to run around in cities, so I hopped on the building tops until I found you. He then presented to Reimu a Pokeball that he was carrying with him. "This is the Light Essence that I promised you."

Instead of having a red-colored top portion like most Pokeballs, this Pokeball's top portion is light blue in color and has a yellow and red line running crossing through each other at the center.

"A Pokeball?" Red said curiously.

"This is simply a model of a Pokeball and cannot be opened," Lucario said as she handed the essence over to Reimu.

"Hmmm…" Reimu observed the essence for a while and then said, "World Light…" This caused the Pokeball to glitter. "Yep, this is the Light Essence all right."

"Great! Now we can head off to the next world-ze!" Marisa said.

Reimu looked at Lucario and said to him, "Thanks for the essence!"

"I am glad to be of hope to you," Lucario said, bowing down. "I bid you a safe trip to the next world and wish that you eventually make it to Smash World. Farewell!" And then the aura Pokemon leaped onto the top of the nearest streetlight before hopping onto the rooftop of a building, and then he continued hopping from building to building until he left the city.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Reimu said to her friends. "Let's return to the shrine."

* * *

Red accompanied the girls as they returned to Lake Valor, and once there, they saw that the lake was slowly being filled up by water that was flowing in from a canal on the northwestern side of the lake. "It looks like the lake is returning to normal!" Nitori said.

"So there is a river that leads to this river, it seems," Red said. "I didn't know that…"

They went around the lake and went into the woods until they found the Hakurei Shrine. The girls went into the shrine one by one and then Reimu turned around to face Red. "Thanks for everything," she said. "We'll be taking our leave now."

"Good luck on your journey then!" Red said to her. "I hope you can make it to Smash World! Good luck meeting up with other Smashers in other worlds as well!"

"Good-bye!" Sanae said to him.

"Wait!" shouted a voice, and then Pearl came running up to them along with Dia and Platinum. "You're planning to leave without telling us?" Pearl asked the girls. "That's not nice!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Reimu said.

"So you're leaving now," Platinum asked. "I wish you a good luck if that is the case."

"Yeah, it was nice knowing you," Dia said while munching on a rice ball. "I wonder if we can meet each other again."

"You girls are really awesome!" Pearl said. "Also, if you ever meet up with one of those bad guys from the organization that the guy on the flying podium talked about, be sure to teach them a lesson!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that if we do run into them," Reimu said. "All right; we'll be leaving now. It's been nice knowing you."

"Oh, don't say that with such a bland-looking expression. Cheer up!"

"Yeah, I think you should smile more often," Sanae said to Reimu. "You don't have to look so serious all the time."

"Sanae has a point-ze," Marisa agreed. "You never seem to smile unless something good happens or if you are on a good day-ze."

Reimu let out a sigh and said, "Fine… If you want me to…" And then she smiled and said in a more cheerful-sounding voice, "We'll be leaving now and it's been nice knowing you! Good-bye!"

"Good-bye!" the Pokemon trainers said while waving their hands.

Reimu let the Light Essence float into the air and then the usual stuff happened. The essences that they had collected so far circled above the shrine and then the vortex appeared over shrine to shine down a beam of light onto it. The shrine floated into the air and shook slightly before a bright flash occurred, stinging the eyes of the Pokemon trainers. When the light died down, the Hakurei Shrine and everything with it were gone.

"There they go…" Red said. "Good luck!"

* * *

Within the basement of Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya was sat down on a bed next to Flandre. "Will my big sister be coming back?" Flandre asked the maid.

"I'm sure she will," Sakuya told her. "Don't worry; your older sister will be all right. You know that she is very strong! Maybe not as strong as you, but she's still very strong."

"I really want to go and find big sister… I'm starting to miss her…"

"It's best that you stay here, Flandre. Your sister said that you shouldn't leave this place without her permission. If she finds out about it when she comes back, she will not be happy with you."

"Okay… I don't want to make my big sister angry, so I stay here until she comes back! I wish there are new toys to play with though…" Flandre reclined at her bed and then pointed her arm at a large teddy bear that was placed across the room. When she closed her fingers into a fist, the teddy bear exploded into pieces.

BANG!

"You shouldn't destroy your toys… It's not a good thing… Anyway, I'm off to do my work," Sakuya as she stood up from the bed.

"Work hard, Sakuya!" Flandre said.

Sakura left the basement and eventually came into the library and met Patchouli. Patchouli was seated in front of her desk flipping through a book when Sakuya came up to her and asked, "Did you find out anything?"

"No," Patchouli replied. "I looked through all the encyclopedias I know of and found absolutely nothing on the phenomenon which made the Hakurei Shrine disappear."

Sakura let out a sigh and said, "Is there really no way to tell what happened to Mistress Remilia?"

"They say Yukari went to look for the people who disappeared along with the shrine already, so we can only wait for her to return. I'm sure she will be able to find them and then return the shrine to its original location before Gensokyo's barrier disappears."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed a loud voice.

Sakuya and Patchouli turned to look at where the voice came from—the far end of the room and behind a large bookshelf. "What was that?" Sakuya said in shock.

"Koakuma must've touched the books that bite back. I thought I warned her not to touch them. Oh wait, I did tell her to go and put some of the books back there, so she must've touched them by accident…" Patchouli said.

* * *

Niko was washing clothes in the lower area of Tetra's ship. "Why must they make me wash the clothes most of the time?" he grumbled. "Washing Gonzo's underwear really makes me sick since they smell the most!"

After he was done, he took out the clothes from the laundry basin to hang them on the clothesline. He then took another basket full of dirty clothes and dumped them into the laundry basin. When he bent down to wash those clothes, the clothes as well as the water suddenly fell into a purple portal that appeared at the bottom of the laujdry basin. "What the?"

Niko looked at the portal and suddenly, Yukari came out from the portal with the clothes covering her head as well as being wet from head to toe.

"EEKS! MONSTER! YAAAAAAAAA!" Niko screamed as he ran up the stairs.

Yukari took the clothes off her head and said, "Tsk! Of all places to pop out from, it has to be a laundry basin!"

Just then, Niko came back down with the rest of the crew and pointed at Yukari saying, "That's the monster! Do you believe me now?"

Tetra pointed at Yukari and said, "Hey! Who are you? How can you pop out from a laundry basin just like that?"

"I can pop out from wherever I want to," Yukari told her, "but I wasn't expecting to be coming out from a laundry basin this time… You must be very surprised, eh?"

"Of course I am surprised!" Niko said. "You never see people coming out from laundry basins, do you?"

"Well, you do now. Anyway, I want to ask you something. Have you ever run into a group of girls or in the very least, a shrine?"

"A group of girls… Shrine… Yeah, we did encounter a group of girls who sailed the sea using a shrine," Gonzo said.

"Can you tell us the name of those girls, or at least one of them?" Link asked Yukari.

"One of them is named Reimu," Yukari told him.

"Oh yeah! We did meet a girl named Reimu! Unfortunately, Reimu and her friends have already left this world a few days ago already."

"Tsk… I'm a step behind again…" Yukari grumbled upon hearing this. "Oh well, at least I know I'm on track… Thanks for the information anyway." And then she disappeared into the portal and closed it afterwards.

"What was that all about…? And who was that woman anyway?" Senzo asked.

"Beats me… She never told us her name or how she did that either…" Niko said.

"Whoever she is, she's gone now," Tetra said. "All right; let's get back to work! There's nothing to look at here anymore, so move along!" Suddenly, a portal opened up over her head and a blue shirt fell onto her head. "Hey! What the?"

"Oh, that's my pajamas," Link said, taking the shirt off her head.

* * *

Like always, the Hakurei Shrine was flying through a passage of white light and the all the girls were gathered within the living room.

"Okay, so it appears that an evil organization is planning to create a new world," Aya said.

"You heard everything?" Reimu asked her.

Aya pointed at her ears and said, "I may not be able to see clearly that time, but I can still hear perfectly. Do not underestimate my hearing skills!"

"It really makes me angry whenever I think of that horrible man from yesterday!" Sanae said in an angry tone. "How can he look down on humans like that? And he even says that he is the rule of humans! Who does he think he is?"

"Well, it's true that humans in general are weak," Remilia said, "but I don't like that attitude of his. Seriously, what claim does he have that he is suitable to rule over humans? Even though I'm not human, such a claim still makes me laugh!"

"He's even aware of the fact that we are traveling from world to world," Youmu added. "I have a bad feeling about this… It's possible that we may run into one of their members again…"

"We'll beat them up if we run into them again!" Cirno said.

"You always make things sound so easy…" Reisen said to her.

"Whatever the case is, we better be more careful from now on," Reimu said. "I agree with Youmu that we may run into one of their members again."

Meiling then got up and started to head out of the room. "Where are you going?" Remilia asked her.

"I'm going to see if we are arriving at the next world," Meiling replied, and then she left the room. Shortly afterwards, she called out to them, "I can see the next world approaching!"

Immediately, the girls got up and ran to the front door. Meiling pointed at the circle at the far end of the passage of light and said, "There it is!"

As the circle came closer and closer to them, the scenery within the circle also became more and more apparent, and they could make out what appears to be ships and skyscrapers, all which are very futuristic-looking.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Finally, the Pokemon arc is complete! I'm glad that this chapter finally came out because of the revelation of some things! It sure took a while since I'm not updating as fast I used to be for the reasons stated six chapters back.

Fawful's appearance back in the Wario arc was a surprise, even if he had a minor role, and now you can see that his role is much bigger than some of you thought, or maybe some of you were expecting that guy to show up again with a larger role?

Mr. King is the main villain of Mega Man Star Force 3 for anyone who is curious.

So as you can see, there are a total of eleven villains in the organization. Two of them have already been revealed, but do you think you can figure out who the other members are? The reason I didn't refer to them by numbers is because… Well, I just want to be different from Specter24's way of calling those villains before their identities were revealed. Plus, those descriptions will give you a hint on who they may be. Perhaps some people may find those descriptions to be very obvious, but I won't be saying who is right or wrong until their identities get revealed one by one. Have fun guessing!

And let's see if you can guess what the next arc is as well. I have a feeling that many people will get it right with no problem... And also, no chapter title review once again because… I don't think I really need to be repeating this…

**Trivia:  
**1. After Team Galactic bombed Lake Valor, a dried up river, or canal, can be seen on the northwestern part of the lake in the games, but after the Giratina incident is over, the lake is mysteriously restored, but that river is no longer there.


	34. Falcon Punches a Strange Boar

**SBS Time!  
Ancestor's Dragon: **Do you watch any of the flashes for Touhou? Like Locked Girl, Border of Death, or stuff like that?**  
Game2002: **Yeah, sometimes.

**JakeCrusher: **I hope this doesn't sound sexist, but aren't there any MALE characters in the Touho series?**  
Game2002: **Genji, Sokrates, Unzan, and the giant catfish that doesn't have a name are male characters that appear in the games. Rinnosuke is the most well known male character, but he only appears in mangas and information books. Youki, Lord Tenma, and Myoren are only known by their names in the games and have never been officially seen outside of fanon. I don't think there are fan interpretations of what Lord Tenma and Myoren out there while Youki gets a lot of fan interpretations of how he might look like.

There's also Shingyoku who can transform into a male priest, but as this character's original form is a yin-yang orb and can even transform into a woman, his/her/its original gender is unknown.

Lastly, there are some male characters appearing in the mangas as well as being mentioned in information books, but they are extremely minor characters with more or less no importance to the series and they don't even have a name for crying out loud…

To sum it up, male characters in the Touhou series have either never made actual appearances or have very little role.

**Astral Knight Albireo: **I am not sure what SBS means.  
**Game2002: **SBS stands for "Shitsumon o Boshū Suru", which is Japanese for "I'm Taking Questions". Yes, the beginning of the first word really does spell like that... Anyway, I got this inspiration from the manga series One Piece since the author would answer questions sent by fans to him and then reply to them in the manga volumes, although some other manga series also do the same thing.

**Astral Knight Albireo:** If Remilia who has the power of manipulating fate, and Sanae who can create miracles are not considered 'God-tier' characters, and Suika whose 'flight' is more like an oni-powered jump, and most of her size changing attacks are her supers is… What are the criteria?  
**Game2002: **Remilia's manipulation of fate hasn't really been looked into so deeply, even in canonical resources, and admittedly, I don't really have an idea on how it really works. Even among fandom, there is very little to almost know interpretation of how her ability works, so most people tend to forget the fact that she has such ability.

Sanae's ability to create miracles is also something that I don't understand very well either. Once again, canonical resources don't seem to go deeper into this unless I'm missing out something, and even among fandom, such ability nearly doesn't exist. I assume that she can make unexpected things happen when things are looking grim.

Characters that are considered "God Tier" are those that I consider to be highly destructive and to mention having cheap abilities. Suika's ability change her size is a very dangerous one if you ask me. Imagine if she turned into a giant and instantly crushed her enemies... That doesn't sound like a fair fight at all, and let's not forget how physically powerful she is. Goddess characters are also considered "God Tier" characters for obvious reasons.

Basically, I chose characters that do not have cheap abilities and are not overpowered. They have to be at a level where their enemies can fight on par with them and at the same time, strong enough to defeat their enemies.

**Astral Knight Albireo:** Also, you said that Marisa would not use her Master Spark unless it was like a world boss... but Reimu just fought Giratina, and used the Duplex Barrier. In fact, she constantly uses this attack as her finisher. My question here is, will we ever see a variation, and see the ultimate attacks of the other characters? Like Reimu's Fantasy Heaven, or Cirno's Perfect Freeze, or Youmu's 10 Yojana in a Slash?**  
Game2002: **And lastly, you will have to keep on reading if you want to find out whether or not they will use their ultimate attacks. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

**Chapter 33  
Falcon Punches a Strange Boar**

**

* * *

**

A bright flash appeared at an area that resembled a harbor, and out from the flash, the Hakurei Shrine appeared a few inches above the metallic floor before falling onto it.

The girls took this opportunity to look at their surroundings and saw massive ships docked around the place, and there were also towering skyscrapers further in the distance. "Those are some uniquely designed buildings," Reimu commented.

"Wow! This place looks like how most people envision the future to be!" Sanae commented. "This sort of scenery is very often in mecha animes!"

"Wherever we are, let's take a look around this place," Reimu suggested as she stepped down from the front porch, but when she did, she fell down and touched her feet against water. "Whoa!"

Luckily, Marisa and Sanae both caught the shrine maiden by her arms and pulled her back up before her body touched the water as well. "Phew… That was close…" Sanae said.

"You should be more careful of your surroundings," Marisa told Reimu. "Didn't you notice that the shrine is in front of water-ze?"

Reimu looked around and saw that the front porch was facing a large body of water. "Yeah, I admit that I didn't notice it earlier away… Why must the shrine be placed in this location anyway…?"

So they went back inside and then exited the shrine from the back porch. They didn't walk too far away from the shrine when suddenly a man with dark brown hair dressed in a blue worker uniform appeared before them. He also had a scar above his left eye. "I'm sorry if I just saw something that I shouldn't be seeing just now," the man said as he came up close to the girls, "but that light from earlier…"

"Uh oh… He saw it…" Reimu thought with a nervous expression.

"What do we do…?" Reisen asked. "This man saw us arriving at this place… What will he think…?"

"You do not have to feel threatened," the man said to them. "I am actually familiar with that burst of light from earlier. I have every reason to believe that you came here using the World Light."

"You know about the World Light?" Reimu asked, sounding surprised.

The man nodded and said, "Yes, I have personally experienced traveling to another world using that before."

"Whoa, so does that mean you've been to Smash World before-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Yes, I went to Smash World before as well."

"And does that mean… you're also a participant in the Smash Brothers Tournament-ze?"

"Let's just say that a representative of this world competed in that tournament before."

"Wow! I can't believe that we ran into someone who knows about the Smash Brothers Tournament shortly after coming here!" Sanae said. "This is a miracle!"

"Since you came to this world through the World Light, you must be from another world, right?" the man asked them. "What brings you here, visitors?"

"It's a long story actually," Reimu said to him.

"Go ahead and tell me. I have a lot of time to spare," the man said as he crossed his arms to listen to the girls' story.

"Okay… It's like this…" And so, Reimu explained everything to the man.

After a few minutes of listening to the girls' story, the man nodded his head slowly and said, "I see… So the World Light suddenly brought you to Mushroom Kingdom even though it should be taking people to the Smash World right away… The only explanation for this is that the World Light is broken. Now you must find the eleven Light Essences which are used for fixing the World Light, and you currently have four of them."

"Do you have any idea on where the Light Essence of this world is?" Youmu asked him. "It's all right if you don't know; we can go look for it by ourselves and ask other people."

"I'm afraid I do not know that myself either," the man replied, "but I have heard of the term 'Light Essence' before when I was in the Smash World. Maybe you should ask the Internova Police Force for help."

"Internova Police Force?" Reimu asked curiously.

"It's a police organization that strives to enforce peace and justice to this world. Their headquarters is in Mute City. You can get to that place by bus." Pointing to a street visible in the distance, he said to them, "The bus stop is over there. Go ahead and wait for one to come pick you up!"

"Thank you!" Sanae said politely to the man.

"By the way, what are those giant lines in the air?" Nitori asked the man while pointing to a long, winding line in the air.

The man looked at those lines and replied, "Those are F-Zero tracks."

"F-Zero tracks?"

"In this world, the racing competition known as F,-Zero is basically the center of everyone's lives. Grand prix are held once in a while and participants would join them to either win prize money or for the sake of making themselves more popular among people. One would ride in machines called F-Zero vehicles and then compete with rival racers to get to the finish line first. It's very exciting, but also very dangerous since accidents happen often and if your rivals aren't nice people, they may even attack you during the race."

"How can they do that?" Sanae asked. "That's not nice!"

"Apparently, doing such a thing isn't considered wrong as long as one does not go too overboard with it."

"I have one last thing to ask you," Reimu said to him. "Where can we find the representative of this world who entered the Smash Brothers Tournament?"

"He only shows himself when he feels like it, so no matter how hard you try to look for him, you will never see him if he doesn't plan to show up. He goes by the name Captain Falcon if you are curious. Oh yeah, I don't think I have told you my name yet. You can simply call me Douglas."

"Thanks for the info, Douglas," Reimu said to him. "We'll go to Mute City and see if we can find this person named Captain Falcon." She turned towards the bus stop and said to her friends, "Let's go, everyone."

"It must be a place totally devoid of sound," Aya said. "Why else would it be called Mute City?"

Douglas watched as the girls went up to the bus stop, and it so happened that a bus arrived not too long after they got there. "Hey, this bus doesn't have wheels!" Sanae pointed out. "It's a hovering a few above ground!"

The girls got onto the bus one by one, and after the bus the left, Douglas said to no one in particular, "There they go. Maybe I should follow them to make sure that everything goes right with them…"

* * *

After several minutes, the bus finally arrived at Mute City and then the girls got down from the bus when it stopped in front of a bus stop. The girls looked up and were amazed at the sight of the towering skyscrapers as well as all sorts of people walking around the place. There were not only humans, but as well as anthropomorphic creatures, alien-like entities, and robots. The whole place was also bustling with various activities.

"So this Mute City," Reimu said.

"Looks like a very fun place-ze!" Marisa commented.

"It looks nothing like how I envisioned it to be at all…" Aya said. "Very ironic name this place has, don't you think?"

The girls walked around the place and enjoyed their sightseeing. Aya wanted to take pictures of this place, but then remembered that her camera was out of film. "Aw man… I forgot to buy new films back in the previous world…" she said. "I wonder if they sell camera film here."

"I think we should go look for the Internove Police Force first," Reisen suggested.

"But this place is so big!" Nitori said. "How are we going to look for that place?"

"We can always ask someone," Youmu suggested. She turned to a random passerby and asked him, "Pardon me, sir. May I ask for the directions to the Internova Police Force's headquarters?"

"Sorry, little girl," the man replied. "I only came to Mute City three days ago, so I'm new to this place as well. You'll have to ask other people."

"That's all right. Thanks anyway!" Youmu said politely as the man left.

"Can we not get straight to business right away?" Nitori asked. "Now that we're here, why don't we go on a sightseeing tour around this place first?"

"Yeah, I agree!" Aya said with a nod. "There are a lot of cool sights that I really want to take pictures of! Too bad my camera is out of film… I wonder if they sell camera film around here."

"Yeah, Reimu, we don't have to be in such a rush to get things done," Marisa said to Reimu while patting her back. "It can't be all work no play-ze!"

Reimu let out a sigh and then said, "Fine… Suit yourselves… I would prefer getting all these done as fast as possible… Who knows how long the barrier can hold up before it disappears?"

"It should happen so fast," Remilia told her. "There is still a lot of time before that happens. You should know this better than all of us here."

"Yeah, you're right… I'm being a bit too worried about this… All right, let's just take a walk around here before getting down to business. If you feel like going separate ways, then let us meet up with each other again at this bus stop."

"All right!" Cirno exclaimed. "I'm off to have fun!" And then she ran off in a random direction.

"Wait! Don't run off just like that! You're going to get lost!" Reisen said as she ran after the ice fairy.

"I want to see if there are any places here where I can find machineries," Nitori said. "I can't wait to see what sort of awesome technology they have here!"

"Let's go then!" Aya suggested, and then they both went off by themselves.

* * *

"Wow! There are a lot of people in this place!" Cirno said as she walked through the crowd. Suddenly, she noticed a particular person walking through the crowd and so she secretly followed him.

The person that she was following was an anthropomorphic frog. The frog walked up to a human and said to him, "Hey man!"

"Yo, what's up, Wart?" the salamander said to him.

"Nothing much… It's been pretty boring around here lately, don't you think? I wish that something special will happen someday…"

From among the crowd, a certain ice fairy's eyes were 'sparkling' as she stared at the frog.

* * *

"Wow! This place is cool!" Sanae said as she looked at high-tech things that were all over the place. "So this is what the future looks like!"

"So this is basically what the outside will look like several years later?" Alice asked her.

"Well, I don't really know… Animes, movies, and TV shows tend to portray the future as looking something like this, but I cannot be sure about reality. In fact, there are also a few animes that show the world being very futuristic-looking in the early 2000s, but it's already 2010 back in our world and it doesn't look anything like what the TV showed at all…"

Alice noticed a little kid playing with a remote-controlled toy robot. "Is that what dolls will look in the future as well?" Alice asked Sanae.

"That's a toy robot, not a doll…" Sanae told her. "Don't worry; I'm sure dolls will still look as cute as the ones that you have in the future…"

* * *

Aya and Nitori arrived at a garage where there were several F-Zero vehicles being repaired. "Wow! They have a lot of cool machines here!" Nitori exclaimed. She ran up to a yellow F-Zero machine with the number '03' imprinted on its body and examined it, and then a man with dark brown hair dressed in a yellow jumpsuit came up to her and said, "Hey little girl, are you amazed at the beauty of my F-Zero machine?"

Aya came up to them and said the man, "She has always been interested in all sorts of machineries."

"That's a good interest that she has!" the man commented. "I'm sure she will be interested in F-Zero races as well! By the way, my name is Dr. Stewart. It's nice to meet you!"

"I'm Aya Shameimaru and this is my friend, Nitori Kawashiro," Aya said to him.

Dr. Stewart bent close to Nitori and said to her, "So you like this thing?"

Nitori nodded with a big smile on her face and said, "Sure do! I really want to open it up to see what the inside looks like and perhaps try my hand on one of these things!"

"Haha! I can tell that you have great interest in F-Zero machines already! An interest that starts at a young age is likely to become part of one's life in the future! Take this opportunity to behold my beautiful F-Zero machine! You cannot find a better F-Zero machine anywhere else!"

"Sorry, but I'd like to disagree if you about this," said a robotic voice. They turned around to see a robot coming over. "Listen, little girl, I know a better F-Zero machine out there." He showed them his vehicle which was mostly red in color and had the number '01' imprinted on its body. "Behold my F-Zero machine, the Red Gazelle!"

"You have your own opinion about the appearance of vehicles, Mighty Gazelle," Dr. Stewart said to him, "but when it comes to statistics, my F-Zero machine is better than yours."

"Tell me about it," the robot named Mighty Gazelle said. "I fail to see how you have a better vehicle when it has worse grip than mines."

"At least it's better than your vehicle's body ranking."

"Well, say whatever you want! We shall see who the better racer is when the next F-Zero grand prix comes!" Suddenly, Mighty Gazelle noticed that Nitori was moving all around him to look at him from all angles. "Um… What are you doing, little girl…?"

"Wow! A robot! I can't believe I'm actually looking at a robot my own eyes!" Nitori exclaimed.

"To be precise, I'm a cyborg."

"Now I really wish I can take a picture…" Aya said. "Excuse me, good sirs, do you know where I can buy camera film around here?"

Dr. Stewart and Mighty Gazelle both looked at her camera for a few seconds, and then Mighty Gazelle said, "I'm sorry, but are you aware of the fact that your camera is incredibly outdated?"

"That's what Red told me as well…"

* * *

"Apologize to him at once!" Reisen said while pressing Cirno against the back of her head to make her bow down. "I'm sorry that she froze you in a block of ice! I'm really sorry!"

"Don't just stand there! Unfreeze my friend at once!" the human said to the two girls angrily. Next to him was a large block of ice with Wart frozen inside it.

* * *

Reimu, Marisa, Remilia, and Meiling came into a bar and looked around the place and saw several people drinking and chatting all over the place. The four girls walked up to the counter and sat down on each of the four chairs. Immediately, a fat white-haired man dressed in yellow clothes came up to them while wiping a cup using a piece of cloth and said to them, "Welcome! May I have your order please?"

"Um… Much as we would like to order something," Reimu told him, "we do not have any money, so no thanks."

"Well, that's too bad, but that doesn't mean I cannot serve you anything. You can still drink from the water cooler over there for free if you want to," said the bartender while pointing to a water cooler placed next to the wall. "We want even the moneyless people to get at least something to cool their thirsts with when they come here, and that is what the water cooler is for."

"Thanks-ze!" Marisa said.

Remilia looked around the place and saw an anthropomorphic dinosaur munching on a large piece of meat in a rather uncouth manner. There was also a lot of shouting heard all over the place. "The people of this place lack manners…" she commented.

"Well, this bar attracts those kinds of people more than anything else, so it's no surprise that this place can get a little noisy at times," the bartender said. "By the way, I haven't seen the four of you around here before. Are you new to this place?"

"Yeah, we're in this city," Reimu replied.

"Welcome to Mute City then! It's nice to meet you girls! My name is Dr. Clash. I'm actually an F-Zero engineer and racer, but because one cannot guarantee money from F-Zero races all the time, I have to work part-time here in order to earn extra incomes." He pointed at the mechanical arms on his back and said, "You see these arms? I invented these in order to compensate for my limited athletic abilities."

"Haha! It makes you remind me of Nitori-ze!" Marisa pointed out.

"Nitori? A friend of yours, right?"

"Yeah, she likes to invent stuffs and even has these mechanical arms that come out from her backpack!"

"Sounds interesting! I'd to meet her if I have the chance too!"

"By the way, I have sometime to ask you if do not mind," Reimu said to Dr. Clash.

"Go on and ask me anything! What is it that you want to ask about?"

"Do you know where we can find the Internova Police Force's headquarters?" The moment she said this, everyone in the bar turned to look at her. "Um… Did I say something wrong…?"

"It's best that you do not bring up that term here," Dr. Clash told her in a more serious tone. "Many people here are on bad terms with the Internova Police Force."

"I think I understand why-ze…" Marisa said as she looked at the people who were glaring in their direction.

"Okay… Sorry that I asked about this…" Reimu apologized. "Just pretend that I never said anything…"

"Meiling," Remilia said to the gatekeeper.

"Yes, Mistress Remilia?" Meiling replied.

"Go get me a cup of water."

"Okay, I'll be right back, Mistress Remilia!" said Meiling before she went to the water cooler.

Soon after she left, the door slammed open and a bald dark-skinned man came inside and tagging along with him were a group of twelve men. The bald man sat down next to Remilia, where Meiling used to sit, and slammed the table before saying loudly to Dr. Clash, "Hey man! What's up?"

"It's you again…" Dr. Clash said, displeased. "What do you want, Michael? Are you here to cause trouble again?"

"Oh, don't say that! Do I like I'm going to cause trouble this time?" the man named Michael said to him. "I'm a regular here, so you should be happy to see me!"

"I'll only be happy if you would stop offending my customers for once!"

"Since when have I offended anyone? It can't be helped if they are short-tempered, right, guys?" His followers all agreed in unison. "See, they agree with me as well!"

"Bah, say whatever you! Just stay out of trouble this time!"

"Who is this guy-ze?" Marisa asked Dr. Clash.

"Michael Chain, leader of the Bloody Chain, a clan of gang members that do as they like. I heard that the number of gang members in the clan is decreasing all the time due to their leader being incompetent in F-Zero races."

"Hey, don't say that!" Michael said. "The clan still has a lot of members, so it's not like it's going to be disbanded anytime soon! Right, guys?" His followers agreed, though the majority of them were thinking otherwise in their heads. Michael then placed his left arm on the counter and faced the girls. "Hello, girls! I know a good chick when I see one!"

"Go away, human," Remilia said to him in a disgusted voice. "I know a low-class human being when I see one."

"Oh, don't say that! And by the way, would you mind exchanging seats with me? I prefer older girls such as the ones next to you and not young girls like you. On the second though, all three of you look like underage girls, so I think I'll pass. I prefer my girls to be more matured-looking."

Remilia was a bit offended when she heard this. "Excuse me, but I'm 500 years old already. I'm not a little girl."

Michael, his followers, and Dr. Clash were surprised to hear this. "500 years old? Haha! I know a lot of girls who like to lie about their ages, but this is totally ridiculous!" Michael laughed. "Are you trying to say that you're an old woman or something?"

Hearing this made Remilia even more offended. "Um… I wouldn't be making fun of her if I were you-ze…" Marisa said to Michael Chain.

"And why's that?" Michael asked her.

"Excuse me," said the voice of Meiling. Michael turned around to look at her and the gatekeeper said, "I was sitting just now. Would you mind returning the seat to me?"

"Where did you go just now, Meiling?" Remilia asked her. "It shouldn't take you that long to get me a glass of water."

"Sorry, Mistress Remilia," Meiling apologized to her. "I had the sudden urge to use the restroom, so it took me a while to come back. I did get you the glass of water though."

"Why thanks! I'm feeling thirsty right now!" Michael said as he snatched the glass of water away from Meiling's hand and then drank it. "Ah, that's better! I feel refreshed now!"

"Hey! That was for my mistress! How can you drink that?" Meiling said in shock.

"You're not bad looking, lady!" Michael said to her, and then he took her hat and wore it on his head. "Nice hat you've got there! Let me try it!"

"Hey! Give me back my hat!" Meiling said. She reached towards her hat to get it back, but Michael caught her arm. "What are you doing? Let go of me!"

"I'll give you back your hat if you promise to go out with me. In the very least, give me a smooch first!"

"Meiling," Remilia said to the gatekeeper. "This guy has been annoying me for a while, so teach him a lesson for me."

"If you say so, mistress," Meiling said, and then she pulled her arm back from Michael's hand to get into fighting stance. "You offended my mistress just now, didn't you? I cannot allow such an act to go unpunished!"

"Hahahahaha!" Michael laughed. "Are you saying that you want to punish me? What are you going to do to me? Slap me across the face? All right, go ahead and give me a slap to the cheek! Choose whichever side you want to slap!" He bent forward to allow Meiling to give him a slap to the face, but Meiling delivered a left hook to the left side of his face instead, sending into a table at the side and crashing into it.

CRASH!

"Boss!" Michael's followers said in shock. Everyone in the bar, except the Gensokyo girls, was equally shocked as well. When Michael was punched, the hat that he took from Meiling also flew into the air, so the gatekeeper caught it and then put it back onto her head.

"That should teach him," said Remilia, sounding pleased.

"Hey you! How dare you hit our leader!" said one of Michael's followers. He tried to grab Meiling from behind, but the gatekeeper turned to face him and punched him hard in the abdomen. "Oof!"

Immediately, the other gang members closed in on her to try to hit her, but being skilled in close range combat, Meiling managed to punch and kick them all away with ease. A gang member whipped out a chain and swung it at Meiling, but she got out of its way and then rushed up to the gang member to deliver an uppercut to his chin.

POW!

Suddenly, a chair was flung at Meiling, but she managed to smash the chair into pieces with her fist and then turned to look at the person who threw the chair at her—Michael.

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me, darn woman?" Michael asked angrily. "Don't think you can get away with it unscratched now that you have offended the gang members of Bloody Chain!"

Some of the customers quickly ran out of the bar when they saw that Michael was angry, but a few of them stayed behind to act as instigators for the upcoming brawl. "Looks like we've just got ourselves into trouble…" Reimu said.

"Well, Remilia told Meiling to hit that guy first," Marisa said, "So you should blame her-ze."

"You should blame that guy for offending me in the first place," Remilia told her.

"Hey! If you want to fight, then fight outside!" Dr. Clash said to them. "Don't mess up this place and disturb the customers, will you?"

"Okay!" Meiling said, and then she quickly rushed outside the bar.

"After her!" Michael shouted, and then his followers gave chase.

"Um… Should we still be standing around here…?" Reimu asked.

Outside, Meiling saw several more members of the Bloody Chain glaring at her and they were all armed with clubs, laser guns, and chains. She turned around to see the other gang members coming out as well as Michael. "Haha! Did you think that twelve followers are all that I have? I have a lot more out here!" Michael said to her. "All right, boys, go and show her the true might of the Bloody Chain!"

Suddenly, his followers were struck from behind and blown into the air, falling onto the ground in front of Meiling.

"What?" Michael turned around and saw Reimu, Marisa, and Remilia standing just in front of the bar's door.

"She's not alone around here, mind you," Remilia said. "I will not you barbarians get away it if you try to hurt my gatekeeper!"

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling happily said.

"Argh! You're all asking for it!" Michael growled. "You'll all pay!"

* * *

Sanae and Alice were walking down the sidewalk together when suddenly they came across Reisen and Cirno. "It's the two of you!" Sanae said. "Did you enjoy the sightseeing?"

"Yeah," Reisen said with a nod.

"I even froze a man-sized frog that can walk on two legs!" Cirno said.

"Like always, heheh…" Sanae said with a slight chuckle.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of shouting coming from nearby. When they turned to the source of the sound, they saw Reimu and the others fighting the members of Bloody Chain.

"Hey, that's Reimu and the others!" Reisen pointed out. "Why are they fighting other people?"

Suddenly, Aya and Nitori showed up at the place and Aya said, "Whoa! It looks like Reimu and the others are putting up a show!"

"Aya! Nitori!" Sanae said.

"I think we should go help Reimu and the others," Nitori suggested.

"Yeah, even though I'm not sure who started the fight first, but we should still lend our friends a hand if they need one," Aya agreed. She then looked around and asked, "Where's Youmu?"

"She's not with us," Alice replied.

"She's probably still taking a walk out there somewhere," Reisen said, "or maybe she's waiting for us at the bus stop."

"I'll go and see if she is at the bus stop then," Aya said. "You go on ahead and help them out if you want to." And then the tengu girl took off into the air and flew into the distance.

"C'mon, let's go!" Sanae said, and then they ran across the street to get the scene of chaos.

* * *

Youmu was the only person who was at the bus stop, waiting for the others to return. "They sure are taking their time…" she thought.

Suddenly, she heard loud noises and then saw two men, a fat and a skinny one, running out from a bank that was across the street and they were each carrying large sacks of money on their backs. "Stop those bank robbers! Anyone! Help!" shouted a voice that came from inside the bank.

Immediately, Youmu placed her hand on one of her swords and ran towards the robbers as they got into their vehicles.

"Quick! Let's make a run for it!" the skinny robber said.

"Hey you! Stop right there!" Youmu shouted as she got closer to them.

The two robbers obviously didn't listen to her. They got into their vehicle and immediately started the engines to escape down the street at high speed.

"You're not getting away!" Youmu said as she gave chase.

Suddenly, a pink vehicle with a single fin at the back of it and also imprinted with the number '05' showed up at the intersection and rammed the front of robbers' getaway vehicle.

CRASH!

"Hey! Watch it!" the skinny one behind the steering wheel said.

The cockpit of the pink vehicle rose open and a fat yet muscular man wearing a brown vest over a white shirt, blue pants, and a helmet decorated with a red sun stepped out. He was also wearing shades. "Your days of looting are up, robbers!" the man said. "I, Samurai Goroh, will put an end to your evil schemes! Return the money to where they belong at once or else you shall taste the sharpness of blade!" And then he unsheathed his katana blade.

"Taste our laser guns instead!" the skinny one said, and then both the robbers fired at the man called Samurai Goroh.

Despite his body build, Goroh managed to perform an acrobatic spinning jump into the air. As he fell back down, he brought down his sword and cut through the center of the robber's vehicle, causing it to malfunction.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"EEKS!" the fat robber shrieked. He became too scared to move, but the skinny one quickly grabbed a moneybag and then ran out from the vehicle to escape.

"You're not going anywhere!" Goroh said as he started to give chase.

"Go away!" the skinny robber said. He turned around to fire his laser gun, but suddenly, Youmu dashed into him and struck him in the abdomen using the back of her sword. "Oof!" The skinny robber was flipped forward into the air as a result and then fell down on his back. "Ow…" When he tried to get back up, Youmu plunged her sword into the street next to him, scaring him. "Eeks!"

"Don't move," Youmu said to him sternly.

Goroh ran up to Youmu and said to her loudly, "Hey you! You stole my prey! I was supposed to be the one to stop him!"

"Sorry about that," Youmu apologized to him, "but I couldn't help but step in to do something the moment I saw something bad happening."

"Tsk! Know your rules, girls! In bounty hunting business, one does not steal the prey of others!"

While Goroh was lecturing Youmu, the skinny robber stood back up and attempted to run away, but Youmu gave a quick elbow thrust to his back to knock him back onto the ground.

"Hey! You just stole my prey again!" Goroh said angrily.

"I was just trying to stop him from running away," Youmu claimed. "You can turn him in afterwards if you want to."

Goroh then looked at her swords and said, "Hey girl, are you a swordswoman?"

Youmu nodded. "Yes, I am a swordswoman. I can tell that you are one as well."

"Nice sword you've got there! May I have a look?"

But Youmu held back her sword and said, "Sorry, but my swords cannot be wielded by other people." She showed him the sword that she was holding and explained, "The Roukanken is made by demons, so humans cannot wield it." She gripped the sheath of the shorter sword strapped on her waist and said, "The Hakurouken is my clan's heirloom, so it can only be wielded by members of my clan. Though honestly saying, I have never seen humans or people not from my clan trying to wield these two swords before, so I don't know what will happen if they do. Someone else did wield it without any problem once, and maybe that was because he's not human."

"Okay… So about that long one… How are you wielding it if you say that humans cannot wield it?"

"I'm half-phantom."

"Half-phantom…? Okay… Of all the species I've ever heard, this is one that I do not know… I'll just pretend that the white floating around you is either your pet or has something to do with your species."

"That's my phantom half."

"Whatever... Anyway, I don't need a sword that I cannot wield. You see, I originally intended to take either one of your swords as a way for you to compensate for stealing my prey."

"Why should I give you one of my swords?"

"Didn't you hear what said just now? To compensate for stealing my prey! You took something from me, so it's only obvious that I take something from you as well! But since the swords are useless to me, I have a better idea instead. We shall have a match to see who has the more superior swordsmanship skills! If you win, I will forget that all these happened and forgive you for stealing my prey, but if you lose… Well, I'll just take whatever else you have with you."

"Well, if you say so," Youmu said. "I'm not one to turn down challenges, so I'll gladly comply with you."

Goroh suddenly held up his arm and said, "Wait! Before that, let us see who has the better skills first! It would be no fun if you only know how to swing your swords around blindly! Wait a minute…" He ran back to his vehicle and came back a few seconds later to show Youmu two bottles caps in his hands. "Here's one for you!" He handed her one of the bottles caps and said, "Now let's see who is better at cutting up bottle caps!"

After saying this, Goroh threw his bottle cap into the air and then swung his sword at it two times, the first time vertically and the second time horizontally.

SLASH! SLASH!

After being slashed, the bottle cap fell back down onto Goroh's palm in four equal pieces. "Haha! Neat, eh?" Goroh boasted. "Can you do something like this?"

Without saying anything, Youmu hurled the bottle cap that Goroh gave her into the air, and then she raised her sword into the air and swung it in a small, circular motion. The bottle cap fell back down onto Youmu's palm, but when Goroh looked at the bottle cap, he saw that nothing had happened to it. "Hahaha! Nothing happened to it! What were you doing when you swung your sword in a circle just now?"

Youmu didn't say anything as she picked up the bottle cap to reveal that she had carved a circle in it. She showed Goroh the bottle cap 'ring' and said, "Well?"

"Wha…?" Goroh was basically at a lost of words when he saw what happened to the bottle cap. He took both the ring and the center of the cap from her and fitted the center of the cap into the ring. "Whoa man… I don't think I can do something like…"

"Youmu!" Aya shouted as she landed in front of Youmu all of a sudden.

"Aya! You're back!" Youmu said. "Where are the others?"

"You don't believe it! It looks like Reimu and the others got into a fight!"

"What?"

"Let's go quick!" And then Aya took off into the air at a speed fast enough for Youmu to catch up with her by running.

"Hey you! You said you were going to fight me!" Goroh shouted to Youmu. "Did you forget that?"

While he was shouting, the skinny robber got back up again and groaned painfully before running away with the bag of money, but Goroh spun around and landed a straight kick to his back to knock him onto the ground again. "Don't think you can run from me!" Goroh said to him.

* * *

Reimu, Marisa, Remilia, and Meiling were still beating up the gang members when the rest of the girls, except Aya and Youmu, came rushing into the place. "Reimu! Marisa! Remilia! Meiling!" Reisen shouted. "What's happening here?"

"You can see for yourself!" Reimu said as she leaped back to avoid a swing of club from a gang member. When the gang member tried to hit her again, Reimu quickly struck his hand with her gohei to disarm him of his club, and then she slammed her palm into his abdomen to push him back forcefully.

Meiling landed a straight kick into the abdomen of gang member and then quickly sidestepped to avoid a laser beam fired at her. When she turned to face the gang member who tried to shoot her with his gun, Marisa blasted him away from the side using her broom and then gave an 'OK' sign to the gatekeeper.

"Chain Gang!" Remilia held out her arm and formed a red vortex on her palm. A red chain shot out from the vortex and wrapped itself around four gang members. "You call yourself Bloody Chain? Then I'll give you a bloody chain! Eat this!" She gripped the chain with her other hand to swing it into the air, carrying along the four bounded gang members. After swinging them in circles a few times, the chain disappeared and the four gang members were sent flying far through the air until they crashed into the side of a building.

CRASH!

Just then, Aya and Youmu came into the scene. "I've brought Youmu here," Aya said. "She really was waiting at the bus stop! At least somewhere near there…"

"C'mon! Let's go and help out our friends!" Youmu said as she got ready to unsheathe one of her swords.

Just as the girls were about to make their moves to help out their friends, a blue vehicle imprinted with the number '07' suddenly zoomed into the place and then came to a halt. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer and many of them were surprised at the sight of it.

"It's the Blue Falcon!" one of the Bloody Chain gang members said. "Captain Falcon is here!"

The cockpit of the vehicle rose open and a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit and an orange helmet that had a falcon emblem in front of it stepped out. His eyes were also covered by the helmet's black visor, and only white, upside-down triangles could be seen in place of the eyes. The man raised his arm into the air and said loudly, "Show me your moves!"

"Okay… Who is that guy-ze…?" Marisa asked.

The man walked forward while saying, "Michael Chain, you have caused disturbance to this place. You will have to pay for the property damage that you and your man have caused!"

"Stay out of this, Captain Falcon!" Michael said to him, and then he pointed to the Gensokyo girls. "Those girls pissed me off first, so I'm giving them a piece of my mind!"

"Picking on girls isn't what a civilized man would do," the man named Captain Falcon told him.

"Who cares? Anyone who messes with the Bloody Chain deserves a beating!"

"Well, it looks like you will not listen unless I teach you a lesson."

"The only person who is getting lesson a taught around here is you! Get him, boys!" Michael said to his followers, and then they all ran towards CF.

CF remained bold and calm when the mob charged at him. He jumped into the air when they were getting close to him and then performed a fiery diving kick into the center of the mob. "Falcon Kick!"

The kick caused the gang members to fly in every direction, but several more gang members immediately showed up to surround him. Just as they were about to whack him over the head with their clubs, CF spun around on one leg while using his other leg to kick down the gang members.

Even more gang members charged at him, but CF performed a sliding kick into them and sent them all flying to the sides. "Falcon Kick!"

KICK!

When CF stood up, a chain was suddenly swung at him and wrapped itself around his right arm. "Haha! Gotcha!" the gang member who used the chain on him said.

"Raptor Boost!" CF suddenly dashed into him and gave him a fiery uppercut to the chin, knocking him into the air.

POW!

After knocking away that gang member, CF took the chain off of his arm but then saw another gang member attempting to jump onto him with a club raised over his head. CF countered this by jumping at the gang member and then caught him by his arms. "Falcon Dive!" And then an explosion occurred out of nowhere and blasted the gang member backwards through the air.

CF landed onto the ground and saw Michael standing in front of him. "You're finished, Craptain Falcon!" Michael said as he swung his chains in circles above his head. CF quickly jumped into the air when Michael swung the chain at him, and as he was going over the Bloody Chain's leader's head, he pulled back his fist which glowed with orange light.

"Falcon…" CF said.

"Oh no!" Michael gasped as quickly turned around to face CF.

"PUNCH!" CF shouted as he delivered a powerful fire punch into Michael's body. The fire that covered the captain's hand also took the form of a falcon.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"OOOOOOOOWAAAAAAAGH !" Michael screamed as he shot backwards and crashed into his vehicle, the Wild Boar, really hard.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

In fact, he flew into his vehicle so hard that he pushed it backwards quite a bit of a distance. The Bloody Chain leader fell unconscious afterwards.

CF held up his arm in triumph and said, "Yes!"

"Wow! That was amazing!" Cirno exclaimed.

"That man is really strong!" Sanae exclaimed. "He looks like a superhero as well!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Pretty much everyone guessed that it would be F-Zero this time, so let's give a big hand of applause to all those who got it correct!

As you can see, this arc is shaping to be very similar to Specter24's version of the same arc, but there is one major difference here that people who had read his story should notice. Admittedly, I couldn't think up of an original plot for this, but you can be sure that there will still be enough differences to make the reading experience worthwhile!

**Next chapter: ****Girls are Driving****  
**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Youmu's theme song, Haori Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? It's obvious who the falcon refers to while the strange boar refers to Michael Chain because his F-Zero is called Wild Boar.

2. Youmu's theme song is named after a chapter title in the twelfth volume of Taiheki, a Japanese historical epic.

3. I assume that Dr. Clash works in the bar, or at least works part-time there, since he is shown standing behind the counter when Captain Falcon enters the bar.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If I had used Mokou in the final version of the story…**

The gang member swung his chain at Mokou and struck her hard in the face. Mokou held her hand over the part of the face that was struck and when the gang member swung his chain at her again, she quickly caught it by the front end. Fire suddenly came out from her hand and heated by the chain. "What the?" the gang members gasped, and then he quickly let go of the chain out of shock.

"Eat this!" Mokou shouted as fire covered her right arm completely, and then she pulled back her right arm before deliver a powerful fire punch into the gang member's face.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The other gang members quickly got out of the way as that gang member flew backwards and smashed through the door. He came to a stop after crashing into his own F-Zero vehicle and then passed out with a burnt fist mark imprinted on his face.


	35. Girls are Driving

**SBS Time!  
Astral Albeiro Knight: **Do you have Beta Reader?  
**Game2002: **Honestly saying, I didn't give a single thought about it until you brought it up… I went to try it out after you told me about it, though I'm still trying to figure out how it really works.

**Astral Albeiro Knight: **How much of a challenge would it be trying to pull off a Metal Gear arc?  
**Game2002: **Sorry, but questions involving arc cannot be answered due to spoiler-related reasons.

I need to clarify some stuff from the previous chapter. For those who don't know, the anthropomorphic dinosaur (most likely a velociraptor) who eating a piece of meat in an uncouth manner is Bio Rex. The two bank robbers ARE NOT Gomar and Shioh. I didn't actually notice the robbers' slight similarity in descriptions with those two guys until after I posted the chapter, and Gomar is actually short, not fat.

Another thing to tell you about is about Youmu's swords in the previous chapter. In the Zelda arc, Ganondorf managed to take Youmu's sword from her and used it temporarily. The one he took was the Roukanken, and the reason he is able to use it because he really isn't considered a human. Actually, the term 'human' is somewhat ambiguous in the Zelda series and makes one wonder if the likes of Hylians and Gerudos are considered human. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is, to my knowledge, the only time where the series tries to distinguish between humans and other beings with Byrne referring to Hylians as humans, implying that Lokomos, which he is, aren't humans. One can also say it is because of Ganondorf's evil powers and alter ego Ganon that gave him qualities of a demon, so he is able to wield the Roukanken. The dialogue between Samurai Goroh and Youmu in the previous chapter has been altered slightly to make mention of this, and slight mentions of Myon has been added as well.

Also, the SBS answer for JakeCrusher's question regarding male characters in Touhou has been altered slightly. F-Zero tournaments are also changed to being called F-Zero grand prix.

The chapter title has been changed entirely, as well as the preview for it in the previous chapter. The reason for this will be explained after the end of chapter.

Also, I have an important message to tell you after the end of the chapter, so make sure that you DO NOT stop reading after the 'TO BE CONTINUED' message.

**Chapter 34  
Girls are Driving  
**

* * *

Captain Falcon dusted his hands after punching Michael Chain away, and then he went up to the girls and said to them, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Reimu told him. "Thanks for the help."

"I'm glad to hear that! The Bloody Chain is known for causing trouble once in a while, and they never seem to learn their lessons no matter what."

"They called you Captain Falcon, didn't they?" Youmu asked. "I remember Douglas saying that this world's representative who participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament is called by such a name… Does that mean you are that very same Captain Falcon?"

"That's me all right!"

"Wait a minute… Your voice sounds familiar," Aya said. "You have the exact same voice as that guy named Douglas! Aren't you Douglas himself?"

"Yeah, he does have the same voice as Douglas!" Reisen said.

CF remained silent for a while after hearing this, and then he said as quietly as he could to the girls, "It's a secret to everybody. My true identity is supposed to be known to everyone, but I'll only let you girls know about it since you've managed to figure out who I really am."

"Don't worry; we won't tell anyone about your true identity," Sanae assured him. "Superheroes are known to hide their true identities after all!"

"So you think that I am a superhero, eh? I'm actually a bounty hunter, though I do admit that I also enjoy helping those in need."

Suddenly, they all heard the sound of police siren and then several hovering police cars showed up at the scene. The policemen came out from the vehicles and pointed their guns at the girls and Captain Falcon. The news reporters also came along with the police. "Don't move!" the captain of the policemen said. "We have you surrounded!"

"It's the police!" Sanae gasped. "Are they here to arrest us for causing trouble?"

"Um… Did we do anything wrong…?" Nitori said.

"Fear not," CF said to the girls. "I will explain to them about what happened." He raised his arms diagonally sideways into the air and then walked towards the policemen saying, "Those girls are innocent! They were victims of the Bloody Chain earlier, but now those villains have been taken care."

The police captain gave orders for the other policemen to lower their guns and then said to CF, "Well, it looks like you saved the day again, Captain Falcon! Good job as always! We'll make sure that the Bloody Chain pay for the property damage that they have done."

"The girls themselves managed to hold up against those villains for quite a while too; otherwise they would've taken out by the Bloody Chain by the time I got here."

"Yeah! They were all easy to deal with-ze!" Marisa said as she held and placed her broom over her right shoulder.

Meiling went over to Remilia and held a parasol over her mistress. "Mistress Remilia, are you all right?"

Remilia took the parasol from her and said, "Yeah, I'm all right. It's a good thing that its already evening out here, otherwise the sun would be too strong for me to fight properly."

Meanwhile, Nitori and Dr. Clash were looking at each other and they were waving around their mechanical arms in the air. "Nice mechanical arms you've got there!" Nitori commented.

"Your mechanical arms are nice as well!" Dr. Clash told her.

Marisa looked at them and said, "They sure are getting along well like I thought-ze!"

The policemen started to round up the members of the Bloody Chain, including Michael Chain himself. That was when a white F-Zero machine imprinted with the number '02' on its body showed up and it was closely followed by another F-zero machine that was light blue in color and was imprinted with the number '26'.

"Ah, it's Jody Summer and John Tanaka!" CF said.

The woman with long, brown hair dressed in a pink and red jumpsuit came out from the white vehicle and approached CF. "Captain Falcon," she said. "It looks like you saved the day! Good job as always!"

"That's the second time I heard that. By the way, I want you to meet these girls first."

The woman looked at the girls and then said to them, "My name is Jody Summer. It's nice to meet you!" She stretched out her arm to Reimu and shook hands with her.

"It's nice to meet you too," Reimu said.

"Why the expressionless face, Reimu?" Marisa said to her. "Smile more often-ze!"

"Fine… It's nice to meet you!" Reimu said to Jody again, this time with a smile that looked more annoyed rather than cheerful.

Suddenly, a man with dark brown hair dressed in blue and white jumpsuit showed up next to Jody and shook hands with Reimu as well. "My name is John Tanak," he said. "My job is to protect Jody Summer!"

"Jody, these girls are actually from another world," CF said to the woman. "They came here using the World Light, the same thing that transported us to Smash World before."

"Now that's interesting to hear!" Jody said in surprised tone.

"But according to them, the World Light is broken, so they aren't able to go to Smash World. They are currently looking for the Light Essences, eleven objects that can fix the World Light and then bring them to Smash World. They have found four already and are currently in this world looking for the fifth one."

"I see…"

"Because I was a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament, I feel that I have the responsibility to help them find the Light Essence of this world, but even I do not know where the essence is."

"Don't worry; I'm sure the Internova Police Force will lend a hand on this matter."

CF then turned to the girls and explained to them, "Jody is from the Galactic Space Federation, which is in charge of handling F-Zero grand prix as well as several political and economical matters. The federation also has close ties with the Internova Police Force, so she is also considered to be part of the police force. All right; let's get down to business at once!"

After their conversation was done, the group started to leave for the Internova Police Force's headquarters. Unknown to them, a bizarre-looking humanoid with violet-colored skin was listening to their conversation the whole time from behind a black vehicle. He also had a black tube growing out of his head and the tube went underneath his right shoulder from behind before going into the right side of his chest—Zoda.

"Heheheh! I've heard something really interesting!" the bizarre-looking humanoid—Zoda—said. Black Shadow should be pleased to hear this as well! Time to report to him about this!" And then he ran towards a slender, blue F-Zero machine with the number '13' imprinted on its body.

* * *

High up in the air above a rocky wasteland, a brown, spherical-shaped base with a small extension underneath it was floating among the clouds. Within one of the rooms of the fortress, a man with bull horns dressed in a black jumpsuit that covered him from head toe was sitting in front of a large screen, watching a news report.

"A group of girls was attacked by the Bloody Chain at the bar, Dollars, but Captain Falcon managed stop to the Bloody Chain gang members before they went too far," the news reporter said.

"Captain Falcon… Always playing the hero…" the man grumbled. "Just you wait, Captain Falcon! The day will come when I put an end to your heroic ways as well as humiliating you in front of millions of people!"

Suddenly, Zoda's face appeared on the screen and he said to the man, "Black Shadow! I have something I want to tell you about! It's about Captain Falcon!"

"If you're talking about the news report, don't bother," the man named Black Shadow said. "I'm watching the news already."

"Well, that's one thing I wanted to tell you about, but there is another thing that I heard while I was there, and you won't believe it!"

"What is it?"

"You see, I heard from the conversation over there that those girls who were attacked by the Bloody Chain gang members are actually from another world! They came to this world using something called a World Light which was supposed to bring them to the Smash World, but never got there for reason and ended up here instead."

"So what's about it?"

"They are currently looking for something called a Light Essence which has the power to bring them to the Smash World. If I remember correctly, Smash World is a place where the tournament called Smash Brothers was held, right?"

"Yes, I remember that," BS said as he stood up from the sofa and then paced around the room slowly. "Even though I never participated in that tournament, I do know that Smash World is a place where the elements of several worlds are combined together, and one can gain access to several other worlds with ease when over there. Hmmm…" The villain pondered about something in his head for a while, and then a wicked smile appeared over his face. "Now that I think of it, it sounds like a great idea to go to Smash World! Imagine what I can do once I am there! With the power to access several worlds, I can make Dark Million Organization well known throughout several worlds and rule over them all!"

"That's a wonderful plan, Black Shadow!" Zoda said. "Soon, the whole world shall tremble under the name of the mighty Zoda as well!"

"All right; keep an eye on Captain Falcon and those girls! I'll contact you after a while to hear about your progress, so don't disappoint me!"

* * *

The Gensokyo girls arrived at the headquarters of the Internova Police Force riding some of the police cars. After stepping out from the vehicles and entering into the headquarters, Jody said to the girls, "All right; we will go and scan the entire city to look for signs of the Light Essence. In the meantime, feel free to take a look around this place. However, I'm afraid that we cannot harbor visitors here."

"Don't worry; they can stay in the hotel nearby," CF said. "I'll pay for their rooms."

"That is nice of you!" Reimu said. "Thanks!"

Jody left with some of the policemen into another room and John Tanaka following her closely. CF then said to the girls, "You can go and take a break in the guest room, but if you want to have a bit of an excitement, you can go and try out the F-Zero simulator."

"What's that?" Cirno asked.

"It's a simulation machine that allows you to experience what it is like to be in an F-Zero grand prix."

"I know that!" Sanae said. "In the outside world, they have this simulation games that make you feel like you are in the game itself! However, the technology itself is still relatively new and it isn't exactly available to everyone in the public yet."

"It's a pretty common thing in this world," CF told her as he led the way down the hall. "Even though it feels exactly like the real thing, it is perfectly safe and you will not suffer injuries of any kind even if you crash. I'm sure you will enjoy it!"

As they continued down the hall, they came across a door at the side and CF said, "This is the guest room. Feel free to take a rest here if you are tired."

"Don't mind if I do," Remilia said as she went into the room. "I'm not interested in the simulation thing that you said just now." Meiling was going to follow her into the room, but the vampire girl said to her, "Go and have some fun, Meiling."

"Really, Mistress Remilia? Can I really have free time?"

"Yeah, go and do whatever you want. Enjoy you break."

"Thank you, Mistress Remilia!" And then Meiling followed the others down the hallway.

CF led the rest of the girls into a large room that had a white F-Zero machine in the center of it, but this vehicle was attached to a base at the bottom. This is the F-Zero simulator that I told you about," CF said, pointing his arm at the vehicle. "Would you like to try it out?"

Sanae was the firs to raise her arm. "Me! I want to try it out first!"

"All right! Go on inside! I'll adjust the settings for you," CF said as he walked up to the vehicle and then opened its cockpit for Sanae to climb inside. After that, the cockpit closed and then CF pressed the buttons on the control panel next to the vehicle. "Okay, this should do! Remember to strap your seatbelts! Even though you're not actually going anywhere, the simulation is so real that you will be tossed and turned all over the place if you do not put on your seatbelt!"

Sanae strapped her seatbelt around her waist and then held the steering wheel tightly. "This is the first time I'm driving a car, and not to mention playing a simulation game!" she said excitedly in her mind. "I'm so excited about this!" When the cockpit closed, it became pitch black all around Sanae, but then a bright flash occurred and then Sanae saw that the scenery of a racetrack built in a futuristic city had appeared outside. It was as if she was inside an actual F-Zero machine. "Wow! This is cool!"

"Start your engines!" said a loud voice.

"Uh oh… Which one is the gas pedal…?" Sanae nervously thought. She started to panic as she moved her feet around to try to find the gas pedal.

"Ready… set… GO!" shouted the announcer, and then the F-Zero machines around Sanae took off.

"Oh no! They're leaving!" Sanae said in panic. Finally, she found the gas pedal and so stepped on it to move her vehicle forward. Unfortunately, she pushed the gas pedal all the way to the bottom and this caused the vehicle to zoom forward at max speed. "WAAAAAA! TOO FAST!" She started turning the steering wheel left and right with great panic to avoid crashing into other vehicles.

She eventually came to a sharp turn and so steered to the left as far as she could to steer her vehicle in that direction, and she managed to avoid crashing into the side. "Phew… That was close…" she said in relief. "I'm actually starting to get the hang of it!"

For the rest of the race, Sanae went down the racetrack smoothly and avoided trying to crash into anything, including her rivals. Suddenly, a rival vehicle crashed into her from the right. "Ow! Why did you do that?" she cried. "I didn't do anything to you at all!"

Sanae quickly steered away from the vehicle, but it followed her and kept on ramming against her.

"Ow! Stop it already! I want to race peacefully, not violently!"

Suddenly, a small screen that was on the vehicle's control panel showed her the word 'WARNING: LOW ON HEALTH'.

"Oh no! What do I do?"

Luckily, her vehicle ran over the pit at the side of track and recovered from it. When the rival vehicle rammed into her again, Sanae became frustrated. "Enough already!" she shouted, and then she forcefully moved her vehicle to the right and rammed into the rival vehicle, causing it to crash into the railing at the side.

CRASH!

"Oh my god! What have I done?" Sanae said in shock. Nevertheless, she went on with the race and eventually went across the finish line, acquiring first place.

"Winner!" shouted the announcer. Immediately after that, the scenery of the racetrack disappeared, and then the cockpit rose open and Sanae climbed out from the vehicle.

"Congratulations on getting first place!" CF told her. "We saw everything using the screen on the wall."

"You're great, Sanae!" Aya said to her. "Who knew you would get first place during your first try!"

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised about this myself too!" Sanae said. "It was really exciting as well!"

"Actually, I set the difficulty setting to the easiest level since this is the first time you're playing this," CF admitted.

"There's this one vehicle that kept on hitting me, but I ended up ramming him down instead… I can't believe I did something like that…"

"That happens often in actual races. You should be glad that this is only a simulation where nothing is real. All right; does anyone else wants to try next?"

"Me!" Cirno said, raising her arm.

"All right; get inside and then buckle up your seatbelt!" CF said to her as he went to the control panel to adjust the settings.

After he was done, the vehicle cockpit closed over Cirno who had her hands gripped tightly onto the steering wheel. "All right! I'm ready to take off! I'm the strongest!" Cirno said as she punched the air with one arm, but ended up punching the underside of the cockpit above her. "Ouch!"

From the outside, CF and the girls looked at the screen as it showed the racetrack that Cirno was looking at. From their point of view, the vehicle moved forward the moment the race began, and the vehicle ran down the racetrack as fast as it could and eventually rammed into the railing when it failed to steer to the left, and then the vehicle rammed into the railing over and over.

"Steer to the left!" CF shouted at the vehicle. "Steer to the left before your…" He never got to finish his line as an explosion could be seen on the screen and then the message 'GAME OVER' showed up on it. The cockpit opened and Cirno stepped out from the vehicle.

"Lame! It's too short and is nothing like what Sanae played at all!" she complained.

"Well, that's because you didn't steer to the left and ended up killing yourself from ramming into the railing too many times…" CF told her.

"That's Cirno for you-ze!" Marisa said. "She's not bright enough to realize how things work most of the time"

"Can I try out next?" Nitori said, raising her arm. "I really want to play it!"

"Go ahead!" CF said as he went to adjust the settings on the control panel again.

And so, Nitori got into the vehicle to play to play simulation racing game. She fared pretty well in the race and managed to get first place. After she was done with the game, Aya tried out next and asked for CF to adjust the difficulty setting to the highest. The captain simply shrugged and then did as she said.

With the difficulty setting set to the highest, the rival vehicles were incredibly violent in the way that they kept on ramming into Aya's vehicle. Not only that, but the racetrack was also a different one and had several tight turns, mines, and lava panels that deals damage whenever one drives over them. The lack of railings also made it easy for one to fall off the racetrack. The tengu girl did her best and drove at top speed, and despite moving at such a speed, she had no problem getting around the tight turns as well as avoiding the traps.

"Wow! She's good!" CF commented.

"When it comes to speed, Aya is the fastest in Gensokyo," Reimu explained to him. "So she's accustomed to dodging things even when moving at high speed."

CF and the girls continued to watch as Aya made her way through the treacherous racetrack. When she was low on health from getting rammed by the rival vehicles, she would get onto the healing pit to restore her vehicle's health. "Take this!" Aya shouted as she rammed her vehicle into the rival on the right, knocking it out of the way. Another rival vehicle came to her left, but she instantly rammed it away. "Ayaya! This is fun!" Aya thought. "I'm going to get first place at this rate!"

Aya got ready to steer to the right for the 90-degree turn ahead of her, but suddenly, a rival vehicle rammed into her from behind and forcefully pushed her forward. Because this came so unexpectedly, Aya had no time to recover from the impact and her vehicle flew off the racetrack. "WHAT? NOOOOOOOOOO!" Aya screamed she spun her steering wheel around in panic, but she could not do anything as her vehicle crashed onto the ground and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion ceased, the scenery outside of the cockpit turned dark and then the cockpit opened up for Aya to climb out of the vehicle.

"Whoa… That was frightening… The explosion is so real that it's almost like I'm actually being consumed by it! Too bad I lost… Man, I should've been more careful."

"That happens often in actual races as well," CF told her.

"The actual races sound really dangerous…"

"Okay, who wants to try out next?" CF asked again.

"Me!" Meiling said, raising her arm.

"ME!" Marisa said loudly as she raised her arm.

"Your friend over there raised her arm first, so let her ride first," CF told her.

"All right…"

"Yes!" Meiling said as she got into the vehicle. "I'll try my best!"

"Okay… Let's tone down the difficulty a bit…" CF said as he adjusted the control settings. "This should do!"

Once everything was ready, Meiling found herself at the racetrack, and she stepped on the gas pedal the moment the announcer gave the signal to begin the race. "Yippee!" Meiling shouted as she went down the racetrack at max speed, going past several of her rivals. "This is fun!"

Apparently, she was having a bit too much fun with the steering wheel and made her vehicle move left and right constantly, and as she did, the vehicle moved faster and faster.

"Incredible! She's performing the snaking technique!" CF said in surprise.

"Snaking technique?" Reimu asked curiously.

"It's a method of increasing your vehicle's speed by sliding left and right constantly and quickly, and this will make your vehicle will move at a faster than usual speed. This is considered by many people to be a technique that is very hard to pull off… She must have natural born talents to do be able to this on her first try! Or has she been driving before?"

"But there are no cars in Gensokyo…" Sanae said.

Meiling continued to 'snake' down the racetrack at a really fast speed; however, she eventually went so fast that she failed to steer to the right when she encountered a 90-degree turn ahead of her, and as a result, she crashed into the railing so hard that her vehicle flipped into the air and off of the racetrack. "YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling screamed as the vehicle spun through the air and then exploded upon hitting the ground.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

After the explosion had dissipated, the cockpit opened up and CF ran up to the vehicle to see Meiling breathing heavily on the seat. "Wow! That was one amazing snaking that you've performed!" he exclaimed. "Too bad you fell off the racetrack…"

"That was scary… but fun and exciting at the same time!" Meiling said.

* * *

Inside a cavernous tunnel that had a racetrack over lava, a door appeared out of thin air on the surface of the lava, and a staff-wielding figure could be seen standing behind the door. The staff-wielding person looked at something that was held on his hand and said, "This is the very spot that he fell into. Now let us give him another opportunity to show his face to the world again!" And then he let go of the thing in his hand to let it fly outside the door and hover in the air above the lava.

It was black square-shaped device that was only as big as a palmtop and even had a screen on it. A small stick resembling a lightning rod came out from the device's backside and then started emitting purple electricity for a few seconds before firing a purple lightning bolt at the lava. When the square-shaped device was done releasing the lightning bolt, it went back inside the door and onto the staff-wielding person's hand.

"Good!" he said. "I wonder if he really does live up to his name. It will be interesting to sit back and see what he is capable of."

"What's the point of reviving him if we're not planning to recruit him?" said the voice of annoying person from behind him. "It's a waste of time coming here if you do not plan to recruit him!"

"We do not want people who will fail in the end such as Ganondorf, Cyrus, and Giovanni; therefore, I have decided to see what the Champion of the Underworld is capable of first before deciding whether or not is worthy enough to join us. Now let us go back and watch the fun!"

After that, the door closed up and then disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Shortly after the door disappeared, the part of the lava where the purple lightning bolts struck started to bubble furiously, and then purple, robotic hand reached out from it and grabbed onto a nearby ledge that was sticking out of the cave wall.

* * *

"That was fun!" Reimu said while stretching her arms into the air.

"You're actually a better driver than me…" Marisa said. "I got the second to the last place and yet you got second place in front during your first try-ze…"

"At least you did win the place. I got destroyed by my rival…" Reisen cried.

"And I got last place…" Youmu said.

Marisa turned to Alice and asked her, "Alice, you haven't played it yet. Don't you try it out? It's really fun-ze!"

"I'll pass," said Alice while shaking her head. "I'm not a big fan of fast paced activities like that."

Sanae went up to CF and asked him, "Can I play it again? I want to try a harder difficulty this time!"

"Sure! Feel free to play it as many times as you want to!" CF said to her.

Just then, John Tanaka came into the room and said to them, "Jody Summer has something to tell you. It's about the Light Essence."

"Has she found it already?" Youmu asked.

"Yes, but there's a problem… You should just go over to her first."

After saying this, John led them down the hallway to get to the room where Jody was. Along the way, they also came across the guest room and told Remilia, who was watching TV while slouching on the sofa, to come along with them.

John eventually brought them into the room where Jody was. There were also several computers in the room as well as a giant screen on the wall. "Wow! There are a lot of computers here!" Nitori asked as she looked at the computers with wide open eye.

"Judging from your expression, it would seem that your world doesn't have a lot of computers, am I right?" CF asked her.

"Computers are very common in the part of that I came from," Sanae explained to him, "but in their part of the world… All I can say that the majority of them either do not know what a computer is or how it works…"

"Now I'm a bit curious about your world. Would you mind telling me about your world when we have time?"

"I don't mind," Reimu said.

"All right; I'll be looking forward to it!" CF then turned to Jody and asked her, "So did you find the Light Essence?"

"Yes," Jody replied while nodding her head, "and you won't believe where it actually is."

"Where is it?"

"It's at the starting point of the Mute City Grand Prix that is going take place two days from now."

"What? Why is it over there?"

"Apparently, we have that thing along with us the whole time. The Light Essence is actually the very same trophy that we plan to give out as a reward to the grand prix's first place winner along with the prize money!"

"Really, huh? Never thought that the Light Essence would end up being a prize for the grand prix… So basically, if these girls want to get the Light Essence, someone would have to win the race first and then obtain it as the prize before giving it to them?"

"The details of the grand prix were made known to everyone in Mute City already, and I don't think they will be happy to hear about the sudden change in one of the prizes… We'll try to negotiate with the other members of the Galactic Space Federation about this first."

"Don't worry; even if we cannot get the permission to take the Light Essence without winning the race, I will enter the grand prix two days from now and try to win first place in order to obtain it for the girls." CF then turned around to face the girls said to them, "Trust me; I will help you obtain the Light Essence no matter what!"

"Let's hope everything turns out all right…" Reimu said.

"We managed to find out where the Light Essence is, but now we cannot get it just yet…" Youmu said.

"In the meantime, go ahead and enjoy your stay at Mute City!" CF told them. "By the way, I think I'll take you to the hotel nearby here now. Nighttime is coming, you know. Don't worry; I'll pay for your rooms."

"Thank you!" Reimu said.

"By the way," John said all of a sudden, "may I ask about something?"

Reimu turned to him and asked, "What is it?"

John looked at Youmu and asked, "What is that white thing floating around her?"

Youmu let out a sigh upon hearing this. "Sigh... People sure ask me about this a lot..."

* * *

Back in the Dark Million Organization's base, Black Shadow was talking with Zoda through the screen again. "Did you find out anything about the Light Essence?" BS asked Zoda.

"Not yet," Zoda replied. "Admittedly, I couldn't find a way to sneak into the Internova Police Force's headquarters…"

"I figured as much… Anyway, just do whatever you want until I call you again!" With that, BS ended the call.

Then a man who looked identical to Captain Falcon in terms of physical appearance approached BS from behind. The major difference about this man was that he wore a red jumpsuit and a purple helmet that had a skull insignia rather than a blue jumpsuit and an orange helmet that had a falcon insignia. There were also spikes on his shoulder pad and a picture of a skull on his back-Blood Falcon.

"What do you plan to do now? It's no good if we do not know where the Light Essence is. Heck, we don't even know what it looks like!"

"Then we shall go with the oldest trick in the book!" BS suggested. "Do you know what I mean?"

"Wait a minute… Let me guess…" BF rubbed his hand underneath his chin and wondered for a few seconds before finally guessing it. "Aha! I think I know what you're talking about now! So you're planning to…"

But he was suddenly interrupted by an evil-sounding voice. "Long time no see, Black Shadow!"

"Who is it?" BS asked as he turned to the door, and then he was shocked to see the person who was standing there. "YOU!"

Standing in front of the door was a robotic person with a black and red body, purple gloves, and a large, red cape behind him. The most striking thing about him was that the top portion of his head was made of glass, revealing his brain inside—Deathborn.

**BGM: Deathborn (F-Zero GX)**

"Deathborn! You're still alive!" BS said in shock as he moved back several steps in fright. "What are you doing here? And how did know about this place?"

"A base this big should be visible even from the ground, so I came here to find what this place is, and who knew that it would turn out to be your base all along! It seems that you have risen to power ever since Captain Falcon defeated me. I'm even more surprised that you're still in this planet even though I banished you into the outer limits of space!"

"Black Shadow managed to return using the help of a transportation machine that we built," BF explained. "Using that machine, we were able to pinpoint his exact location in the outer limits of space and transport him back to this planet."

"I will never die, no matter what happens to me!" BS claimed. "After you banished me to the outer limits of space, I ended up on a small, barren planet that actually has enough air to keep me alive, and then I waited until my minions brought me back. After that, I gathered together all sorts of evildoers to form the Dark Million Organization. Since then, our reputation has grown a lot and now everyone sees us as a threat to the entire planet and even the whole universe!"

Suddenly, Deathborn grabbed BS by the neck and lifted him into the air while choking him. "Fool! I am the one who can never die!" Deathborn shouted into face. "However, I do not admit that my resurrection this time was a bit strange and different compared to how it used to be. Whatever the case, the fact that I am once again alive means that you will serve under me like before! From now on, Dark Million Organization is under my control!"

"Hey! You can't do that!" BF angrily told him. "Black Shadow is our only leader and we will never let someone like you be the leader!"

"You do not have any say in this matter!" Deathborn shouted as he hurled BS into BF to knock the evil clone onto the floor.

"Ouch!" BF cried when BF flattened him against the floor.

BS quickly sat back up and moved backwards while facing Deathborn who came closer and closer to him. "Listen to me, Master Deathborn!" he said. "I am currently trying to come up with a plan that will let the both of us rule not only this world, but also other worlds!"

Deathborn became curious upon hearing this. "What do you mean?" And then BS immediately explained everything regarding Smash World, the World Light, and the Light Essence to him. Deathborn listened to the story all the way to the end and nodded his head with interest. "Interesting… I didn't know about this at all."

"As you can see, we will be able to take over other worlds as well if we manage to get out hands on the Light Essence," BS told him.

"Then get to it at once! I will not miss this perfect opportunity to make my name spread all the way to other worlds! Find this Light Essence at once in the shortest time possible! You better not fail me or else…"

"Don't worry, Master Deathborn! I'm already working on a plan for finding the Light Essence!"

"Remember! Failures are not accepted!" Deathborn said before walking out of the room.

After he was gone, BS let out a sigh and then slowly stood back up. "Argh… Why does he have to show up now…? Asides from Captain Falcon, he is the other person in this world who cannot stand!"

"What do we do now, boss?" BF asked him.

"Go along with the usual plan… We better not disappoint him, or else we'll really regret it…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As some of you can see, this arc also takes elements from the F-Zero anime, F-Zero: GP Legend (subtitled as Falcon Legend in Japan) in the form of Dark Million Organization, Black Shadow's base, Zoda working underneath Black Shadow, and Jody being related to the police, although she is actually a police in the anime. However, character portrayals are closer to the games and this arc is meant to take place after the events of F-Zero GX. I can't say that I've done something original as Specter24 used the same concept for the same arc as well.

Anyway, the reason for the change in chapter title is because I do not want this arc to become to similar to Specter24's version of the same arc. I originally wanted the Light Essence to be found in the same way as in Specter24's story, but it wasn't until after I posted the previous chapter did I decided to change it. Now that the way the Light Essence will be found is changed, the chapter title also had to be changed in order to reflect this alteration in plot.

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: **I am going on a church retreat on Tuesday morning (Monday night for those who live in U.S.A.), which is tomorrow. I will be gone for five days, so I'm afraid that the next chapter will take a while to come out. Don't worry; I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can when I return from the church retreat. God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Millions of Dark Attacks**

**Trivia:  
**1. Meiling's crazy driving and snaking technique is inspired by her crazy and dangerous driving skills in the Web-based Touhou 4-koma series, Life of Maid, made by someone named Colonel Aki and is therefore not official.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Once again, I'm going to talk about my favorite characters in the series as well as those I have a soft spot for. Note that even though Mokou, Keine, and to some extent, Sakuya, are my favorite characters as well, they will never be listed in this kind of extra show because the fact that I planned to use them in this story already shows that they are my favorites.

**Flandre: **Cute little girl that causes lots of destructions… Can you call her a yandere? For those who don't know, yandere refers to someone who is lovable and adorable, but will become mentally unstable whenever they feel like it or when they snap. Actually, Flandre isn't really mentally unstable, just playful and destructive, so I don't really think she's a yandere. Her unique-looking pair of wings also makes her look more charming!

**Utsuho: **She has one of the most unusual character designs in the series, and admittedly, it's her third eye that got me interested in her in the first place. Having raven wings isn't really anything unique, but with a right leg that is increased in concrete, a left leg that has atoms orbiting it, and an arm cannon which is supposed to be her third leg replacing her right arm, how can you not call her strange? Using her in this story would have been a good idea, if it weren't for the fact that nuclear powers are way too deadly and overpowered...

**Iku: **Electricity is cool, and that makes Iku cool. Drills are also considered to be something awesome, so that makes Iku awesome as well! Now that I think of it, it may have been interesting to consider her as one of the main characters of this story…


	36. Millions of Dark Attacks

I'm back from church retreat (been back since Saturday evening)! I'm honestly surprised that there is currently only one review for this chapter during the five-day break, but I'm sure that the other readers are busy with their lives. They will surely get back to reading this story once they're done with whatever

Also, the previous chapter's title has been changed into 'Girls are Driving' as well the preview title in chapter 33, Falcon Punches a Strange Boar. I originally saw a phrase called 'Girls are Preparing' on a user's signature at the forums called Maidens of the Kaleidoscope. It wasn't until after I came up with the original title for the previous chapter did I think about the phrase that I saw. After much consideration, I decided to change the previous chapter's title because 'Girls are Driving' sounds rather neat if you ask me, and it's also fitting considering that the girls are indeed driving in the previous chapter, even if it's simply a simulation. I hope that you can understand this change and have no problems with it.

BTW, it's actually called Dark Million Organization and not simply Dark Million. This mistake has been corrected for the previous chapter as well.

**Chapter 35  
Millions of Dark Attacks

* * *

**

"Rise and shine!" Captain Falcon said to the girls as they walked out of the elevator and into the lobby room of the hotel that they spent the night at. "Did you all get a good sleep?"

"I sure did!" Meiling said. "Sleeping on a bed sure is comfortable! I've already forgotten about when the last time I slept on a bed was!"

"You haven't slept on a bed for a long time already?"

"That's because she's a gatekeeper, so she either sleeps standing up or sitting down outside my mansion's gate," Remilia said. "Actually, she was given the chance to sleep on beds when we were in the previous worlds, but she always chose to either sleep standing up or sitting and outside of the room if we are inside one. This time I told her to make herself comfortable for once by sleeping inside the room and on a bed."

"Thanks to Mistress Remilia, I've managed to sleep comfortably for once! This isn't to say that sleeping in standing or sitting position isn't comfortable, mind you… Those sleeping positions are still comfortable for me!"

"I fail to see how one can sleep comfortably in those positions…" Reisen said.

"Meiling sleeps like that most of the time, she it's nothing special for her," Reimu told her, and then the shrine maiden said to CF, "Are we going to head for where the Light Essence is now?"

"Jody said that she is going to ask for permission to get the Light Essence for us," CF told her, "but I don't see why we can't head over to that place to take a look. You can also get to see what the place where they hold the race looks like! By the way, you should go and eat breakfast first. Eating a healthy breakfast is good for your body!"

* * *

Within the alleyway somewhere in Mute City, Zoda was sleeping on the cockpit of his Death Anchor, snoring loudly. Suddenly, a ringing sound woke him up and then he quickly took out a cell phone-like device that had a small screen on it. After pressing the green 'answer' button, Black Shadow appeared on the screen and said to him, "Zoda, get ready to move! I have a plan in my head already, so listen up!"

"I'm ready to listen, Black Shadow!" Zoda told him. "What do you want me to do?"

"First, you have to gather together as many Dark Million Organization members as you can, and then…"

* * *

After eating their breakfast, the girls got onto a hovering van that Captain Falcon rented in order to take them all to the place where the grand prix would be held.

"Going to that place won't take very long if there is no traffic jam," CF told the girls while driving down the street, "and it so happens that there is very little amount vehicles out on the street today! We should be able to get there in about fifteen minutes. Enjoy the view there while we're still on the road!"

Sanae looked out the window and said, "There sure are a lot of strange-looking people around here."

"The strange-looking people that you said are aliens from another planet," CF told her. "As technology becomes more and more advanced, contact with life forms in outer space also becomes easier and not to mention more common; therefore, relationships with alien life forms have gotten better as a result. F-Zero grand prix are also very popular among aliens, so popular that F-Zero racetracks are even built on their planets as well as several other planets!"

"So this is what the future of the world is like!" Nitori said. "I really love this place!"

"Then stay here as long as you can and imprint the best memories into your head!"

As the van was traveling down the street at a moderate speed, two F-Zero machines suddenly caught up with it from both sides. The one on the left was a green vehicle with two large fang-like extensions at its sides and the vehicle was numbered '15'—Big Fang.

The vehicle on the right was colored red, had black stripes on certain parts of its body, and was numbered '09'—Deep Claw.

The pilot of the Big Fang, Bio Rex, looked at the van and smiled, showing his massive fangs in the process, while waving his claws at the girls who were looking back at him through the window. On the other side, the pilot of the Deep Claw, Octoman, waved his tentacles as if he was greeting them.

"Who are they?" Aya asked.

"I know that lizard," Remilia said while looking at Bio Rex. "He was at the bar that Reimu, Marisa, Meiling, and I visited yesterday."

Bio Rex steered his vehicle away from the van, but then he steered into the van without a warning and rammed against its side forcefully, shaking it and making the girls inside bump their heads against each other. "Ow! What did he do that for?" Meiling cried while rubbing her head, and then she apologized to Remilia who was sitting next to her. "I'm sorry for bumping my head into you, Mistress Remilia…"

Octoman also steered his vehicle away from the van and then came back again, ramming it in the side using his vehicle forcefully.

"Ow! What are they doing?" Reimu cried while rubbing head due to bumping into the side of Captain Falcon.

"Looks like they want to play with you in a rough way," CF said. "Tsk! Can't they find some other time to bother me and not when I'm giving other people a ride? You girls will be experiencing a wild ride if I were to fight back against them."

"Go ahead and fight back if you want to-ze," Marisa told him. "Don't worry; we can handle a wild ride with no problem!"

"Okay, if you say so," CF said as he drove faster, but the two vehicles sped up as well to catch up with up the van. "Man, they sure are persistent…"

Bio Rex and Octoman moved their vehicles away from the van again to get ready to ram into the van from both sides at the same time, and because CF knew what they were going to go, he quickly stepped on the brake to let the two vehicles go ahead of the van. Because both Bio Rex and Octoman were not expecting this, they ended up crashing their vehicles into each other.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

After crashing into each other, the vehicles continued moving for a while before finally coming to a stop and smokes came out of their busted vehicles. "Well, that should teach them," CF said.

"Why are they attacking us anyway?" Sanae asked.

Just as she was asking this, three more vehicles went past their van and came to a stop beside those two busted vehicles, and then another vehicle drove out from the alleyway to join those group of vehicles, and then the cockpits opened up to allow their drivers to come out. The street was also blocked by those F-Zero machines and the other vehicles on the street were sounding their horns to tell to get out of the way.

CF took notice of one of those drivers and said, "Zoda!"

"Hahaha! Captain Falcon, are you surprised to see me?" Zoda asked him. "Or are you more surprised to see us all here?"

"Who is that guy?" Reimu asked.

"That's Zoda, a criminal that has been on the run from the Internova Police Force for quite a long time already," CF replied. "All of them are also members of Dark Million Organization."

"Dark Million Organization?" Marisa said curiously.

"Oh yeah, I haven't told you anything about Dark Million Organization yet. To put it in simple words, it's an evil organization formed by the villainous Black Shadow, and Black Shadow is my sworn enemy who always wants to destroy me in front of everyone."

"Well, it looks like we've got ourselves into some sort of mess again… Sigh…" Reimu said with a sigh.

CF stepped out from the van and said to the members of the Dark Million Organization loudly, "I'm busy right now. What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Zoda told him. "You can easily tell that we are here to mess with you! You know that Black Shadow wants to get rid of you, so it's obvious that he would send us to mess with you!"

"You better not mess with me! There are innocent people onboard the van and I do not want them to get involved in this! Wait until I'm done with my business and then we'll settle things the rough way if that is what you want!"

"Unfortunately, those girls on the van happen to the ones we're after! Getting at least one of them involved is part of our plan!"

Hearing this, CF narrowed his eyes and said in a threatening voice, "You better not do anything to those girls, or else you will regret it!"

"Did I hear right? It seems that those people after us!" Aya said.

"Why are they after us?" Reisen said in shock.

"It seems obvious that we are destined to run into trouble every time we visit a new world," Remilia said.

CF got into stance and said to Zoda, "This is your last warning. Get out of my way and leave these girls alone at once or else I shall teach you all a lesson!"

"The only person here who is getting taught lesson is you!" Zoda said as he whipped out a machine gun and started firing energy bullets at him.

CF immediately ran to the side to avoid the bullets as they struck the van. The girls quickly ducked down to avoid getting hit by the bullets, but fortunately for them, the van's exterior was hard enough to keep any bullets from going inside.

As Zoda continued firing from his machine gun, CF quickly got back inside the van and then stepped on the gas pedal to start moving down the street. "Fasten your seatbelts, girls!" he said.

The van zoomed towards the villains at a fast speed, but then Bio Rex and Octoman came out from their vehicles with a bazooka in their hands, and then they fired at the incoming van. Seeing the incoming bazooka shells, CF quickly steer left and managed to avoid getting hit. However, Bio Rex fired from his bazooka the second time and this time managed to hit the right wheel at front part of the van.

KABOOM!

The explosion caused the van to tumble over to the side until the entire thing was upside-down on the sidewalk.

CRASH!

"Hahahaha!" Zoda laughed. "There's no escape for you now!"

"But what if they all got killed because of this?" a dark-skinned man dressed in a purple jumpsuit and a yellow, tiger-striped helmet—Baba—asked him. "We're supposed to take one of those girls as a prisoner so that we can force Captain Falcon to hand over the Light Essence if he values the girl's life."

"Now that you said it… At least Captain Falcon should survive this, and we can simply beat him up until he's willing to hand over the Light Essence if Black Shadow's plan goes wrong."

"Just who do you think is going to die so easily?" Remilia said as she crawled out from one of the van's windows. She quickly shielded herself from the sunlight using her parasol and then said to them, "You sure have the nerves to mess with my comfortable ride, don't you? I don't like it when people disturb my peace!"

"And I'm sorry to break your bubble as well," Reimu said she crawled out the van. "We're not the kind to die so easily from something like this, and we're not even hurt either."

CF crawled out from the van as well and said to the villains, "You've really done it! I'm going to show you the consequences for trying to hurt not only me, but as well as my friends!" The other girls also crawled out from the van one by one and then they all got into fighting stance to get ready to face the members of Dark Million Organization.

"Haha! They're still alive!" Zoda said, sounding pleased. "Good! Now we can go along with Black Shadow's plan and not change anything! C'mon, give that captain a beating of his lifetime and kidnap one of the girls, preferably a weak one! But then, they're probably all very weak!"

"You shall see for yourself how weak we are," Remilia said sarcastically with a sinister grin.

Zoda fired from his machine gun again, but Captain Falcon and the girls quickly got out of the energy bullets' way.

Marisa landed from her jump and the moment she looked up, she saw Bio Rex pointing his bazooka at her. When the bazooka shell was fired at Marisa, she quickly hopped out of the way again and managed to avoid the attack altogether. "Take this! Radial Strike!" Marisa said as she fired star-shaped projectiles from the back end of her broom.

The star-shaped projectiles struck Bio Rex in the body, causing the anthropomorphic dinosaur to yelp in pain and drop his bazooka, which fell onto his right foot and made him jump up and down in pain while holding onto the injured foot.

While Bio Rex was still in pain, Reimu threw a paper amulet which taped itself onto Bio Rex's head, and then the paper amulet exploded and blasted the dinosaur backwards.

BANG!

Bio Rex fell back with a charred face and was unconscious. Octoman then turned to Reimu and fired at her, but she jumped out of the way along with Marisa. Octoman turned to them and fired another bazooka shell. "Cautionary Border!" Reimu shouted as she formed a blue wall in front of herself. The wall was durable enough to stay intact even after receiving a blast from the bazooka shell, and then Reimu pushed the wall from behind to send it flying towards Octoman.

Octoman tried to destroy the wall by firing another bazooka shell at it, but the wall was not destroyed. The wall emerged from the smoke created behind by the explosion and then crashed into Octoman, pushing him back through the air a few meters before disappearing, and then the octopus-like alien fell onto the floor.

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past Reimu's face and left behind a streak of blood on it. She turned to the source of the bullet and saw a green-skinned alien wearing yellow and orange armor that resembled a turtle shell pointing a gun at her—Pico.

Pico fired from his gun again and Reimu managed to dodge the shots this time. She took out two paper amulets and threw them at him, but Pico shot them down with superb accuracy. Pico took out another gun and then fired from both firearms at Reimu, but the shrine maiden moved around swiftly to avoid getting shot.

While he was trying to shoot Reimu, both Marisa and Youmu jumped at Pico and were going to hit him with their broom and sword respectively. However, Pico displayed quick dodging skills by ducking down and then he kicked off to the side and turned to face the two girls before firing at them, but Youmu spun around in time to deflect the bullets with her sword.

Pico was going to fire again, but he noticed a bullet flying towards him and thus stepped to the side before looking at the person who tried to shoot him—Reisen.

Pico then pointed his guns at the lunar rabbit and fired rapidly, but Reisen rolled out of the way. After coming to a stop on one knee, she fired from her finger at Pico, but he got out of the way as well.

"Take this! Radial Strike!" Marisa shouted as she fired from her broom at Pico, but he ducked underneath it before pointing one of his guns at Marisa to shoot her. Marisa managed to step out of the bullet's way in time and then pointed one hand at Pico before shooting out a rapid stream of stars. "Meteoric Shower!"

Pico quickly ran to the side to escape the barrage of star-shaped projectiles, and when Reisen fired energy bullets at him again, he jumped into the air and flipped upside-down before pointing his guns at both Reisen and Marisa to fire at them. Both the girls got out of the way and then Youmu jumped at Pico while he was still in midair to slash him. Quick as a flash, Pico whipped out a knife and blocked the sword strike in the nick of time and then fell back onto the ground at the same as Youmu and then they both stared at each other. "You're good…" Youmu commented.

"Thanks for the compliment!" Pico replied.

"Gotcha!" Baba shouted as he suddenly leaped at Youmu from behind in an attempt to grab her. However, Youmu spun around and slashed him across the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"AAAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEEEEEE!" Baba screamed as he was sent flying to the side after receiving a slash wound to his chest, and he crashed into the side of a trash can before passing out on the sidewalk.

While Youmu hadn't turn her attention back to Pico yet, the green-skinned alien quickly fired from both his guns at her. Youmu reacted fast and ducked down to avoid the bullets and then ran at Pico to swing her sword horizontally at his legs, but the green-skinned alien leaped back into the air and onto the sidewalk before continuing to fire at her.

"Strange Half-Body!" Youmu raised her arm underneath Myon and then half-phantom glowed with pinkish-purple before firing a rapid burst of energy bullets at Pico. Pico was surprised by this, but he managed to roll aside in time to avoid getting shot and then ran as fast as he could into an alleyway.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sanae, Cirno, and Alice were looking at the sight of a living skeleton dressed in red and brown clothing—The Skull.

"It's a living skeleton?" Sanae said in shock.

"Is this skeleton being controlled using the same method as how I control my dolls?" Alice wondered.

"I am The Skull!" The Skull said. "Through the combination of science and black magic, I have come back to life in order to continue racing! I may be over two hundred years, but I still have the skills and minds of when I was still in my prime! Hear this and be afraid, young ones: I am invincible! There is no hope for you in destroying me! This is all thanks to the power of science and bla…" Before he had the chance to finish speaking, Shanghai used a sword to cut off The Skull's head.

"I don't have any interest in what you're going to say," Alice said as she moved her fingers to bring Shanghai back. "If you are here to fight, then get started already."

"How dare you use such a cheap tactic?" The Skull's head, which was lying on the pavement, angrily said. "In F-Zero grand prix, one uses sharp thinking and strategies to overcome opponents, not dirty tricks like this!" While he was saying this, his body was crawling on the pavement, looking for its head.

"Hooray!" Cirno exclaimed as she ran up to the head and kicked it far into the air.

"HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" The Skull shouted as his head landed somewhere in the distance, and then his body headed towards the head's general direction.

"That serves him right!" Sanae said. "Black magic is evil and should never be used!"

* * *

Zoda was still going trigger-happy with his machine gun, and the bystanders were running for their lives like crazy to avoid getting shot. "Cease your firing at once!" CF shouted as he jumped at Zoda to punch him in the face, but the villain tilted his head to the side to avoid getting punched, and then he proceeded to avoid the series of fast punches that CF threw at him by moving his body around swiftly and yet never taking a step away from his current position. After a while of dodging the punches, Zoda did a back flip to get farther from CF and then fired at him, so the captain quickly jumped out of the bullets' way.

"Yahahahaha! You're still a million years too early to stand up to me! Yahahahaha!" Zoda said while laughing maniacally. Suddenly, Remilia swooped down from the air and rammed him in the head, knocking him onto the front of his F-Zero machine. Zoda got back up and turned around to see Remilia flying into the air with her parasol in her hand. "Why you?"

"A million years too early to stand up to you?" Remilia asked. "Well, it seems like that 500 years isn't too late if you know what I mean."

"Eat this, bratty little girl who can fly!" Zoda said as he fired in her direction.

Remilia moved out of the energy bullets' way and then closed her parasol before swooping down at Zoda, ramming him in the head again. When Zoda got back up and turned around to face Remilia, Meiling suddenly came jumping towards him and landed a flying kick right in his face.

KICK!

"Oof!" Zoda cried as he flew back into his vehicle's cockpit and passed out with a shoeprint on his face while Meiling flipped back into the air and landed upright on her feet.

"How'd you like that?" Meiling said while making a victory pose. Suddenly, several energy bullets whizzed past her. She looked to the side and saw several yellow-eyed robots that were mostly gray in color standing at the sidewalk. Armed with laser guns, they fired at Meiling who 'danced' around to avoid getting shot. "Whoa! Be careful with that!"

"Dark Soldiers!" CF gasped upon seeing those robots. "When did they get here?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious? Black Shadow had them sent here since this morning," Zoda, who had gotten back up, explained.

The Dark Soldiers closed in on Captain Falcon and the girls while firing from their laser guns rapidly. CF ducked down to avoid getting shot and then he performed fiery sliding kick at a group of Dark Soldiers and kicked them away. "Falcon Kick!"

KICK!

Youmu deflected the bullets while approaching another group of Dark Soldiers, and then she rushed past at a speed equivalent to the blink of an eye. Just like that, all the Dark Soldiers were sliced into pieces.

"Disorderly Fortune Slip Bulk Discount!" Sanae shouted as she threw packet at yet another group of Dark Soldiers. One of the Dark Soldiers caught the packet in his hand and looked at it curiously while two other Dark Soldiers who were besides looked at it as well. Suddenly, the packet exploded like a firework and blasted those Dark Soldiers into pieces.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

"Disbelief Aspect!" Reisen shouted as jumped to the side, and then an illusionary clone of herself appeared on the spot that she was originally standing on. Both Reisen and her clone fired bullets at the Dark Soldiers and shot them down one by one. Once the Dark Soldiers standing before them were shot down, the clone disappeared.

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed down from the air and went through Reisen's right shoulder. "Ya!" She placed her hand over the wound on her shoulder and then looked up to see Pico standing on top of a building and he had a sniper rifle in his hand.

Taking aim at Reisen again, Pico got ready to pull the rifle's trigger, but then he noticed that Reisen's eye were glowing and then a pair of eye beams were fired at him. He quickly rolled away to the side and then immediately got onto one knee before firing a bullet Reisen, but she managed to dodge it this time and then used her finger to fire at Pico. The green-skinned alien quickly ducked down to avoid getting shot.

After Reisen was done firing, Pico stood back up and fired from his sniper rifle again. Reisen quickly hopped back to avoid getting shot and then continued to fire bullets at Pico, trying to shoot him down. While she was doing this, a Dark Soldier pointed his gun at from behind and was about to shoot her when suddenly he was shot in the head by a green laser beam. Reisen turned to the side to see Nitori standing there and the kappa was giving her thumbs up. "Thanks!" Reisen thanked her.

Suddenly, a Dark Soldier showed up behind Nitori to hit her in the back of the head with his laser gun, but Reisen quickly headshot the Dark Soldier before that happened. Nitori turned around to look at the fallen Dark Soldier and then turned to Reisen to thank her. "I guess it's my turn to say thanks you to you. Thanks!"

Two more Dark Soldiers showed up and ran to Nitori from both sides. A pair of mechanical arms shot out from both sides of Nitori's backpack and grabbed the two Dark Soldier's heads, and then the mechanical arms lifted them into the air above Nitori and smashed their heads together before throwing them away into another group of incoming Dark Soldiers.

"Domination Dash!" Aya swooped down and dashed through a group of Dark Soldiers and knocked them all down. After ascending into the air again, she took out a card and threw it into the air before swinging her fan at it. "Headwind: Route Forbidden to Man!"

When the card was hit, it disappeared in a bright flash and then strong wind suddenly started blowing in the direction Aya was facing. The wind was so strong that the Dark Soldiers were sent tumbling and flying backwards, but some of them quickly grabbed onto the streetlights that were situated around the place to prevent being blown away.

Unfortunately, Captain Falcon and the girls were also blown backwards by the wind and they had to grab onto the streetlights in order to stay in one place. "Stop it, Aya!" Reimu shouted at her. "You're blowing us away as well!" And then a soft drink can flew into her face.

CONK!

"Ouch!"

Asides from a few Dark Soldiers, Cirno also did not grab onto a streetlight and was therefore blown back through the air. "YAAAAAAA!"

"Cirno!" Meiling gasped. She quickly let go of the streetlight that she was holding onto and allowed the wind to blow her towards Cirno in order to rescue the ice fairy.

"Gah! What is this wind?" Zoda cried as he held onto a streetlight for dear life. "How can these girls possess such power?" And then an old boot flew into his face.

BOOT!

"Ow!"

* * *

After being blown through the air for a short while, Cirno finally tumbled face first onto the pavement as there was no wind around this place. "Ow… That Aya… She just had to use that strong wind to blow everything away, including me…" she grumbled.

Some Dark Soldiers also landed next to her, and then they got back up again and shook their heads before turning to look at Cirno, and then they stood back up and pointed their guns at her.

Cirno quickly stood back up and got into fighting stance. "So you want to pick a fight with me? Bring it! I'll show you that I am the strongest!"

Suddenly, Meiling came flying into the scene and landed a flying kick into the side of a Dark Soldier to send him flying into his comrades, knocking them all down. Meiling then turned to Cirno and asked her, "Cirno, are you all right?"

"Hey! I wanted to beat them up myself! Why must you butt in and steal my target?"

"It seems that you're all right. Thanks goodness!"

Another Dark Soldier stood up behind Meiling and was going to shoot her in the back. "Watch out, Meiling!" Cirno shouted.

Hearing this, Meiling quickly jumped towards Cirno and then turned around to face the Dark Soldier who was about to fire from his gun. Cirno quickly pointed her arms and shot out a rapid burst of icicles at the robot. "Icicle Machine Gun!"

The icicles struck the Dark Soldier in the abdomen right when he was about to shoot the two girls, and when he was hit by the icicles, he accidentally aimed his gun diagonally upwards before pulling the trigger, and the laser was fired at a pole that was holding up a giant billboard situated on top of a building instead. After recovering from being hit, the Dark Soldier looked up at the billboard. This brought an idea to his head and then he fired at all the poles that were holding up the billboard.

"He must've gone crazy after I shot him," Cirno thought. "Now his aim has become horrible! Where are you aiming your shots, Mr. Scrap Metal?"

"No, wait…" Meiling said as she looked at the poles of the billboard being shot down one by one. "He's trying to make that giant board fall down on top of us!" By the time she said this, the last pole had been shot and billboard was starting to lean forward. "Cirno! Watch out!" Meiling quickly pushed Cirno to a safer place, but before the gatekeeper could get away herself, the Dark Soldier shot her in the left leg and made her fall to her left knee. "Ah!"

"Meiling!" Cirno gasped. "Look out above you!"

Meiling looked up and saw that the billboard was just a few meters above her face already. "Oh no!" Unfortunately, she couldn't get away in time...

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"MEILING!" Cirno gasped when she saw that Meiling was crushed underneath the billboard. The Dark Soldier turned to Cirno to shoot her, but the ice fairy flew out of the laser beam's way and then shot out an ice beam from her hand. "Take this!" The beam struck the Dark Soldier's body and encased in a chunk of ice, but his head and limbs were not frozen. Cirno then flew at the partially frozen Dark Soldier at a fast speed while being encased in a block of ice herself. "Ice Charge!" The frozen but conscious ice fairy crashed into the Dark Soldier and shattered the ice that his body was frozen in.

The ice shattered and the Dark Soldier flew backwards and landed roughly onto the street, and his was body was bent inward due to impact from the frozen Cirno.

The ice around Cirno disappeared and then she quickly ran up to the billboard to help Meiling. "I'll get you out of there in a minute, Meiling!" Unfortunately, the billboard was too heavy for her to remove. "Whoa! This thing is heavy!"

As she was trying to lift up the billboard, a man appeared behind her. Cirno heard his footstep and so turned around to see that it was Blood Falcon. "You're here, Captain Falcon!" Cirno said to Blood Falcon. "Hey, when did you change your clothes?"

"So this girl thinks that I am Captain Falcon," Blood Falcon thought, and then a wicked smile appeared over his face. "That's it! I can take advantage of this and then capture her!" And then he cleared his throat bit before saying to Cirno, "Listen up; it's too dangerous around here and we shouldn't be wasting our time fighting these guys. We should run away instead! I know a safe place to go to, so follow me!"

"Really?"

"It's true! Just follow me!" BF said as he grabbed Cirno's hand to run down the street with her.

"Wait a minute! Meiling is underneath that large billboard!" Cirno told him. "We have to rescue her first!"

"Don't worry; I'll get to it soon," BF told her. "Let me take you to the safe place to first."

As they were running down the street, Meiling managed lift the billboatd into the air and then hurled it away, and then she saw BF running down the street with Cirno. "Cirno! Captain Falcon!" Meiling shouted.

Cirno turned around to look at the gatekeeper and said, "Meiling! You're all right!"

Meiling saw that the 'Captain Falcon' who was taking Cirno away had different color schemes and said, "That person is not wearing the same colored clothes… Is he Captain Falcon?"

"Uh oh…" BF said in his mind, but he kept on running down the street, dragging Cirno by her hand along with him.

"Wait! You're not Captain Falcon, right?" Meiling said as she gave chase. "You're not wearing the same clothes and you even ran when I pointed it out! You must be an imposter!"

"What are you talking about, Meiling?" Cirno asked her. "He is Captain Falcon. He simply changed his costume during the fight." And then she turned around to face BF and asked him, "Isn't that right, Captain Falcon?"

"Yeah, I did change my costume…" BF replied in somewhat nervous tone.

"You may be able to fool Cirno, but you're not fooling me!" Meiling shouted.

BF quickly ran around the corner and headed for his vehicle which was colored red, but its front part was colored yellow and the vehicle was also numbered '25'—Blood Hawk.

He jumped into the red vehicle along with Cirno and then closed the cockpit. "Hey, your big metal container that can move really fast looks different as well," Cirno said. "Do you have two of these or what?"

"Shut up!" BF told her as he took out a cell phone-like device that had a small screen on it. He quickly dialed a number and then Black Shadow's face appeared on the screen. "It's me! I've got one of them! Quick, transport me back to the base!"

"Got it!" Black Shadow told him.

Suddenly, Meiling popped out from around the corner and ran towards the Blood Hawk as fast as she could. "You're not getting away from here! Let go of my friend at once!" she shouted. BF quickly stepped on the gas pedal to move his vehicle backwards, but then a few seconds later, the vehicle suddenly disappeared in a bright and instantaneous flash. Meiling was shocked at the sight of the vehicle's disappearance and then looked around the place for signs of it. "Where did they go?"

* * *

"Falcon Punch!" CF shouted as he landed a powerful fiery punch into the chest of Dark Soldier and sent it flying backwards into other Dark Soldiers. With that, all the Dark Soldiers were defeated. He dusted his hand and said, "Well, that take cares of that, but Zoda and Pico seem to have gotten away." He turned to look at the girls and asked them, "Is everyone all right?"

"We're fine," Reimu told him, "but blame Aya if the wind from earlier messed you up in form."

"Sorry about that…" a somewhat embarrassed Aya apologized. "I almost forgot that you will all get caught in this move as well…"

"These guys aren't tough at all-ze," Marisa said as she used her broom to sweep up the remains of some Dark Soldiers to pile them up together.

Remilia looked around the place and said, "Meiling isn't here. Where'd she go?"

"Cirno isn't around here as well," Sanae added.

"Everyone!" shouted the voice of Meiling as she ran up to them in panic.

"Where have you been, Meiling?" Remilia asked.

Meiling stopped to take a break from the running and then said to them, "Someone who looks like you, but dressed in different color clothing and helmet, took Cirno away! They got into a red vehicle and then it disappeared a few seconds later!"

"Someone who looks like me but wears different color clothing and helmet?" CF said curiously. "Wait a minute, that's Blood Falcon, my evil clone!"

"Your evil clone?" Reimu said curiously.

"One time when I was injured and living in the hospital, Black Shadow took my blood sample and used it to create a clone of me called Blood Falcon. His believes that his sole purpose in existence is to destroy me. I can't believe that your friend got fooled by his obvious color difference..."

"I'm not surprised that Cirno got fooled by him-ze," Marisa said.

"Whatever the case is, this is a serious matter! We need to rescue Cirno at once before harm befalls her!"

"But why do they want to kidnap us in the first place?" Sanae asked. "We didn't do anything to do them at all!"

"Do you think it has something to do with Michael Chain being beaten up by us yesterday?" Reimu asked.

"Maybe, but Captain Falcon was the one who punched him down in the first place-ze," Marisa reminded her.

"I doubt it," CF told her. "Bloody Chain is mostly by itself and doesn't really work under any other organization, so I don't think it has anything to do with what happened yesterday."

* * *

"Ow!" Cirno cried as she was forcefully thrown onto the floor by Black Shadow. She stood back up and shouted at the villain who was standing in front her, "Hey you! Don't throw me like that! I'm not a ragged doll!"

"You're now a prisoner, so you better keep quiet!" Black Shadow told her.

"Prisoner? Does that mean I am captured and placed in a jail or cage?"

"It's exactly as you said!"

"But I don't see any metal bars that are keeping me from getting out. In fact, there is nothing to keep me from getting out! I can just walk out of here!" Cirno said, and then she walked forward a few steps, only to bump her head into something invisible. "Ow!" Cirno rubbed her hand with one hand while using her other hand to feel the air around her, and then she touched something that felt like glass. "There's something here!"

"This is a glass-like force field that keeps people inside from getting out," BS explained. "However, people from the outside can still go in, but once they go in, they can't come out!"

Cirno turned to look at Blood Falcon who was standing next to BS and said to him, "Captain Falcon! How can you do this to me? Don't tell me that you are a bad guy all along!"

"Ha! You're not very smart, aren't you?" BG said. "I'm not Captain Falcon. I'm his evil clone, Blood Falcon!"

"What?"

"It's too late for you to regret now! You should've listened to your friend back in Mute City!"

"This force field thingy won't trap me forever!" Cirno said. "I'll just bust it down! Icicle Machine Gun!" She fired a rapid burst of icicle from her hands, but the icicles shattered into pieces upon hitting the force field. "Eh? How about a bigger one?" She held up one arm and formed a ball of ice that gradually grew in size until it was as big as herself. "White Rose Cluster!" She fired the massive ice ball, but it also shattered upon hitting the force field. "What?"

"Hahaha! There is no way you can escape!" BS laughed. "And I have to admit that you do have some neat powers for a little girl! It would seem that you're not an ordinary little girl after all."

"Darn right! I'm and ice fairy, and not to mention the strongest!"

"Oh really? That really makes me wonder how powerful the other girls are if you really are the strongest, but yet got captured so easily."

"Maybe it's just because she's not very bright," BF told BS. "Another girl knew at first glance that I'm not Captain Falcon."

"Anyway, now that we have captured one of the girls, her friends and Captain Falcon must be very worried. Zoda should be telling them about our purpose for capturing one of the girls by now."

Suddenly, the door opened and Deathborn stepped in. Chills went down BS and BF's spine as the more intimidating villain walked up to them and said in a loud voice, "What is the meaning of this? I thought I told you to find that thing called the Light Essence and not capture some little girl! You better give me a good explanation for this pointless act!"

"Calm down, Master Deathborn," BS replied nervously. "This is all part of my plan! You see, there's this group of girls who recently came from another world to this world, and they are looking for the Light Essence as well. If we capture one of these girls, we can make them find and hand over the Light Essence to us."

"I see… Then make sure that everything goes as you have planned! You better not screw up anything, or else I'm going to show you what will happen to those who fail me!"

"I know what's going to happen and I'm not going to let it happen again…"

"Also, there's one more thing I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you just use the transportation machine that your henchmen used for bringing you back from the outer limits of space to here to transport one of those girls here instead? You used it bring Blood Falcon back here, didn't you?"

"I doesn't work that way," BF told Deathborh. "You see, in order for the target to be transported, a special device needs to be attached onto it first." He then took out a black, hexagonal piece of plastic that had a red circuit board in the center of it and said, "This is the device that allows the target to be transported. The machine can transport the device to anywhere, but the target will need to be holding this in order to be transported by the machine. By transporting this to Black Shadow, he was able to grab hold of it and then be transported back to this planet. I placed this device onto my Blood Hawk in order for Black Shadow to use the machine to bring me back."

"Hmph! Your explanation is plausible," Deathborn said, and then he turned around to leave. "Do as you wish, as long as everything will go as planned!"

After Deathborn had left the room, Black Shadow sighed with relief and said, "That guy sure gives me the creep whenever he's around me… I can't believe that the Emperor of Brutality, which is I, can be resorted to such a low status by someone like him! Just you wait, Deathborn! I'm going to make you regret it if ever I have the chance to do so! And also when I have the courage…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

All right; I'm glad that I've finally updated my story with a new chapter. I hope that this chapter is good enough for the long break. I'll try my best to finish the next chapter as soon as possible, so please have patience. Until then, have fun waiting for the next chapter to come out!

Dark Soldiers originated in the anime before one of them appeared in the game F-Zero Climax. Bio Rex, Octoman, Pico, Baba, and The Skull are all members of Dark Million Organization in the anime, and since I have said in the previous chapter that this arc also takes elements from the anime, the same thing holds true here. However, I have no plans for other anime-originated characters such as Ryu Suzaku (known as Rick Wheeler in English) to appear in this arc, so I apologize to those who were hoping to see him.

BTW, Aya's Dominion Dash is actually called Domination Dash. This mistake has been changed for the previous chapters as well.

**Next chapter: The Strongest Prisoner  
**


	37. The Strongest Prisoner

Quite a few edits have been made to this arc's previous chapters, such as adding more details to descriptions and slight alterations of quotes and random stuffs to make them make more sense. You can go ahead and check them out if you want to, though you probably won't notice much difference unless you remember very well how the previous chapters originally were. Some notable changes include how the van was knocked upside-down and the transportation device's description.

**Chapter 36  
The Strongest Prisoner**

* * *

Captain and the girls walked up to Zoda and Pico's vehicle and the captain said, "It seems that they've escaped without their vehicles. Something tells me that they will come back to this place again…"

"Maybe we should stay here until they come back?" Sanae suggested. "That way, we will able to ask them why they kidnapped Cirno and also where they took her to."

"They probably won't be coming back here as long as there are people keeping watch of their F-Zero machines," CF told her. "On the other hand, I have every reason to believe that she has being taken to Dark Million Organization's base."

As they were saying this, Jody Summers and John T anaka's F-Zero machines, as well as some police cars, showed up at the scene. Jody got down from her vehicle and then ran up to CF and said to him, "Captain Falcon! We heard that the members of Dark Million Organization are causing trouble here! Is everything okay?"

"Everything is okay, Jody," CF told her. "We managed to bring them down, except for Zoda and Pico. They managed to escape during the chaos, but their F-Zero machines are still here."

"I see… Very well, we shall confiscate their F-Zero machines before they come back to reclaim them. That way, they will not be able to run around recklessly anymore."

"We also have a problem involving the case of kidnapping. One of the girls has been kidnapped by Blood Falcon."

"What?"

"Therefore, we must go and rescue her fast! She must be imprisoned in Dark Million's base at the moment."

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed into CF's head from the side and knocked the captain onto the pavement. Everone was shocked and Jody gasped, "Captain Falcon!"

However, CF stood back up and then picked up the bullet that had fallen onto the pavement and said, "Don't worry; my helmet is bulletproof, so I'm all right." He then turned to look at the top of a building and Pico standing there with a sniper rifle in his hand. "Pico!"

"Should've known that trying to shoot you in the head wouldn't work…" Pico said. "But then, you wouldn't be called Captain Falcon if you were to be slain so easily."

Zoda appeared next to Pico said, "Well, it looks like the captain managed to escape the jaws of death once again! Just like Pico said earlier, you wouldn't be called Captain Falcon is you got killed so easily!"

"The both of you are not going to get away with this!" CF shouted at them. "Why did you kidnap one of the girls? Tell me at once!"

"Now that Blood Falcon has successfully kidnapped one of the girls, I don't see why I should hide the truth from you any longer. The reason we kidnapped one of the girls is because Black Shadow wants to get his hand on the Light Essence!"

"What? How did you know about the Light Essence?" Nitori said in surprise.

Zoda placed his hand next to his ear and said, "No little secret can escape my ears, heheheheh! After learning about what the Light Essence is capable of, Black Shadow has decided to get his hands on it so that he can go to other worlds and conquer them! What better way is there than to kidnap one of the girls and then demand the Light Essence in exchange as the ransom?"

"You villain!" CF angrily said.

"Yahahahahahaha! There is nothing you can do now! Go along with Black Shadow's plan obediently and the girl will live!"

As Zoda was saying this, Bio Rex and Octoman suddenly popped out from behind their vehicles and fired from their bazookas. "They're not down for the count yet?" Reimu said in surprise.

Everyone quickly got out of the way to avoid the bazooka shells. Immediately after landing from her jump, Meiling charged at Bio Rex and hit him in the head with a roundhouse kick before he could react. Octoman quickly turned to Meiling to shoot her, but she kicked the bazooka from below to send it flying into the air. Octoman moved back in shock, but before he could do anything else, Meiling placed her palm a few centimeters in front of his face and said, "Scarlet Inch Punch!"

BAAAAAAAAANG!

The red energy blast that came out from her palm sent Octoman flying backwards until he landed onto the pavement roughly. "Good job, Meiling," Remilia said to her.

Meiling turned to her mistress and said, "I wanted to make up for not being able to protect Cirno. I'm sorry that she got kidnapped..."

"It's not your fault," Reimu told her. "You don't have to blame yourself for this."

Meanwhile, Baba and The Skull, who had reattached his head back to neck, quickly got into their F-Zero machines. Immediately after that, both Zoda and Pico jumped down from the building and landed right into the cockpit of their vehicles. Once they were inside their own vehicles, Pico got out a cell phone-like device and said to it, "Black Shadow! Quick! Teleport us all back the base!"

"You're not getting away, you vile villains!" Sanae shouted as she ran towards the Death Anchor.

Zoda waved at her from inside the cockpit and said, "Smell ya later, girly!" However, Sanae went ahead and jumped onto the cockpit and slammed it hard with her gohei, trying to break through it. "Hey, get off of my F-Zero machine!"

Right at that moment, the villains' vehicles disappeared in a burst of light, and everyone was surprised by the sight of it. Bio Rex and Octoman's vehicles also disappeared, but because they were not inside their vehicles this happened, they were left behind on the street.

"That's how the person who kidnapped Cirno disappeared as well!" Meiling pointed.

Unknown to them, Samurai Goroh was secretly watching the whole thing from an alleyway the whole time without getting himself into the mess. He looked at Youmu and said in his head, "That girl sure has skills! She will definitely make a worthy opponent! I'll just have to find the right moment to approach and propose a challenge to her!"

* * *

Black Shadow was standing in front of a massive black cylinder-shaped machine's controller. The machine gave off a large amount of steam from small openings around it and also made beeping sounds. After that, the door slid open and BS stepped in front of the entrance to look inside. Inside the machine were F-Zero machines belonging to Zoda and the others, and Sanae was also standing on top of the Death Anchor. "Well, it seems that we have brought back someone else as well!" BS said.

Sanae looked around and said, "What is this place? Whoa!" The cockpit underneath her opened and caused her to fall off to the side.

Zoda got down from his F-Zero machine and looked at Sanae. "Consider yourself unlucky, girly!" he said to her. "Now you've just made your way to Dark Million Organization's base, so don't think that you'll be getting out of here alive anytime soon!"

Sanae stood up and got into a defensive stance. "So this is where Cirno is imprisoned, right? Return her at once or else I'll exterminate you!" she said.

"Well, well, well! Who do we have here?" BS asked he walked inside the machine.

Sanae turned to face him and asked, "Who are you?"

"I am the Emperor of Brutality and also the leader of Dark Million Organization, Black Shadow!"

"So you're the villain that Captain Falcon talked about!"

"Did you come here to rescue your friend? Unfortunately, there is no way you can escape from this base even if you manage to find your friend. You're only going to end up being a prisoner here!"

"I will not be imprisoned here! I will destroy you!" Sanae said as she took out a card. "Sky Serpent!" The card glowed with white light and then snake-like missiles were fired from it at Black Shadow, but with a swing of arm, the villain knocked the missiles away to the side where they exploded after falling onto the floor.

BANG!

"What?"

Immediately, white light appeared around BS's body as he placed his hands together to charge up blue and yellow energy, and then he hurled a blue energy string at Sanae, binding her with it.

"What is this?" Sanae cried as she struggled with the energy string, but then fell onto the floor. "It won't come off!"

"Resistance is futile," BS told her. "You'll be joining your friend in prison. I'm sure she'll be happy to have someone accompanying her! Dark Soldiers, take her away!"

The Dark Soldiers immediately went to grab Sanae by her shoulders and then took her out of the place. "Let go of me!" Sanae shouted as she tried break free from their grasps. "Let go of me right this instant!"

After that, BS looked at the Big Fang and Deep Claw and noticed that there was nobody inside them. "Where are Bio Rex and Octoman?" he asked.

Zoda looked at the two vehicles and replied, "They never got the chance to return to their vehicles because they were knocked out."

"Whatever... We can bust them out of prison whenever we want to."

* * *

Blood Falcon went into the room where Cirno was imprisoned, and when he looked at the force field prison, he saw Cirno lying face first on the floor, seemingly unconscious. "Hey, what's wrong, little girl?" BF asked her, but he received no reply. He then reached his arm into the force field to touch Cirno. "Are you still alive?"

Suddenly, Cirno grabbed him by the hand and lifted her face, saying, "Gotcha!"

"Hey! Let go of me!" BF said as he pulled back his arm, but it came to a stop when Cirno's hand touched the underside of the force field. "Let go of my hand! I can't take it back out if you're holding onto it!"

"Why can you bring your arm back out and yet I can't?" Cirno asked.

"That's because you were already inside the force field! As long I do not step inside of the force field entirely, I can still come back out, but your hand is keeping me from doing so! Let go of my hand at once!"

BF tried to pull his arm back out, but Cirno gripped onto it tightly.

"I said let go!"

"No way!"

"Let go!"

"I can't hear you!"

"LET GO BEFORE I BLOODY PUNCH YOUR FACE!"

"Cool down, mister!" Cirno said, and then she slowly caused BF's hand to freeze over.

"AAAHHHHH! MY HAND IS FROZEN!" BF screamed. "SOMEBODY HEL PME!"

Cirno let go of BF's hand, but the villain still could not pull his arm back out due to the hand being encased in ice. "Help me! Dark Soldiers who are guarding the room! Get in here at once and help me!" BF shouted.

A pair of Dark Soldiers ran into their room and when they BF's predicament, one of them ran over to a controller placed next to the door and pressed one of the buttons there.

Immediately, the temperature within the force field started to increase, and Cirno was starting to sweat profusely. "Ugh... It's suddenly getting really hot in here..." Cirno cried by flapping her collar. "What's happening...?"

The rising temperature slowly melted off the ice that was encasing BF's hand, and when the ice was gone, he was able to pull his arm back out. "Phew... At last..." BF said, and then he looked at the suffering Cirno. "Tsk! You sure have the nerves to mess with me! And it looks like you don't like the heat as well! Suits you right! You should continue to suffer from this torture for a while!"

Cirno fell onto her back and panted heavily as the heat was torturing her greatly. "It's hot... It burns..." she cried. "I can't... take it... anymore... Someone... Please lower the temperature... Please..."

Just then, two Dark Soldiers carrying Sanae came into the room. When Sanae saw Cirno inside the force field, she said excitedly, "Cirno! You're here!"

"Aha! Looks like we have a new prisoner!" BF said. "I'm sure that little brat will enjoy some company!"

As the Dark Soldiers took Sanae closer and closer to the force field, the shrine maiden suddenly broke free from t grasps when she struggled again and then used shoulder bashing to push them away. "Cirno! Are you all right?" Sanae asked as she ran up to Cirno and bent down next to her. "Cirno! Are you all right? Whoa! It's hot in here! They're torturing you, aren't they?"

Cirno slowly opened her eyes and looked at Sanae. "Sanae... What are doing here...?" she asked weakly.

"Actually... I have no idea how came here as well, but now that I'm here, I'm going to rescue you!"

"Did you run inside... the force field...?"

"What force field?"

"Anyone who goes inside the force field cannot come back out!" BF told Sanae. "You must be really dumb to run into the force field by yourself! But then, I don't blame you for not being able to see the force field. It's invisible after all!"

"What?" Sanae said in shock. She tried stepping out of the place, only to run into an invisible glass-like wall. "There really is a force field!"

"You're an idiot... Sanae..." Cirno grumbled before passing out.

* * *

After the incident out on the streets was over, Captain Falcon, the girls, and the other members of the Internova Police Force returned to the headquarters to discuss about their next step.

"Luckily, we have the data of Dark Million Organization's base in our database," Jody said as some policemen worked on a computer in front a large screen. "That way, we can have a better look at the base's surroundings and then come up with a way to break into it."

"We have found the picture of the base, ma'am," one of the policemen said, and then he pressed a button that showed everyone the picture of the base on the large screen.

"That's the base?" Marisa asked. "It's floating in the air-ze!"

"Cool!" Aya commented.

"Wow! A flying base!" Nitori exclaimed.

"We have also found out its exact location," the policeman said. "It is situated in the sky around the Underworld area."

"Underworld?" Reimu said curiously.

"It's the place where the villain known as Deathborn lives," Captain Falcon told her, "but I managed to defeat him. He was also responsible for putting Black Shadow out of commission for a while as he managed to get Black Shadow to work underneath him. As Deathborn does not tolerate failures, he used his powers to transport Black Shadow to the outer limits of space, but somehow, Black Shadow managed to return with the help of his minions."

"Can you show us a more detailed look of the area?" Jody asked the policeman.

"Yes ma'am," the policeman said as he got to work on the computer again, and then the large screen showed the picture of a rocky area that had a dark, cloudy sky. One could also see the base hidden among the clouds.

"Okay, we shall use the Falcon Flyer to get there," CF said.

"Assuming that you are taking the girls along with you, will there be enough space?"

"I'm afraid that we will have to squeeze in a bit. Actually, I plan to sit in my Blue Falcon while it is being carried inside the Falcon Flyer. The girls can go sit in the Flyer's main body. Don't worry; I will set its computer to autopilot so that we can all reach the base with no problem."

"If only we have regained our flying abilities... Sigh..." Reimu said with a sigh.

"You can fly?" Jody asked curiously upon hearing this.

"Yeah, they told me that all of them here can fly," CF told her. "Remilia, Aya, and Cirno can fly using their wings naturally, but the others use some sort of an unexplained power to fly. Unfortunately, this power is lost whenever they come to a new world, but it usually comes back after several hours have passed."

"Sometimes it won't come back until a day has passed," Marisa told him. "As we often fly around back in our world, it's really inconvenient for us to not be able to fly, even if it is for a limited amount of time-ze..."

"I pity you... But look on the bright side; at least you haven't lost that ability forever! All right; let's head for the Falcon Flyer. You shall take flight using that thing until your flight abilities return!"

Soon afterwards, Captain Falcon led the girls to the outside of the headquarters. CF went up to his Blue Falcon and got out a small device that had several buttons on it, and when he pressed one of the button...

"Hmmm... Now what?" Aya asked while tapping her feet against the ground.

CF looked around the sky and said, "It should be here any second."

Suddenly, they all heard the sound of engine and when they looked up, they saw large flying machine that was blue and yellow in color approaching.

"There it is! That's the Falcon Flyer!" CF pointed out.

Nitori's eyes 'sparkled' and widened with excitement as she said, "Wow! It looks so amazing! Are we really going to ride inside that thing?"

"Yes we are!" CF told her with a nod. He pressed another button on the device and this made the Falcon Flyer descend onto the ground, and then the roof of the Flyer opened up. CF got inside the Flyer through the opening on the roof and then pressed some buttons on the controller. "Good, this should do! The coordinates for Dark Million Organization's base has been set, so it will head to that place by itself." He got back out from the Falcon Flyer and said to the girls, "All right; you can go inside and take a seat. If there aren't enough seats, then you may have to stand. Just hold onto something and you won't be tumbling around the place when it flies."

"I can't wait to go inside!" Nitori said as she ran up the Flyer and then wasted no time in jumping inside.

"So all we have to do is sit still and do nothing, right?" Reimu asked CF.

"Yes," CF replied. "You do not have to anything. Just put on your seatbelts and enjoy the ride. You'll be at the base without every having to do anything!"

"Okay."

After that, the girls got into the Falcon Flyer one by one, and after they had all went inside, CF got into his Blue Falcon and then pressed another button on the device. This made the Falcon Flyer hover into the air and then fly above the Blue Falcon. The underside of the Falcon Flyer opened up and lowered a harness that caught the Blue Falcon by its sides, and then the F-Zero machine, along with its pilot, was taken inside the Flyer when the harness went back up.

Once inside the Falcon Flyer, CF pressed yet another button and said, "All right; activate the autopilot! Take off!"

The Falcon Flyer then turned to face the direction of the main gate and then took off a few seconds later through the air. Samurai Goroh, who was hiding behind the outer wall of the headquarters, saw the Falcon Flyer flying into the distance and said, "That girl is inside Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer! I'm going to chase her down no matter where she is headed to!" And then he ran to his vehicle—the Fire Stingray—and got into it before going after the Falcon Flyer.

"There they go," Jody said as the Falcon Flyer went farther and farther into the distance. "I wish them a good luck!"

* * *

Sanae and Cirno were, obviously, still inside the force field, but the temperature inside the force field had returned to normal as Blood Falcon thought that they had suffered enough, so he turned off the heat. The blue energy string was still strapped around Sanae, preventing her from moving her arms. She struggled with the energy string as hard as she could, but she couldn't get it off no matter what. "Ugh! This thing won't come off at all!" she cried.

"You're such an idiot, Sanae," Cirno said to her. "You came here to rescue me, but you ended up getting imprisoned in here along with me! I can't think of something more idiotic than this!"

"I'm sorry..."

"But at least there's someone here to keep me company! Thanks for coming here anyway!"

"You're welcome! If only I was more helpful though..."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Falcon Flyer was speeding through the air and was getting closer and closer to Dark Million Organization's base. In fact, the base was actually visible in the distance already. "Is that the base?" Reimu, who was sitting at one of the two front seats, asked.

Nitori, who was sitting to the left of her, was looking at the controller with sparkling eyes. Reimu looked at her and said, "You better not touch anything! None of us here knows how to pilot this thing, so if you turned off the autopilot thing or whatever it's called, we're going mess up everything and possibly crash."

"Okay, I won't!" Nitori said, but her expressions seemed to be implying the opposite.

"But why do I still have a bad feeling about this...?"

Behind those two girls, there were four more seats that sat the other girls nicely, but as there were not enough seats, Youmu, Reisen, and Meiling had to stand next to the seats and hold onto them tightly.

Unknown to them, Black Shadow was using a large screen on the wall to watch the Falcon Flyer approaching. "So they're here! Have they found the Light Essence already?" he wondered. "Whatever the case is, I'm going to be a nice guy and let them come inside!" And then he pressed a blue button (red buttons are clichéd) on the controller in front of the large screen.

From the outside, the girls could see a part of the base's wall opening. "Looks like they're welcoming us," Remilia said with her arms crossed.

"All right, let's go inside then!" Reimu said.

Nitori was still looking at the controller with sparkling eyes, and when she could no longer hold back herself, she shouted out loud, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I WANNA PRESS THIS RED BUTTON SO BADLY!" And then she pressed the red button on the controller.

"Hey! Nitori! I thought you said you won't touch anything!" Reimu said to her in shock.

The moment the button was pressed, a computerized voice said, "Autopilot deactivated."

Hearing this, a nervous look appeared on Marisa's face as she said, "Um... Does that mean... we have to control this thing by ourselves now-ze...?"

Everyone turned to give Nitori angry glares, and the kappa felt ashamed of herself and said, "I'm sorry... I really couldn't control myself... I'll fix it right away..." And then she pressed a grey button on the controller.

Immediately, the ceiling opened up and air started flowing out at a tremendous speed, causing the three girls who weren't sitting to fly up, but they quickly caught onto the seats to avoid flying out of the Falcon Flyer. "Yaaaaaa! What did you press?" Reisen cried.

"Close it quick!" Reimu shouted to Nitori.

"I'm sorry!" Nitori cried as she pulled down a lever.

Outside, the underside of the Falcon Flyer opened up and then the harness lowered, bringing out the Blue Falcon, but it was still strapped to the harness. "What the?" Captain Falcon said in shock. "Why am I outside? Did they pull the lever for controlling the harness or what?"

Back inside, Nitori grabbed the yoke and started tilting it left and right, causing the Falcon Flyer to move around the air in a wavy path. The Blue Falcon also shook left and right as a result. "Whoa! What are they doing?" CF cried.

Nitori pulled back the yoke as far as she could and made the Falcon Flyer flew upwards until it performed a u-turn and was upside-down. "YAAAAAAAA!" Youmu, Reisen, and Meiling screamed as they towards the open ceiling. Luckily, Reisen and Meiling held tightly onto the top of the Alice and Remilia's seats respectively, but Youmu failed to do so and thus fell out of the Falcon Flyer.

"YOUMU!" Reimu gasped.

Aya quickly undid her seatbelt and allowed herself to fall out of the Falcon Flyer before flying after Youmu to catch her. "I'll save you!" she shouted, and then she flew underneath Youmu and managed to catch her in her arms. "Phew, just in time!"

"Phew... Thanks..." Youmu said with a sigh of relief.

"HEY! SWORDSWOMAN! DO YOU HEAR ME?" shouted a really loud voice.

"Huh?" Both the girls heard the voice and so they looked down curiously to see Samurai Goroh standing down on the rocky ground, and he was waving at them.

* * *

Back in the air, the Falcon Flyer was still moving through the air crazily due to Nitori being incompetent at the controller, but she somehow managed to get the Falcon Flyer to flew right-side-up again as well as flying in the direction of Dark Million Organization's base.

"I don't know how to reactivate autopilot!" Nitori cried as she pressed random buttons on the controller rapidly.

"Then at least try to pilot it in the base's direction!" Reimu told her. "Head for that opening!"

"What are they doing...?" Black Shadow said with an odd-looking expression as he watched the Falcon Flyer flying 'drunkenly' through the air.

Nitori continued to mess around with the controller. Wanting to head into the base as fast as possible, she pulled back the yoke to make the Falcon Flyer fly upwards and towards the opening at the side of the base as the Flyer had dropped altitude somewhat during the 'drunken driving session'. "Try to close the ceiling first!" Reimu told Nitori. "At this rate, we're all going to fly out of this thing before we even reach the base!"

"Okay!" Nitori said, and then she looked at the buttons on the controller and said to herself, "Which one did I press that made this happen again?" As she had forgotten which button she originally pressed, she went ahead and pressed a black, square button.

The moment the button was pressed, the harness around the Blue Falcon released the vehicle, making it fall through the air. "Whoa!" CF cried from inside the Blue Falcon. "I'm falling! Quick, Boost Fire!" He pulled back a lever and the F-Zero machine started glowing with a combination of blue and orange light before shooting through the air like a jet and in the direction of the opening at the side of the base. "I have to make it inside before the Blue Falcon starts descending!"

Thankfully, the speed boost managed to send the Blue Falcon far enough into the air to get up close to the base. Just as the F-Zero machine was starting to drop altitude; it flew into the opening and landed onto the metallic floor roughly before coming to a stop.

Captain Falcon quickly got out the remote control for the Falcon Flyer and then ran up to the opening on the wall to look at the Falcon Flyer which was still moving around in a 'drunken' manner outside. "I better bring it in here," he thought as he began pressing the buttons on it, but there was no response. "Oh yeah, this remote will not work if someone is touching the controller! How do I contact them and tell them to stop touching the controller?"

"What are you doing, Nitori?" Reimu shouted at Nitori. "Head for the base now!"

"I'm trying!" Nitori said. "I'm still looking for the button that will close the ceiling!" She then pressed a button that had the word '_eject_' written on it. The moment the button was pressed, the four seats behind Nitori and Reimu shot out of the Falcon Flyer and into the air. Obviously, Remilia, Alice, and Marisa were taken by the seats into the air, but Meiling and Reisen also went along with them because they were holding onto the top of the seats.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they all screamed, except for Remilia and Alice, who had shocked look on her face.

"NITORI! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Reimu shouted when she looked back and saw happened.

"I'M SORRY!" the kappa cried.

"That does it! I'll handle this myself!" Reimu shouted as she leaned over to Nitori and took hold of the yoke. However, Reimu couldn't move the yoke around properly due to her leaning position. "Ugh! This thing is harder than I thought to control! I should be sitting in your seat instead!" She quickly took off her seatbelt and then went over to Nitori seat. "Move it, Nitori! I'll take care of things myself!"

As the Falcon Flyer was flying diagonally upwards slightly, Reimu tried to grab onto something to prevent tumbling backwards, but unfortunately, she grabbed onto a lever on the controller.

"Dropping altitude," a computerized voice said.

"Uh oh..." Reimu said nervously when she heard this, and suddenly, the Falcon Flyer flew diagonally downward at a really fast speed. "YAAAAAAAAA!"

"REIMU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Nitori cried.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Reimu yelled back. She quickly threw herself onto Nitori's lap and grabbed the yoke, pulling it as far as back possible.

The Falcon Flyer slowly tilted upwards, but due to its moving speed, it was unable to rise back into the air in time. The Falcon Flyer crashed onto the street really hard and then zoomed into a cave.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other girls were flying in the air. "Phew... It's a good thing that we've gotten back our ability to fly-ze!" Marisa said while wiping her forehead.

"Yeah, it seems to come back when we really need it," Reisen said with a nod. "Can this be coincidence?"

"Or maybe it's the work of fate," Remilia said. "Anyway, we can fly to the base by ourselves now that we can fly."

"What about Reimu and Nitori?" Alice asked.

"I'm sure they'll be all right," Marisa said. "No matter what happens to them, they can always make it out with no problem in the end-ze!"

"Right, do not underestimate the shrine maiden, though I'm not too sure about the kappa," Remilia said.

After saying all these, the girls flew in the direction of the base and flew into the opening at the side to meet up with Captain Falcon. "It seems like that you have regained your ability to fly!" CF said to them. "Good for you!"

"Yeah, and it sure came back at such a great time-ze!" Marisa said.

CF looked at the Falcon Flyer's remote control and pressed some of the buttons on it. "It seems that the Falcon Flyer is damaged after it crashed onto the street... I can't summon it to this place..."

"Don't worry about Reimu and Nitori. They'll be all right for sure-ze!"

"Yeah, but the place that they crashed into is the Underworld, and that's where Deathborn lived when he was still alive..."

"But he's already dead, right?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, so there should be any problem for them to go in there. Anyway, we have to go and rescue Cirno at once!"

Suddenly, Aya flew into the base from the opening to join them. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" she said.

"Aya! Where's Youmu?" Reisen asked.

"Well..."

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

Aya carried Youmu to the ground and allowed the half-phantom to set foot there. Samurai Goroh approached Youmu with a katana blade in his hand and said to her, "I've been following you all the way from Mute City! Did you forget that we made a deal about having a match yesterday?"

"I still remember that," Youmu said with a nod, "but this isn't the time. Two of my friends have been captured, so I must go and rescue them."

"Are you not keeping your words? Don't tell me that you are a coward who is too scared to fight me! It is not right for swordsmen and swordswomen to turn down challenges! You should know that very well!"

Youmu remained silent for a short while after hearing this, and then she unsheathed the Roukanken and said to him, "All right; I will accept your challenge!"

"Are you sure about this, Youmu?" Aya asked her.

"Don't worry; Aya. As a swordswoman, I have to accept his challenge. You go on ahead to the base first. I will go there after defeating him. This is assuming that I have regained my ability to fly by then..."

"All right; good luck with your fight!"

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

"And that's what happened," Aya said, concluding the story.

"I didn't know that Samurai Goroh would want to fight her," CF said, rubbing his chin. "Youmu is a swordswoman, right? Goroh is a swordsman, so I think that it would only make sense for him to want to fight another sword user. Anyway, let us go and rescue Cirno and Sanae at once!"

As they were about to leave, a TV monitor came down from the ceiling and Black Shadow's face was on it. "Greetings, everyone!" he said. "So you did come here after all!"

"Black Shadow!" CF said loudly to him. "Where are the girls that you've kidnapped? Free them at once!"

"For you record, I've only kidnapped one. The other one came here unintentionally, but I still imprisoned her anyway. Do you still remember our deal? Hand over the Light Essence and then both the girls are free to go!"

"Sorry, but we didn't bring the Light Essence-ze!" Marisa said.

"Right, we would never hand over such an important thing to you!" CF said to BS. "We came here for the sole purpose of rescuing our friends!"

"Tsk! Why is it that I'm not surprised to hear this? I figured that something like this would happen... Very well, you can go on ahead and try to rescue your little friends, but do not blame me if misfortune befalls you! Don't think that you're all going to get out of here alive! Hahahahahahaha!"

After that, the screen turned off and the monitor returned into the ceiling.

"Let's go, everyone!" CF said to the girls. "Be careful; there might be traps set up around the place, so move carefully!"

* * *

Black Shadow pounded the controller and angrily said, "Things didn't go as planned at all! I should've known that Falcon wouldn't play along with me obediently!"

"Is this the result of your so-called brilliant plan?" said the voice of Deathborn from behind him. BS trembled in fear as he turned around to face Deathborn.

"Um... Master Deathborn... I have never said anything about my plan being brilliant... In fact, I had a feeling that this would happen..."

Deathborn suddenly grabbed his neck and lifted him into the air, saying, "Then why did you think that this plan was good idea in the first place? Do you have anything else to say about this?"

"Calm down, Master Deathborn... At least we can get rid of them and then look for the Light Essence by ourselves afterwards!"

Deathborn flung BS at the controller and said, "Very well! I want you to get rid of Captain Falcon and anyone who sides with him! I'm going back to the Underworld for a moment. When Captain Falcon's ship went downwards, it went into the Underworld. I do not want any trash in my Underworld, so I'm going to go and destroy it!" With that, Deathborn spread out his arms and formed a purplish sphere around his body before disappearing into thin air.

"Phew... He's gone..." BS said with a sigh of relief. "All right; let's show Captain Falcon and those girls that they should've followed my plan obediently in the first place!"

* * *

Captain Falcon and the girls were running down the hallway as fast as they could. A group of Dark Soldiers armed with guns came running down from the other end of the hallway to atack them, but before they had the chance to do anything, Aya charged at them and knocked them all out. "Domination Dash!" she shouted as she plowed through the small group of Dark Soldiers.

"You sure made a quick work out of them!" CF commented.

"And that's why they call me the fastest in all of Gensokyo!" Aya proudly said.

"And you better believe how annoying it is for her to live up to that title..." Reisen told CF.

Suddenly, a knife whizzed past in front of Reisen's face and struck the wall next to her. "Yikes!" Reisen was freaked out by the sudden appearance of this knife and then turned to look at another passage next to her and saw Pico standing at the other end of that passage. "It's that guy again!"

Without saying anything, Pico took out a gun and then fired at Reisen, but she ducked down to avoid the bullets. After that, Pico touched his hand against a certain part of the wall to press a hidden button. When the button was pressed, walls came down from both sides of Reisen and blocked the way forward and backward as well as separating her from her comrades.

"What the?" Reisen looked at the walls on both sides of her and then looked at Pico who was standing in front of her.

"There's no escape for you now!" Pico said as he pointed his gun at Reisen. He fired at Reisen and she quickly ducked down to avoid the bullet and then moved to the left to avoid another one.

After that, Reisen fired an energy bullet from her finger at Pico, but he stepped aside to avoid the energy bullet and then continued firing at her. Despite the lack of space, Reisen managed to avoid the bullets completely and then she jumped into the air and towards Pico while shooting back at him.

From behind the wall to the left of Reisen, Captain Falcon pounded against the wall and shouted, "Reisen! Can you hear me?" Marisa, Alice, and Aya were also with him. He placed his ears against the wall and could hear the sound of gunfire. "Reisen's in danger! We must do something!"

"That green guy seems to be skilled with the gun, right?" Marisa asked.

"Right, Pico is an assassination expert and is skilled with all sorts of guns as well as knives."

"Then you don't really have to worry about Reisen. She's an expert in shooting as well, so she should be settles things by herself."

"If you say so..." CF said as he walked away from the wall. "All right; let us move and hope that she will be all right." And so, Captain and the three girls continued on their way.

As for Remilia and Meiling, they were behind the wall to the right of Reisen. "Well, we seem to be separated from each other," Remilia said. "This seems to happen all the time, doesn't it?"

"Do you want me to punch down the wall?" Meiling asked Remilia.

"Go ahead."

"Okay!" Meiling walked up to the wall and inspected it for a while before punching it hard.

BANG!

"Ouch!" Meiling cried as she grabbed her fist in pain.

"I think not... Oh well, we might as well head back and look for other paths. We came across several other passages, didn't we?"

"Yeah, maybe we should try out those passages to see if they will reunite us with the others again."

And so, Remilia and Meiling backtracked down the hallway to look for the other passages.

Behind the wall, Reisen was still trading shots with Pico. "He's really good!" Reisen thought as she avoided another bullet. "Within a space like this, he shouldn't be able to dodge an attack that covers a large amount of space... Ripple Vision!" She shot out several red energy rings while firing bullets using both hands at the same time.

When Pico saw the projectiles, he quickly turned around to escape from the incoming bullets. Luckily for him, there was a passage not too far away and thus he jumped into the passage at the left to avoid the getting hit by the projectiles. Reisen ran up to where he was but instantly ducked down to avoid a bullet that was fired at her, and then she hopped backwards into the passage behind her before turning around to run down it, and Pico gave chase while continuing to fire from his gun.

* * *

Captain Falcon, Marisa, Alice, and Aya came into a large circular room and found themselves standing on top of a narrow road that was like a bridge suspending over a large pit, though the floor was still visible far down below. There was another 'bridge' that came out from another part of the room, and it intersected with the road that they were standing on in the center of the room, forming a cross.

"What is this place...?" Aya asked.

Suddenly, a pair of objects zipped past them really fast. Captain Falcon looked up at the air and saw Baba standing on a flying board and The Skull riding a flying coffin-shaped machine. "Hahahahaha! Are you ready for some fun?" Baba asked. "We're going to make sure that you enjoy your stay here!"

"This is the place that you will be in before you go to the netherworld!" The Skull said. "Realize the lessons that you should've learned in life after you have died!"

"Oh really? I've been to the netherworld and back, so I'm not afraid of going to that place again-ze!" Marisa said as she got into fighting stance.

* * *

Remilia and Meiling came into a large room after beating up several Dark Soldiers. Remilia looked at the room that was filled with glass cylingers containing strange plant life and asked, "What's with this room? I don't think Yuka is going to like the sight of this..."

"Yahahahahaha! Welcome to my room!" laughed a maniacal voice, and then Zoda stepped out from behind one of the glass cylinders. "Do you like my flowers? They sure are growing healthily inside these glass cylinders! I really can't wait to show the public these beautiful flowers... THAT KILL PEOPLE!"

Meiling got into fighting stance and said, "I'll handle him, Mistress Remilia."

"No," Remilia said to her. "You go on ahead and look for Cirno and Sanae. I'll deal with him myself."

"But..."

"Weren't you feeling guilty about not being able to protect Cirno? Go ahead and make up for your carelessness then."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Meiling's face as she nodded and said, "Okay, Mistress Remilia! I'll go and rescue Cirno and Sanae right this moment!"

"You're not getting out of here!" Zoda said as he took out a machine gun and fired at the both of them. Both Meiling and Remilia leaped to the aside to avoid getting shot and then Remilia flew at Zoda really fast and knocked his machine gun out of his hand with a swipe of her claws.

As for Meiling, she headed for the door at the end of the room. "Take care of yourself, Mistress Remilia!" she said before leaving the room.

"Tsk! She got away!" Zoda grumbled. "But that doesn't matter! There is no way she can rescue her friends anyway!"

"Sure, Meiling may not be very competent in doing most things, but at a time like this, I have no choice but to trust her," Remilia said, and then a malicious grin appeared on her face. "All right; how about the both of us continue our fight? I wonder how long you can last against me. Heheh!"

* * *

Black Shadow stepped into the room where Cirno and Sanae were imprisoned in, and he was surprised to see that the underside of the force field was coated with a thick layer of ice and snow. "What happened?" he asked.

"Well, that little girl dressed in blue said that she was going to use her most powerful attack called Perfect Freeze or something to destroy the force field," Blood Falcon, who was in the room the whole time, replied. "Of course, the force field is too powerful to be destroyed, so it didn't work at all! Though the interior ended up getting coated by a layer of ice and snow like that..."

Inside the force field, Cirno puffed up her cheek in frustration while tapping her foot against the floor. "Man! Even Perfect Freeze can't destroy this force field!" she grumbled. "At least it's much colder in here now, and I like it!"

Behind the ice fairy, Sanae was pretty much frozen in a block of ice as well as being covered in snow. "It's... freezing... in... here..." the mostly frozen shrine maiden said weakly.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Okay, some of the fights have been set up, so look for forward to them in the next chapter!

**Next chapter: Millions of Dark Battles**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Once again, I'm going to talk about more of my favorite songs in the Touhou series! Stay tuned for more after this one!

**Beloved Tomboyish Girl/Adventure of Lovestruck Tomboy: **Both these songs are really the same, just slightly remixed. All I have to say about this song is that Cirno's theme song sure gives people the impression that she is indeed the strongest in Gensokoyo!

**Satori Maiden ~ 3****rd**** Eye: **The more I listen to this song, the more addicting I find it to be! It sounds a bit creepy at first, but you really have to admit there is something about this song that makes it dramatic and enjoyable to listen to!

**Necrofantasia: **This song is pure amazing... Way too amazing to be put in words... This song totally screams 'EPIC FINAL BATTLE' in every manner possible, even though Yukari isn't really the final boss of any game in the series, unless being the boss of the phantasm stage in Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom is considered being a final boss...


	38. Millions of Dark Battles

**SBS Time!  
Ancestor's Dragon: **Out of curiosity, is Sanae able to summon Kanako and Suwako during battles like she can in Touhou 12.3: Hisoutensoku (sometimes called Touhou 12.3: Unthinkable Natural Law)? According to the manga, Silent Sinner in Blue, deities can split their bodies and also travel to different dimensions.  
**Game2002: **She is unable Kanako and Suwako in this story at all, even if those two have the power to travel dimensions. The concept of dimensions/universe/worlds has not been clearly explained in this story as of yet, and this is something that you will have to look forward to. Also, Sanae does not appear in Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, but only in Touhou 12.3: Hisoutensoku.

Repeating known things has always been my way of typing stories since I want to make sure that my readers have a clear understanding of what they are reading, but some people seem to find this method of typing unnecessary; therefore, I will try my best to get rid of it. The two chapters that were pointed out by Diavolo to have such an issue have now been corrected.

However, please note that I may still type in such a way for humorous purposes. One well known example of this is in the 20th chapter of one of my older stories, Times in 10 Lives Apartment: The Remake, where the same thing was repeated over and over several times just for the sake of comedy.

**Chapter 37  
Millions of Dark Battles**

**

* * *

**

"It's Baba and The Skull!" Captain Falcon gasped.

"It's that skeleton again..." said Alice, looking unimpressed.

"We are under orders from Black Shadow to get rid of you all," Baba said.

CF got into fighting stance and said to both the villains, "Bring it! I will not be defeated by villains such as you so easily!"

"Well then, show us that you're not all talk!" Baba said as he swooped down on his flying board to hit CF and the girls.

They quickly got out of the way as Baba swooped towards them and then the villain returned into the air. "I shall drain you of your energy!" The Skull said as he pressed a button on the controller of his flying coffin-shaped machine. The headlight of his machine shined down a large beam of light onto CF and the girls, and when they were exposed to the light, they started to feel weak and their legs even wobbled slightly.

"What the...? My legs... They're wobbling..." Marisa said, "and... my voice... is getting... weaker... by the... moment... as well... ze..."

"The light... is draining us... of our... energy..." CF said as he fell down onto his knees and hands.

Suddenly, Aya dashed past The Skull really fast and caused his flying coffin to spin out. "Whoa!" he cried. The headlight was turned off as a result.

Aya turned to face The Skull and said, "Too bad the light didn't shine onto me!"

CF and the other two girls felt their strengths returning and so they stood back up. "Thanks, Aya!" CF told her. "C'mon, let's take them down together!"

"On the second thought," Marisa said, "I think it's better that you leave them to Alice and me."

"Right," Alice said. "Cirno and Sanae may be in danger, so we need someone who can travel fast enough to rescue them."

"Are you referring to me?" Aya asked Alice, and she nodded in response.

"I see... You have a point there," CF said. "All right; I'll go with Aya to look for Cirno and Sanae. Are you sure that the two of you can take on Baba and The Skull?"

"Leave them to us!" Marisa said. "We'll give them a beating and then try to meet up with you guys afterwards!"

"I'm a gal, not a guy," Aya corrected her.

"Eh, whatever..."

"All right; I'll leave everything here to the both of you!" CF said as he rushed across the bridge with Aya to leave the room.

Baba and The Skull watched them leave the room and Baba said, "Not like it going to make a difference. Black Shadow will crush them all in the end! Meanwhile, we will crush the both of you right here and right now!"

"Oh really?" Marisa asked as she got into fighting stance. "I'm thinking that the opposite will happen instead!"

"You shall now witness the true terror!" The Skull said. "I shall send the both of you to the netherworld!"

"You are the ones who s be going to the netherworld instead," said Alice coldly as she took out a card while Shanghai armed herself with a sword next to her master.

* * *

The ice inside the force field prison had been melted after Blood Falcon increased the temperature, and then he returned the temperature to normal afterwards. "You really like to cause trouble, don't you?" BF asked Cirno, who was panting and sweating heavily. "You do not like the heat, yet you make me turn up the heat!"

"You didn't have to do that!" Cirno told him.

"How else would I know what you are secretly planning to do behind the ice? You may very well think of a way to get out of there!"

"Don't be silly! This force field cannot be destroyed, and when I wrote the number nine inside a circle on the snow, you could also see me behind the ice slightly. I can't believe how dumb you are to think that I can escape from here when it's obvious that there is absolutely no escape from this force field!"

Hearing this, BF felt ashamed of himself and then turned away to walk out of the room while angrily saying, "Argh! The more I stay anywhere near you, the angrier I get, and my IQ may even drop!" With that, he left the room.

"Geez, he's a strange fellow, but a bit funny as well!" Cirno said to no one in particular.

Behind her, Sanae was rubbing her hands together while sighing with relief. "Phew... Much better... I thought I was going to freeze to death..." And then she said to Cirno, "Please don't do something like that again... Please..."

* * *

Reisen ran out from the hallway and stepped into a large room. She desperately looked around the place for somewhere to hide, and when she turned around, she saw Pico coming out of the hallway as well. "Playtime is over, rabbit!" he said as he fired his gun at her.

Reisen quickly ducked underneath the bullet and then hopped back while firing energy bullets at him. Pico leaped out of the bullets ways while continuing to fire from his gun, and Reisen quickly flew onto the higher floor's balcony to continue to fire from there.

Pico quickly ran behind a pillar to hide from the bullets. He quickly put away his gun and then took out a sniper rifle. After loading some bullets into it, he waited for Reisen to stop firing before coming out from behind the pillar to take aim at her, but the lunar rabbit was no longer on the balcony.

Sensing something, Pico quickly jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by an energy bullet that shot down from above him. Pico looked up to see Reisen flying in the air above him and then tried to shoot her with the sniper rifle, but she got out of the way in time.

"Shooting is my specialty," Reisen told him, "so don't think that you can beat me so easily using a similar fighting style!"

"We shall see who is better in shooting then!" Pico said as he took aim and fired at her constantly.

Reisen flew around swiftly and managed to avoid every single shot. She quickly flew behind Pico and then tried to shoot him, but he rolled out of the way fast, and in the middle of doing so, he placed his sniper rifle onto the floor and then got out a pair of handguns in a flash. He got into a kneeling position and fired from both handguns at Reisen constantly. Reisen moved left and right in midair to avoid them and then tried to shoot Pico.

Pico leaped into the air towards Reisen to avoid the incoming bullets and tried to shoot her from a close range. When Reisen saw that he was about to pull the trigger, she quickly moved to the side to avoid getting shot. In reality, Pico made her think that he was going to pull the trigger. When Reisen moved to the side, he turned his gun after her and pointed it at her forehead. "What?" Reisen gasped.

BANG!

Pico landed onto the floor in a kneeling stance and then turned around to see that Reisen had bent her body backwards in the nick of time to avoid receiving a headshot. She fell onto the floor and then touched her forehead while sighing with relief. "Phew... That was close... There's no hole or blood on my forehead... Thanks goodness..."

"You won't be so lucky next time, rabbit!" Pico said as he fired at her again. Reisen quickly jumped back to avoid getting shot and then used both hands to fire at Pico. Pico leaped over those bullets and towards Reisen really fast, much to her surprise. "What?" Before she could do anything, Pico pulled the triggers for both guns.

BANG! BANG!

"YAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen cried as she fell onto the floor with both her shoulders injured. When she tried to get back up, she was met with a gun to her forehead.

"Your time is up, rabbit!" Pico said as he got ready to pull the trigger.

Suddenly, Reisen's eyes turned red and then pair of eye beams was fired at Pico. "Illusionary Blast!"

"Wha?" Pico quickly jumped back in the nick of time to avoid the eye beam, and then Reisen stood back up and then jumped back to a safer distance.

"Ugh... My shoulders hurt..." Reisen cried. She tried to lift her right arm, but the pain stopped her from doing. "Ow!"

"Take this!" Pico said as he shot another bullet at Reisen, but she quickly jumped out of the way and landed not too far away.

"At least I can still fight with my eyes," she thought. When Pico tried to shoot her again, she jumped into the air and landed a few feet in front of Pico. "Ultrared Field!" Reisen's eye glowed with bright red light and then a circular field of red energy appeared around her and covered quite a bit of a radius.

Pico's vision was distorted when he was exposed to the red energy. He rubbed his eyes to try to get a clearer look, but his vision was still distorted. "What is this?" he said in surprise. "What's wrong with my eyes?" Despite his distorted vision, he could still make out Reisen standing in front of him, so he fired at her using both his handguns, but the bullets went past Reisen. "Did I get her?" Pico continued to fire rapidly, but none of bullets hit their target at all.

"Illusionary Blast!" Reisen shouted as she attacked with her eye beams, blasting Pico in the chest and blasting him out of the field of red energy.

"Ugh!" Pico cried when he hit the floor. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his vision had returned to normal, but the field of red energy was still in front of him. "I think I get it now... Being inside that field will make one's vision distorted. All I have to do is to stay away from it!" He took aim with both his handguns and then fired at Reisen, but she quickly jumped out of the center of the circular to field to avoid getting shot. The circular field of red energy disappeared afterwards.

"Ripple Vision!" Reisen shot out red energy rings immediately after landing. Pico quickly ran out of the energy rings' path and tried to take aim again. However, Reisen quickly jumped in front of his face. "Undersense Break!"

FLASH!

A burst of red light came out from her eyes and blasted Pico by the face backwards. The green-skinned alien fell onto the floor and then held his hands over his eyes while rolling around. "Augh! My eyes hurt! It stings!" he cried.

Reisen tried to lift her arms again, but the immense pain on her shoulders stopped her from doing so. "Ugh... It hurts... But I can't fight with full power if I only rely on my eyes..." she thought. "If I cannot raise my arms fully, I can at least raise them halfway!" And so she raised only the lower part of her right arm and got ready to fire.

"Die!" Pico shouted as he suddenly sat back up and fired at her. Reisen did not see this coming and was shot in the right side of her waist.

"YAAA!" the lunar rabbit screamed as she fell back onto the floor.

"You're finished!" Pico said as he prepared to pull the triggers of both his guns again.

Acting quick, Reisen raised the lower part of both her arms and shot out a couple of energy bullets at Pico, but he jumped into the air and then fired at her from midair. Reisen quickly rolled out of the way and then got back up to take off into the air. Pico landed and then pointed one of his guns at her to shoot. Reisen dodged aside while doing a barrel roll, causing both her arms to spread out and swing through the air naturally. As she did, she shot out four green energy balls that were shaped like grenades from four of her fingers at him. "Mind Sacrifice!"

Pico leaped back to avoid the energy balls which exploded upon hitting the floor.

"Mind Explosion!" Reisen fired a red rocket-shaped projectile at Pico. The green-skinned alien jumped out of the projectile's way, but to his surprise, the projectile turned slightly to go after him.

"A homing projectile?" he thought. He quickly jumped out of the projectile's way again, but Reisen suddenly ran up to him with her right arm pointing at him. "What?"

"Mind Explosion!" she shouted as she fired another rocket-shaped projectile, hitting Pico at point blank range.

BAAAAAAANG!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAH!" Pico screamed as he shot back from the explosion, but because the previous projectile was still behind him, he flew into it and got blasted again.

BAAAAAAANG!

The explosion propelled Pico back towards Reisen, and she quickly released a burst of red light from her eyes. "Undersense Break!"

FLASH!

Pico was sent flying through the air for the third time in a row until he crashed into a pillar really hard.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

And then he fell over on his face unconsciously. Reisen let out a sigh of relief, thinking that she had won the fight. "Phew... I did it... I better go and find the others..."

As Reisen started to make her way out of the room, Pico slowly crawled up to his sniper rifle that was lying on the floor and then picked it up to aim it at Reisen. "Don't think that you have won just yet, rabbit!" he growled, and then he pulled the trigger.

Reisen heard the sound of the gunfire and then moved aside in the nick of time to avoid receiving a fatal shot to the back of her head. As a result, the bullet only grazed the side of her head. "Ow!" Reisen cried in pain, and then she quickly turned around to face Pico.

Pico fired at her constantly while Reisen kept on moving around to avoid getting shot, and then she took into the air and fired laser rings at him. "Ripple Vision!"

Pico rolled out of the way and then fired rapidly at Reisen. She flew around the air as fast as she could to dodge the bullets, but was eventually shot in to the left leg.

BANG!

"YAAAA!" Reisen screamed as she collapsed onto the floor. When she looked up, she saw Pico pointing his sniper rifle at her.

"You're finished!" Pico said as he got ready to pull the trigger.

"Illusionary Blast!" Reisen shouted as she fired a pair of eyes beams at Pico. The green-skinned alien quickly jumped to the side before pulling the trigger, but Reisen managed to roll aside in the nick of time before firing a black bullet into the air above Pico. "Mind Dropping!"

"Where are you aiming at?" Pico asked while looking at the bullet, but to his surprise, the bullet exploded above him and sprayed energy bombs everywhere. "What?" Some of the bombs fell down on top of him and blasted him.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

"Ugh!" Pico cried as he jumped out of the explosion. "I wasn't expecting that to happen... You're starting to piss me off!" Pico aimed his sniper rifle at Reisen and fired, but Reisen used her right leg to hop into the air.

From the air, Reisen pointed her index finger at Pico and shot out several energy bullets, and Pico quickly moved around swiftly to dodge each of those shots. As Reisen was falling towards the floor, she fired a silver energy missile at Pico. "Psycho Missile!"

Pico quickly hopped back to avoid the energy missile, but he was caught in its explosion when it hit the floor.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Gyah!" Pico cried as he shot back from the explosion, but he managed to land in crouching position. "Tsk! That rabbit is getting more annoying by the minute! I should get rid of her right now!"

Suddenly, Reisen emerged from the smoke left behind by the explosion and rushed at Pico very fast. Pico quickly raised his sniper rifle to shoot her in the forehead.

BANG!

"Haha! Headshot!" Pico laughed, but to his surprise, Reisen became distorted and then disappeared into thin air afterwards. "What the?" Suddenly, he was shot in the side of the waist by several energy bullets. "Gyaaaaaaah!" He fell on his right knee and held his hands over the wound on his waist while looking to the side, and he was surprised to see Reisen standing over there. "What the?"

"What you shot just now was an illusionary clone that I made," Reisen explained.

"Why you annoying little rabbit!" Pico growled. He tried to fire from his sniper rifle again, but Reisen quickly shot him in the hand to disarm him of his weapon. "Ah!"

After that, Reisen used her right leg to hop towards Pico and pressed both her index fingers against the part of the body just below his neck and shouted, "Mind Explosion!" And then a pair of red energy rockets was fired at point blank.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Pico screamed as he blown backwards by a pair of explosions. He kept on flying until he smashed his back against the wall and then fell forward onto the floor.

Reisen dropped back onto the floor and sighed with relief. "Phew... He better stay down for the count this time... I'm getting really tired and my wounds are hurting even more thanks to all those constant movements..." She tried to stand back up, but the pain on her left leg made her fall back down and then fell lied down on her back. "Ow... I think I'll lie down here for a while until the wounds don't hurt as much... I just hope that no bad guys will come in here and see me..."

* * *

"Weeee! You cannot catch me!" Marisa sang teasingly as she soared through the air on her broom.

Baba was chasing her and said in an annoyed voice, "Stop running around, man!"

"Sorry, but I'm a girl, not a man," Marisa said as she pointed her arm backwards to shoot star-shaped projectiles.

When Baba saw the projectiles coming, he quickly bent down and then pulled up his flying board to use it as a shield to block the projectiles, and then he returned to normal position before chasing Marisa again. "Take this!" Baba said as he took out a laser gun and started shooting Marisa, but she managed to dodge them with ease.

Nearby, The Skull was using a mounted gun that appeared in front of his flying coffin to shoot down Alice, but she managed to dodge the shots with ease by flying around. "Not threat at all," Alice said as she moved her arm to make her dolls fly towards The Skull.

The Skull tried to shoot down the armed dolls as they charged at him, and then he quickly dropped altitude to avoid getting impaled by the spears that they carrying. "Even if you do hit me," The Skull said, "I will not die, for I am immortal!"

"You've said that before," Alice reminded him, "so there is no need to repeat it. Just keep quiet and fight."

The Skull took aim with the flying coffin's mounted gun and fired at Alice again, but under her command, Shanghai got in front of her master and held up a shield to protect her from the bullets. After The Skull had stopped firing, Shanghai's shield transformed into a javelin and then she threw it at him.

The Skull quickly moved to the side to avoid the javelin, but then the other dolls flew at him from all sides and impaled him in the body using their lances. The Skull let out a painful cry upon being impaled from all sides, but when the dolls pulled back along with their weapons, The Skull laughed evilly and said, "See? No matter how brutally you attack me, there is no way I can die! Now is my time to drain you of your energy!" He pressed a button on the controller and shined a beam of light from the coffin's headlight at Alice.

Alice got out of the way before the beam of light came out. Marisa and Baba happened to be behind Alice, but Marisa narrowly dodged the beam of light while Baba came to a sudden halt to avoid coming in contact with it. "Whoa! That was close!" he thought, and then he turned to face The Skull and said to him in an angry voice, "Watch it! I'm going to lose my strength if I come in contact with it!"

"Oh, really? Not like it makes any difference since you'll still lose your strength to fight anyway," said the voice of Marisa.

"Huh? Where are you?" Baba asked while looking left and right for signs of Marisa.

"Up here!" Marisa's voice said again. Baba looked up just in time for Marisa to charge into him to send him falling downwards while performing spins. "Witch Ley Line!"

"Whoa!" Baba cried as he fell through the air, but he eventually came to a stop and then balanced himself properly on his flying board. "Annoying little girl! I'll show you that I am not someone to mess with! I have been training myself lately and I have become stronger as a result! Now is the time to put my skills to use!"

"Show me then!" Marisa said as she did a u-turn. Baba also charged at her really fast, and when they were about to come in contact with each other, Baba performed a spin on one leg while kicking into Marisa's face with his other leg.

KICK!

"Ow!" Marisa cried as she fell off from her broom. Her broom fell onto the bridge, but Marisa herself fell down the side of the bridge, but luckily, she caught onto the side in time and then slowly pulled herself back up. "Phew... That was close... Ow, that kick he gave to me sure hurts..."

While she was rubbing her nose in pain, Baba swooped down at her. "Take this!" he said.

Marisa quickly stepped aside and almost fell off from the bridge again. "Whoa!" But in the end, she managed to balance herself properly. "Phew... That was close... again..."

"Yeehaw!" Baba exclaimed as he performed another u-turn to charge into Marisa again. Marisa once again stepped to the side to avoid getting hit and then she got onto her broom to take off into the air. "Being in air won't help you either!" Baba took out his laser gun and tried to shoot her down.

Marisa dodged the shots and also fought back by firing star-shaped projectiles, but Baba moved left and right constantly to avoid them while moving towards Marisa at the same time. He tried to kick Marisa when he got near her, but she quickly dropped altitude and then tried to shoot Baba from behind, but Baba flipped forward and star-shaped projectiles struck the underside of his flying board instead. He flipped himself right-side-up again and then turned to face Marisa to shoot her with his laser gun.

While the two of them were trading shots with each other, Alice sent a small army of dolls at The Skull. The Skull tried to shoot down the dolls with his flying coffin's mounted gun, but the dolls spread out from their formation and then tried to approach The Skull from all directions. The Skull desperately aimed in every direction to shoot them down, but Alice moved her arms and fingers with skill to make her dolls dodge the bullets.

Dolls armed with rifles surrounded The Skull and fired energy bullets at him, but some of them fired from their bare hands instead. The Skull was unable to escape the bullets and was struck by them. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The flying coffin could not take anymore damage and thus fell onto the bridge with a crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Skull crawled out from the remains of the flying coffin, carrying with him its headlight, and saw Alice landing in front of him. She raised her arm and Shanghai appeared in front of The Skull, pointing a knife at his forehead. "The fight ends here. You lose," said Alice coldly.

However, The Skull laughed simply laughed at what she said. "Heheheheheheh! I've already you that I am immortal! No matter what you do to me, you cannot kill me!"

"But that does not mean you are stronger than me. Even if you are immortal, there is no point to it if you cannot win against your opponent. Your current situation is very proof of this."

"Don't think that the fight ends here so easily! My long life has also given me great thinking skills! You shall see for yourself!" The Skull said, and then he stood up and turned on the headlight by pushing a hidden button behind it.

"What?" Alice said in shock, but she failed to escape the beam of light and started to feel her strength being drained away. "Ugh!"

"I shall drain you of your energy!" The Skull said as he continued to shine the beam of light at Alice. "This is where your life ends!"

Suddenly, Marisa swooped down from the air and knocked The Skull in the head, and as a result, his skull knocked off into the air. "What?" The Skull's head cried.

Baba quickly swooped down at the head to catch it, and then he returned it to its body. "There!" Baba said.

Marisa landed next to Alice and said to her, "Are you all right?" And then she helped get back up by the arm.

"I'm all right," Alice said. "He hasn't drained too much of my energy yet, so I can still fight."

"But not for long!" Baba said as she charged at the two girls, but they stepped aside to avoid getting hit.

The Skull quickly returned to his flying coffin's wreckage and then used the headlight to shine the beam of light at it. To Marisa and Alice's surprise, the flying coffin rearranged itself after a few seconds of exposure to the beam of light. "Whoa! That thing just fixed itself!" Marisa said in surprise.

The Skull sat down in the flying coffin and then took off into the air again. "This light is also made for restoring wrecked vehicle to normal by using the energies that it had absorbed from people," The Skull explained. "I have already absorbed and saved a lot of energy from the audience during my participation in the F-Zero grand prix into this headlight!"

"Such a heartless monster that steals people's life for fun," Alice said with a hint of anger after hearing he said. "I cannot allow you to run amok any longer."

"Yeah, he sounds like a dangerous fellow all right," Marisa said with a nod. "Anyway, let's take them out together!"

Both the girls took off into the air to face off against their opponents in an aerial battle. "Hahaha! You're going to lose for sure!" Baba said as he sped towards them.

Marisa quickly turned to face him and fired a stream of star-shaped projectiles at him. "Meteoric Shower!" But Baba pulled up his flying board to block the shots, and Marisa got out of the way to getting rammed by him. Alice also got out of his way.

Shortly after Alice got out of the way, The Skull tried to shoot her with the mounted gun, but she once got away.

Marisa and Baba continued to fly around the air while trading shots with each other. "This is getting nowhere..." Marisa thought. "That guy is actually tougher than I thought! I'll have to take him out using powerful attack."

"Haha! Behold my flying kick!" Baba said as he balanced himself on one leg while bringing up the other leg into the air, and then he charged at Marisa to hit her with a 'flying kick'.

Marisa also charged at him, but then she whipped a card and placed it on the tip of her broom. "Luminous Strike!" And then the card glowed with yellow light before shooting out a large energy star at Baba.

"What the?" Baba gasped when he saw the energy star flying towards him, and then he was hit by the energy star.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"AAAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEEE!" Baba screamed as flew back from the sparkly explosion and crashed into the wall, and then he fell all the way to the bottom with a crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Baba!" The Skull gasped when he saw that his partner was defeated.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"The moment you pay attention to something else, you lose," Alice said. Under her master's command, Shanghai had sliced off The Skull's head from the front, just like what she did back in Mute City.

The Skull's head fell onto the seat and then the body desperately searched around for the head. "Oi! I'm over here!" The Skull's head shouted. "Wait a minute... Why am I talking to myself?" The body then accidentally pushed the gas pedal with its hand all the way to the max, and this caused the flying coffin to zoom across the air until it crashed into the wall.

!

The flying coffin shattered into pieces along with The Skull and fell all the way to the bottom.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Well duh, epic fail..." Marisa commented. "But anyway, that should take care of that!"

"We should go and rescue Cirno and Sanae now," Alice suggested.

"Yeah, but it's going to be hard looking for them if we do not know where they imprisoned at. We should've asked them first... Wait, I know!" And then Marisa flew all the way to the bottom and landed next to the unconscious Baba. She poked him in the cheek using the back end of her broom and said to him, "Hey you! Wake up at once! I want you to tell me where you keep your prisoners!"

Baba slowly opened his eyes and said in a weak voice, "Okay... I'll tell..."

* * *

Captain Falcon and Aya were rushing down the hallway together as fast as they could. "This place is like a maze..." Aya commented. "It seems that long maze-like hallways are common inside architectures like this."

"Be careful," CF told her. "There may be traps hidden around here, so make sure that you keep an eye on your surroun..." But before he could finish speaking, a grid wall fell down in front of him. "I knew it!" When he turned around, he saw that another grid wall had fallen down behind them as well. "Oh no! Now we're trapped!"

"Hahahahaha!" laughed the voice of Blood Falcon as he came up to the grid wall. "It seems that the falcon has been caged!"

CF looked at him and said, "Blood Falcon!"

"So this is the guy who kidnapped Cirno," Aya said. "Wow! He sure looks identical to you in terms of appearance! But the color schemes are way off, and not to mention that skull insignia on his helmet and those spikes on his shoulder pads. Well, that's Cirno for you. It's no surprise that she couldn't tell the difference between you and him..."

CF grabbed the grid and angrily said to BF, "Where are those two girls imprisoned at? Let them go at once!"

"You should've gone along with my master's plan," BF told him. "We promised that we would return that blue-haired little girl to you, but in the end, we obtained another prisoner and as well as the opportunity to teach you a lesson! You're terrible at following instructions, Captain Falcon!"

"Words aren't going to do you in, it seems. I shall resort to using physical force to make you comply!"

"Oh yeah? I have a feeling that you can indeed punch down this grid wall with that almighty Falcon Punch of yours, but by the time you managed to pull it off, you're already dead meat! Just look above you!"

"What?" CF looked up and, to his horror, saw that spikes had appeared on the ceiling. "Oh no!" And then the spiked ceiling came down really fast. CF quickly held his arms to try to hold up the ceiling, but it never came down. "Huh?" He then looked up to see that Aya was in the air, holding up the ceiling with her hands. "Aya!"

"Ow... It hurts..." she cried due to the fact that her hands were impaled from holding up the ceiling. "Quick, break down the grid wall so that we can get out of here! I can't hold this up for too long because of the pain!"

"Okay!" CF said with a nod, and then he looked at the grid wall while pulling back his fist. "Falcon Punch!" And then he hit the wall with THE punch.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"What the?" BF gasped as the entire wall flew forward and crashed into him, pushing him onto the floor. "Yaaaaaa!"

"Quick! Let's get away from here!" CF said as he ran away from underneath the spiked ceiling. Aya pushed the ceiling upwards a bit and then quickly flew out from underneath it before it fell back down with a crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Phew... That was close..." Aya said with a sigh of relief, and then she looked at her bleeding hands. "Ow... It hurts a lot..."

CF took her hand and looked at it. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Does this really look all right to you? But anyway, it's not like I'm going to fall over because of this, so I'm all right. Thanks for concern!"

"Ow..." BF groaned as he pushed away the grid wall and then stood back up to dust himself. "You really have the luck to escape from every death trap, don't you?"

CF turned to face him and said, "Blood Falcon, I'm going to teach you a lesson for your crimes, so you better get ready!"

"You're the one who should get ready!" BF said. "I'm going to show you that I'm the more superior captain around here! Come after me if you dare!" With that, he turned around to run down the hallway.

"Let's go after him!" Aya suggested, but CF stopped her.

"No, let me go after him myself," CF told her. "You go and rescue Cirno and Sanae, and also try to meet up with the others."

Hearing this, Aya saluted him and said, "Aye-aye, captain!"

"Heh, you talk as if I am a ship captain!"

"Well, I'm under the impression that the term captain refers to leaders of ships or anything that moves," Aya told him while thinking of Minamitsu in her head.

"Yeah, that's true in most cases, but the word 'captain' has several meanings as well. Anyway, let's go and do what we have to do!"

"Okay!"

And then CF and Aya rushed down the hallway together, but Aya went down a passage on the right while CF kept on moving forward to go after BF.

* * *

The pair of doors leading into the room containing the force field prison slid open and Marisa and Alice came inside, and Cirno and Sanae immediately stood up with excitement upon seeing them. "Alice! Marisa!" the two prisoners exclaimed simultaneously.

"Hi! It's good to see that the both of you are all right!" Marisa said as she approached them while waving her arm.

"All right; now that we have found, let's get out of here before anyone comes in here," Alice suggested.

The two girls kept on approaching Cirno and Sanae. At first, Sanae was glad that someone had come to rescue them, but then she was reminded of something, and so she desperately shouted at them, "Wait a minute! Don't come any closer! Stop! Don't! Not another step forward! Wait! DON'T!"

* * *

"Take this!" Zoda shouted as he threw several punches at Remilia, but she managed to dodge them with ease by moving side to side.

"Is that all you've got?" Remilia asked with a grin on her face. When Zoda threw another punch at her, she caught his fist and then forcefully flung him to the side.

"Whoa!" Zoda flew towards the wall, but he landed his feet against the wall and then kicked off of it and towards Remilia really fast. "Death Cannonball!"

Remilia simply stepped aside to avoid getting hit. Zoda kept on going but flipped around in midair and then planted his feet against the wall again to perform the same move. "Death Cannonball... again!" Remilia pulled back her right arm to get ready to slash Zoda in the face with her claws when he approached. The moment he was about to hit her, Remilia quickly swung her claws at him, but to her surprise, Zoda caught her hand when it was about to hit his face. He then forcefully lifted up Remilia with one hand while still in midair and flung her through the air.

Remilia flipped once in the air and then landed onto the floor, sliding backwards a bit upon landing. When she stood back up, she held her arms to the side to create a ball of red energy. "Red Magic!" And then she hurled the energy ball at Zoda.

Zoda jumped into the air to avoid it and then he pointed his fist at her as he fell towards her. "Death Meteor!"

Remilia jumped out of the when Zoda fell, and he ended up punching the floor so hard that he created a dent on it. When Zoda turned around to face Remilia, she had created three red glyphs in the air, and bats made of red energy flew out from those glyphs and towards him. "Servant Flier!" she shouted.

"Heheh!" Zoda laughed as he got out of the incoming bats' way, but the bats went after him. Zoda hopped on top of a glass cylinder and then continued hopping from one cylinder to another to escape the bats which kept on going after him. He eventually jumped down from a cylinder and reached for his machine gun which was lying on the floor, and then he used it to shoot down the bats, and the bats disintegrated into red energy particles upon being hit. After that, Zoda turned around to shoot Remilia, but she flapped her wings to take off into the air. Hop

From the air, she held out her right hand to form a pinwheel made of red energy. "Stigmanizer!"

Zoda jumped over the pinwheel and continued to shoot her, but Remilia dodged the bullets by flying left and right at a very fast speed. "Argh! Stay still!" Zoda shouted in frustration as he started firing all over the place, but none of the bullets ever hit Remilia.

"Is this all you can do?" Remilia asked. "Danmaku battles are tougher to avoid than this and not to mention more interesting!" In the middle of dodging the bullets, she suddenly zipped in front of Zoda really fast, much to his surprise, and slashed him across the chest three times in a row. "Vampire Claw!"

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

"GYAAAAAAH!" Zoda screamed as he fell back from the claw slashes. He tumbled onto the floor and slid backwards a little bit before coming to stop. Remilia continued to watch from her position as Zoda slowly sat back and angrily said, "Argh! How can a little girl like you knock me out like this? I can't believe it!"

"I recommend that you take back your 'little girl' statement," Remilia said, not sounding too pleased.

"Oh yeah? You look like a little girl to me in every way, so I'm going to keep on calling you a little girl just to insult you! Nyanya!"

"You're asking for a death wish, aren't you? I'm giving you a warning already, so don't blame me if end up getting hurt badly."

"Yahahahahahaha! The only person who is getting hurt here is you!" Zoda said as he ran behind a controller and pulled down one of the levers there. When the lever was pulled down, the greenish-blue liquid inside the container was drained away, and then the side of the container opened up to allow the plant-like monster inside to come out. "Meet my flower of doom! It really wants to say hello to you! Yahahahahahaha!"

The plant monster opened its mouth to exaggerating proportions and then ran towards Remilia to swallow her whole, but she swung her claws at the plant monster when it got close.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The plant monster was torn apart from a single swipe of her claws. Remilia then looked at Zoda and asked, "Well, what was that supposed to be?"

"Yahahahahahaha! There's still more!" Zoda said as he pulled down all the levers on the controller. The glass cylinders opened up one by one and the plant monsters that were inside them all came out and approached Remilia while snapping their jaws together constantly.

"Hmph! Did you really think that a bunch of flowers is going to beat me?" Remilia asked, looking unimpressed. One of the plant monsters bent down its head to bite her, but she jumped out of the way before slashing its head with her claws.

Another plant monster tried to bite from behind, but she spun around to slash it with her claws as well. After that, the rest of the plant monsters closed in one her and started snapping their jaws against her, but Remilia took off into the air to escape them. "Ceiling Fear!" Remilia shouted as she dived back down onto the floor with a red aura around her body. When she slammed the floor with her hand, a red shockwave was created and all the plant monsters were blown away. The force of the shockwave also broke them down into pieces.

Remilia stood back up and then faced Zoda, saying, "Your flowers of doom are all destroyed. What are you going to do now?"

"Oh, but I still have some more!" Zoda said with an evil smile on his face.

Suddenly, Remilia was pulled by her left leg in between two glass cylinders. "What the?" She looked at what was pulling her and saw that it was a massive pink flower that was using its vines to pull her towards it.

The vine flung her high into the air and then the flower revealed its massive mouth that was lined with razor-sharp teeth. Acting quick, Remilia formed a spear made of red energy in her right hand. "Heart Break!" And then she threw the energy spear at the flower monster.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The flower monster was blown into pieces by a bloody red explosion and then Remilia fell onto the spot where the flower monster used to be. She turned to look at Zoda who was standing behind a glass cylinder and asked him, "Well? What's next?"

Suddenly, a tall tulip-like monster lowered its head from behind Remilia, but she spun around and ripped its head off with her bare hands.

RIP!

Remilia threw the flower monster's head away and then turned to face Zoda, but was immediately pelted in the body by a stream of energy bullets. "Ugh!"

"Yahahahahaha! Take this!" Zoda said as he pumped out energy bullets from his machine gun nonstop. "Take this! Eat this! It's all-you-can-eat! Yahahahahaha!"

Remilia moved backwards as the energy bullets pelted her body constantly until she hit the wall, but Zoda continued to shoot her mercilessly while laughing maniacally. Zoda kept on firing for about a minute, and then he ceased his gunfire. Remilia fell onto the floor, seemingly lifeless, but then she looked up and glared at Zoda, much to his surprise.

"What? You're still alive?"

"I wouldn't be called a vampire if I were to be taken out by something like that so easily!" she said in an angry voice. "You're really pissing me off, jerk!" She then formed a red energy spear in her hand and threw it at him. "Heart Break!"

Zoda quickly jumped out of the way while shrieking in fear. The spear went through a two glass cylinders before hitting the wall on the other side of the room.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Immediately after landing onto the floor, Zoda started to perform a series of acrobatic flips in the Remilia's direction. "Death Cartwheel!" he shouted as he attempted to plant his feet against Remilia's face, but she hopped back to avoid getting hit. Zoda jumped into the air above Remilia immediately after landing and then dropped down really fast. "Death Anchor Drop!" Once again, Remilia managed to dodge it by stepping aside.

"Vampire Claw!" Remilia swung her claws at Zoda immediately after he landed, but Zoda caught her by the wrist. "What?"

"Death Twister!" Zoda shouted as he twisted Remilia's arm as hard as he could, and then the sound of a sickening snap could be heard.

SNAP!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Remilia screamed when her bone was twisted to the point where it may very well be broken. She quickly pulled her wrist away from Zoda's grasp and then moved back while holding her twisted right arm. "Ugh... How dare you?"

"Yahahahahahaha! It looks like victory is mine!" Zoda exclaimed while laughing manically. "What can you do with one arm broken?"

"You'll see about that!" Remilia said, trying to ignore the pain on her right arm. "Even if I cannot use my hand, I can still take you down using the combination of speed and body blows! Take this!" She spread out her wings and shot through the air really fast, hitting Zoda and knocking him to the side.

"OW!"

Remilia spun around and planted her feet against the wall on the other side of the room before kicking off of it. Zoda sat back up just in time for Remilia to knock him over onto the floor again.

"YEOW!" Zoda sat back up once again and angrily said, "Enough is enough! I shall now present to you the finest of all my flowers of doom! Behold the big one and be amazed!" Zoda then took out a remote control and pressed the pink flower-shaped button on it. It was also the only button that the remote control had. This caused the part of the floor in front of him to open sideways.

Remilia planted her feet against the wall and then kicked off of it to charge into Zoda again. Suddenly, a giant multicolored flower monster that was slightly larger than the pink one came out from the floor with its mouth wide open. "What?" Remilia gasped, but before she could come to a stop or change direction, she flew straight into the flower monster's mouth.

After swallowing the vampire girl whole, the multicolored flower monster closed its mouth and Zoda laughed with pleasure. "Yahahahahahahaha! Take that! How'd you like that? I am the one who gets the last laugh in the end! Yahahahahahaha!"

While Zoda was still laughing, the back of the flower monster's head burst open and Remilia came flying out, much to Zoda's surprise.

"WHAT?"

Remilia glared at the flower monster and Zoda and said in an angry voice, "You've really done it! I'm going to make you feel as if you never should've born into this world!"

The flower monster let out a roar and then unleashed its vines which had their own flowers and mouth at Remilia. With a swing of her claws, she managed to cut the vines into pieces. After that, she held out her left arm and formed three energy spears in her hand. "Demon's Dinner Fork!" And then she hurled them at the flower monster, impaling it all over the body.

After being impaled, the flower monster shook its leaves and vines around, and then the entire thing slowly withered until it became lifeless. "NOOOOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BELOVED FLOWER THAT I HAD SPENT SO LONG TAKING CARE OF?" Zoda screamed. "YOU MUST PAY!"

"You're the only one here who should pay!" Remilia angrily said as she held out her arms. "Miserable Fate!" Several red vortexes appeared on the floor around her and then chains shot out each from them. The chains homed in on Zoda by themselves and then whipped him all over the body mercilessly.

WHACK SMASH WHIP SCHWAP WHAP THWACK!

"AAAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEE!" Zoda screamed as he was mercilessly battered in all parts of his body by the chains.

Finally, the chains bound themselves around Zoda and then lifted him high into the air before slamming him onto the top of a glass cylinder.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

Zoda was knocked out on the floor and lying unconsciously among the remains of the glass cylinder, and then the red chains returned into their respective vortexes. After Remilia lowered her arms, the red vortexes disappeared.

She held her left hand over her twisted right arm and said, "Tsk! That guy sure has the nerves to break my arm! At least I've managed to teach him a lesson..." As she began to walk out of the room, she said to herself, "I wonder what Meiling's up to though..."

Meanwhile, Meiling was rushing down the hallway and behind her laid several beaten up Dark Soldiers. "I'm on my way!" Meiling shouted to no one in particular. "Wait for me, Cirno and Sanae!"

Marisa, Alice, Cirno, and Sanae were all sitting next to each other within the force field prison. "Geez, the both of you really are idiots!" Cirno said in frustrated voice. "You should've stopped moving when Sanae told you to do so, but you kept moving forward until the both of you are inside the force field. Can there be anything else more idiotic than this?"

"How about falling for an evil clone that has an obvious difference when compared to its original counterpart? Admittedly, I haven't seen this Blood Falcon guy yet, but I still don't need an idiot like you lecturing me..." Marisa grumbled.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I wanted to get this chapter out faster, but in the end, writer's block and the temptation to do other stuff made me delay it... Anyway, I hope that you've enjoyed this action-packed chapter!

**Next chapter: The Samurai and the Clone**

**Trivia:  
**1. According to the interview with Zoda in F-Zero GX, his hobby is planting flowers that kill people, hence the reason for the plant and flower monsters in this chapter. Admittedly, I wouldn't have known about this if it weren't for the fact that I questioned Specter24 about the way he portrayed Zoda's fighting style in his own version of the story.

2. Death Meteor and Death Anchor Drop are Zoda's moves that are taken straight from one of my older stories, Super Smash Racing 2: F-30 Grand Prix.

3. The Skull's F-Zero machine, Sonic Phantom, is believed to be able to suck energy from the race spectators. Whether or not this is true, I still implemented such a thing for him into this chapter.

4. If Sakuya was in the final version of the story, I would probably pit her against Pico, and Pico would probably use knives more often rather than guns.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If Sakuya was in the final version of the story...**

"Illusion Sign: Killing Doll!" Sakuya shouted as she spread out her arms to make a total of 32 knives appear in the air all around her, and then the knives homed in on Pico.

Pico desperately used a pair of knives to deflect the incoming knives. While he was doing so, Sakuya rushed up to him while saying, "Time Parados!" And then she clashed blades with him.

"I will not be defeated by someone who sheds red blood!" Pico shouted, and then he forcefully pushed Sakuya away to the side. To his surprise, another Sakuya rushed up to him. "What?" But before he had the chance to do anything, the second Sakuya slashed him across the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Pico screamed in pain as he was slashed diagonally across the body. As he spun to the side from being slashed, the first Sakuya quickly slashed him across the body again.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Pico let out another scream before falling onto the floor.

After that, Sakuya sat down on the floor and sighed with relief while holding her hands against some of the cuts on her body. "Phew... He better stay down for the count this time... I've used up a lot of my energy already and the wounds are getting even worse due to moving around too much..." She tried to stand back up, only to fall back down and lie down on the floor. "Ow... I think I'll lie down here for a moment until the wounds don't hurt as much... I wonder how Mistress Remilia is doing though..."


	39. The Samurai and the Clone

**SBS Time!  
Astral Knight Albireo: **You have the most reliable update schedule every! Every Monday at noon, I can expect to see that you have uploaded.  
**Game2002: **I wouldn't say that I always update at that time, but I always try to update within ten days, and it so happens that I coincidentally update during Mondays quite recently... You'll never know if I update earlier or later then that, but unless there is special reason, I will always update within ten days.

I made the mistake about a SBS question in the previous chapter. It is Touhou 10.5 that is subtitled Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, not Touhou 12.5. The subtitle for Touhou 12.5 is Double Spoiler. This mistake has been corrected.

I've added a Game2002 Extra Show to the previous chapter. Since it was added after the chapter had been posted for a while, some people may have missed, so go and check it out if you did miss it or if you want to. The reason for putting the extra show in that chapter and not in this chapter is because that extra shows contains a scene from the previous chapter, so it makes more sense for it to be in that chapter.

Also, it seems that this site has been changed so that hyphens can no longer appear unless it is joining two words together. This makes it very hard for me to divide the contents of each chapter into sections. Until that problem is solved, I'm afraid I'll have to use lines in order to divide the contents. This has been applied to the previous chapters as well.

And it seems that incredibly long words will no longer disappear... No more inputting spaces when using typing sound effects! Yay!

**Chapter 38  
The Samurai and the Clone**

**

* * *

**

There was silence as Youmu and Samurai Goroh stared at each other, both of them wielding their swords using both hands.

They stared at each other for a while until Goroh broke the silence by saying, "Hey, aren't you going to come after me? I'm waiting for you to make your first move!"

"I was thinking that you would be the one to make the first move," Youmu replied.

"Well, I am the one who is waiting for your first move! However, if you are waiting for me to make the first move, then I will gladly to so! En guard! Hiya!" Goroh let out a war cry and then ran towards Youmu while swinging his sword around in the air rapidly.

Youmu got into defensive stance and when Goroh was near, and then she charged at him as well and they both locked blades with each other.

After a few seconds, they both pulled back and started swinging their swords at each other, clashing blades constantly. When Goroh performed a horizontal slash, Youmu jumped over him and then spun around in midair to hit him over the head from behind. Acting quick, Goroh quickly dived forward and rolled on the ground a little bit before coming to a stop. He turned around and then pushed his feet against the ground to shoot forward and locked blades with Youmu again.

"You're pretty fast!" Youmu commented as she tried to hold back Goroh's blade. "Admittedly, I wasn't really expecting you to be this skilled."

"I'd say the same too," Goroh replied. "You're actually more skilled than I initially thought as well! But this is just the beginning!"

* * *

Captain Falcon was chasing Blood Falcon down the hallway. "Come and catch me if you can!" BF taunted.

"You're not getting away that easily!" CF shouted at him.

"Haha!" BF reached for the wall and pressed a secret button that caused a hole to appear underneath CF.

"Whoa!" CF fell into the hole, but he caught the side of the floor and then climbed back out again. "This won't take me out so easily!" He continued to chase BF.

BF ran as far as he could and then pressed another secret button on the wall. This time, lasers came out from the wall and formed a fence that blocked the way forward. CF came to a stop in front of the lasers while BF taunted him from the other side, "Haha! Let's see you trying to come over here!"

"You better bet for your life that I will!" CF said, and then he dived forward and went in between two lasers, followed by jumping over another one, sliding underneath the next one, jumping in between two more lasers, jumping over yet another one, and then finally crawling underneath the last one. "There!"

However, BF had already moved to a farther place. "You truly do have skills, Captain Falcon!" he said. "But it's not over yet! Come and face me if you want to know who the more superior one is!" And then he ran through the door at the side.

"You're not getting away!" CF said as he ran into the same as BF.

Suddenly, BF flipped up from behind the railing and high into the air, and then he performed a diving kick that was imbued with red energy. "Bloody Kick!"

CF quickly jumped back to avoid getting hit, and after BF hit the floor, he charged at him with one arm pulled back while red energy formed around the fist. Seeing this, CF also charged at BF and pulled back his fist and charged it up with fiery energy.

"Falcon Punch!" CF shouted as he delivered THE punch.

"Bloody Punch!" BF shouted as he delivered a fist that was covered in a red skull-shaped aura.

Both the fists came in contact with each other and created an explosion of orange and red flames that engulfed them, and then they hopped back from the flames and landed in a slightly crouched down position. "What?" CF said in surprise. "That move you used just now is similar to my Falcon Punch, and not to mention that kick being very similar to my Falcon Kick!"

"That's right; it's modeled after your Falcon Punch!" BF told him. "Ever since you've returned from the Smash Brothers Tournament, you've been able to perform those crazy moves such as Falcon Punch Falcon Kick."

"It's true that I developed those moves during the first Smash Brothers Tournament."

"I wasn't pleased to see those. In fact, I was jealous! I am a clone of you, so I should be able to perform such moves as well! Therefore, Black Shadow modified my body so that I can perform similar moves as well. Now I have the same powers as you, but much more powerful!"

"We shall see then!" CF said as he got into fighting stance.

* * *

"Radial Strike!" Marisa shouted as she fired a rapid stream of star-shaped projectiles from the back end of her broom at the force field.

"Don't bother..." Sanae told her. "It's not going to work at all..."

"Perhaps if we try explosives..." Alice suggested while holding up a doll.

"NO! You're going to get us all killed!"

* * *

**BGM: Red Canyon (F-Zero GX)**

"Hiya!" Goroh shouted as he ran towards Youmu and then swung down his sword. Youmu stepped to the side and then tried to hit him in the back, but Goroh spun around in time to block the attack with his sword.

After that, Youmu hopped back, raised her arm underneath Myon, and shouted, "Strange Half-Body!" Myon glowed with pinkish-purple light and then shot out a rapid stream of energy projectiles at Goroh.

Goroh quickly held up his sword and used the flat part of the blade to block the energy projectiles. When the firing stopped, he charged at Youmu with his sword pointing at her, and as he ran, a white aura appeared at the tip of the blade. "Car Crash!"

Youmu quickly got into defensive stance to take on Goroh as he approached her, and then Goroh dashed past her.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ugh!" Youmu cried as she was struck in the right side of the waist, but she managed to retain her balance.

Meanwhile, Goroh kept on running forward until he plunged his sword into a cliff wall. Upon doing so, cracks appeared all over the wall and then a portion of it shattered into pieces, and Goroh swung his sword around in air to cut down the rocks that were about to fall on top of him. After that, he turned around to face Youmu and said to her, "Haha! Now you know how much power I possess! Do you think you can still beat me?"

"You haven't seen what I'm capable of yet!" Youmu told him. "Prepare yourself! Slash of Life and Death!" She dashed at Goroh really fast and swung her sword at him, but he managed to block it with his sword. Next, Youmu performed a jumping slash. "Crescent Moon Slash!"

Once again, Goroh managed to block the attack, and while Youmu was still in air from performing the move, Goroh jumped into the air as well and raised his sword over his head to attack her.

"Rolling Slash!" Youmu quickly spun vertically like a buzzsaw, and a red aura appeared around her when she did this. By doing this, she managed to repel Goroh's sword when he swung it down on her. They both fell back onto the ground and then Youmu hopped back as far as she could.

"Pretty good!" Goroh commented. "Now let's see how you handle projectiles! Great Train Impact!" He swung his sword in a circular motion and shot out a long, spiraling wind blade.

Youmu quickly rolled aside to avoid the wind blade and then she took out the Hakurouken. She slashed both her swords against the air to shoot out a pair of green sword beams. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

Seeing this, Goroh swung his sword at the two sword beams and managed to get rid of them. After that, he shot out another wind blade at Youmu, but she leaped over it and fell towards Goroh with her sword raised over her head. Goroh quickly ran forward to avoid getting hit and Youmu landed onto the ground. She quickly got up and spun around to block a sword thrust that Goroh tried to hit her with.

While she was holding him back with the flat part of Roukanken's blade, she swung the Hakurouken at his waist, but Goroh managed to hop back in time. "That was close!" Goroh thought.

"Hiya!" Youmu ran up to him and brought down the Roukenken onto him, but Goroh quickly blocked it by raising his sword over his head. After the Roukenken had struck the Goroh's blade, Youmu used the Hakurouken to hit his blade from underneath, and like a claw, she yanked the sword away from Goroh's hand and threw it into the air.

"What?" Goroh said in shock. When Youmu tried to slash him in the body, he quickly escaped by performing a back flip, and then he jumped into the air and caught his sword in midair before attempting to fall down on top of Youmu to hit her with a downward stab. "Falling Jet!" But Youmu got out of the way, so Goroh fell onto the ground and stabbed his sword into the ground instead, and while he was trying to pull it out, Youmu used this opportunity to rush at him. "Oh no!" Just in time, Goroh managed to pull out his sword and quickly attempted to block Youmu's attack.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAAAA!" Goroh cried in pain when Youmu left behind a slash mark on the right side of his body when she dashed past her. He spun around once before coming to a stop and then turned to face him. "Ow! You sure got me! But it's not over yet! Great Train Impact!" He slashed the air in a circular motion to shoot out a spiraling wind blade.

"Lotus Stance Cut!" Youmu slashed the air with both swords to shoot a pair of green sword beams, and both the projectiles were canceled out upon hitting each other.

Immediately after the two projectiles disappeared, Goroh shot out a crescent-shaped wind blade. "Jet Slicer!"

Youmu rushed towards the incoming wind blade and took it out with a swipe of the Hakurouken. She ran up to Goroh and swung both her swords at him constantly.

Goroh managed to block every single blow with his sword, but Youmu suddenly dashed past him and slash him across the waist. "GAH!" Goroh cried, but then he spun around and quickly shot a wind blade at her. "Jet Slicer!"

Youmu spun around in the nick of time to block it with her sword, but then Goroh rushed up to him and brought down his sword on her very hard. Youmu quickly crossed her blades to block them, but then Goroh pulled back his sword and thrust it at her really hard. "Rocket Thruster!"

Though the tip of his blade struck Youmu's blades, the impact was still strong enough to push her back several steps.

"Whoa!" While Youmu was trying still trying to stand still, Goroh charged at her and swung his sword. Youmu quickly tried to block it, but because she had yet to regain her balance, the Roukanken was knocked out of her hand. "Oh no!" Goroh then brought down his sword and slashed her in the right side of the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAA!" Youmu cried as she took even more steps backwards. Goroh approached her and swung his sword at her horizontally, but she quickly bent her body as far as back as she could before performing a spinning jump backwards to escape from Goroh's attacking range. Upon landing, the wound on her body reacted. "Ugh... It hurts!"

"It's not over yet!" Goroh said as he ran up to her and started jabbing her with his sword rapidly. "Piston Jab!"

Youmu tried her best to block them using only one sword. In the midst of blocking the blows, Youmu ducked down and then swung her sword upwards, slashing Goroh in the body.

SLASH!

"Yeow!" While Goroh was in pain from the attack, Youmu quickly rushed over to the Roukanken to pick it up, but Goroh recovered and spun around to shoot a wind blade at her. "Jet Slicer!"

Youmu picked up her sword, but before she had the chance to turn around, the wind blade struck her in the back. "AH!"

Goroh then rushed up to Youmu and slashed her in the body just as she was turning around. After receiving the blow, Youmu quickly blocked the second strike with her swords and then pushed Goroh backwards before running to him to attack him.

Goroh swung his sword horizontally at Youmu and she quickly held up both her swords vertically to block it. After that, Youmu swung both his swords at Goroh at the same time and Goroh blocked them with his sword, but Youmu moved forward while swinging her swords against the blade constantly, forcing Goroh to take some steps back.

"Argh! Take this!" Goroh shouted in frustration as he forcefully swung his sword at Youmu's swords and pushed her back. He then ran towards her and thrust his sword at her. "Rocket Thruster!" But Youmu ducked underneath it and then attempted to dash past him while slashing him in the waist. However, Goroh unexpectedly swung down his sword to the side and slashed Youmu from behind.

SLASH!

"YAAAA!" Youmu cried as she fell forward with a wound on her back. Goroh ran up to her and swung his sword at her while she was down, but Youmu quickly turned around to face him and used the Roukanken to block his attack. "Mediums' Bind!" While she was holding back Goroh's sword, Myon glowed with purple light and then swooped down at Goroh, hitting him over the head.

"Ow! What was that just now?" Goroh cried while placing his hand over his head.

"You're open!" Youmu shouted, and then she slashed Goroh across the body while he was being distracted at the thought of what hit him.

SLAAAAASH!

"UGH!" Goroh took several steps back and then stomped the ground hard to come to a stop. "Now I'm angry! Jet Slicer!" He slashed the air to shoot out a wind blade.

"Netherworld Reflection Slash!" Youmu quickly crossed her swords together to create a blue diamond-shaped reflector that caused the wind blade to bounce to Goroh.

"What?" Goroh quickly swung his sword at the homecoming wind blade to get rid of it. "A reflector, eh? Let's see how durable it is using an even bigger projectile Great Train Impact!" He then shot out a spiraling wind blade, but it, too, bounced back from hitting the reflector, but the impact against it caused Youmu to lose her balance and fall back slightly. "What?" Goroh quickly rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit by his own attack. "Well, that's a pretty durable reflector all right. Instead of using long range projectiles, I'll just take on you from close range!" He pushed his feet against the ground really hard to propel himself into the air and towards Youmu while holding his sword over his head using both hands. "Monster Truck Crush!"

Youmu deactivated the reflector and then tried to block the incoming attack, but Goroh fell towards her and brought down his sword with such a force that her swords were forcefully knocked out of her hands, and Youmu was slashed in the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Youmu screamed in pain as she received a massive wound on her body. Goroh also landed with such a force that a tremor occurred and he even left behind his shoeprints on the ground. While Youmu was taking steps back from the powerful blow, Goroh rammed into her with his shoulder and pushed her onto the ground.

"Haha! How'd you like that?" Goroh asked while laughing. "Are you giving up yet?"

Youmu held her hand over her bleeding wound and glared at him angrily while holding up her arm underneath Myon. "Strange Half-Body!" she shouted, and then Myon glowed with pinkish-purple light before firing a rapid stream of energy bullets at Goroh.

Goroh quickly jumped to the side to dodge the energy bullets and then fired a wind blade at Myon, knocking it out of the air.

"YAH!" Youmu screamed as another slash mark appeared on her body due to Myon getting hit.

"Oh? It seems that you will get hurt if I hit that balloon-like thing as well. This looks like a very big handicap if you ask me."

"And that gives me every reason to become stronger..." Youmu replied weakly. "If I let my handicap get the best of me, it means that I'm not strong enough. It is something that I have to overcome!" She stood back up and walked over to her swords to pick them up, and then she got into fighting stance again. "I'm not done yet! I will not lose here!"

"Haha! You have a strong determination, girl!" Goroh said. "But that alone will not help you win in a fight unless you have enough power! I'll show you! Let's see if you can dodge this!" Goroh said, and then he started swinging his sword against the air really fast, and with each swing, crescent-shaped wind blades were shot out. "Traffic Jam!"

Youmu saw the large amount of wind blades coming and so moved around swiftly to avoid them. While doing so, she also tried to approach Goroh was still slashing the air wildly to shoot out wind blades. Suddenly, a wind blade was fired at from the face. She quickly bent backwards, but in doing so, her wounds reacted, making her grunt in pain as well as stop moving for a while. She made the wind blades fly into her and knocked her back several steps. "Netherworld Reflection Slash!" Youmu shouted as she formed the reflector to protect herself from the barrage of projectiles.

The wind blades bounced back upon hitting the reflector, but they collided with the ones that were moving forward and thus canceled out each other. In the midst of firing the wind blades, Goroh switched to swinging his sword in a circular motion to fire a spiraling wind blade. "Great Train Impact!" The spiraling wind blade traveled alongside the crescent-shaped wind blades and collided into the reflector with such a force that Youmu also lost her balance and fell back. When the spiraling wind blade bounced back towards Goroh, he quickly performed the same move again. "Great Train Impact!"

The two wind blades collided with each other and canceled out each other, and the force that was released when they canceled out each other also took out the surrounding wind blades as well. As wind spread out all over the place, Goroh pushed his feet against the ground to send himself flying towards Youmu. He raised his sword over his head and shouted, "Monster Truck Crush!"

As Goroh was traveling across the air, Youmu jumped at him and performed a vertical spin. "Rolling Slash!"

They both came in contact with each other and bounced back when their swords clashed with each other. Upon landing, Goroh thrust his sword at her. "Rocket Thruster!"

Youmu ducked underneath the sword thrust and Goroh tried to bring his sword down onto her back, she quickly leaped forward and spun around in midair to fire two green sword beams at him. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

The sword beams struck Goroh from behind and knocked him forward. "Gah!" He fell face first onto the floor, but got back up again to face her angrily. "That does it! I'm angry! Traffic Jam!" He slashed the air rapidly to shoot out several wind blades.

Instead of creating a reflector, Youmu skillfully dodged the wind blades while moving towards Goroh at the same time. This time, she successfully made it up to Goroh without getting hit at all and then dashed past him, leaving behind a slash mark on his body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAH! WHY YOU!" Goroh shouted angrily as he spun around to face Youmu, and then he thrust his sword at her. "Rocket Thruster!" Youmu quickly spun around to counter it, but she was stabbed in left shoulder instead.

"KYA!" she cried.

"You're finished!" Goroh shouted as he pulled forcefully pulled out his sword, and then he proceeded to slash diagonally across the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

""KYAAAAAAA!" Youmu cried in pain as she took several steps back, and then she fell onto one knee while panting heavily.

"Give it up! You cannot defeat me!" Goroh told her. "You're going to die if you keep on fighting, and my policy is to not kill anyone. Steal, but not kill!"

"No... I'm not done yet..." Youmu said in between heavy panting. "I can still... fight..."

"Argh! You're really persistent, aren't you? All right; I'm going to make sure that you stay down this time! You only have yourself to blame if you cannot pick up your swords anymore!" He raised his sword over his head and then ran towards her while yelling a war cry. "Raaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Youmu also ran towards him, and then a pink aura appeared around her as she slid forward, performing a low sweep with her sword when she was near Goroh. "Heart Carving Cut!" She slid past Goroh and struck him in the legs, causing him to fall over on his face.

After coming to a stop, Youmu quickly stood back up and then took out a card and threw it into the air at Myon, and the card merged with the spirit. "200 Yojana in 1 Slash!" Youmu shouted, and then Myon gave off white light before firing several large energy balls at Samurai Goroh.

Goroh stood back up and was shocked to see a large amount of energy balls flying in his direction. "What?" he gasped, and then he started running around the place, trying to avoid getting hit by the energy balls as they crashed onto the ground and exploded. "Whoa! This is too intense!"

While he was busy running around, Youmu suddenly dashed past him at a really speed and used the tip of her sword to leave behind a red streak in the air. Suddenly, the red streak exploded into a large amount of same-colored bullets that flew in various directions.

"WHAT THE HECK?" Goroh screamed. The bullets flew into him and struck him constantly in the front part of his body, and as if that wasn't enough, the large energy balls fired by Myon crashed down on top of him. Goroh was mercilessly pummeled by a combination of large energy balls and small, red energy balls. "GAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Youmu watched from the side as Myon rained down giant energy balls while red energy bullets flew in every direction except for the where she was. When the intense bullet onslaught had ended and the smoke had cleared, she walked up to the wrecked scene and saw several medium-sized craters on the ground, and Samurai Goroh was lying at the bottom of one of the craters, badly charred and unconscious.

Youmu let out a sigh as Myon flew down to her side and released the card from its body. "Phew... I win..." She then turned to look at the Dark Million Organization's base that was visible high up in the air. "How do I get there? If only my flight abilities have returned..." In saying this, her feet suddenly left the ground. "What? It's back already! Since when? The fight would've been easier if I had found out about this earlier..."

* * *

Cirno, Sanae, Marisa, and Alice were sitting next to each other in a horizontal row at the back of the force field prison, looking very bored. "So is there really no way out of this prison?" Marisa asked. "Not even if you use a powerful attack-ze?"

"Yeah, I tried my ultimate attack, Perfect Freeze, and the force field didn't even break apart," Cirno replied. "This thing is probably even more stronger than the barriers that Reimu can make!"

"Um... The term 'more stronger' doesn't exist..." Sanae told her. "You only have to say 'stronger'."

"Then all we can do now is sit here and wait for someone to come rescue us," Alice said.

Sanae looked at Shanghai, who was poking the force field over and over with spear, and then noted that Alice was moving her fingers. "Then why are you still trying to break through it...?" she asked the doll-maker.

* * *

"Take this!" Blood Falcon shouted as he performed a roundhouse kick at Captain Falcon. CF caught him by the leg and then hurled him aside, but BF landed in a crouching position and then ran at the captain again.

CF threw a punch at him, but BF ducked underneath it and then attempted to punch CF in the chin. CF quickly moved back to avoid getting hit and then brought down his fist to hit BF from above, but the evil clone quickly rolled out of the way.

BF then tossed himself at CF and rammed into his waist, pushing him into the wall. BF then grabbed CF by the neck to pin him to the wall, and then he pulled back his other fist and charged it up with red energy. "Bloody..."

"Ngh!" CF grunted as he quickly grabbed hold of BF's arm and then pulled it down from his neck.

"PUNCH!" BF shouted as he unleashed the punch, but it only hit the wall as CF had managed to escape earlier. "Darn it!"

CF quickly faced BF and then shoulder bashed him in the side of the hard, pushing him away.

"Oof!"

CF then threw a punch across BF's face, followed by punching him rapidly in the chest. "Mach Punch!"

POW WHACK SMASH POW!

"Ugh!" BF cried as he took several steps back, but CF charged into him again and swung his arm like a sickle into his neck and forcefully pushed him onto the floor. "ACK!"

SLAM!

BF hit the floor with such a force that he bounced up after the impact, and then CF caught him by the collar. "It seems that you are the inferior one after all," CF said to him.

BF smiled however. "Heheh! The winner isn't determined yet! This fight will not end so fast!"

"Oh yeah?" CF said before lifting BF over his head and then slamming him onto the floor really hard.

SLAM!

BF bounced back into the air upon hitting the floor and then landed in a crouching position. "Bleeding Boost!" He charged at CF and hit him with an uppercut that was imbued with red energy.

"Ugh!" CF grunted when he was knocked into the air.

"Bloody Dive!" BF shouted as he jumped into the air and caught CF by the body, and then a bloody red explosion occurred.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" CF cried as he flew back through the air and tumbled onto the floor. "Oh..." As he was trying to stand back up, he saw BF running towards him, and then the evil clone performed a sliding kick that was imbued with red energy.

"Bloody Kick!"

CF didn't have time to get out of the way and was hit by the sliding kick.

KICK!

"Augh!" CF was knocked into the air and landed behind BF as a result. BF stood back up and caught the captain by the legs and then spun in circles several times before hurling him through the air and over the railings.

"So long, Captain Falcon!" BF shouted when he hurled the captain away.

CF flew towards a pillar and hit his face against the side of it before dropping to the lower floor. After hitting the floor, BF jumped down from the balcony to join him on the same floor. As CF slowly sat back up, BF said to him, "Haha! Looks like the real thing is losing to the faker that is me! Am I right in saying this?"

CF stood back up and then turned to face him, saying, "It's not over yet! I am not going down so easily, especially not to a faker like you!"

"The real one doesn't always win, and I will prove this to you soon enough! BF said before running towards CF to throw a punch at him.

CF caught his fight with one hand and then used his other hand to punch BF in the face. Growling angrily, BF pulled back and tried to hit him with a roundhouse kick, but CF rolled away to the side before lunging at him, ramming him in the abdomen.

CF pushed BF backwards for a while before letting go of him, but BF was unable to retain his balance and so moved back for a few more steps before coming to a stop. However, CF wasted no time to deliver a punch to his abdomen really hard. "OOF!" BF cried in pain as he flew back from the punch and hit the wall really hard. "Argh! Don't get too cocky just yet!"

He ran up to CF and threw a punch at him, but CF managed to block it with this arms. BF continued to throw punches at him, but the CF managed to block every single one of them until he countered with his own punch. BF managed to block the punch with his arms as well, and then he delivered a quick karate chop to CF's waist, forcing him to bend down slightly in pain before hitting him in the chest with a powerful elbow thrust. "Fatal Elbow!"

"Ugh!" CF grunted in pain as he shot backwards and crashed into the pillar really hard. However, he managed to remain standing. He held his hand over his chest and groaned in pain slightly before getting into defensive stance to take on BF as the evil clone jumped at him, ready to hit him with a flying kick. CF quickly countered it by raising his leg and kicking BF's feet from below. "Hua!"

The kick caused BF's leg to bend up into the air and then he flipped backwards and landed in a crouching position. CF then charged at him to hit him with a fiery uppercut. "Raptor Boost!" BF was knocked into the air, and then CF jumped at him and caught him underneath the shoulders. "Falcon Dive!" And then a fiery explosion sent BF flying backwards.

"Gah!" BF growled as he landed and skidded backwards a bit before to a stop. "You're getting better!"

CF ran up to him and threw a right hook, but BF caught his fist with his left hand and then punched him back with his own right hook. CF fell back from the punch and then BF ran up to him and pushed him down by the neck before beating his back and kneeing him in the abdomen at the same time.

POW WHACK SMACK POW WHACK POW!

BF then lifted CF over his shoulder and slammed him onto the floor really hard—judo style.

SLAM!

While the captain was on the floor, BF pulled back his fist and was about to punch him in the abdomen, but when the fist came down, CF caught it and pushed it to the side before leaping back onto his feet to deliver a quick kick to BF's face.

"Oof!" BF tumbled backwards from the punch, but quickly got back up again. The two captains charged at each other and started throwing punches at each other nonstop. Sometimes, there fists came in contact with each other, but at times, they would land a successful punch into each other's face.

After punching the lights out of each other for a while, CF managed to catch BF by the arm and then lifted him over his shoulder to slam him down on the other side. BF was slammed onto the floor really hard, but he performed a spin on his back and used his legs to hit CF's legs. CF fell forward and was going to fall on top of BF, but the evil clone brought up his leg and hit the captain in the chin using his knee to send him flying over his face.

CF crashed into the wall and then landed upside-down on the floor. "You're mine!" BF shouted as he ran towards CF.

Acting quick, CF flipped into the air and started performing a series of back flips until he jumped over BF. Upon landing behind BF, he leaped forward and slammed his knee into the back of the evil clone. "Knee Smash!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"OOOWEEEEEEEEEE!" BF shot through the air crashed face first into the wall really hard.

CRAAAAAAAASH!

CF ran towards BF pulled back his fist, ready to give him the finishing blow. "Falcon..."

Suddenly, BF spun around and roundhouse kicked CF in the arm just as the captain was about to land THE punch into him. "Not so fast!" the evil clone said. This caused the punch to be misaimed. BF then pulled back his fist to deliver his own version of THE punch. "Bloody Punch!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The punch grazed CF in the left cheek, but the force was still strong enough to send him tumbling backwards. Soon after CF came to a stop, BF ran towards him and then performed a sliding kick. "Bloody Kick!"CF leaped back into the air to avoid the kick, but BF jumped up immediately after he stopped sliding and then attempted to hit him with a diving kick. "Bloody Kick!"

CF held up his arms in a cross formation to block the kick, but the force of was so strong that his arms were pushed into his face, and then his entire self fell back onto the floor. BF jumped into the air again after landing his foot onto CF's arm and then tried to stomp him with both feet when he fell back down again. CF quickly countered this by bringing up both his legs. Their feet came in contact with each other and CF's legs were bent down by BF's weight, but then he mustered all his strength into his legs and then used them to catapult BF back into the air. "Eeyah!"

"Whoa! What the?" BF said in shock.

CF stood back up and then jumped into the air with both his arms pulled down. "Falcon Twin Uppercut!" And then he delivered an uppercut using both arms into BF's chin.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH! SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

BF was sent flying higher into the air and he crashed through the ceiling.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

CF fell back down onto the floor and looked up at the hole on the ceiling. "Is it over?" he wondered.

"No!" shouted the voice of BF, and the evil clone fell back down from the hole and attempted to stomp CF, but he leaped back to his safety. "Grrrr! You're starting to annoy me, Captain Falcon!"

"Same here! I can't waste time fighting you this long! I still have other things to do!"

"You're not getting away from here until I'm done with you! But saying this makes no sense since you won't be able to go anywhere once I'm done with you! This room shall be your grave!"

BF jumped at CF and threw a punch at him, but CF caught his fist and then punched him in the face. Growling angrily, BF kicked CF in the waist and then proceeded to punch him across the face two times. CF recovered from the punches and then grabbed him by the shoulders before giving him a devastating headbutt that knocked him backwards.

CONK!

"GUA!" As BF was falling backwards, CF brought his leg straight up and kicked BF into the air, and then he delivered the second kick using his other leg to send him even higher into the air. When BF was sent into the air, he spun vertically and then fell back down, landing his legs onto CF's shoulders.

"What?" CF said in surprise.

"Bloody Launcher!" BF shouted as he planted his hands firmly onto the floor, and then red energy appeared around his legs as he forcefully used them to lift and hurl CF across the place. Because of the red energy on BF's legs, CF himself was also covered in red energy, and it burned him as he flew across the air and crashed through the wall and into the room behind it.

CRAAAAAAAASH!

"Ugh! Ah! Ooh! Hot!" CF cried as he rolled around on the floor to put out the red flames. After a bit of rolling around, he finally got rid of the flames. "Phew... Much better..." He then looked around the room and saw that there were weapons of various kinds all over the place. "What is this room?"

BF stepped into the room through the hole on the wall and explained to him, "This is the weapon room. Here, the Dark Soldiers get the weapon of their choice when they need to fight. However, almost all of them prefer firearms, so the melee weapons here are largely untouched and are left here to rust. Now that we are in this room, why don't we duke it out with each other using one of these weapons?"

"If you say so!" CF said as he reached for a spear that placed on a rack on the wall.

"Haha! I'm going to enjoy this!" BF said with delight as he picked up a flail that had a spike ball at the end of its chain. "Take this!" BF swung the flail at him, causing the chain to extend.

CF held up his spear to block the attack, but the chain wrapped itself around the handle of the spear, and then they played the game of tug-o-war, pulling each other's weapons back and forth. "Ngh! Let go!" CF shouted.

"You're the one who should let go!" BF shouted. He pressed a button on the flail's handle to make the chain retract to its original length, and as a result, the spear was pulled out of CF's hands. "Haha! You've got no weapon now!" He threw the spear away and then swung the flail at CF again.

CF quickly rolled away when the flail came to him, but BF continued to swing the flail at him multiple times to try to hit him. CF quickly picked up a katana blade from one of the tin cans to use it to counter the flail, but the blade shattered upon getting hit by the spike ball. "What?"

"Did I not tell you that the weapons here are largely untouched and left to rust?" BF reminded him. "Well, most of them anyway... Anyway, not every weapon here will benefit you!" He swung his flail at CF again, and the captain quickly picked up the can containing the swords to use it to block the attack, and then he hurled the tin can at BF.

BF quickly used his flail to knock the tin can away, and then CF charged at him to confront him directly. BF quickly rolled out of the way and then swung his flail at CF, hitting him in the face with the spike ball. CF took a couple of steps back when he was struck in the face, and when BF swung the flail at him again, he caught the flail by its chain and then yanked it as hard as he could.

BF pressed the button on the flail's handle to make the chain retract to its original length, but CF was pulled towards him as well. "What?"

When at range, CF threw a punch into BF's face and knocked him backwards before letting go of the flail. After that, he quickly ran over to his spear to pick it up. After picking it up, he turned around to face BF, but the evil clone swung the flail at him and the spike ball struck CF in the abdomen really hard. "Oof!"

"Take this!" BF shouted as he began hitting CF with the flail over and over. CF tried to protect himself from the spike ball using his spear, but BF managed to swing the flail in a way so that it hit either his arms or body most of the time. BF eventually retracted the flail and then ran up to CF.

Seeing the evil clone approaching, CF quickly thrust the spear at him, but BF ducked underneath it and then threw his own version of THE punch into his abdomen. "Bloody Punch!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" CF screamed as the punch sent him flying backwards until he crashed into a rack that contained several kinds of weapons.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Hahahahahaha! Now you know who the more superior captain is!" BF laughed. "You have no chance of victory, so don't even try!"

CF slowly sat back up while groaning in pain. "Ugh... Don't be so sure of this just yet, Blood Falcon! Evil people such as you will never prevail against justice!"

"Oh really? But what I'm looking at right now is the exact opposite! The man of justice such as you is losing to evil people like me! Things have changed, Captain Falcon, and you are about to witness that very change yourself!"

"No, things will not change!" CF said as he stood back up with the spear in his right hand and a chain in his left hand. "I will now show you my most powerful technique!" Immediately after saying this, he used the chain to firmly strap the spear over his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" BF wondered. "I don't see the point in restraining yourself. In fact, that will hinder your movement! Are you crazy or something?"

CF crouched down and placed fist on the floor before shouting, "Ultimate Falcon!" Immediately, a fiery aura appeared around his body and then the flames appeared on the spear strapped onto his back and took the likeliness of a pair of fiery wings.

"What the heck?" BF said in shock.

**BGM: Captain Falcon (F-Zero GX)**

The captain pushed his feet against the floor to send himself flying into BF at a tremendous speed similar to that of a blink of an eye and rammed him in the abdomen.

"OOF!" BF cried as he flew backward and tumbled roughly on the floor. "What the heck? He's fast!" He quickly stood back up to look at the captain, but the captain was nowhere in sight. "Huh? Where'd he go?" Suddenly, CF appeared next to him and landed a roundhouse kick to his face to send him flying off to the side. "OOF!"

BF came to a stop, but CF rushed up to him and slammed his elbow hard into his chest. "Ultimate Power Elbow!" CF shouted.

SMASH!

"UGH!" BF cried in sheer pain from the powerful elbow smash, and then he shot back and crashed through the wall to return to the previous room. He slowly stood back up again, but the pain made him fall back onto one knee. "Ugh... Where the heck... did he... get that... power... from...?"

"It's a technique that I've been practicing for some time already," CF said as he stepped into the room. "By attaching something onto my back and then channeling my fiery powers into it, I will obtain a tremendous boost in both speed and power."

"I don't care... how you've... manage to do that... But... I WILL NOT LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU! I AM THE MORE SUPERIOR CAPTAIN AND YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME!" BF shouted at the top of his voice as he ran towards CF.

"You've totally lost your mind, haven't you?" CF asked. "This is your loss."

BF pulled back his fist and imbued it with red energy, ready to hit him with his own version of THE punch. "BLOODY..." CF quickly stepped to the side to avoid getting punched. "PUNCH!" But then BF pulled off an unexpected move of swinging his fist into his abdomen afterwards.

"OOF!" CF cried as the punch sent him flying backwards several feet before coming to a stop in a standing position.

"HAHAHA! I'VE GOT YOU! YOU'RE FINISHED!" BF shouted as he ran towards him to punch him again. "BLOODY PUNCH!"

CF managed to catch BF' fist when it came towards him. Gripping onto BF's fist tightly, he pulled back his other hand while imbuing the fist with fiery power. "Ultimate..."

BF gasped in horror and then tried to pull back, but CF refused to let him go at first. When he let go of BF's arm, he unleashed the ultimate version of THE punch into his abdomen. "FALCON PUNCH!"

!

"!" BF screamed as the punch sent him shooting backwards at a really fast speed and crashed through several walls.

CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH !

After flying through a total six rooms, BF finally came to a stop in front of his F-Zero machine, the Blood Hawk. In fact, he flew into the Blood Hawk so hard that the vehicle was pushed away from its original location about 3 feet.

The fire on CF's back died down and then he untied the chain to take off the spear. "Phew... It's over..." he said with a sigh. "He really made me go all out... Anyway, I have to go and find the girls right now! They may be in danger!" And then he rushed out of the room to look for the girls.

With a punch to the face, the last of the Dark Soldiers was punched into the wall and malfunctioned as a result. Meiling pulled back her fist and then looked around for signs of possible enemies, but there was none. She had taken out an army of Dark Soldiers all by herself. "They're all down," she thought. "All right; it's time to move on!"

Suddenly, the sound of a pair of doors sliding apart could be heard and then a voice said, "What happened here?"

"Huh?" Meiling turned around to face the newcomer, and she was surprised to a see a tall, muscular man clad in black standing before her—Black Shadow. "Whoa!"

BS glared at Meiling and asked her, "You're the one responsible for this mess, aren't you?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Sorry for the wait... Admittedly, I had quite a bit of a writer's block doing this chapter, but in the end, I'm glad that I managed to get it out. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

Also, please not that the room Captain Falcon and Blood Falcon spent most of their fighting in IS NOT the same room where Reisen and Pico fought. The two rooms merely look identical.

**Next chapter: The Gatekeeper's Brutal Fight**

**Trivia:  
**1. Great Train Impact and Traffic Jam are moves used by Samurai Goroh in one of my older stories, Super Smash Racing 2: F-30 Grand Prix.

2. Ultimate Falcon that Captain Falcon uses in my Super Smash Bros. series, and it functions exactly the same as well.

3. Originally, I intended for Blood Falcon to strap Captain Falcon to the spear by himself in order to restrain and then torture him, but I couldn't come up with a good way for him to do it, so I changed it into its current version in the end.

4. Originally, Marisa wasn't going to fight anyone in the base asides for some Dark Soldiers, but because she is considered the secondary main character of the Touhou series, it wouldn't make sense for her to not have a major fight in each arc, so her battle against Baba was basically thrown in the last second. The same applies for Alice, but I gave her a major battle against The Skull just because she is tagging along with Marisa. Baba and The Skull were chosen to fight them because I couldn't think of anyone else, and this also gives those two villains a chance to shine.


	40. The Gatekeeper's Brutal Fight

**Chapter 39  
The Gatekeeper's Brutal Fight**

**

* * *

**

Meiling slowly took some steps backwards when she saw the imposing figure of Black Shadow. "Who... are you...?" she asked while trembling in fear.

"You do not know who I am?" BS asked. "Ha! How amusing! But then, I'm not too surprised to hear this coming from you. You're one of the girls who came from another world, right? It's no surprise that you do not know who I am if you've never seen me before, but I'm sure that you've at least heard of my name. I am the mastermind of Dark Million Organization, Black Shadow, also known as the Emperor of Brutality!"

"Yes! Captain Falcon talked about you before!" Meiling said, and then she got into fighting stance. "So you're Black Shadow! Return my friends at once!"

"What if I don't?"

"Then I'll beat you up in a fight!"

"Ha! Are you serious about that? You don't look like the kind to be able to break my bones! You're going to end up breaking my bones instead if you try to punch with your skinny arms!"

"Do not underestimate me!" Meiling said as she charged at BS and threw a punch into his abdomen. When her fist struck BS, the villain took a step backwards and grunted in pain.

"Ugh! It seems that you do have a bit of power despite your looks..." BS thought. "Well then, let's see what more you are capable of!"

**BGM: For the Glory – feat. Mute City's Theme (F-Zero GX)**

Meiling charged at BS again to hit him again and the villain the swung his fist at him, but she ducked underneath it and then jumped up to deliver an uppercut to chin. "Argh!" BS growled as he reached forward his hand to grab Meiling by the neck while she was still in the air.

"Ack!" Meiling tried to pry open BS's fingers, but the villain had such a strong grip that she couldn't do so. BS raised her into the air before slamming her forcefully onto the floor. He then let go of Meiling's neck before raising one foot over her, ready to stomp her. Quickly, Meiling rolled to the side before BS's foot came down and stomped the floor really hard.

STOMP!

Meiling immediately got back up and then delivered a roundhouse kick to BS's waist.

"Argh! Take this!" BS angrily shouted as he swung his fist at Meiling, but she quickly hopped back to a safer distance.

Meiling then held up her arms and released bright yellow light form her palm before firing a laser beam at BS. "Fragrance Wave!"

The beam struck BS and pushed him back slightly. "Annoying girl! Take this!" He placed his hands together to create a combination of blue and white energy, and then he formed an energy string to throw at Meiling.

Meiling leaped over the energy string and landed in front of BS and performed a spin in midair before sticking out her right leg, which was covered in a rainbow-colored aura. "Descending Flower Slam!"

BS brought up his arms in a cross formation to block the descending leg slam, and after Meiling dropped back onto the floor, her fist glowed with rainbow-colored light before throwing a punch at him. "Spiral Light Step!"

BS was struck in the chest hard and he grunted in pain as he moved back a few steps. "Ugh!" But he immediately recovered from the blow and shouted, "Why you?" He lunged at Meiling and started throwing punches at her, but the gatekeeper moved left and right swiftly to avoid every single punch. When BS reached forward to punch Meiling again, she moved to the side and then attempted to hit him in the back with a roundhouse kick. However, BS quickly spun around and caught her leg. "Gotcha!" And then he swung her towards the wall.

"Ah!" Meiling cried as she crashed into the wall. "Oh..." As she was groaning in pain, BS charged at and threw a fist full of dark energy at her. Meiling quickly ducked down to avoid the punch, which struck the wall so hard that hole was created on it.

SMASH!

Meiling moved away from BS and was said, "That was close!"

"You're much better than I've thought," BS told her, "but you will not last long! I'll show you that you are no match for me!" He held up his hand in front of his body and formed black fire on his palm. "Black Flare!" And then he threw it at Meiling.

Meiling jumped aside to avoid the black flame and then charged at BS, but the villain threw another black flame at her. She quickly bent her body backwards until her arms touched the floor to avoid it, and when she got back up again, she was struck by yet another black flame in the body. "YAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling flew back onto the floor and started rolling around, trying to put out the flames on her body.

"You're finished!" BS said as he jumped at her with his arm pulled back, ready to throw a devastating punch at her.

Meiling managed to put out the flames and then sat back up, only to receive a fist to the side of her face really hard.

SMAAAAAAASH!

The punch sent her flying to the side until she crashed into the wall. "Ow..." she groaned as she sat back up.

"Black Flare!" BS shouted as he threw another black flame at her.

Meiling quickly jumped over the black flame, but while she was still in the air, BS threw another black flame at her. She quickly held out both her hands and created colorful vortex in front of her palms. "Water Taichi Fist!"

The vortex sucked up the black flame, and after Meiling landed onto the floor, she shot out a rainbow-colored projectile from the vortex. With a swing of his arm, BS managed to destroy the projectile. Meiling then ran towards him and then leaped forward with her foot covered in rainbow-colored aura. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

"Shadow Kick!" BS shouted as he countered her with a kick that was imbued with dark energy. Both the kicks came in contact with each other and a combination of black and rainbow-colored sparks flew everywhere.

The force released by the kicks coming in contact with each other sent the both of them flying backwards, but they eventually came to a skidding halt. "Black Flare!" BS shouted as he fired a black flame again.

Meiling held out both her hands and then charged up blue energy before firing five large energy balls in a row. "Star Bullets!"

The energy balls went through the black flame, eliminating it in the process, and struck BS in the body, each of the shots pushing him a step backwards.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

"Ugh! Why you?" BS growled angrily. "That does it! I'm angry now!" He crossed his arms together in front of himself and the tips of each of his fingers glowed with blue and white light. "Shadow Lariats!" And then he pointed his arms to release energy strings from fingertips.

Meiling quickly leaped out of the way to avoid the energy strings as they came over to her and whipped where she was originally at rapidly. BS swung the strings at her and struck her in the back while she was still in air, knocking her onto the floor forcefully. BS then proceeded to whip her in the back over and over with the energy strings. "AH! IT HURTS! KYAAAA!"

"Does that hurt? You haven't even suffered the true pain yet!" BS said as he retracted the strings to his fingertips and then placed his hands together to fuse the energy strings into a single thick string. "Take this!" And then he threw the newly formed energy string at her.

Meiling was just about to get back up when the string hit her and bounded her arms to her body. "What the?" She struggled with the energy string to get it off, but while she was doing this, BS charged at her and caught her by the neck. "Ack!"

"You shall now find out why they call me the Emperor of Brutality!" BS told her, and then he let go his grasp around her neck before punching her in the abdomen really hard.

"ACK!" Meiling coughed painfully as the fist came in contact with her body, causing her to shoot backwards and crashing into the wall really hard.

CRASH!

As if that wasn't enough, BS charged at her shoulder bashed her, crushing her against the wall. In fact, the force was so strong that the metallic wall bent inwards as a result. BS then caught her by the collar and hurled her over his shoulders.

"Ugh..." Meiling groaned in pain after hitting the floor hard. She tried to get back up while struggling with the energy string. "Why won't this... come off...?" She rolled over to face the ceiling while still trying to break free from the energy string, but then BS came up to her and stomped her in the abdomen hard. "KYAA!"

"How do you like this, girl?" BS said to her. "Can you stand the pain?"

"I will not... give up... Let go... of my... friends... at once..."

"So you really want to see your friends, eh? All right then; I'll take you to your friends. After all, you are going to die very soon, so it would only be fair for you to take one last glimpse of your friends before you breathe your last!" BS then picked her up by the hair and dragged herself across to the room to reach to the door on the other end.

* * *

After going down a couple of floors, Black Shadow and Meiling eventually came into the room where the force field prison was. The four girls inside immediately stood up upon seeing BS dragging Meiling into the room. "Meiling!" Marisa gasped. "What happened to you-ze?"

BS held the gatekeeper up by her hair and made her look at her friends. "Look, there they are! As you can see, they are safe and sound inside their prison! Are you satisfied now? Wait a minute... There weren't four people previously! Where did the extra two come from?"

"They came in here stupidly by themselves," Cirno replied.

"Hush!" Marisa said as she bonked the ice fairy over the head with her fist.

BONK!

"Ow! What did you go that for?"

"Heh! It doesn't matter! The more, the merrier! Once Captain Falcon and every single one of you are out of the way, nobody will be able to stop me from taking over the world! I will then look for the Light Essence by myself in order to gain access to other worlds and conquer them!"

"I will not... let you!" Meiling said in an angry voice.

"Try to stop me if you can!" BS said as he slammed her onto the floor, and then he began stomping her in the abdomen over and over.

STOMP STOMP STOMP!

"KYAAA! ACK! YAAAAA!" Meiling cried in pain as the foot landed on top of her body over and over really hard, and her four friends were watching with horrified expressions.

"Meiling!" Sanae gasped, and then she shouted at BS, "Stop it at once! Don't hurt her! She will die at this rate!"

"That would be good!" BS said as he continued to stomp Meiling.

"Stop it at once!"

BS ignored Sanae and continued to step on Meiling. As he continued to step on her, his foot hit the energy string multiple times, eventually causing it to disappear. "Die!" BS shouted as he readied to bring down his foot on top of Meiling's head.

"MEILING!" the other girls gasped.

Suddenly, Meiling brought up her arms and caught BS's foot, and then she forcefully shoved him away to the side. "What's this?" the villain asked. "You can still move?"

Meiling groaned painfully as she slowly stood back up. "Meiling! You're all right!" Cirno exclaimed.

Meiling look at her friends and said to them, "Don't worry... I'll get you out of there... very soon..."

"That will never happen! You will die by my hands!" BS said. "Look at your current condition! What can you do with a body condition like that? You look like you will fall over any second!"

"Do not... underestimate... me!" Meiling said as loud as she could, and then she clasped her hands together to release yellow aura from all over her body. "Tiger Spirit!"

"Uh, what are you doing?" BS asked curiously.

When the aura disappeared, Meiling got into fighting stance and said, "Come at me if you dare! I'll show you that I mean business this time!"

"Have you not learned your lesson yet? Very well; I'll teach you another lesson if you haven't learned it yet!" BS said before charging at her. "I'll crush you with my bare hands! Die!"

Meiling got into defensive stance when BS threw a punch at her, and she managed to stop his fist with her bare hand with ease, much to BS's surprise. Using her other arm, she threw a punch into BS's face really hard to send the villain flying out of the room.

POW!

"Ugh... What the heck...?" BS groaned as he sat back up after crashing into the wall. He slowly stood back up and faced the gatekeeper, saying, "What's with that sudden boost of power? Hmph! It doesn't matter! You're going to do down no matter what!"

"I will not be defeated so easily!" Meiling said as she charged at BS. She threw a punch at BS when at range, but the villain blocked the punch with his arms, but Meiling continued to throw punches at him.

After a while of blocking her punches, BS threw a right hook at Meiling, but she ducked down to avoid it and then jumped up to hit him in the chin with an uppercut. BS immediately recovered from the uppercut and then punched Meiling away by the face.

POW!

Meiling flew to the side but managed to land in a crouching position, and then she pushed her feet against the floor to propel herself towards the villain, landing a straight punch into his abdomen.

"OOF!" BS cried in pain as the punch sent him sliding backwards a few feet. "Why you? Black Flare!" He formed a black flame in his hand and then threw it at Meiling.

"Fragrance Wave!" Meiling held out both her arms and fired a yellow laser beam which pierced the black flame and struck BS in the body, blasting him backwards slightly. After that, Meiling ran at BS and performed a flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

KICK!

"DOH!" BS flew even farther back due to the kick. After crashing onto the floor, he stood back up while growling angrily. "That does it! You've really crossed the line!" When he saw Meiling running towards him, he raised his right leg into the air and black fire appeared around his foot. "Black Shockwave!" And then he stomped the floor really hard to create a black shockwave that went towards Meiling.

Meiling leaped over the shockwave and spun vertically as she fell towards BS, and then she attempted to hit him over the head with a descending leg slam that was imbued with rainbow-colored energy. "Descending Flower Slam!"

BS crossed his arms over his head to block the kick, though the force of the kick still pushed his arms onto his forehead. After that, Meiling flipped back into the air and landed onto the floor, and then she stomped the floor as hard as she could to create a yellow shockwave that spread out in all directions. "Yellow Tremor Step!"

Seeing the shockwave approaching, BS quickly jumped over it and then fell towards Meiling with his arm pulled back, ready to punch her. Meiling quickly lifted her arm in front of her face to protect herself from the punch, but BS hit her with such a force that she was sent flying sideways.

Meiling crashed into the wall, but when BS charged at her to punch her, she quickly got out of the way and BS ended punching the wall instead. When he turned to look at the gatekeeper, Meiling performed Sky Dragon Kick to kick him in the body, but BS used his arms to block her foot and then pushed her back through the air.

After landing onto the floor, Meiling quickly stood back up to defend herself from BS as he charged at her and started throwing a series of punches. Meiling tried her best to block his punches with her arms, and at times, she would counter with her own punches. The both of them were engaged in a fierce fist fight, sometimes hitting each other's fists and sometimes scoring a hit.

POW SMASH SOCK POW SMASH POW SMASH SOCK!

BS punched Meiling across the face really hard, and immediately afterwards, Meiling punched him across the face with an equal force. After receiving the blow to the face, BS angrily shouted, "Argh! Take this!" And then he slammed down his head to smash Meiling's head really hard.

SMASH!

"OW!" Meiling cried and fell back from the painful headbutt. BS then kicked her square in the abdomen to send her shooting down the hallway.

KIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The girls inside the force field prison saw Meiling shooting past the outside of the room and Marisa said, "They must be having a really intense fight out there-ze."

"Meiling! You can do it!" Cirno cheered.

Meiling eventually landed onto the floor, and when she looked up, she saw BS charging at her with his head lowered like that of a charging bull. When BS was near, Meiling quickly moved aside and then performed a sweep kick to hit BS by the legs, causing the villain to fall over. However, the villain touched his hands against the floor and then flipped forward to land on both feet. Immediately upon landing, he produced a black flame in his hand to throw at Meiling, but she rolled aside in time to avoid it.

Immediately after that, Meiling charged at BS to attack him, but the villain reached out his arm to catch her by the neck. "Ack!" Meiling cried.

BS then forcefully slammed her into the wall, and as Meiling was trying to pry his fingers off of her neck, he pulled back his fist and surged it with dark energy before punching her abdomen REALLY hard. "Black Shadow Punch!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling screamed in sheer pain when the punch struck her body. In fact, the punch was so hard that the wall behind her was bent inwards.

While Meiling was still leaning against the wall, BS pulled back and then ran towards her with his head lowered. "Bull Charge!" And then he rammed Meiling in the body really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The powerful impact caused the wall to be broken down, and both Meiling and Black Shadow found themselves falling through the air, and they hit several steer girders before finally landing onto the floor of the new room.

BS got back up and growled, "Ugh... That was a bit too hard, I guess..." He looked around the place and saw several F-Zero machines. "Heh, so we ended up in the garage..." When he stood back up, he heard groaning sounds and so looked down to see Meiling still breathing on the floor. "You're still alive? Very well; I shall run you over with my Black Bull then!" And so the villain ran over to a black vehicle that was numbered '30'.

Meiling held her arm over his abdomen and then slowly sat back up while groaning in pain. "Ow... It hurts... but I cannot... lose... here..."

BS sat down in the F-Zero machine's cockpit which was situated on a raised section at the back of the vehicle and then closed the glass covering. "Say good-bye, girlie!" And then he started the engines before driving at her at a very fast speed.

"Oh no!" Meiling gasped. She tried to escape, but she was too late in doing so. When she tried to jump out of the way, she ended up getting hit by the vehicle and found herself being pushed by the vehicle down the place. "YAAAAAAA!"

The Black Bull carried her down a lengthy and winding hallway until they emerged into large, circular room. When the Black Bull landed onto the room's slanted floor, Meiling fell off from the front part of it and then tumbled onto the floor before rolling downwards. She rolled into a large hole that was at the bottom of the room but caught onto the edge of the floor. "Phew... That was close..." she thought. When she looked down, she saw a pit that had fiery substances at the bottom of underneath it. "What is that?"

"This is the core of the base," BS explained as he drove towards Meiling, "and also the place where you will meet your end! Die!"

The Black Bull drove towards Meiling to hit her fingers, but she quickly let go of the edge by herself and then flew into the air, much to BS's surprise. "What?" And he quickly steered away from the edge. "So you can fly... That's quite a convenient ability you have there! But that won't help you! You will still die!"

"I will not lose to you anymore because I have the advantage in air!" Meiling told him. "Colorful Rain!" Meiling spun in air once, and in doing so, she released rainbow-colored bullets which flew into the air and then rained back down onto the floor around her, but the Black Bull easily dodged them by moving at high speed.

Seeing that none of the shots hit BS, Meiling took out a card and said, "Colorful Sign: Extreme Color Typhoon!" The card glowed with rainbow colors and then disintegrated into a cloud of colorful dust. After that, a rainbow-colored aura appeared around her body and then she started spinning in circles with her right leg sticking out. As she spun, colorful bullets shot out from all over her body and went in every direction.

Not looking intimidated, BS steered his F-Zero machine left and right skillfully to avoid the energy bullets as they struck various parts of the floor. Even if some of the bullets did hit his vehicle, they didn't seem to do any damage at all. "Is that all you've got?" BS asked. "You're not doing any damage to my Black Bull at all! Not even to this place!"

Meiling stopped spinning and the aura disintegrated into dust and then came together to become the card. She put the card away and then got then did a kung-fu pose. "Colorful Wind Chime!" She raised her arms into the air while sticking out her right leg and then started spinning until a rainbow-colored tornado appeared around her, and then she flew at the Black Bull.

When BS saw Meiling approaching, he quickly pulled a lever that caused the Black Bull to spin really fast while the pink flames coming out from its thrusters gave it the appearance of a pink tornado due to the high speed spinning motion, and then both sides collided into each other.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Black Bull canceled out Meiling's attack and sent her flying backwards through the air. "KYAAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed, and then she landed onto the floor and started rolling downwards. "Oh no!" And then she quickly scurried upwards using her arms and legs to prevent going down any further.

Suddenly, the Black Bull crashed into Meiling and sent the gatekeeper flying into the air again.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling cried in sheer pain as her bones felt like they were shattered into pieces from the impact. She fell back onto the floor, only to get knocked into the air by the Black Bull again. "KYAAAAA!"

"Hahahahahahaha!" BS evilly laughed. "How do you like this? Are you having fun? Let's do this until you fall down there! Hahahahaha!" He drove into Meiling when she fell back down to send her flying into the air again. "Hahahahahaha!"

After getting knocked into the air for the third time after being canceled out of her Colorful Wind Chime attack, Meiling fell back onto the floor and started to roll downwards until she rolled off the edge and BS laughed as he watched Meiling fall to the into the fiery core below.

"I failed..." Meiling said in her mind as she fell through the air. "In the end... I'm incompetent and useless... I always fail to accomplish my job... I wanted to rescue my friends... but... I failed... It's always like this... I'm such a failure... I'm not only useless at being a gatekeeper, but also at doing other things... I'm such a failure... I'm sorry, Mistress Remilia..."

As she fell closer and closer to the core, Meiling opened her eyes to look at the fiery substances that was down there, and then she said in her mind again, "Even if I am going die now... I must at least... accomplish... something... I don't want to die... a failure..." She gripped her hands into a fist tightly and then flew upwards to return to where BS was.

"What? You still want some more?" BS asked in surprise. "Argh! You're really persistent, aren't you? Fine, I'll fight you until you're no longer breathing!"

"You will not be easily beaten up by you this time!" Meiling said confidently. "I will not lose for the sake of my mistress and friends! I will not lose!"

**BGM: Meaning of Truth (F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu)**

When Meiling swooped down at Black Shadow, the villain stepped on the gas pedal pushed it all the way to the max to move at top speed towards the incoming gatekeeper. "DIE!" BS shouted.

"Sky Dragon Kick!" Meiling shouted as she performed a flying kick at the cockpit. Her leg smashed through the glass cockpit and kicked BS in the face really hard.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

"OOF!" BS cried. Meiling leaped back into the air while the Black Bull continued moving forward in an awkward path, eventually driving off the edge. "NOOOOOO!" BS quickly jumped out from the F-Zero machine's cockpit and towards the slanted floor. " WHY YOU? I WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED BY YOU SO EASILY! NEVER!"

Meiling took out a card and then threw it into the air before punching it. When punched, the card disappeared in a bright and colorful flash that caused Meiling's fists to glow with rainbow-colors.

"Black Shadow Punch!" BS shouted as he threw a fist full of dark energy at Meiling, but Meiling moved her to head to the side in time and only got scraped in the cheek. "Darn it!"

"True Radiant Rainbow Fist!" Meiling shouted, and then she unleashed a barrage of superfast punches at Black Shadow's face.

POW SMASH WHAM POW SMASH POW SOCK POW WHAM SMASH KAPOW SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM KAPOW POW SMAAAAAASH WHAAAAAAM POW SMASH KAPOW WHAM SMAAAASH!

The punching went on as the both of them fell through the air. BS could barely make any comprehensible noises as Meiling's fists struck his face as well as other parts of his body. "BRRBRBRBRBRBRRBRRRR! BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH! GWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH!"

"HIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling shouted at the top of her voice as she punched with all her strength, and with each punch, a burst of rainbow-colored shockwave would be released. The intense barrage of punches continued for a while before Meiling finally gave the last punch to Black Shadow's chest to send the villain shooting diagonally downwards at a really fast speed.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

BS shot down into the lower portion of the room and crashed onto the part of the floor that was next to the hole leading to the core.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Emperor of Brutality was brutally knocked beyond consciousness on the floor. As for his F-Zero machine, the Black Bull, it fell into the core.

Back in the upper portion of the room, Meiling was panting heavily as she had used up too much of her energy when performing the final attack. "I... did... it..." she said. "I... defeated... him..." Becoming too wearied to stay airborne any longer, the gatekeeper closed her eyes and then fell down.

As she fell closer and closer to the core, someone swooped down from the air and caught her before swooping back up. Meiling opened her eyes and saw that she was being carried in Aya's arms. "Aya!" the gatekeeper said in surprise.

"I saw that just now," Aya told her with a smile. "That was really awesome! Congratulations on defeating the leader of Dark Million Organization!"

"Yeah... I did it... I really did defeat him... Mistress Remilia will be very proud of me if she hears about this... Heheh!"

* * *

Covered in wounds from head to toe, Reimu flew through the air until she crashed into the wall.

CRASH!

"UGH!" The Reimu cried in pain, and then she fell towards the lava below. Deathborn was standing on the edge of the track, laughing as he watched the shrine maiden fall to her doom below.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Meaning of Truth is full of win, and you really should listen to that awesome song if you haven't heard it yet!

Anyway, I tried my best to give Meiling a long and tough fight, and I hope that you enjoyed it!

**Next chapter: Death Leads to Being Born Again**

**Trivia:  
**1. I thought of using Mute City's theme from F-Zero GX as the BGM for the first part of the battle with Black Shadow because you race against Black Shadow in Mute City in F-Zero GX's story mode. I did not use his theme song from F-Zero GX as the battle music because it doesn't really sound fitting for a battle music, and that song is a bit too 'evil' for my liking. Just listen to it to see what I mean... That's only my opinion though...

2. In the anime, Black Shadow's version of Boost Fire is called Black Flare.

3. I wanted to call Black Shadow's punching move "Shadow Punch", but because there is already a move called "Shadow Punch" in the Pokemon series, I changed it to "Black Shadow Punch" instead.

4. "Falcon Densetsu" means "Falcon Legend", and I didn't put down the song's origin as "F-Zero: GP Legend" because that song doesn't exist in the dubbed version of the anime.


	41. Death Leads to Being Born Again

**SBS Time!  
Astral Knight Albireo: **When shouting 'Why you', it isn't a question, but more of a threat. Every time I saw it, it was 'Why you?', which makes me think Black Shadow is about to ask Meiling something. It should end with an exclamation mark.**  
Game2002: **As a matter of fact, it DOES end with an exclamation mark, but because of the site's displaying issues, the exclamation mark is excluded. This also applies for the lengthy sound effects. I had put down several exclamation marks, but the site ends up only displaying one. Go and try out the Document Manager if you do not believe me.

Most of the attacks used by the Touhou characters in the previous chapters have been given more accurate names. You may or may not be curious to go check them out, if you can even remember what they originally called in the first place...

Also, Alice's Seeker Wire attack in Chapter 18: Fortress of the Forsaken has been altered to look more like its game counterpart, so you might want to go back and check out the difference.

**Chapter 40  
Death Leads to Being Born Again**

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* * *

**

About fifteen minutes ago, the Falcon Flyer flew into a cave thanks the combination of Reimu and Nitori's clumsy piloting skills (or maybe it's not piloting skills at all). The flyer slid along the rough terrain until it crashed through a pair of massage steel doors.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Falcon Flyer continued sliding for a while before finally coming to a stop. Inside, Reimu and Nitori banged their heads against the controller due to sudden halt.

BANG!

"Ouch! That hurts!" Reimu cried while rubbing her forehead. "Phew... It came to a stop at last... That was a really rough ride..." She turned to the side to see Nitori lying facedown on the controller, and then she started shaking the kappa by the shoulder. "Hey, Nitori, get up! Are you listening to me?"

Reimu then made Nitori recline on her chair and continued to shake her. "Nitori, are you listening to me? Wake up!"

"Duh..." Nitori groaned. "We're crashing into a wall..."

"Nitori! Wake up already!" Reimu shouted with frustration, and then she smacked Nitori in the forehead.

SMACK!

"Doh!" And then the kappa fell into an even deeper state of unconsciousness.

"Argh... Looks like she won't be waking up anytime soon..." Reimu thought. "Where are we anyway?" The shrine maiden exited the Falcon Flyer through the open ceiling and then jumped onto the ground before looking around the place. "What is this place...?"

She saw that she was standing on top of a racetrack of sorts, and when she looked up, there were skeletal structures on the ceiling, giving one the impression that he or she was inside a living being.

"Whoa... What a dangerous-looking place... We better get out of here..." She turned back to look at the Falcon Flyer. "But Nitori is knocked out cold, and it won't be easy trying to drag her out of here by myself... Plus, it's probably not a good idea to leave Captain Falcon's flying machine here by itself..." She then looked at the other side and tried to see the other end of the racetrack. "Hmmm... Maybe I'll go and take a look around this place first in order to kill time before Nitori wakes up. This place can't be that bad, can it?" And so, Reimu began walking down the racetrack.

After walking down the seemingly endless racetrack for about three minutes, Reimu stopped to look around. "Hmmm... Seems that it is going to take forever to get to the other end of this place... Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any point in trying to reach the end of this place. I might as turn around and head back outside. Nitori should be up by now."

"Nobody is getting out of here alive!" said a rough voice that came from behind the shrine maiden. Reimu turned around to see Deathborn standing behind her, and she jumped back a bit in surprise at the sight of his imposing figure.

"Who are you?" she asked while getting into defensive stance.

"I am the Grand Prix Champion of the Underworld, Deathborn!" the villain replied. "What are you doing in my territory? No one comes into this place unless I give them the permission!"

"Deathborn? Wait a minute... Captain Falcon told us about you before, but weren't you supposed to be dead?"

"That is true, but I have ability to come back to life every time I die, and as you can see, I have once again come back to life! Admittedly, my resurrection this time is somewhat different compared to the previous resurrections, but that does not matter! I, the Grand Prix Champion of the Underworld, have returned to rule the world once again!"

"I see..."

"I was going to destroy Captain Falcon's spaceship at first, but when I saw you walking all the way here as if this place is your home, I was furious! Like I said earlier, nobody comes in here without my permission! For trespassing into my territory, I shall destroy you!"

"Oh really? Then that means I'll have to fight to defend myself," Reimu said as she held up a paper amulet in between her fingers.

"Talk big after you go to the outer limits of space!" Deathborn said as he reached out his hand, which was glowing with purple light, towards her.

Reimu quickly stepped to the side and then stuck the paper amulet onto his arm before moving to a safer distance. "What's this?" Deathborn wondered as he looked at the paper amulet, and then it suddenly exploded. "GAH!"

KABOOM!

"What the heck!" Deathborn emerged from the smoke largely unharmed and then turned to look at Reimu, who was holding more paper amulets in between her fingers. "Those are explosives?"

"You just found out the answer by yourself. These are mainly used for exterminating demons, but it'll work on any kind of targets as well," Reimu replied. "You attacked me first, so it's only natural that I fight back to defend myself"

"So you refuse to let me get rid of you that easily, eh? Very well; I shall make you regret for trying to pick a fight with me! You shall know the true terror of the Grand Prix Champion of the Underworld that is I, Deathborn!"

"Then let me, Hakurei Reimu, show you the power of the shrine maiden of Hakurei Shrine!" Reimu said as she got into fighting stance.

**BGM: Emperor Breath (F-Zero GX)**

Reimu threw the paper amulets in her hand at Deathborn. The villain stretched out both his arms and formed a wall of purple energy in front of his palms. When the paper amulets touched the purple wall, they disappeared. Reimu was surprised by the sight of this, and all of a sudden, something touched her in the back. "Huh?" Reimu reached her hand to her back to find out what it was, but then an explosion occurred.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reimu cried as she shot forward from the explosion and flew towards Deathborn. The villain threw a straight punch into her abdomen to sent her flying backwards.

Reimu landed onto the floor roughly, but she sat back up while rubbing her abdomen while pain. "Ugh... How did my amulets end up behind me?" she wondered.

Holding up his glowing hand, Deathborn explained, "Not only do I have the power to banish people to the outer limits of space, but I can also teleport anything to wherever I wish. Just now, I teleported those exploding papers of yours behind you."

"So in summary, it's an ability that revolves around teleportation... That's actually a very handy ability if you ask me..."

"Yes, it's a very handy ability indeed, and you will know why once you are no longer in this world!" Deathborn said as he created a purple energy orb in between his hands, and then he threw it at Reimu.

Reimu quickly jumped to the side and the energy ball continued moving forward before it hit a the wall which was curving to left, and then she threw more paper amulets at Deathborn, but the villain held out his arms to create a wall of purple energy to make them to disappear. Knowing where the amulets were going to reappear from, Reimu quickly jumped away from her current position to avoid the paper amulets when they flew diagonally downwards at her from above, and they exploded shortly after touching the floor.

Reimu then took out a handful of needles to throw at Deathborn. Once again, Deathborn created a purple wall to make those needles disappear. This time, Reimu took out a card and said, "Dimensional Rift!" And then she disappeared before the needles reappeared behind where she originally was and shot down onto the floor.

"What!" Deathborn said in surprise. Reimu reappeared behind Deathborn and then landed a kick onto the back of his head before bouncing back into the air to throw more needles at him. The needles were coated with purple auras that allowed them to pierce through the glass that was containing Deathborn's brain, but they only went through the glasses slightly and did not actually touch his brain.

"Argh! Why you?" Deathborn growled as he turned to face Reimu and swung his arm at her, but she had already moved to a safer distance while throwing paper amulets at him. Deathborn had no time to teleport those amulets away, so they stuck onto various parts of his body before exploding.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

"Ugh!" Deathborn took several steps back from the explosion, and then he looked up to see Reimu jumping over the explosion and falling towards him with a flying kick. Deathborn quickly raised his arms over his face to block the kick and then Reimu fell back onto the floor. "Take this!" Deathborn swung down his fist at Reimu, but Reimu hopped aside before throwing an amulet at his arm, blasting it. "Ow!"

"You're not so tough, aren't you?" Reimu taunted.

"How dare you mock me like that?" Deathborn angrily said. "You must die for insulting me!" He then held out his right arm and formed a sword of purple energy in his hand. When he swung the energy sword at Reimu, it grew in length and almost became like a whip. Reimu quickly stepped aside to avoid the lengthened energy sword as it struck the floor so hard that it left behind a streak mark on the surface.

"Whoa... It's got to hurt a lot if I get hit by that..." Reimu thought. When Deathborn swung the sword at her horizontally, Reimu jumped into the air and then fell towards Deathborn with her gohei held over her head, ready to strike the villain in the head.

Deathborn quickly swung his sword at Reimu as she fell closer and closer to him. Reimu quickly brought down her gohei while enhancing it with spiritual energy, allowing her to block the strike from the villain's energy sword. The shrine maiden fell back onto the floor, but had to jump away again when Deathborn swung down the lengthened energy sword at her.

"Stop moving around!" Deathborn shouted frustratingly. He then molded the energy sword into an energy ball before throwing it at Reimu.

"Cautionary Border!" Reimu shouted as she held up her arm to create a blue wall that blocked the projectile, and then she pushed the wall from behind to send it flying towards Deathborn, but the villain punched the wall to shatter it into pieces. Reimu then took out a card and shot out with three energy yin-yang orbs from it. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!"

Seeing the yin-yang orbs approaching, Deathborn quickly formed and threw three purple energy balls at them. When the opposing spheres came in contact, they canceled out each other. Immediately afterwards, Deathborn created an energy sword in hand again and swung it like a whip at Reimu. Reimu quickly leaped into the air, but Deathborn quickly swung the sword at her and it wrapped itself around her left leg. "What the!" Reimu gasped.

"You're mine!" Deathborn said with pleasure as he swung the sword towards the wall, slamming Reimu into it.

SLAAAAAAAAAM!

"YAAAAAAAA!" Reimu cried in pain when she got slammed into the wall really hard. As if that wasn't enough, Deathborn swung the sword to the wall on the other side to slam her into it as well.

SLAAAAAAAAAM!

Deathborn then retracted the energy sword to pull in Reimu, and while the sword was still returning to its original length, Deathborn raised his other arm to get ready to hit Reimu when she comes near him. "Oh no!" Reimu gasped, and then she quickly took out a card.

When Reimu was in range, Deathborn slammed down his fist onto her face. Reimu quickly brought up the card in front of her face and shouted, "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" But Deathborn's fist came down on top of the card and pushed her hand onto her face, and then the shrine maiden herself was smashed onto the floor really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ngh!" Reimu cried. The card that she was still holding in her hand then glowed with orange light before releasing a circular explosion that blasted Deathborn backwards, but Reimu herself was also caught in the blast radius.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Ugh!" Deathborn was blown back by the explosion while Reimu remained lying on the floor, seemingly knocked out from the punch to the face and the explosion. "Grrr... She sure has quite a few tricks up her sleeves..."

Reimu slowly sat back up and groaned in pain from the beating that she had received. "Ow... I'd never thought that I would get caught in my own attack..." When she looked up, she was surprised to see Deathborn lunging at her. She quickly stood up and then jumped back to avoid a diving punch from Deathborn.

"Stop moving around!" Deathborn angrily shouted as he looked at Reimu, and then he formed a purple energy ball in his hand to throw at her. Reimu rolled out of the energy ball's way and then took out a paper amulet to throw at Deathborn, but the villain suddenly disappeared in a burst of purple light.

"What!" Reimu said in surprise.

Suddenly, the villain reappeared behind her in an instant to throw a punch across the back of her head.

POW!

"YA!" Reimu cried as she was sent flying sideways until she hit the railings at the side of the racetrack. She quickly stood back up and took out several paper amulets, but before she had the chance to throw them, she was hit and zapped from head to toe by a purple energy ball. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Deathborn then formed the energy sword in his hand again and swung it at her like a whip. Reimu was struck several times by the energy sword because Deathborn constantly swung it at her . After receiving quite a few blows, the shrine maiden quickly pulled herself together and raised her spiritually-enhanced gohei to block a strike from the lengthened energy sword.

When Deathborn swung it horizontally at her feet, Reimu quickly jumped into the air and performed several acrobatic back flips to get farther from Deathborn before two large pieces of orange amulet. "Hakurei Amulet!"

Deathborn quickly retracted his sword and then swung it at the pair of amulets to destroy them, but immediately after that, Reimu threw three blue amulets. "Spread Amulet!" The three large amulets traveled through the air a little bit before breaking down into a total of eighteen smaller amulets.

Deathborn swung his sword against the air wildly to destroy the amulets as they approached him. Reimu then took out another card and used it to make herself disappear, "Dimensional Rift!" She reappeared in the air behind Deathborn and was about to strike him in the back of the head with her gohei when suddenly the villain spun around and slammed the back of his hand into her waist.

SLAM!

"OOF!" Reimu cried as she flew to the side and hit the railing. As she got back up while groaning in pain, Deathborn walked up to her and lifted her into the air by the neck. "Ack!"

"This is what happens to all those who insult me!" Deathborn told her.

"Yeah... I've... underestimated... you... Ack... Let go... of... me..."

"Die!" Deathborn shouted as he let go Reimu before punching her in the body really hard.

SMASH!

"UGH!" Reimu cried in pain as she crashed into the wall, and then she fell towards the lava below while Deathborn laughed as she fell to her doom below. Reimu opened her eyes and looked as the lava as she fell closer and closer to it. "No... I cannot... die... I must... do... something..." She closed her eyes and thought about flying, and after concentrating hard enough, she swooped into the air just when she was about to touch the lava.

"What!" Deathborn said in surprise.

Reimu flew up to the racetrack and hovered in the air while saying, "Okay, now that my ability to fly has returned, I can fight with full power!"

"Grrrrr! I don't know how you're doing this, but you cannot defeat me just because you can fly! You will still die by my hands!"

* * *

"Oh..." Nitori groaned as she regained her consciousness. She rubbed her eyes and then looked around the place, "Where am I? Uh? Where's Reimu?" She then got out of the Falcon Flyer through the open ceiling and looked around the place. "Whoa... What is this place...?"

She jumped down from the Falcon Flyer and then walked forward a little bit. "How did I end up here? Oh yeah, Captain Falcon's flying ship went awry and then we crashed into this place. Speaking of which..." She turned around to face the Falcon Flyer. "This thing looks pretty busted... Captain Falcon probably won't be happy to find it in this state... I better patch this thing up a bit... First, to make sure if it can still fly..."

She got back into the Falcon Flyer and then turned on the controls, but when she did so, nothing happened. "Uh oh... Looks like it's broken... What do I do? Maybe I can fix it if I tear it apart!" She then walked around the flying ship's interior to look for part that she can open up.

She eventually found a handle on the wall, and when she turned the handle, a part of the wall opened to reveal the Falcon Flyer's engine. "Oh, here it is! Now let's if I can do something about this!" She then reached into two of her pockets to take out a wrench and a screwdriver.

* * *

"I know!" Marisa said. "I can simply use Master Spark to blast our way out of here! How come I haven't thought of this earlier-ze?" She then took out her hakkero and a card.

"Will it really work?" Sanae asked.

"Well, you won't know until we try things out. All right; here goes nothing-ze!" Marisa said as she placed the card in front of the hakkero and then held them in front of herself. "Love Sign: Master Spark!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Meiling and Aya were rushing down the hallway to get to the room where those girls were imprisoned. "It's that room!" Meiling said.

"I know," Aya told her. "I came across that room too, but then they told me that you were fighting Black Shadow, so I came to look for you first. All right; let's hurry up and free our friends! Hey, that's Reisen over there!"

Sure enough, Reisen was running down the opposite side of the hallway. "Aya! Meiling!" Reisen called out to them while waving her arm in the air. "You're all right! I'm so glad to see..."

Suddenly, a huge laser beam shot out from the door at the side of the hallway and struck Reisen.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen screamed as she was consumed and blown away by the laser beam.

"Whoa! That's Marisa's Master Spark!" Aya said in surprise.

The laser eventually died down, and there was a hole on the wall. Meiling and Aya went up in front of the hole to look at it, and they saw that the laser had reached all the way to the other end of the base, so there were holes on the walls that it came across. They could even see a charred figure on the wall on the far end of the base.

"Poor Reisen..." Meiling commented.

* * *

Within the room, Marisa raised her arm into the air in triumph and happily said, "All right! I did it! Now let's get out of here-ze!" She immediately ran forward, only to hit something invisible. "Ow! What the!" She reached out her hand and touched something that was glass-like in nature. "No way! The force field isn't destroyed? But my Master Spark clearly went through it!"

Alice touched the force field and said, "It would appear that while the force field is capable of being destroyed by extremely powerful attacks, it would quickly mend itself shortly after its destruction. At least that's what I think, and it seems to be true as well..."

"Then why didn't my Perfect Freeze break down the force field?" Cirno asked. "Is it not powerful enough?"

Aya and Meiling then came into the room. "Did you manage to break down the force field?" Aya asked them.

"We wouldn't still be standing in here if we did..." Marisa told her. "Alice said that this force field is capable to fixing itself in a second if it ever gets destroyed-ze..."

Meiling looked at the controller that was placed next to the door and said, "Maybe we'll have to press something on this controller in order to deactivate the force field, but which one?" She walked up to the controller and observed its various colorful buttons.

"Let's just try out all of them," Aya suggested as she walked up next to the gatekeeper.

"All right then," Meiling said, and then she pressed a light blue button.

The moment that button was pressed, the temperature inside the force field started to drop. "Um... Is it just me or is it getting colder in here-ze?" Marisa asked as she wrapped her hands around her body and shivered.

"I like this temperature!" Cirno commented.

"Um... Maybe this isn't the one..." Meiling said, and then she pressed a red button that caused the temperature increase.

"No! The temperature is increasing!" Cirno cried. "Lower it!"

"Sorry..." Meiling apologized as she pressed a yellow button.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"AAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" screamed the girls as electricity filled up inside the force field, electrocuting them.

"Sorry!" Meiling desperately apologized as she flicked a red switch. This caused the force field to disappear. "All right! I did it!"

"At last... We're free..." said a charred and smoking Sanae. Her hair was even sticking straight into the air due to being electrocuted.

Suddenly, the entire place shook and this made the girls fall to their knees. "Whoa! What happened?" Aya said in surprise.

* * *

"Whoa! The whole place is shaking!" Captain Falcon said as he fell to his knees due to the shaking. "Can it be that the...?"

"Here you are!" said the voice of Remilia as she walked up to CF while holding her broken right arm.

"You're all right, Remilia!" CF said to her. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know, and what was with that shaking just now?"

Suddenly, the shaking happened again, and this time, the entire place even tilted sideways slightly, but they were able to retain their footing on the floor. "It would seem that the base is on the verge of falling apart!" CF said. "Either that or it is simply plummeting towards the ground."

"Tough luck for us to still be inside, don't you think?" Remilia asked him.

"Even though I do not know all that much about this base, I have every reason to believe that something must've happened to core in order for this to be happening. We must find the others and then get out of here as fast as possible!"

* * *

"Spread Amulet!" Reimu shouted as she threw several blue paper amulets at once, and they all split into smaller pieces and flew towards Deathborn.

Deathborn formed a large energy ball in between his hands, and then he lifted it over his head before throwing it at the incoming amulets. The large energy grazed through the amulets and went for Reimu, but she quickly into the air to avoid it. While she was in the air, Deathborn spread out his arms and caused several purple spikes to appear around him in an arc, and when he pointed his finger at Reimu, the energy spikes flew towards the shrine maiden.

Being an expert in dodging projectiles while airborne, Reimu had no problem avoiding the energy spikes as they flew towards her. She moved side to side to avoid them and then flew towards Deathborn while throwing paper amulets at him. The villain quickly formed a wall of energy that made the amulets disappear on contact.

The amulets reappeared behind Reimu and were about to hit her when she shouted, "Instant Dimensional Rift!" The amulets exploded when they touched Reimu, but at the exact same time, there was a burst of blue light. When the light and the smoke cleared, there were several amulets left in place of where Reimu originally was, and they flew at Deathborn.

"What!" Deathborn said in surprise. He had no time to do anything about the amulets as they struck various parts of his body, exploding upon contact.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Ugh!" Deathborn grunted as he took several backs from the explosion. Reimu suddenly reappeared behind him and gave him a roundhouse kick to the back of the head. The villain fell to the side and then turned to face her angrily. "Why you?"

"Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she fired three yin-yang orbs from a card. One of the yin-yang orbs struck Deathborn and made him take a few steps backwards, and then he teleported away to avoid the remaining two yin-yang orbs.

Reimu looked around desperately to see where Deathborn reappear from. When she looked up, she saw Deathborn diving at her with his fist pulled back, so she quickly moved aside in the nick of time to avoid the villain's diving punch.

SMASH!

Deathborn's punch created a miniature crater on the floor, and while he had yet to stand back up, Reimu threw a pair of orange amulets at him. "Hakurei Amulet!"

Holding out his right hand, Deathborn quickly formed the energy sword in his and then swung it at the pair of incoming amulets to destroy them, and then he dashed at Reimu to attack her. Reimu quickly moved back to avoid a swing from the energy sword, and then she took off into the air while throwing several paper amulets at Deathborn, but the villain shredded them into pieces by swinging the energy sword wildly against the air.

"Don't think that you are safe just because you're in the air!" Deathborn said as he leaped at Reimu. When he swung his energy sword at her, she quickly swung her spiritually-enhanced gohei to block the attack. The both of them traded blows with each other for a while before Deathborn disappeared.

"Tsk! This teleportation thing is starting to become annoying!" Reimu grumbled as she looked around for Deathborn. Suddenly, the villain reappeared behind her and slashed her at the same time.

SLAAAAAAAAASH!

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" Reimu screamed as she fell onto the floor with a thud. "Ugh..." When she turned over on back, Deathborn fell down on top of her and plunged the energy sword through her left shoulder. "YAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"I can simply banish you to the outer limits of space right away," Deathborn told her, "but you have angered me so much that I want to torture you and then cut into pieces first! After that, I will send you piece by piece into the outer limits of space!" Deathborn then pulled up the energy sword and raised high over Reimu's head. "DIE!" And then he plunged the tip of the sword at her.

Acting quick, Reimu took out a yellow card and tilted her head slightly to the side before slapping it onto the floor next to her head. The energy sword pierced the card instead, and immediately, the card released electricity that passed from the energy sword to Deathborn, electrocuting and stunning him. "GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Reimu quickly used this opportunity to roll away from Deathborn and then stood back up, and while the villain was still paralyzed and suffering from the electrocution, Reimu threw a barrage of pink amulets at him. "Demon Buster!"

The amulets exploded upon hitting Deathborn, but the villain still could not move and was forced to receive every single hit. Reimu then took out another card and used it to fire three yin-yang orbs at him. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!"

After getting hit by all three yin-yang orbs, Deathborn was able to move again. He pulled his energy sword out of the ground and turned to Reimu, but the shrine maiden rushed up to him to land a powerful kick to his chest. "Oof!"

KICK!

"Foot of the Wind God Champion!" Reimu shouted as she performed a series of acrobatic kicks to Deathborn, and then she leaped into the air and slammed down her spiritually-enhanced gohei onto his head

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

The powerful blow caused the glass on Deathborn's head to break apart, leaving his brain vulnerable. "Argh! Why you?" Deathborn angrily shouted, and then he started to throw purple energy balls at Reimu rapidly.

Reimu took off into the air to avoid the incoming energy balls, and when Deathborn aimed them at her, she swiftly moved left and right to avoid them. She then swooped down and smacked Deathborn across the face with her gohei before returning into the air to bombard him with a combination of paper amulets and needles. Deathborn quickly held her hands over his brain and ran to escape the nonstop bombardment.

"Dimensional Rift!" Reimu said as she took out a card to warp herself in front of Deathborn, and then she pressed another card against his body. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Deathborn was blown back by an orange, circular explosion. After tumbling onto the floor roughly, the villain stood back up and shouted with rage, "That does it! I'm going to run you over with my F-Zero machine and crush all your bones!"

He raised his arms into the air and formed a ball of purple energy over his head. The energy ball fired a beam at the floor, and an in instant, a purple vehicle with no visible numbering appeared—Dark Schneider. Deathborn quickly jumped into its cockpit and said, "Get ready to die!" Then he started the engine and drove towards Reimu at top speed.

Reimu quickly flew into the air before the vehicle hit her, but then Deathborn did a u-turn to try to ram her again. This time, Reimu took out a card and slapped it onto the floor, shouting, "Divine Arts: Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!" The card glowed with bright orange light and then a massive pillar of light was formed around her.

Deathborn drove straight into the light, but in doing so, his vehicle got carried up into the air while the light constantly burned it . "WHAT!" he screamed.

The vehicle was constantly taking damage within the pillar damage. Suddenly, the pillar of light disappeared and the Dark Schneider flew backwards and over of the railings of a curve on the racetrack, hitting the wall before falling towards the lava below.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO! HOW CAN THIS BE!" Deathborn cried at the top of his voice. "HOW CAN I LOSE TO A YOUNG GIRL! THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And then Grand Prix Champion of the Underworld, along with his F-Zero machine, plummeted into the lava.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Reimu went over to the side of the racetrack and looked downwards at the lava. The surface of the lava where the F-Zero machine fell into bubbled for a while, but then the bubbling stopped. Reimu let out a sigh as she sat down on the racetrack and said, "Phew... I did it... I've won..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Nitori started the engines of the Falcon Flyer, and then the flying ship's computer activated. "Yes! I did it! I managed to fix Captain Falcon's flying ship!" she exclaimed. "I really did it!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

There you have it! Hopefully, the fight in this chapter was enjoyable enough for you all! Please look forward to the next chapter!

It would appear that this site isn't showing lengthy sound effects once again, so I had to go and input spaces into the lengthy sound effects in order to make them visible onscreen.

By the way, these are the attacks that had there names changed:**  
Enigmatically Casted Pearl **is now **Bright Orb Cast into Shade  
Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Jade **is now **Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb  
Wind God Kick **is now **Foot of the Wind God Champion**

I will make mention of changes in attack names if they ever used again by the girls.

**Next chapter: Grand Prix Legend  
**


	42. Grand Prix Legend

**SBS Time!  
JakeCrusher: **I miss the days when your stories were updated daily.  
**Game2002: **For some reason, I don't really feel as motivated as I'm used to be when working on stories, though that doesn't mean I'm going to give up working on stories any time soon. You can be sure that I will try to update within ten days unless something happens.

Actually, I'm not sure whether or not Deathborn's Dark Schneider has a visible number on its body. It would be nice if somebody go and confirm this for me. Thanks in advance!

**Chapter 41  
Grand Prix Legend**

**

* * *

**

Reimu returned to the Falcon Flyer and saw Nitori standing in front of the flying ship. "Nitori, you're awake!" the shrine maiden said.

"I was going to look for you, Reimu," Nitori said to her. "Hey, what happened to you? You look badly injured!"

"I had a fight with someone, but it's over now."

"Oh, I see... Anyway, I've fixed Captain Falcon's flying ship, so let's use it to get out of here!"

"You've fixed that thing all by yourself?"

"Yep! I'm actually surprised that I managed to patch it up! All right; come on aboard! We're taking off!"

"Wait a minute... Do you even know how to pilot this thing? You remember what happened when you turned off the autopilot last time, didn't you?"

"Don't worry; I tried figuring out the flying ship's control earlier, so I know how to pilot it this time!"

"Let's hope that nothing will go wrong this time..."

* * *

Dark Million Organization's base was tilting to one side while slowly falling towards the ground.

Inside, Captain Falcon was trying to retain his balance while running down the hallway. Remilia simply flew through the air, so she was not affected by the tilting hallway. "It's starting to get harder and harder to move around in here..." CF said. "We need to get out of here as fast as we can, but we also need to find the other girls!"

Suddenly, the base tilted in the other direction, making CF slide into the other wall on the left, but the captain continued to press forward.

As they continued down the hallway, there were some cries coming from a passage at the right, and then Marisa and the others came sliding down that passage. "Weeeeee!" Cirno exclaimed as she enjoyed the slide.

"This is not fun!" Sanae said.

CF and Remilia watched them slide down the passage at the left, and then the captain shouted to them, "Hey! Are you girls all right?"

Aya flew into the air and replied, "We're all right! We've managed to rescue our friends, but now this place is going crazy!"

"We have to make it to the garage before this place becomes too unstable for us to move around! The base is also on the verge of falling to the ground, and it might even explode!"

"Ayaya! That's sounds bad! We better get out of here fast!"

"The garage shouldn't be too far from here, so let's get going..."

Suddenly, the entire placed shook and tilted around violently, making CF fall onto the floor. "Whoa!"

Remilia then lifted him into the air by the arms. "Geez, it's such a pain trying to deal with someone who can't fly..." Using this method, Remilia carried CF down the hallway, and the captain even stretched out his arms and legs as if he was flying like Superman.

"I can see why the ability to fly around freely is useful now!" CF said.

The rest of the girls also flew down the hallway as not to get affected by the tilting passage. After a few minutes of winding their way through the passages, they finally arrived at the garage.

"All right! The rest of you go on ahead first!" CF said as Remilia let go of him to allow him to run to his Blue Falcon. "I'll escape from here using my Blue Falcon!" He got into his Blue Falcon, which was leaning against the wall, and started its engines.

"We'll be waiting for you out there!" Aya told her as she flew out of the hatch with the other girls.

Once they were outside, they managed to get a good look at what was happening to the base—the entire thing was tilting to one side while slowly descending towards the ground. "Whoa... The entire base really is falling-ze..." Marisa commented.

"Captain Falcon said that something must've happened to the core in order for this to happen."

"I know now!" Meiling suddenly said. "Black Shadow's vehicle fell into the core when I fought him, and the core must've been destroyed by it!"

"Oh really? Good job, Meiling!"

"Thanks for your comment, Mistress Remilia! I'm glad that I've done something useful this time!"

Suddenly, the Blue Falcon came shooting out of the hatch at a really fast speed. The girls quickly got out of the way as the F-Zero machine charged in their direction, slowly descending towards the ground. The Blue Falcon eventually hit the ground with a thud and was going to slide into a cliff wall. CF quickly attempted to steer to the side, but due to the speed that the vehicle was traveling at, it seemed clear that it was going to hit the cliff wall no matter.

Just when the F-Zero machine was about hit the wall, Aya suddenly came down in front of it and used all her strength to stop the vehicle. With her feet planted against the ground really hard, she managed to keep the vehicle from hitting the cliff wall. "Phew... That was close..." she said with a sigh of relief.

"Thanks!" CF said as he got out from his vehicle.

"No problem!" Aya replied with a smile and a wink.

As the girls watched Dark Million Organization's base descending towards the ground, Youmu came up to them from behind and said, "Hey everyone! You're all out here!"

Alice turned around to face and said, "You're all right yourself as well. How's everything?"

"Everything's fine. I managed to defeat the person who challenged me to a swordfight." Youmu then looked around and asked, "By the way, where's Reimu and Nitori?"

"Oh yeah... They didn't enter the base with us... We've totally forgotten about them-ze!" Marisa said.

Suddenly, the Falcon Flyer came shooting from a nearby cave and towards them. "WATCH OUT!" Nitori cried loudly from the inside of the flying ship.

"That's my Falcon Flyer!" CF pointed out.

"And it's heading for us!" Reisen cried. "Watch out!"

CF and the girls quickly got out of the way as the Falcon Flyer charged in their direction, and then it crashed into the cliff wall really hard.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Falcon Flyer was badly bent from the powerful impact, and CF and the girls ran up to it. "Reimu! Nitori! Are you all right in there?" He jumped onto the top of the Falcon Flyer and then tried to pry open the ceiling.

Aya came and gave him a hand, and then they were able to pry open the ceiling. "Are you all right?" CF asked the two girls inside.

Reimu and Nitori looked up from their seats and Reimu replied, "We're all right! Maybe except for a few scratches and a bump on our foreheads..."

"Thanks goodness! I was really worried about the two of you!"

The two girls came out from Falcon Flyer to join up with the others. "So where have you been?" Marisa asked Reimu. "Just look at you! You've been doing some rough business, haven't you-ze?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Reimu replied. "I got into a fight with someone named Deathborn."

"Deathborn!" CF said in shock. "He's alive?"

"Yeah, he claims that he is able to resurrect himself. Don't worry; I've managed to defeat him."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash that made them jump up a little bit, and when they turned to the source of the crashing sound, they saw that Dark Million Organization's base had finally hit the ground. "Whoa! The entire base has fallen!" Nitori said in surprise.

"So where's the explosion?" Aya asked.

"Let's just be glad that it didn't explode," CF said. "With a size like that, we may very well get caught in its explosion. Even Mute City may get caught in it!"

"Okay... I was hoping to get a good shot of the explosion... Wait, my camera is out of film, so I can't take a picture of it anyway..."

Just then, several vehicles pulled up into the place. Jody Summer and John Tanaka came out from two of their vehicles and ran up to them. "Captain Falcon!" Jody said. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, everything is all right," CF told her. "We've rescued the prisoners and even brought down the entire base!"

John looked at the fallen base and said, "Whoa, that's quite a feat to pull off if you ask me!"

"I did it!" Meiling said as she raised her arm.

"This is our opportunity to capture the members of the Dark Million Organization," Jody said, and then she gave commands to the policemen to head into the base to do their job. After that, she said to CF and the girls, "About the Light Essence..."

"Ah yes, the Light Essence!" CF said. "We were supposed to look for that! How is it? Were you able to get the permission to obtain it?"

"We discussed with the grand prix's committee. While they understand the reason for taking down the Light Essence, they are not sure if the participants are willing to accept this. As not to disappoint the participants who were looking forward to obtain this prize, the committee cannot simply take it down and give it to people who are not participating in the tournament."

Hearing this, Reimu asked, "Does that mean we will not be able to get the Light Essence?"

"Not right away..."

"Don't worry," CF told the girls. "There is only one thing to do left, and that is for me to win the grand prix! Fear not; I will win this race no matter what. I will ensure that you obtain the Light Essence! I will not disappoint you!"

"Really? Then that means we get to see a real F-Zero Grand Prix!" Nitori said, sounding very excited.

"Yep, this is your opportunity to behold the excitement of the watching F-Zero Grand Prix! Don't miss out this opportunity!"

* * *

"In the end, Deathborn was like the Black Jewel," said the staff-wielding person. "Brought back to life without ever figuring out how it happened and returned to grave without ever learning the answer as well."

"And that is why I told you to stop wasting your time trying to bring him back to life!" the annoying one said. "None of you here ever listens to me!"

"If we listen to you all the time, then this organization is going to fall apart before you know it," the bald one said.

"Argh! Every one of you here always looks down on me!" The annoying one started jumping up and down while moving his hands through his large mass of hair madly.

The others pretended that they didn't see him and continued with their conversation. "So are we really going to let those girls run around?" asked the bulky person.

"Is that to say you are now afraid of them as well?" the person with the hat asked him.

The bulky person glared at him and said, "Are you trying to get me onto your bad side by saying that?"

"Ha! Like I'm afraid of you in the first place! If it's a fight you're asking for, bring it!"

Suddenly, a loud voice spoke up, "Enough! We are not here to fight each other! We may not be on good terms with each other, but think of the benefits that we can get from our alliance! Do not worry about those girls. We shall let them run around a little longer before we decide on what we to do with them."

"Heheheh! I like where this is going!" the person with really sharp teeth said. "This is just like a movie where the antagonist allows the protagonist to run around freely in order to find out more about his or her abilities. By doing this, the protagonist's weakness will be made clear, thus giving the villain an advantage."

"Right, we should know more about our enemies if we want to get rid of them. For now, let us watch the girls carefully and see what they are capable of first. Okay, the next world that they will be arriving at is... Ah, I see... We have a client there who has agreed to join us!"

The person with really sharp teeth then said, "It was I who invited them in the first place, so I shall go and see what they are up to now."

"Have Fawful go with you. Given his knowledge in science and technology, he would definitely be of great help to our client in that world."

"Geeheeheeheehee!" Fawful laughed as he got up from his chair. "I have chortles! Fawful is of most happiness to know that my brilliant mind that is as bright as the sun is being appreciated by all!"

* * *

The next day, the girls were sat down in the front row of the audience stand, waiting for the F-Zero Grand Prix to begin. "Woohoo! I can't wait for this to start!" Nitori said while trembling with excitement.

"I can't wait either!" Aya said while holding up her camera. "I want to see just how fast those F-Zero vehicles can move!"

"I thought your camera was out of film," Reimu asked her.

"Please don't remind me of that..."

"Ladies and gentlemen!" said a loud voice that came seemingly from nowhere. "Sorry to keep you waiting. We are now going to begin today's F-Zero Grand Prix! First, we shall introduce to you the participants of today's race!"

The voice, which is the announcer, then started introducing the participants of the grand prix one by one. "First off, we have the Japanese Warrior—Samurai Goroh!"

Samurai Goroh stood in front of his vehicle while waving at the crowd.

"Next, we have the high-flying medico—Dr. Stewart!"

Dr. Stewart stood on top on top of his Golden Fox's cockpit while waving his the cheering audience.

"The Cyborg returns—Mighty Gazelle!"

Mighty Gazelle stood up from his seat to wave at his fans.

"The hit man who flies at the speed of sound—Pico! Wait a minute... It would appear that Pico has been disqualified from the race due to certain reasons... Anyway, we also have the Bounty Hunter—Captain Falcon!"

"Yeah! Captain Falcon is the strongest!" Cirno exclaimed.

"How rare of you to call someone else besides yourself the strongest-ze..." Marisa commented.

After the announcer had finished introducing all the racers, the racers got into their F-Zero machines to begin the race. "All right, now that we have introduced to you all the racers, we will now begin the race!" the announcer said. After the racers were inside their vehicles, the announcer started the countdown. "Three, two, one... GO!"

Immediately, flames came out from the back of each of the F-Zero machines, and then the race was on!

Once the vehicles were gone, the large screen hanging from the ceiling displayed the racers that were in lead. "Look! Captain Falcon is in lead!" Sanae pointed out.

**BGM: Mute City (Super Smash Bros. Melee)**

The Blue Falcon took the lead with some other vehicles trying their best to catch up with it. The Fire Stingray eventually caught up with the Blue Falcon and Samurai Goroh looked at the captain from his cockpit. "Heheh! You're going down, Captain Falcon!" Goroh taunted as he steered into the Blue Falcon to hit it hard.

The Blue Falcon was forcefully pushed to the side, and this gave the vehicles behind it the chance to go past it. Not willing to give up so easily, CF pulled down a lever and shouted, "Boost Fire!" And then a combination of blue and orange aura appeared around the Blue Falcon as the vehicle zoomed forward really fast.

CF caught up with Dr. Clash's Crazy Bear and went past it. When he tried to go past the Mad Wolf, Billy attempted to ram him. CF quickly performed another Boost Fire to move forward, resulting in the Mad Wolf crashing into the railing.

After going over some turbo boosts on the racetrack as well as traveling through some loops, he eventually caught up with the vehicles that were taking the lead. "I won't lose no matter what!" CF said to himself.

The race went on as the audience went wild cheering for their favorite racers, and eventually, the race was down to its last lap. "It's the last lap and we have three racers who are in the lead!" the announcer said. "Who's going to win?"

"You can do it, Captain Falcon!" Cirno cheered loudly.

The Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, and Fire Stingray were the three vehicles taking the lead. As they were performing a tight turn around a corner, Goroh rammed into Dr. Stewart's vehicle to send the Golden Fox sliding into the railing.

CRASH!

With the Golden Fox out of commission, the Blue Falcon and Fire Stingray were the only ones in lead while the other racers were still way in the back. "Haha! I'm going to win this!" Goroh said to himself excitedly. "That captain won't be beating me for sure!"

The Blue Falcon caught up to the side of the Fire Stingray and the captain waved at Goroh from his cockpit while smiling.

"Hmph! What is that supposed to mean? I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're greeting me!" Goroh said, and then he rammed his vehicle into the Blue Falcon.

CF rammed him back and both the vehicles were basically hitting each other back and forth as they got closer and closer to the finish line. CF looked at the energy gauge and saw that his vehicle was in danger of malfunctioning. "I can't keep this up forever!" he thought. "The finish line is just in front... I'll be out of this race if I receive any more collisions... I can't use Boost Fire with only this much energy either..."

"You're done for, Captain Falcon!" Goroh said as he steered into the Blue Falcon again.

Acting quick, CF stepped on the brake to let Goroh move ahead of him, and as Goroh wasn't expecting this, he crashed into the railing when he tried to ram into the Blue Falcon.

CRASH!

CF quickly stepped on the gas pedal to move forward before the other vehicles caught up with him. Goroh got out from his wrecked vehicle and shouted at CF, "CURSE YOU! CAPTAIN FALCON!"

And so, the Blue Falcon went past the finish line. "Captain Falcon won first place!" the announcer shouted.

Immediately, the audience stood up and went wild upon seeing the captain obtaining first place. "HOORAY! CAPTAIN FALCON IS THE BEST!"

"All right! He did it!" Nitori exclaimed. "He won!"

"Hooray! Captain Falcon is the best!" Cirno exclaimed with her arms raised into the air.

"That means we will be able to obtain the Light Essence!" Sanae said. "All right! Captain Falcon did it!"

The crowd continued to cheer for CF as he stepped up from his vehicle's seat to wave at his fans. "Thank you! Thank you all for your support!" CF told them. "I'm very happy that you all enjoyed my victory!

A green-haired man dressed in a green suit and wearing red goggles came up to him and said spoke into microphone, "Congratulations on your stunning victory, Captain Falcon! Do you have any words for your fans regarding your victory?" And then he held his microphone in front of the captain's mouth.

"I have to admit that I was worried for the moment that I wouldn't win this race," CF replied. "I cannot afford to lose this race because my friends are depending on me to accomplish something for them. They need the prize for a special reason, so I promised them that I would this race no matter what. I did not win the race for selfish reasons, but to help my friends continue their journey!"

"Heh! He's a very nice guy, don't you think-ze?" Marisa asked.

"That's a really touching story!" the man, who was an interviewer, said to him. "The prize is on top of the pedestal, so go ahead and claim your prize!"

CF went up a small set of stairs and then reached for the prize that was placed on the pedestal. It was a red trophy that had a golden falcon in front of it, and the base of the trophy was colored green. The crowd went wild as CF held the trophy high into the air for all to see. "HOORAY!"

* * *

Some time later, the girls were back in Port Town. Captain Falcon was also there, sending them off.

"Thanks for getting the Light Essence for us!" Reimu, who was holding the Light Essence in her arms, said to him. "We really owed you one!"

"You don't have to say that," CF told her. "Friends are supposed to help each other, so there is no need for repaying me. Hope you will be able to get to Smash World and then return to your own world afterwards!"

"And thanks for the prize money as well!"

"Go ahead and keep that as well. I have enough money to make a living already! By the way..." CF inspected the Light Essence. "Hmmm..."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"The Light Essence's color schemes... It's different from before... When I first saw it, it was completely gray in color. To be precise, silver..."

"Are you saying that its color schemes changed?"

"Yes, but the committee claims that it is the same thing... Well, I don't really know anything about the Light Essences asides from the fact that Master Hand gave it to some of us as a souvenir before we returned to our each of own worlds, so maybe this is supposed to be something normal..."

"Okay... Anyway, we'll be taking our leave."

Reimu and her friends went back into the shrine, and then Reimu let go of the Light Essence to let it float into the air. The usual stuff happened and as the light was shining down on top of the Hakurei Shrine, the girls waved good-bye to Captain Falcon. "Good-bye! We will never forget your kindness!" Sanae said.

"You're the best, Captain Falcon!" Cirno said loudly. "Good-bye!"

"Good-bye, everyone CF replied with a smile. "I wish you all a good luck on your journey!"

Eventually, the light became so bright and intense that CF had to close his eyes (his visors do nothing). When he was able to open his eyes again, the shrine was gone. "There they go..." CF said. "I'm really going to miss them... Oh well, it's back to my usual life!"

After that, the captain returned into his Blue Falcon and then started its engines before driving down the path until the vehicle disappeared over the horizon.

* * *

Kaguya was alone at the Eientei. Actually, the rabbits were also there to keep her company. As the Lunarian princess sat on the porch while watching the sky, she said in a bored tone, "Geez, it sure it boring around here... I just wonder what Reisen's up to. It's been pretty quiet around here ever since she went missing. Eirin and Tewi are out doing business at the Human Village... Guess it's just me and the rabbits until they come back..."

"Kaguya!" shouted a voice that was familiar to her, and then a white-haired girl dressed in red and white overalls stepped out from behind some bushes. "Kaguya! It seems that you are alone at the moment!"

"Oh hi, Mokou!" Kaguya greeted her cheerfully. "I'm not really alone. The rabbits are here to keep me company!"

"That doesn't matter!" Mokou said as fire came out from her raised fists. "Now that nobody is here to protect you, this is my perfect opportunity to strike you down! Prepare yourself!"

"Wait a minute!" Kaguya said as she stretched out her hand to stop Mokou. "You came at the right moment! I was thinking about playing a game, but it requires to people. Now that you're here, why don't you play with me?"

"I'm not here to play games!"

"Oh, are you saying that you're afraid of losing to me in the game?"

Mokou became irritated upon hearing this. "Grrr! I'm not afraid of losing to you in anything! Fine! I'll beat you in that game of yours if you want to!"

"Okay! Follow me!" Kaguya said as she led the way around to the side of the building.

Mokou followed her until they came to an empty courtyard that had a large checkered pattern drawn on the ground. "What's this?" Mokou asked.

"Have you ever heard of the game chess?" Kaguya asked her.

"Yeah, I've read about that in a book that Keine got from Korindou. What about it?"

"Ever since I've read about that game, I wanted to give it a try, but because we do not have chess equipments, we've came up with an alternative." Kaguya then clapped her hands. "All right, rabbits, onto your positions!"

Immediately, several rabbits came hopping over to the checkered pattern and positioned themselves on the squares at the side of the pattern, and they were all dressed in medieval clothing.

"What the...?" Mokou said with an odd-looking expression.

"There! Now we can play chess!" Kaguya said.

"Are you seriously going to play this makeshift chess? This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen!"

"Oh? So you're really afraid of losing to me?"

"Argh! I'm not going to lose to you on anything! Fine, let's play!"

"Okay! You'll be black and I'll be white since white always gets to go first!"

* * *

A Pokemon Super Contest was currently being held in Hearthome City, and many people were gathered within the Contest Hall to watch the contest that involved Pokemon showing off their looks, moves, and such.

"Coming up next in the Pokemon Super Contest," a man dressed in a suit said, "is the Dance Competition! May the competing Pokemon please come on stage to perform?"

The audience went wild as several Pokemon and as their respective trainers came on stage to greet everyone. Among the participants were Platinum and her Empoleon.

"You can do it, Missy!" Pearl shouted from among the audience.

"Do your best, Missy!" Diamond said with a mouthful of rice ball.

"I'm enjoying this Pokemon Super Contest so far!" Red said. "But I prefer Pokemon battles more."

The announcer (the man dressed in the suit) then said, "All right! Without further delay, we will now begin..."

Suddenly, a gap opened up in front of him and then Yukari's upper body appeared from it, scaring him.

"Whoa!"

"Oh, did I scare you?" the demon of boundaries asked. "Sorry about that..."

"Hey! Who are you?" one of the judges, a bearded man wearing a brown suit and a same-colored hat, asked her. "How can you pop out of nowhere on the stage without permission?"

"Oh, this is a stage?" Yukari asked. "Does that mean a show is going on?"

"Yes, we're about to start the Dance Competition," the judge—Dexter—told her.

"Dance Competition? Heh, that sounds neat to me! What say I show you all a little dance?"

"You didn't sign up for this contest, so even if you dance, you won't get judged. Plus, you don't seem to have any Pokemon with you either!"

"Oh, come on! Don't you want to see Gensokyo's most powerful demon dancing? You should be honored to see me dance!" Yukari said, and then she stepped out from the gap and took out a fan to begin dancing.

Everyone watched as Yukari performed a tap dance while lightly flapping the fan against her face. She then stretched out her arms while leaping forward, and then she started performing graceful spins like a ballerina. However, she got too close to the edge of stage and fell off of it.

CRASH!

The announcer ran up to the edge of the stage and looked down at Yukari, who was down on her knees. "Are you all right?" he asked her

"I'm fine. Got a little bit too careless, that's all..." Yukari replied while dusting herself. "Oh yeah, I hope that you all enjoyed my little dance! What do you think?" When she stood back up, the sound of something snapping could be heard.

SNAP!

"Ow!" Yukari cried in pain, and it forced her to bend forward a little bit. "My... back... Ow..."

"Um... Are you all right...?" Dexter asked her.

"Don't worry... I'm still young... I'm only... eighteen years old... Yeah... Eighteen... Hahaha... By the way... I'm actually here... to look... for a group of... eleven girls..."

"Eleven girls?" said Red curiously when he heard this. "Is one of the girls that you're for named Reimu?"

Hearing this, Yukari replied to him, "Yes! She's the one I'm looking for!"

"Unfortunately, Reimu and her friends left a few days ago already..."

"Uh, bummer... Late by a few days again... Thanks for the information anyway... All right, I'm out of here... Sorry for interrupting your show..."

And then Yukari disappeared into a gap that appeared underneath her feet, and then the gap closed up and disappeared. Everyone watched in silence at the spot where the gap originally was for several seconds until Pearl said, "What was that all about...?"

* * *

The Hakurei Shrine was flying through a passage of white light, heading for the next world.

As the girls hanged out in the living room, Reimu noticed Nitori doing something to her backpack, so she asked the kappa, "What are you doing, Nitori?"

"Adding some new functions to my backpack," Nitori replied while messing around with her backpack's interior. "In places that lack water, I need to come up with more ways to defend myself and fight my opponents."

"I've been thinking about what Captain Falcon said..." Reisen spoke up all of a sudden. "Have you noticed that each of the essences have color schemes that are the same as each of us?"

"Now that you've mentioned it..." Marisa said while rubbing her chin. "You're right-ze..."

"Let's see... The mushroom essence is red and white like Reimu's clothing," Aya said, "and then we have the one that Wario gave us, and it is black and white like Marisa... The triple triangle essence has colors comparable to Youmu, not to mention the Pokemon world essence having similar color schemes as Alice... And now Meiling also has the same colors schemes as the essence of Captain Falcon's world..."

"You're talking as if I'm the one who's copying the essence's color schemes..." Meiling said to her.

"Are the color schemes simply coincidences or what?" Reisen wondered.

"But Captain Falcon said that the essence was originally silver in color," Sanae reminded her. "Maybe it has the ability to change color? But why the same color schemes as us?"

"Who knows?" Remilia said while taking a sip of tea from her cup, and then she looked at Meiling. "By the way... Meiling, why aren't you at the front door?"

"But you told me that I can take a break here," Meiling replied.

"Oh yeah, that's right... I forgot about that..."

"But if you want to, I'll go to the front door to see if we are arriving at the next world or not," Meiling said as she got up to leave the room. Shortly after leaving the room, she said out loud, "I can see the next world!"

"All right," Reimu said as she stood up. "Let's get ready, girls!"

The girls all got up and then stepped out onto the front door to join Meiling as the Hakurei Shrine flew closer and closer to the sphere that showed the scenery of the next world.

* * *

A bright flash occurred as the Hakurei Shrine appeared on top of a patch of grass. The girls came out one by one to take a look at the new world and saw that they were standing on top of a grassy cliff, and below them was the sea.

They continued looking around the place and saw trees and tall mountains far in the distance. "Wow! This place is beautiful!" Sanae exclaimed.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

There goes the F-Zero arc! Coming up next is the... Wait, I shouldn't tell you what the next arc is... You should try to figure it out by yourselves. Happy guessing!

BTW, college has once again started, so my updating speed may or may not be affected by this. Actually, I don't think it will make much difference considering my updating speed isn't as fast as it's used to be anyway...

**Trivia  
**1. Yukari is at least 1,200 years old.

2. In F-Zero GX, Billy's belt buckle has a picture of AiAi from the Super Monkey Ball series. Sega made this game, so it's no surprise that they would throw in a cameo appearance from their own series into it.

3. Even though fandom tends to portray Kaguya and Mokou's rivalry as being taken seriously, Inaban of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth shows that their rivalry is actually very casual. In fact, Mokou is the only one who takes it seriously while Kaguya doesn't really care about it.

4. Fandom tends to portray Kaguya as someone who shuts herself away from the public, Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth shows that she is curious to see the world outside of Bamboo Forest of the Lost.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Things That You Might Want to Know

Yeah, the title speaks for itself... Here, I will answer some things that are unexplained in the story.

**Where did the portable game console that Marisa bought at Diamond City?  
**Actually, she accidentally left the game console at the video game store. When the news reporters were crowding in on her to interview her about finding Wario's dustcloth, she accidentally dropped it onto the floor. The store owner though that she had taken the console without paying, but then found out that it was still in his store, so he put it back into the box to put it on sale again.

**How did Sanae get free from Black Shadow's energy string?  
**The energy string was destroyed when Cirno used Perfect Freeze. Apparently, the energy string breaks when it gets hit by a powerful attack.


	43. Nature of Nowhere

I apologize for the long wait. I had a pretty serious writer's block when working on this chapter, and in the end, this chapter is somewhat rushed out and is also pretty short compared to the previous ones. Still, I hope that this is still a good enough start for a new arc. Enjoy!

**Chapter 42  
Nature of Nowhere**

* * *

The girls came made their way to the bottom of the cliff by walking down a ledge, and then they continue walking down a dirt path. When they turned to look at the beach, they noticed that there were umbrellas, beach chairs, and several other equipments that one would bring to a beach. "It seems that there are people living around this place," Reimu said.

"I wonder where they are-ze," Marisa wondered.

"If there are beach equipments there, then there must be some sort of a beach resort or a hotel nearby," Sanae said. "Maybe this place is a vacation spot!"

They continued down the path until they finally saw buildings in the distance, and after a minute or so of walking, they finally arrived at the entrance of a village. It was a rather primitive village as the houses where made from wooden boards.

"Looks like there are people living here after all," Reimu thought.

The girls stepped into the village ground, but stayed near the entrance to look at the village's citizens as they walked around the place, chatted with friends, and did several other things such as carrying things and watering plants. "This place looks pretty peaceful!" Aya commented.

"Yeah, it sure looks peaceful here," Reisen agreed.

The girls took another step forward, but then they heard someone talking to them. "Hey there! I haven't seen you around here before!" said the voice. The girls looked around for the source of the voice. "I'm down here!" When they looked down, they saw a frog standing in front of them. "Hi there! I'm a Save Frog!"

"A talking frog!" Sanae said in surprise.

"It's something that you see very often on this island," the frog said. "We Save Frogs dedicate ourselves to helping people in every way possible! Actually, we can only do limited things because we are frogs. Saving and transferring Dragon Points is what we are known for, and we are also good at saving things! It means to say that if you have anything that you fear you will forget, just tell us about it and then we will save what you want to remember! By the way, as there are many Save Frogs out there, I have decided to give myself a name in order to set myself apart from the frogs. My name is Wart!"

Suddenly, the Save Frog was encased in a block of ice after being struck by a white beam. "Geez, you just had to do that, did you?" Reimu said to Cirno, who simply responded with great big smile.

The girls continued on their way, ignoring the frozen Save Frog as the ice will eventually might by itself due to the warm weather. They received stares from the people as they walked towards the center of the town, and such stares made them feel uncomfortable. "Everyone's looking at us as if we're strangers..." Reisen said.

"We are strangers around here..." Youmu reminded her.

Then a bearded man dressed in brown overalls came up to them and greeted them, saying, "Hello! It's nice to meet you! I'm Bronson, and welcome to Tazmily Village!"

"Um, hi..." Reimu replied. "I'm Reimu Hakurei, and we're new around here..."

"Yeah, I can see that. I've never seen you people around here before. You're mostly likely not from this island either."

"Yeah, it's pretty what you said..."

"I'd never thought that there would be humans living outside this island... It's truly a surprise to know that you are not from this island!"

"You mean that this island is the only place in this world that has human beings-ze?" Marisa asked.

"As far as we know, it is like that... But let's not talk about that for now. We, the villagers of Tazmily Village, will show you around the place! Feel free to make yourselves at home here on Nowhere Island!"

"Nowhere Island?" Nitori curiously said. "What a strange name..."

"It sure is..." Aya agreed while nodding her head.

As Bronson was talking with the girls, a middle-aged man dressed like a cowboy came up to them. "What's up, Bronson?" he asked. "And who are you talking to?"

"Oh, Flint!" Bronson said to the cowboy. "These girls are new to this island, so I was thinking of showing them around this place."

"Not from this island? Now that's something you don't hear about everyday! Welcome to Nowhere Island, girls!"

"Why don't you show them around the village, Flint? I just remembered that I have to make a new axe for Isaac."

"Go ahead! I'm not really doing anything right now, so I'll be glad to take on a tour around the village."

After Bronson took his leave, Flint said to the girls, "All right; follow me! I'll show you around the place!"

"Thanks!" Reimu said, and then the girls followed Flint as he led the way.

First, he took them over to a large wooden building that had a sign that wrote _Yado_ on it. "This is the hotel," Flint told them. "You can stay here for the night."

"But we do not have this place's currency," Reimu told him, "and it wouldn't be right for you to pay for us..."

"We have our own living quarters," Sanae said, "but thanks anyway!"

"You do not have to worry about currency," Flint told them. "Such thing has already been abolished on this island for some time."

"Are you saying that this island does not use money at all?" Aya said, sounding surprised.

"Yes, we do not use money here. Ever since a certain incident has been resolved, we have abolish the usage of money, called Dragon Points, and have been living a life without monetary systems of any kind ever since."

"Why?" Sanae asked. "Without money, how do you make a living?"

"The people of this island know all that there is to know about living a primitive life, so even without money, we still a life without worries. In fact, having money brings more stress and burden to everyday life. Imagine that you lack money and you are hungry. How can you afford food without money? In the end, we abolished the monetary system and chose to live a life without the need to worry about financial problems."

Flint then turned to look at the mountains and the forest in the distance before continuing with his explanation. "The nature is the best place to gather resources. The whole island provides us with our everyday needs. People of this village also offer services for free. To them, putting smiles onto their customers' faces is more important than earning money!"

"Heh! Imagine if our world is exactly like this!" Marisa said. "Reimu won't have to worry about her income anymore-ze! This place is basically a paradise for poor people-ze!"

"Yes, I'm a poor girl. Are you happy now?" Reimu said to her with a somewhat offended-looking face.

Next, they headed over to another building that was releasing lovely-smelling aroma from the inside. "Nice smell!" Cirno commented.

"This is Caroline's bakery," Flint told the girls. "Feel free to grab some delicacies from here if you ever feel hungry! Caroline's breads and cakes are one of the best around here! Remember, it's completely free of charge!"

"I'm sure Marisa is going to enjoy grabbing something from there, heheh!" Reimu said while chuckling slightly.

"Hey, don't talk like I'm a shameless thief-ze!" Marisa told her. "I simply borrow things for a lifetime!" This resulted in the other girls giving her 'that's-no-different-from-being-a-shameless-thief' stares.

"Oh, don't worry," Flint told her. "No one is going to accuse you of stealing things as long as they allow you to take them!"

Then a blond boy over to them, pushing along a wheelbarrow that contained some two pots, a shovel, and a watering can. He was also accompanied by a brown dog. "Lucas and Boney!" Flint said to the boy. "Where are you going, son?"

"To the sunflower field," the boy named Lucas replied. "I want to get some sunflowers to put them around mom and Claus's resting place."

"Oh right... We were planning to pay them a visit today. All right; I'll go and help you!" Flint then turned to the girls and said to them, "I've got something to do right now, so feel free to whatever you want in this village. Go and take the rest at Yado Hotel if you want to. I'll be seeing you around!" And then he went off with Lucas and Boney.

"If Yuka was here," Marisa said, "she's going to kill that boy for sure-ze..."

"Well, it's true that she doesn't like it if someone mistreats flowers..." Reimu said. "From the sound of it however, it seems that they are going to pay respect to the dead. I'm sure Yuka can understand the concept of putting flowers in front of or around tombstones."

"His mother and another family member have passed away as well... How sad..." Sanae said in a sad tone.

* * *

Lucas, Boney, and Flint arrived on top of a cliff that contained a lot of sunflowers. Lucas went up to one of the sunflowers and used the shovel to dig around it. "Let me help you," Flint said as he went over to help his son.

After Lucas had dug up the sunflower, Flint picked it up by the soil and quickly placed it into one of the pots. After that, Lucas went to another sunflower to do the same thing.

After the second sunflower had been placed into the second pot, the father and son loaded them onto the wheelbarrow and then pushed it back down the cliff. "All right, let's go the cemetery," Flint said.

The father and son traveled all the way back to Tazmily Village, and from there, they traveled up north until they left the place and arrived at a cemetery. Along the way, the villagers watched them push the wheelbarrow and knew at once where they were going. "They're off to visit Hinawa and Claus's grave again," said a short wearing a hat—Bud.

"They sure know how to pay respect to the dead, don't they?" said a tall guy dressed in white—Lou. "I guess this is something that is really graved into their minds, so they must do it very often."

"Hey, give you respect to the dead! This is not something that you should be making joke of!" Bud said while slapping him in the back.

Just then, the girls showed up in front of the duo. "Oh, you must be the newcomers to this island," Bud said, and then he patted Lou in the back. "Come on, Lou, let's greet the visitors."

"Right..." Lou said, and then the duo bowed down in presence of the girls to greet them.

"Welcome to Nowhere Island! Nowhere else can you find a place as peaceful as this island!" they both said at the same time. "We are the comedians Bud and Lou!"

"Yeah, thanks..." Reimu said. "If you don't mind, we would like to go out there and look around a bit."

"Feel free to travel around this island, but beware of wild animals," Lou told them. "No matter where which direction you take, you will travel to nowhere because this is Nowhere Island!"

"Oh, come on, Lou! Don't scare visitors!" Bud told him. "Don't worry about what my partner said. Sure, there are wild animals here, but they really aren't as wild as you think they are."

"Yeah, just don't let your imagination run wild. This island is actually a peaceful place!"

"Whatever... It's not like we're helpless against random wild animals," Reimu said, and then she moved on with the rest of the girls following her.

* * *

Lucas and Flint placed the pots containing the sunflowers onto the sides of a pair of tombstones that were placed next to each other. After that, Lucas watered the plants using the watering can and when he was done, he stood in front of the tombstones with his head lowered while looking very sad. His father placed his arm over his shoulder to comfort him.

"Don't cry," Flint told her. "I'm sure your mother and Claus are having a great time together. We should feel happy for them!"

The girls approached from behind, but they stopped a few distance away from the father and son and watched in silence. "I think it's best that we leave them in peace," Youmu suggested. "Disturbing someone while they are paying respect to the dead is a very discourteous thing to do."

"Huh?" Flint turned around as he heard Youmu talking. "Oh, it you!"

"Oops... Sorry..." Youmu apologized while bowing down over and over in shame.

"Never mind, you do not have to apologize to me for anything. You didn't do anything wrong at all."

"I'm sorry if I shouldn't be asking this," Reimu said, "but how did your wife and son pass away? For a very peaceful place that is island is, I have a hard time trying to imagine how they passed away."

"You don't have to feel bad about asking this," Flint said. "The days of mourning are already over, so I'm perfectly fine with talking about it. I can still remember very well the days when my wife and my other son, Claus, left our family."

The girls listened in silence as Flint started to tell them his story while Lucas continued kneeling in front of the tombstones, looking very sad.

"It all started when Sunshine Forest was on fire, and that was the very same day when my wife and sons were returning from my father's house. The rain managed to put out the fire, and then the entire village started looking for them. In the end, we only managed to find Lucas and Claus, but as for my wife... She... Well... Do I need to tell you about it?"

Just by looking at Flint's expression, the girls could tell what happened to his wife.

"From that day on, Nowhere Island was no longer the same. People dressed like pigs callings themselves the Pig Army appeared out of nowhere and started to transform the animals of the island into partly mechanical monstrosities."

"Cyborgs?" Sanae said in shock.

"What's a Saiborg?" Cirno asked.

"Part flesh, part machine beings... They're supposed to only exist in fictional medias."

"A dinosaur called Drago had been transformed into a partly mechanical monster, and that was what killed my wife..." Flint continued in a sad tone. "Claus tried to avenge for her mother, but he went to the mountains and never came back home again... We didn't see him again until three years later, but... he was no longer the Claus that I know of..."

"I fought my brother..." Lucas said, continuing the story for his father, "but I couldn't bring myself to attack him... No matter how he tried to hurt me, I only defended myself... In the end, I heard the voice of mother calling the both of us. Claus regained his sense, but then he... paid the price for his wrongdoings... and then he went to see mother..." By the time he said this, he was already in tears, so Flint quickly went over to him to pat him on the shoulder to comfort him while Boney licked the tears on his face.

"I'm sorry to make you say all these..." Reimu said, sounding guilty. The rest of the girls also felt sorry for what the father and son had been through.

"It's all right..." Flint said as he wiped with the bits of tears on the corner of his ears with his arm. "It's perfectly normal to break down into tears whenever people talk about sad pasts."

"By the way," Remilia said, "you've mentioned just now that both the brothers fought each other. How did it come down to that?"

"Claus was later brought back to life by the Pig Army after he died trying to avenge his mother, but was under their control. Can you imagine how hard it was for Lucas to be forced to fight his own brother? For three years, our island was under the rule of the Pig Army, and they introduced technology to us. Tazmily Village prospered during their rule, but this only made us forget more and more about nature. Little by little, they were transforming the animals of this island into bizarre monstrosities. The faunas were either made into part machine or fused together with other animals to create bizarre monsters… The wildlife of Nowhere Island became more dangerous than in the past…"

"That sounds terrible…" Sanae said in disbelief.

"But the part where they introduce technology to you guys doesn't sound so bad," Nitori commented.

"That may be true in most cases, but then we are reminded of how the world faced its doom in the first place…" Flint said.

"The world faced its doom?" Reimu curiously said. "What do you mean?"

"Several years ago, the world was destroyed due to the greediness of mankind. As mankind prospered, so did technology. In the end, mankind destroyed the world thanks to the lust for power and advanced technology. Nowhere Island became the only island in the entire world, and the survivors of the world's end gathered together on this island to start life anew. In order to prevent ourselves from committing the same mistake again, we sealed away our memories inside a device called the Hummingbird's Egg, but only one person did not have his memory sealed away as we believed that there should be at least one person who should keep his memories in case something happens. For a long time, we lived a primitive but peaceful life on this island, but the Pig Army came and changed everything…"

"But back at the village, everything looks pretty primitive," Nitori said. "I didn't see anything high-tech at all."

"They were all destroyed. The Pig Army's intention eventually became clear. Their leader, King P, intended to awaken the dragon that lives underneath this island for selfish purposes, but Lucas awakened the dragon before him. The island was destroyed by the dragon as a result, but because of Lucas's pure heart, everyone survived. Since then, we have rebuilt the island and everything is at peace again."

"What happened to the guy named King P?" Cirno asked.

"My friends and I battled him," Lucas said, "and when he saw that he was going to lose, he retreated into something called an Absolute Safety Capsule for protection. However, the capsule was made so that whatever or whoever goes inside it will never be able to come back out again. And so, King P is trapped for eternity inside the Absolute Safety Capsule. I don't where it went after this island was destroyed…"

"Wow… I can't believe that this island had such a past…" Youmu said in unbelief.

* * *

Somewhere among the mountainous wilderness of Nowhere Island, several scorpion-like creatures called Titany were scuttling around the place in peace when suddenly loud stomp could be heard. The stomp was more than enough to send the Titanies scurrying out of sight, and shortly afterwards, a large shadow resembling a bipedal dinosaur appeared on a cliff wall.

The dinosaurian creature then let out a loud roar that could be heard throughout the wilderness.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

There you have it! The Earthbound arc! To be precise, the Mother 3 arc...

Anyway, I hope that this chapter wasn't too bad. Actually, I'm not very fond it, but I really cannot think of anything else to put in. I'll try my best to make up for it in the next chapter, so you'll have to put up with this for now.

**Next chapter: Flesh yet Machine**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Even more of my favorite Touhou characters! There will still be more, so look forward to them!

**Kogasa: **She loves to surprise people, but does a bad job at it because she's way too cute. Still, the fact that she appears as the mid-boss of the extra stage in Touhou 12: Unidentified Fantastic Object is big surprise to everyone, so she did succeed in surprising people in the end! Winking with your tongue stuck out has never been so cute!

**Tenshi: **This poor is made a masochist thanks to her quote in Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody where she tells the player to punish her for the troubles that she has caused. Can you really imagine someone like her enjoying getting beaten up all the time? I really do pity her... By the way, the peaches on her hat look delicious! Did I mention that her main choice of weapon is basically a light saber? Cool!

**Hina: **Spin, spin, spin, spin Hina, spin!


	44. Flesh yet Machine

**SBS Time!  
Patcheresu: **It's called Tazmily Island.  
**Game2002: **The island is called indeed Nowhere Island, not Tazmily Island. It is the village that is called Tazmily Village

I've done a minor edit to the extra show in the previous chapter where I talk about Tenshi's choice of weapon, but for people who read that chapter a bit late, they should have seen it already.

I've done a minor edit to the chapter title where... the 'y' in the 'yet' has been made a small case letter. The same goes for the preview title in the pre... Okay, maybe I should stop bringing up really, really, really minor issues from now on...

**Chapter 43  
Flesh yet Machine**

**

* * *

**

That night at Tazmily Village, a large fire was set up in the village square. The villagers were holding a party to welcome to the girls of Gensokyo. "Let us give cheers to the visitors of this island," a very tall man, Leder, said while holding a cup. "They must have come a long way to this place, so let us make them feel welcomed! Cheers to them!"

"Cheers to you! Welcome to Nowhere Island!" the rest of the villagers said as they raised their cups for the girls.

"Thank you very much!" Sanae cheerfully said.

"So," Flint asked the girls, "where do you come from? Mind sharing with us about what your place is like?"

Reimu turned to look at her friends and asked them, "Do you think it's all right to tell them the truth?"

"Well... I don't really think it's going to hurt anyone to tell them about it..." Aya replied. "It seems that this island is the only populated place in this world, so it makes less sense to tell them that we come from another island..."

"Yeah, I think it's best that we just tell them right away that we come from another world," Reisen said. "It's up to them if they want to believe it or not..."

"Okay..." Reimu then turned to Flint and said to them, "You see... We're not from this world... We actually came... from another universe... Another dimension... A place that is not connected to this world... Yeah, I know... It probably doesn't make any sense to any of you here, but that's really the truth..."

"Yeah, and we've been through several other worlds already-ze!" Marisa added. "You won't believe the kinds of people and strange things that we've come across during our travels-ze!"

"So you come from another world, eh?" Flint said, not sounding surprised. "Well, that's not something to be surprised about. Ever since that giant white hand showed up, it's no surprise that there exist other universes outside of ours!"

Hearing this, the girls became surprised. "Giant white hand? Do you mean Master Hand?" Reimu asked.

"Yeah, that's his name if I remember correctly," Flint said with a nod. "He came here to find someone worthy enough to join a tournament that he was holding. It's called Smash Brothers Tournament, I believe." Looking at Lucas, who was standing next to him, he continued, "My son was chosen to participate in the tournament in order represent our world."

The girls looked at Lucas and Cirno said, "He joined the tournament? He doesn't look like he can fight at all!"

Lucas lowered his head a bit and said, "Actually, I can fight, but I was still a bit surprised that Master Hand wanted me to join the tournament. I kept on telling him that I'm not as strong as he thinks, but he insisted that I join the tournament anyway..."

"Hey, don't underestimate Lucas!" said a pink-haired girl dressed in blue—Kumatori. "Lucas knows PSI, and that alone makes him one of the strongest people in the village!"

"Pee Ess Eye?"

"Something like this!" Kumatori said before snapping her fingers and then pointing at a piece of wood that was lying on the ground. "PSI Fire!" A spark shot out from her finger and erupted into a small burst of fire when it hit the wood.

"Whoa! Amazing!" Nitori exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know PSI," Lucas said. He pointed at a small pebble on the ground, causing it to float into the air while energy hexagons appeared from his fingertip.

"Wow! It's the same thing as telekinesis!" Sanae exclaimed.

"It's a special ability that only certain people in this world have," Kumatora explained.

"So was it like at the Smash Brothers Tournament," Alice asked Lucas. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad," Lucas said with a nod. "I was afraid at first because I'm... not really used to showing up in front of people, especially when I have to do something in front of a large crowd... There are people watching the fight, and I was afraid that I was going to do horribly at the matches, thinking that the audience would laugh at my incompetence..."

Nitori went up next to him and asked, "So how did you perform at the tournament?"

"Things really didn't go as bad I thought. Sure, there were some really powerful opponents that I had to fight, but I found out that I wasn't that weak myself either. Actually, it was all thanks to the encouragement of another participant named Ness that I was able to pull myself together. He is from my world and also knows PSI, so we got along with each other very well. He was my closest friend at the tournament!"

"So where is this Ness guy?" Marisa asked him. "He's from this world as well, right?"

"Actually... You won't be able to find him around here. To be precise, you will not be able to find him in this world any longer..."

"What do you mean?"

"He lives in a different time period."

"Different time period?" Remilia asked. "Are you saying that he came from either the past or the future of this world?"

"The past... There's actually a really long story regarding this..."

"Indeed, there is a really long story behind this," Leder said.

"If you are talking about the destruction of the world due to mankind's lust for power," Reimu told him, "then Flint already told us about it."

"Yes, that was what I was going to talk about, but it would appear that Flint already told you about it. The kid named Ness came from the time period before that happened, so he no longer exists in this world."

"Or maybe he's just living a peaceful life in his own time period," Lucas said.

Flint then asked the girls, "So what is your story? Why did you come to this world? Going on a tour throughout different worlds or something?"

"Well, it's a long story..." Reimu said, and then she explained everything that happened to her and her friends to the villagers.

"So you came here using the World Light..." Lucas said. "I guess that shouldn't be a big surprise since Master Hand came here and brought me to Smash World using the same thing as well... But are you serious that the World Light is broken?"

"That appears to be case," Youmu said. "At least that's what Merlon told us."

"I see..."

"So that's your story," Flint said. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid that we cannot be of any help to you. We have never heard of anything called a Light Essence."

"I've been to Smash World as well," Kumatori said, "and I have never heard of anything called a Light Essence either."

"That's all right," Sanae said. "We'll just look for the Light Essence by ourselves. If possible, we wish to avoid letting other people get caught up with our business."

"Unless there's really no choice-ze," Marisa said.

"Well then, let us hope that you will be able to find the Light Essence and then continue on your journey until you finally reach Smash World!" Flint said, raising his cup. "The villagers of Tazmily Village wish you all a good luck!"

"We wish you all a good luck!" the rest of the villagers said as they raised their cups into the air.

"Thank you very much!" Reimu said.

After the party was over, everyone returned to his or her houses to turn in for the night. The girls were asleep at Yado Hotel.

Reimu, Marisa, and Alice shared one room. Sanae, Aya, Nitori shared another one. Youmu, Reisen, and Cirno shared another room. Remilia and Meiling were paired with one another in another room.

All was quiet as everyone was in deep slumber, but this quietness was shattered when something stomped the ground hard.

STOMP!

Abbot opened the window to look outside in order to see what stomped the ground, and to his surprise, he saw the shadowy figure of a large bipedal dinosaur standing at the entrance of the village.

"What is it, Abbot?" asked his wife, Abbey.

"It's just a Drago, honey," Abbot told her. "Don't worry; Dragos aren't dangerous creatures." The Drago then turned to look at him and then let out a really loud roar that was more than enough to wake up everyone in the village. "Um... Maybe not..."

The Drago approached the married couple's house. They let out a scream and then quickly ran out of their house as the Dragon rammed its head into the house before tearing it into pieces.

**BGM: Drago! ?  
**

"What happened?" Thomas asked in panic as he ran outside his house, and then he saw the Drago. "Oh my god! It's a Drago! What is it doing here?"

"Is that really a Drago?" Reggie asked. "It looks a bit... different..."

Flint approached the Drago that was destroying the house as close as he could without grabbing its attention. "Wait a minute... There are... mechanical parts on its body!" Flint said in shock. "It's just like that time!" Indeed, the Drago had a mechanical left leg and right arm. The left side of its face, its jaws, a portion of its back, and its tail were also mechanical—Mecha-Drago.

Mecha-Drago let out another roar before stomping in the direction of the villagers, causing them to flee in panic while screaming like crazy. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Flint stayed behind to face the Mecha Drago however. "How can this be possible?" Flint said in shock. "How can there be a partly mechanized Drago on this island? All mechanical beings should've been wiped out from existence already!" He took a step back as the Mecha Drago got closer and closer to him, and then he looked around for something that he could use as a weapon.

Suddenly, the Drago leaped in his direction, so Flint quickly ran out of the way to avoid the Drago as it fell down with a powerful stomp that left behind footprints on the ground. "Father!" shouted Lucas as he ran with Boney into the town square. "Father! Are you all right?"

"Lucas! Stay back! It's dangerous over here!" Flint told him.

"But I'm here to help! I can handle this, dad!" Lucas told him.

"No, it's far too dangerous! Besides, Dragos have skins that are way too tough to be pierced by any weapon. The only known thing capable of piercing through their skins is their own fangs, and we do not have one!"

"Then I'll use PSI!" Lucas said. He ran towards the Drago and then pointed his arms at it. "PK Fire!" But nothing happened. "Um... I forgot... I was only able to use that move during the Smash Brothers Tournament..."

Mecha-Drago roared into Lucas's face, causing him to run back to his father while crying in fear. The father and son slowly took steps back as the cyborg dinosaur moved closer and closer to them. Mecha-Drago then opened its mouth to charge up a fire breath. "Oh no! Run for it!" Flint shouted.

The father and son quickly ran as fast as they could away from the Mecha-Drago, and then the cyborg dinosaur released a burst of fire from its mouth.

"Cautionary Border!" shouted Reimu as she fell down in front of the fire to set up a blue wall, blocking out the fire. Flint and Lucas turned around and were surprised to see the shrine maiden.

"Reimu!" Flint said.

"Leave this to us!" Reimu said as the rest of her friends gathered next to her to get ready to take on the Mecha-Drago. "You go on and look for a hiding place!"

"Will you be all right?"

"Don't worry about us-ze!" Marisa assured him. "We didn't make it all the way to this world through sheer luck and running from enemies!"

"Be careful! Dragos are known for their extra tough skins! You won't be able to take him down so easily unless you..."

SLAAAAAAAASH!

Mecha-Drago roared in pain as Youmu dashed past its right leg, leaving behind a cut on it. Mecha-Drago roared in pain and then onto its right knee. "It's not too tough for me cut through though," she said.

"Youmu! Watch out!" Reisen shouted. Mecha-Drago suddenly swung its tail at Youmu, but she leaped back into the air to avoid getting hit.

After landing in front of her friends, she looked up to face Mecha-Drago as it stood back up and glared at them angrily before letting a loud roar.

**BGM: Fight with Mecha-Drago**

"Let's go, girls!" Reimu said to her friends, and then they charged at the Mecha-Drago.

Mecha-Drago breathed fire at the incoming girls, but they quickly jumped out of the way while Aya, Remilia, and Cirno flew into the air instead. "Cool down a bit, will ya? Hailstorm!" Cirno stretched forth her arms to release a blast of cold wind and ice balls onto the head of the Mecha Dragon.

The cyborg dinosaur wasn't fazed by the hail however; it looked up and then breathed fire at Cirno, but she flew out of the way in time. "Whoa! That was close! I'm really done for if I get hit by that!"

Suddenly, Aya landed a kick onto the side of the Mecha-Drago's head, and then she moved back into the air to fire a crescent wind blade from her fan. "Breeze Fan!" But the wind blade bounced off its skin harmlessly.

"Vampire Claw!" Remilia shouted as she slashed Mecha-Drago in the side of its face three times in a row, but she failed to see any claw marks on its skin. "Hmph! Tough skin we have here, eh?"

Reisen fired a rapid burst of energy bullets from her finger rapidly while Nitori fired green laser beams from extendible turrets that came out from her backpack, but Mecha-Drago managed to shrug them off while fighting the other girls who were attacking at a close range.

Reimu threw a large amount of paper amulets onto the Mecha-Drago's body and then detonated them all at once. Immediately after her amulets had exploded, Sanae threw her own set of amulets and also detonated them after they touched the Mecha-Drago's body. Marisa then shot out star-shaped projectiles from her hand. "Meteoric Debris!"

Despite getting hit by all these, Mecha-Drago showed no signs of being hurt. Much like how a giant movie monster withstood military attacks, Mecha-Drago walked through the constant bombardment with no problem until Youmu jumped at it and slashed it in the right side of the face.

SLASH!

Mecha-Drago roared in pain as the slash actually made a wound appear on its face. Filled with rage, Mecha-Drago turned to Youmu to breathe fire at her. She quickly countered with a crescent-shaped sword beam that cleaved through the stream of fire until it hit the Mecha-Drago's snout. However, the sword beam wasn't as powerful as a direct hit from the sword as Mecha-Drago was not wounded by it.

"Heart Break!" Remilia shouted as she formed and hurled a large crimson spear at the Mecha-Drago.

BANG!

The red spear struck it in the shoulder really hard, creating a bloody red explosion that caused the cyborg dinosaur to fall sideways. While Mecha-Drago was struggling to get back up, Youmu jumped at it and readied to bring down her sword onto its neck.

"Wait! Don't!" Lucas shouted. "Don't kill him!"

"Huh?" Hearing this, Youmu quickly pulled her sword aside and landed a drop kick onto Mecha-Drago neck instead before falling back onto the ground. "Did you just say not to kill him?"

"Yes!" Lucas replied again with a nod. "I know this Drago! He's the same Drago that I befriended three years younger!"

"His wife was transformed into a cyborg, and I killed her..." Flint said. "I had no choice... She was the one who killed Hinawa, and she also attacked while I was looking for Claus... I wanted to give her the finishing blow, but her child stopped me from doing so, but... To think... To think... that the father would become something like this as well... How co this be happening...?"

Mecha-Drago let out a roar as it stood back up again to face the girls. "It's a sad story and all, but it seems that this guy no longer remembers you," Remilia told Flint and Lucas. "In order to keep him from causing any more destruction, we have no choice but to put an end to him."

"No! Please don't!" Lucas begged her. "There has to be some other way to stop him! At least weaken him and then I'll try to see if I can make him remember me!"

"Fine... As you wish..." Remilia grumbled as she stretched forth her arms. "Night Sign: Queen of Midnight!" And then she shot out a rapid burst of red energy balls from her hands. The energy balls struck the Mecha-Drago, hitting him rapidly.

Mecha-Drago roared as he emerged from the red smoke, and then he breathed fire at Remilia, but she flew out of the way fast.

"Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire blue yin-yang orbs at Mecha-Drago.

"Narrow Spark!" Marisa shouted as she used her hakkero to shoot out a thin beam at the cyborg dinosaur.

Enraged, Mecha-Drago turned in their direction and was about to breath fire at them, but Alice threw some dolls into his open mouth and then detonated them.

KABOOOOM!

Mecha-Drago roared in pain while taking a few steps backwards when the explosion occurred in his mouth. Youmu then brought down her sword onto the side of his body and left behind a large slash wound.

SLAAAASH!

While Mecha-Drago was crying in pain, a mechanical arm latched onto Mecha-Drago's right arm. "I got him!" Nitori said, and a mechanical arm was coming out from the side of his backpack. "Take this! Electric Arm!" And then electricity passed down the arm and electrocuted the Mecha-Drago.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"And then this! Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as several missiles with green warheads that had spikes around them shot out from openings at the sides of her backpack. The missiles spread out through the air, but then they homed in on Mecha-Drago and blasted him from all sides.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Mecha-Drago emerged from the explosion and took several steps forward while roaring in anger, but suddenly, he fell over onto the ground with a thud.

THUD!

"All right! We did it!" Reisen said.

Seeing that Mecha-Drago was down, Lucas ran over to him and said to him, "Drago, do you remember me? It's me, Lucas! Please try to remember me!"

Suddenly, a higher pitched roar could be heard, and then another Drago ran into the scene. The smaller Drago ran up to the larger fallen one and started making noises that sounded like crying. "It's the child Drago!" Lucas said.

The child Drago put her face close to the father and then licked him in the snout. The father slowly opened his eyes to look at his child, and then her let out a weak growl. Lucas placed his hand on Mecha-Drago's head and said to him, "Do you remember your daughter? She's here! Please at least try to remember her!"

Meanwhile, Flint, the rest of the villagers, and the girls watched from the sidelines at the tragic scene. "Reisen," Reimu said to the lunar rabbit.

"What is it?" she replied.

"Do you have any medicines that can heal him?"

"Maybe I have, but they're all back at the shrine…"

"Then go and get them!"

Unknown to them, a fly was watching the scene from the sky, and what the fly saw was being shown to the shadow figure of the person with sharp teeth through a screen.

"Heheheh! It's not over yet!" said the shadowy figure, and then he pressed a red button on a remote control.

When the button was pressed, Mecha-Drago suddenly felt a tremendous amount of pain in his head. Letting out a painful sounding roar, the cyborg dinosaur stood back and swung his tail around like crazy, knocking away Lucas and his own child.

"Lucas!" Flint gasped as he ran up to his son.

"He's going wild again!" Youmu said in shock.

Mecha-Drago raised his head high into the sky and roared loudly before running in the direction of the girls and the villagers. "Oh no! He's coming towards us!" Bronson cried, and then the villagers ran for their lives again.

"Permanent Border!" Reimu shouted as she threw a yellow card onto the ground. When Mecha-Drago stepped on it, he was instantly frozen in place while being zapped by electricity. While the Drago was stunned, Reimu immediately followed up with with an attack that involved firing a large blue yin-yang orb. "Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!"

The large energy ball shot through the air and collided with Mecha-Drago and slowly engulfed the cyborg dinosaur until he was mostly inside it. Suddenly, the cyborg dinosaur ran out from the yin-yard orb and towards Reimu, much to her surprise. With his head lowered, Mecha-Drago rammed Reimu and then brought up his head to send her flying into the air. "Kyaaaaa!"

"Reimu!" Marisa gasped. Mecha-Drago swung his tail at her and knocked her out of the way. "Waaaa!"

"Take this! Domination Dash!" Aya shouted as she dashed past Mecha-Drago's head. When Mecha-Drago turned to face her, Remilia suddenly appeared in front of his face to launch a red energy ball at him.

"Red Magic!" she shouted as she fired the energy ball.

BANG!

Mecha-Drago wasn't fazed by it all that much as he only took a step back from the direct hit to the snout. As Mecha-Drago took a step forward, Youmu suddenly jumped at from behind to slash him across the back, making him cry in pain.

Seeing his father being brutally attacked, the young Drago let out a cry as if telling the girls to stop attacking her father. "Stop! Don't hurt him any longer!" Lucas shouted at the girls. "You're going to kill him at this rate!"

Mecha-Drago roared in pain as he stomped around the place with rage. With his mouth wide open, he breathed fire in every direction. The girls got out of the fire breath's way, but it kept moving through the air until it touched the buildings. Mecha-Drago continued to breathe fire in every direction until majority of the buildings were on fire, and then the fire passed down from building to building until the whole village was on fire.

The villagers were all in panic and shock as they watched from outside the village. "Oh no! Our village is on fire!" Thomas cried. "Someone call the firefighter! Wait a minute... I'm the firefighter! I should be doing something about this!"

"Oh no! The village is going to be burned down at this rate!" Flint gasped as he looked around the place to see the burning buildings. "Where can we get a large amount of water to put them out?"

"This is bad..." Marisa said. "At this rate, not only is the entire place going to be burned into ash, we're going to be cooked up too!" She then saw Cirno lying on the ground. "Cirno!"

"It burns..." the ice fairy said in a weak voice.

"Cirno! Watch out in front of you!"

Cirno raised her head slightly to see Mecha-Drago approaching her. "Oh no... I have to run..." she cried. "I can't fight... in a burning place like this..."

When Mecha-Drago was close to Cirno, the child Drago ran in front of her father and cried out to him to try to return him to his senses. However, her father could no longer remember who she. He delivered a powerful kick to his own child to send her flying away.

KICK!

"Drago!" Lucas gasped in horror as he ran up to the injured child Drago. "Are you all right?

Mecha-Drago turned its attention Cirno again, but Aya suddenly dropped down on top of his head to hit him with a drop kick. "Tengu's Downburst!" she shouted, and then she leaped into the air before swinging her fan downwards to shoot out several wind blades. "Tengu's Macroburst!"

The wind blades struck Mecha-Drago with such a force that he was pushed down by them.

"Midnight Sign: Bad Lady Scramble!" Remilia shouted as she performed a powerful spinning charge into the side of Mecha-Drago's face.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The powerful impact sent the cyborg dinosaur flying to the side and crashing into a building.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Meanwhile, Sanae was trying to put out the fire. "Create Waves!" she shouted as she slammed the back end of her gohei onto the ground to make water appear all around her. The water rushed towards some of the buildings that were on fire, but it was not enough to put out the fire. "The fire is too big! I can't put it out!"

Nitori looked around the place and noticed a well in the center of the village square. "I'll handle this!" she said, and then she ran to the well to jump into it.

"Hey! What are you doing jumping into the well?" Flint asked in surprise.

Shortly after Nitori disappeared into the well, the sound of water rumbling could be heard, and then a large amount of water shot up from the well along with Nitori. "Trauma in the Glittering Depths!" she shouted as she reached the peak of her jump.

When the water fell onto the ground around the well, it spread out in every direction and basically caused the whole place to flood. Waves were created as the water went throughout the village, putting out the fire. Unfortunately, the water could not differentiate between friend and foe, so everyone else except for Nitori were caught in the water current and washed away by it.

"NITORI! YOU'RE GOING OVERBOARD!" Reimu shouted, and then a wave crashed down on top of her, pushing her underwater.

SPLASH!

By the time Nitori fell back onto the ground in front of the well, the water was starting to recede and the fire was completely put out. "Phew... That sure did the trick!" she said while wiping her forehead.

"Ugh..." Reisen groaned as she stood back up while twisting her coat to dry it. "That was a lot of water..."

"But at least it got the job done," Youmu said.

Flint sat up and took off his cowboy hat to let a large amount of water pour down from it, and after it back onto his head, he looked around the place to see that the fire was completely put out. "Incredible..." he said in awe. "All the fire gone in an instant... How on earth did you do that...?"

Suddenly, there was a loud roar as Mecha-Drago stood back up again. "Man! He's not down for the count yet?" Marisa said in shock.

Mecha-Drago took a step forward, but then the mechanical parts of his body started to short-circuit, making the cyborg dinosaur suffer and move rather awkwardly.

"It seems that he cannot remain standing for too long though," Reimu said. "All right; let's give it a finishing blow!"

Mecha-Drago struggled to walk up to them despite his failing body. He opened his mouth to breath fire, but only a small amount of fire came out. Reimu and Marisa both ran towards Mecha-Drago as fast as they could, and when they were in range, Reimu performed a somersault kick while Marisa performed an uppercut using her magically-enhanced broom.

"Sliding Ascension Kick!" Reimu shouted.

"Miasma Sweep!" Marisa shouted.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Mecha-Drago was struck in the jaw with such a force that his feet was lifted from the ground a few inches, and then the cyborg dinosaur fell back down on his side with a crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Mecha-Drago did not get back up this time, but he was trembling violently while growling in pain. The child Drago ran up to her father and cried into his face. Lucas and Boney also ran up them and Lucas said to Mecha-Drago, "Drago! Can you here me? Are you all right?"

"Lucas! Be careful!" Flint called out to him. "He might get back up again!"

Mecha-Drago looked at his child and made a weak growl as if saying something to her. The father and child communicated with each other in their language, and tears started to fall down from the child Drago's eyes as she could tell that her father was about to breathe his last. "No... Please don't die..." Lucas said as he started to cry as well. "She lost her mother already, and if she loses you..."

Mecha-Drago looked at Lucas with sad-looking eyes and growled weakly as if he was apologizing to him for what he had done. He looked at his child one last time, and then a single teardrop fell down from his organic eye before he 'fell asleep'.

With her father gone, the child Drago lifted her head into the air and cried loudly. Seeing her cry, Lucas also broke down into tears and then threw himself onto the child Drago's body to lament with her while Boney raised his head into the air to howl with sadness.

Flint and the rest of the villagers could not help but feel bad for the tragic sight before their eyes. "Why is this happening...?" Flint said. "I thought... Why...? How did this happen again...?"

The girls, too, also felt bad for the child Drago. "We may have won the battle, but... why do I feel guilty about it...?" Youmu said in a sad tone.

"We just took the life of a father in front of his child's eyes..." said Sanae, who had tears in the corners of her eyes.

Nitori looked at the mechanical parts of Mecha-Drago and said to herself, "Can technology really create a monster like this...? I can't believe it... Technology shouldn't be used like this..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Meiling was still asleep in the half-burned Yado Hotel. "Yeah... Take that, Sakuya..." she said in her sleep. "How'd you like that...? Who's the better fighter now? Hahahaha..."

* * *

"Hmph! Nothing but a useless piece of junk that is emotionally attached to his days as a being of flesh!" said the person with sharp teeth angrily.

"Partly flesh he still is," said Fawful, who was standing next to him. "Put up a fight he did after all before he takes the beating of his lifetime! Those girls will prove to be annoying fink rats that will take away the mustard of doom from our tasty sandwich! I have fury just by thinking about this! I have fury!"

"Oh, don't worry about that," said a new voice that from behind them. "Mecha-Drago is only the beginning of their worst nightmare. Once I get started with building my empire, they shall witness the power that I, Porky Minch, possesses!"

" Nwehehehehe!" laughed a fat man dressed in Arabian garment. His left eye was mechanical, as well as his nose and legs—Fassad. "Nothing can match the might of King P! All shall tremble before the mention of your name!"

"Right! I am King P, the person who shall the rule!" said the voice that came from inside a large metal ball—Porky. Through the lone window of the steel ball, one could see an elderly man with the stature of a little kid lying on what appeared to be a mechanical spider built to look like a bed. "No little girls are going to stop me from reaching my goal!"

"Do not forget that it was thanks to us that you are able to rise to power again," the person with sharp teeth reminded him. "Otherwise, you would still be trapped deep inside the earth!"

"Heheheh... I guess I really have to owe you guys for that... But to think that it would be working with him again... Well, fate sure brings all the nasty guys together, wouldn't you say so?"

"Indeed! The red string of evilness binds all the nastiness of the world together!" Fawful said. "It is the nastiness that shall put this world into the salad that we shall dine on! Geeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Seeing how Mother 3 is a very emotional game, I tried adding some tragic stuff into this arc as well.

Admittedly, I had to come up with original moves for Nitori because she her moves are rather limited in number compared to the other girls since she has never appeared in a fighting game.

By the way, I made the child Drago a female because her skin color is the same as her mother's. Most people seem to agree that the Mecha-Drago in the game is female, and seeing how she has light green skin, I would assume that all female Dragos have that skin color, hence the reason I believe that the child Drago is female.

Also, I'm referring to Yokuba by his fan translated name, Fassad, in this story.

Lastly, I added a space between the exclamation mark and the question mark in the first BGM because the site cannot display more than one of those punctuations once. I know it looks weird, but it can't be helped...

Also, here are attacks with their names changed:  
**Gust Fan **is now **Breeze Fan  
Revitalizing Waves **is now **Create Waves**

**Next chapter: His Highness Rises Once Again**

**Trivia:  
**1. There exists a fan made Touhou and Mother RPG. I haven't played the game nor have I watched all of it on Youtube, but from the little of what I've seen, I can tell that it's a really epic game!


	45. His Highness Rises Again

**SBS Time!  
Astral Knight Albireo: **I am wondering if this story is exclusively Brawlers' home worlds, and if characters like Roy will be appearing in it?**  
Game2002: **Questions related to the appearance of Smash Bros. characters cannot be answered due to spoiler reasons. Sorry...

The Touhou and Mother crossover fan game that I mentioned in the previous chapter is called Touhou Mother, though it's actual name is Touhou: Star Mother Record.

Nitori's missiles have been given a bit of redesigning in the previous chapter.

Also, I just realized that I've totally forgotten about Boney's existence... I've edited the previous two chapters so that Boney is included. You can and check it out if you want to, though there really aren't any big differences.

**Chapter 44  
His Highness Rises Again**

* * *

Early the next morning, the villagers of Tazmily Village were up and rebuilding the village after it had been burned up by Mecha-Drago. Luckily, Nitori managed to put out the fire before the fire consumed the village entirely, so there were still a few buildings that were not burned, most notable Yado Hotel.

Duster was hammering a wooden board onto the hole on a house, and then Lighter came up to him, carrying along several more boards on his shoulder. "Here are more wooden boards for you, Flint," he said.

"Thanks, Lighter!" Duster told him. When Lighter left, he noticed that he was still carryign a large piece of wood on in his shoulder. "Wait a minute; you're still carrying another piece of wood."

"What?" Lighter asked him, sounding confused.

"Oh wait... Never mind... You're always carrying that one around with you. Forget that I said anything..."

Duster continued to hammer the boards, but then he noticed that he was out of nails. "Can anyone get me the box of nails down there?" he called out.

Suddenly, a mechanical arm came over to him with a box of nails. "Thank you!" Duster said as he took the box of nails from the mechanical arm.

"You're welcome!" Nitori said as she retracted the mechanical arm back into her backpack. "Okay, let's get to work!" She turned around to face a partially destroyed building, and then the mechanical arms came out from the sides of her backpack to pick up the construction tools that were nearby.

Meanwhile, Lucas, Boney, and the child Drago were standing at the side, watching the adults rebuilding the village. Reimu and Marisa then came up to them with guilty expressions. "I'm sorry..." Reimu said to the child Drago. "I did not intend to kill your father..."

"Yeah, I have to apologize for what happened yesterday too..." Marisa said. "Perhaps I should've used a weaker move to knock out your father... Miasma Sweep wasn't an ideal move after all-ze..."

The child Drago simply let out a friendly sounding roar. "She says, 'It's all right. Perhaps it was a better idea to end her father's life in order to stop him from doing things that he does not want to do," Lucas told the girls. "I have to thank you for putting my father to rest.'"

"Wait a minute... You understand what she said?" Marisa asked, sounding surprised.

Lucas nodded in response. "Yes, I can understand the language of animals. It mostly like has something to do with PSI, I think..."

"Cool!"

Just then, a Save Frog came over to them, driving a miniature red car. "Yo man!" he said. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Wart!" Lucas said to him.

"Glad you remember my name! As you can see, I still have this red car with me from the time when the Pigmask Army took over the island. I have to admit that this thing is really convenient when traveling to far places. Being a frog, it can take forever to hop from one place to another due to small body size, so vehicles like this are very useful to us Save Frogs! It runs on electricity and has no fear of running low on power for a really long time."

"FROG!" shouted a voice that sounded all too familiar to Reimu and Marisa.

"Um... I have to go now..." Wart said in a nervous tone, and then he drove off as fast as he could.

"Come back here, Mr. Frog!" Cirno said as she walked with a fast pace after the Save Frog's getaway vehicle.

Flint then came up to them and said, "Lucas, why don't you take the girls on a tour around this island? They're new around here, so it's a good idea to show them the place. If you have the time, that is..."

"Okay, I have the time, father," Lucas replied with a nod, and then he turned to ask Reimu and Marisa, "Do you want me to take you on a tour around this island?"

"That's not a bad idea!" Marisa said with a nod. "Okay, please be our tour guide-ze! Let's tell the others about this too!"

The child Drago then started to walk away. "Oh, you're leaving already?" Lucas asked her. "Are you sure you can take care of yourself?" The child Drago replied with a growl. "Okay, your relatives as well as the other Dragos in your herd can take of you. Take care then!" And then the child Drago left the village while all those who saw her leave waved their arms at her while saying good-bye.

"Good-bye!"

"Take care of yourself and stay away from danger!"

"Feel free to visit us whenever you feel like it!"

* * *

Lucas and Boney took the girls inside a tunnel. "This place used to be a passage for trains," Lucas explained to them, "but now it's just a normal tunnel. Going all to way to the right will eventually lead you to Chimera Forest. The Pigmask Army used to perform experiments on animals over there as well as creating all sorts of strange creatures by fusing animals together. It's probably going to take a while to walk all the way over there on foot, so let's just forget about it."

"I can get there in a jiffy though," Aya said.

Marisa then noticed red mushroom with white spots near the cave wall, so she walked up to it and plucked it up. "Hey, a mushroom!" she said, but then she something strange about it. "Hey, this mushroom has legs-ze!" Suddenly, the mushroom released a burst of spore from its cap.

POOF!

"Cough! Ack!" Marisa coughed as she dropped the mushroom which ran away as fast as it could.

"That's a Ramblin' Mushroom," Lucas told her. "Now that you have been exposed to its spores, you should get rid of the mushroom on your head fast."

"What mushroom?" Marisa asked, sounding confused. She took off her hat to reveal that a mushroom had grown on top of her head.

"Whoa... What the...?" Reisen said, sounding shocked.

Marisa touched the mushroom and said, "Hey, it looks cool! I'd like to keep it on there for a while!"

"Um... Better not keep it up there for too long..." Lucas told her.

"Why? Nothing bad can come of it, right?" When Marisa tried to walk forward, she ended up turning to the right. "Hey..." She turned around to heads in the other direction, but she ended up walking straight into the wall. "Oof!"

"What are you doing, Marisa?" Reimu asked.

"I don't know..." Marisa said while rubbing her nose. "I just can't seem to walk in the direction that I want to..." She tried to walk forward, only to spin around and hit the wall again. "Oof!"

"That's the effect of the mushroom on your head," Lucas explained. "It messes with your nervous systems and muscles so that you cannot move around properly."

"Then what do I do-ze...?"

"Lower your head please," Lucas told her. Marisa lowered her head and then Lucas simply plucked the mushroom off her head and threw it away. "There! Done!"

Marisa touched her head to make sure that there was no mushroom. "It's gone! Thanks-ze!" She tried walking forward again, and this time, she had no problem doing so. "Great! I can move around properly again!"

"Don't go around picking unknown mushrooms next time," Lucas told her. "You'll never know if you'll encounter another Ramblin' Mushroom or any other members of the fungus mobilus. All right; let's go to Sunshine Forest."

* * *

After several minutes of walking, Lucas and the girls arrived at Sunshine Forest. Sanae looked around the place and said, "This place looks peaceful and relaxing!"

"I agree," Alice said with a nod. "Looks like an ideal place to live in."

"Isaac, Lighter, and Fuel live in this forest," Lucas told them. "It's a bit far from the village, but they seem to be fine with it. Be careful; some of the wild animals here can be dangerous if provoked."

"Like this one?" Cirno asked while looking at a praying mantis that was trying to daunt her with its scythe-like arms. She blew out a puff of cold air at the mantis, causing it to shiver and then run off into a bush. "Ha! Take that! I'm the strongest!"

"My grandfather lives at Mt. Oriander," Lucas said. "It's all the way to the north and can take a while to get there."

"Don't worry; we have a lot of time to spare," Reimu told him. "Plus, we're looking for the Light Essence, and it's possible that we might come across it either in this forest or on the way there."

"Okay, let's go and see my grandpa then!" Lucas said as he led the way.

The girls followed her, but Reisen felt that someone or something following her. When she turned around, she saw nothing at all except for a bush. She kept on moving forward, but immediately spun around again when she felt something following her. "Strange..." she thought. "There's no one at all..."

"What are you doing, Reisen?" Youmu called out to her. "You're getting left behind!"

"I'm coming!" Reisen said, and then she ran to catch up with the others. "You know, I feel like I'm being followed..."

"You are?" Youmu asked, and then she turned around to see nothing but a bush behind Reisen. "There's nobody behind you at all."

"This bush..." Reisen said, looking at the bush with suspicious eyes. "I could've sworn that it was over there earlier... Is it following me or what?"

"Stop saying weird things. There's no way that a bush can..." Before Youmu could finish speaking however, a pair of eyes appeared from the bush. "Eeks!" Both the girls quickly jumped back to get into fighting position.

"What happened?" Lucas called out to them.

"There's a strange bush with eyes following us!" Reisen replied in panic.

"Oh, that's a Walking Bushie," Lucas said as he came up to the bush. "Don't worry; this thing is entirely harmless. In fact, it's very friendly!"

Suddenly, the Walking Bushie released bright green light that blinded everyone, but nothing happened afterwards. "What was that?" Youmu said in surprise.

"For some reason, I feel very refreshed," Reisen said.

"That was PSI Lifeup," Lucas explained. "Walking Bushies enjoy healing people's wounds as well as making them feel relaxed."

The Walking Bushie then bowed down to greet them, and then it walked away. After that, Lucas continued on his way to Mt. Oriander with the girls in tow.

* * *

Somewhere in the forest, a mechanical fly used its eyes to release green that caused Fassad and a large metal crate to materialize out of glowing green particles. He took out a pair of binoculars and then started looking around the place until he noticed Lucas the girls walking in his direction from the distance.

"Nwehehehehe! There they are!" he said with pleasure. "Now to give them a nasty surprise!" He then went over to a large metal crate that was placed nearby and took off its bolt. Once the bolt was taken off, the front part of the crate swung open to reveal a pair of glowing eyes inside the crate.

* * *

Lucas and the girls heard the sound of bush rustling and even saw the bushes in front of them shaking. "There seems to be something behind those bushes..." Lucas said. All of a sudden, a wild boar charged out from behind the bushes and towards them really fast. "Yikes!"

Everyone quickly jumped of the way and then Boney barked at the boar. The boar turned to face Boney and then charged at him. "Boney! Watch out!" Lucas shouted to his dog.

Nitori suddenly jumped in front of the boar and used both her arms and the mechanical arms to stop the boar in its tracks. The boar used all its strength to push her backwards, but Nitori, combined with the strength of the mechanical arms, managed to fling the boar to the side. The boar fell onto the ground with a thud, and then it got back and ran off while squealing in fright. Nitori turned around to look at Boney and asked him, "Are you all right?" The dog barked in reply to imply that he was all right.

"That was random..." Reimu said. "It's not like we disturbed that boar or anything."

"Well, boars usually only attack people if they are agitated. Something must've have spooked it to cause it to attack random passersby like us."

Suddenly, the bushes heard the sound of footsteps approaching them. "Now what?" Remilia asked.

"It's coming towards us," Aya said.

Suddenly, the bushes in front of them were knocked aside as a caribou came charging into the scene and towards them. "Watch out!" Lucas cried. Once again, everyone got out of the way to avoid getting hit by the caribou. When the caribou came to a stop, they managed to get a better look at it and were shocked at what they saw. "What the!"

The caribou had been reconstructed into a partly mechanical being. The left side of its face and the left horn were made of machine, so were its right leg at the front and the back of its body—Reconstructed Caribou.

"Another partly mechanized animal?" Nitori said in shock.

**BGM: Tragic Reconstruction (Mother 3)**

The caribou turned to face them and then the sides of the mechanical portion of its body opened up to launch several missiles in their direction.

"I'll handle this!" Aya said as she swung her fan to release a large horizontal tornado. "Opening Wind of the Tengu Path!" The tornado picked up the missiles and blew them back to the caribou, blasting it. The caribou was also blown back by the tornado as well.

The caribou spun through the until it hit a tree, but then it stood back up again and lowered its head to get ready to charge at them. Its back opened up to reveal a jet engine, and then with a burst of fire, the caribou shot forward like a rocket. Lucas and the girls quickly moved aside and the caribou kept on going until it hit a tree with such a force that the tree fell over with a crash.

CRASH!

After knocking down the tree, the Reconstructed Caribou turned around to face them, but Lucas quickly stretched out his arm at it to release a barrage of blue hexagons. "PSI Love!"

The energy hexagons collided with the caribou and exploded with dazzling blue sparks that resembled fireworks going off.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion cleared, the caribou fell over onto the ground with a charred body. Boney then approached the fallen caribou with caution to sniff it. Lucas walked up to his dog and asked him, "How is it?" Boney replied with a bark that only Lucas could understand. "He's still alive?"

Suddenly, the caribou's mechanical eye glowed and then the partly mechanical animal stood back up, much to their surprise.

"Whoa!"

Lucas and Boney quickly ran back to the girls and then got into defensive stance. The caribou lowered its head and then charged at them again. "Electric Arm!" Nitori used both her mechanical arms to grab the caribou by its antlers and then surged electricity into them in order to electrocute the partly mechanical animal.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

The caribou struggled in pain as the electricity stung its body. After Nitori let go of the mechanical arms, the caribou fell on its side and writhed in pain. An explosion of sparks suddenly came out from mechanical portion at the back of its body, and then the Reconstructed Caribou stopped moving while smoke came out from its mechanical parts.

Boney walked up to the caribou and sniffed it. "He's dead," he told Lucas in 'dog language'.

Lucas and the others came up the dead caribou and Lucas said, "Who could've done this? There shouldn't be anyone on this island who can do this now that the Pigmask Army is gone!"

"This is totally wrong!" Sanae said. "People shouldn't simply turn animals into violent machines! Whoever did this must be taught a lesson!"

"I agree," Nitori said with a nod. "Much as I like machinery and high-tech stuff, this is going way too overboard! Nature should be left alone by itself and not be ruined by technology!"

"I think we should go back to the village and tell everyone about this," Lucas suggested. "I have a bad feeling that history is starting to repeat itself on this island... Before that, we should bury this caribou. I was thinking that if it was possible, we should refrain from killing him, but..."

Unknown to them, Fassad was watching them afar using a pair of binoculars. "So they managed to defeat the Reconstructed Caribou," he thought. "They're also going back to the village. Good! This is the perfect opportunity to let the carefree villagers of Tazmily Village realize that His Highness has returned! Nwehehehehehe!"

The mechanical fly used its eye beam to make the metal crate disappear, and then a pair of metallic wings built with jet engines at their tips appeared from the sides of a square-shaped device on his back, allowing him to take flight.

* * *

After burying the Reconstructed Caribou, Lucas and the girls quickly returned to the village. "Everyone! You have to listen to me!" Lucas said. "It seems that something evil is at work on this island!"

Hearing this, everyone stopped rebuilding the village and turned to him. "What are you talking about, Lucas?" an old man named Wess asked him.

Flint walked up to Lucas and asked him, "What's the matter, Lucas? Did something happen while you were on a walk with the girls?"

"You won't believe it!" Lucas said. "We encountered a caribou that had been..."

"Transformed into a cyborg, is that it?" said a voice all of a sudden. "Nwehehehehe!"

Hearing this, everyone looked around the place for the source of the voice. "Who was that just now?" Bronson asked.

"Wait a minute... That voice sounds familiar!" Kumatora said.

"Long time no see, villagers of Tazmily Village!" said Fassad as he descended from the air. The villagers quickly backed away when the obese villain landed next to the well. "Miss me, eh?"

"Fassad!" Lucas gasped.

"How are you still alive?" Duster said in shock. "I thought you were already dead!"

"Yeah, even if you did survive our final battle, you should've disappeared after Lucas pulled out the final needle!" Kumatora pointed out.

"Those are things of the past," Fassad told them. "King P and I have once again returned to the world of the living! Okay, King P is immortal, so I'm the only one who has returned to the world of the living."

"King P! He's back!" Lucas said in shock.

"Nwehehehehe! You better believe it! You didn't expect to hear from him the second time, did you?"

"Third time to be precise," Kumatora corrected him.

"Third time? Funny, I could've sworn that you got into a skirmish with him only once... Bah, whatever... Listen up, everyone! This island will soon be under the control of King P again!"

"Who is that weirdo?" Marisa asked.

Fassad looked at her and said, "You better watch your mouth, lemon-haired girl! You're speaking to the right-hand man of the one and only King P! Do you want to know how he looks like? Oh, you do? Very well! I shall show you the handsome face of His Highness then!"

"We didn't say anything..." Reisen said.

With a snap of his finger, the mechanical fly into the scene and then projected an image onto the nearest building. Everyone turned to look at the projection and saw the image of a large metal ball.

**BGM: His Highness' Theme (Mother 3)**

"Heeheeheeheehee!" laughed a voice that came from the metal ball. "Do you miss me, happy-go-lucky villagers of Tazmily Village?"

"Okay, you didn't get see the face..." Fassad said. "But at least you can hear his lovely voice, and that's better than nothing!"

"King P!" said Lucas in shock as he recognized that voice.

"Hey, I like this new add-on! My voice can be broadcasted outside! Though I wish I could also see outside without having to look through the window. Darn that Andonuts for messing with this Absolutely Safety Capsule... If this isn't the safest thing in the world, I don't know what is! In fact, it's so safe that it's totally flawed! Now I'm stuck inside this thing for eternity! At least I will never starve to death or worry about taking a toilet break..."

An old man with glasses stepped forward and said, "Wasn't that what you always wanted? To be alone and not bothered by anyone? You were even hoping that the dragon would destroy everything in the world but leaving you the only survivor!"

"Yeah, I did say that all right, but I have to admit that it does get boring after being all alone for so long. Anyway, let's get down to business, shall we? As Fassad had told you earlier, I'm going to take over this island as well as the entire universe. Don't think that I cannot do anything just because I'm inside this Absolutely Safety Capsule. I have new friends who are helping me, so you better believe that I am telling the truth! Surrender yourselves now or else become my slaves!"

"We will never surrender ourselves to you!" Lucas angrily shouted.

"Is that you, Lucas? It's been a while since I last heard from you! The last time was during that Smash Buggers Tournament or something, right? Heheheh! Looks like we're going to have some fun with each other once again! Heheheheheh!"

"You won't get away with this, Porky!"

"He was in the Smash Brothers Tournament as well?" Marisa curiously said.

"I leave the rest to you, Fassad," Porky said. "Go ahead and have fun with them before coming back. Sooner or later, they shall realize how hopeless they are before my awesomeness! Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!" And then the projection disappeared.

After that, Fassad turned to the villagers and said to them, "Now you have seen for yourself that King P is serious about this taking over this island as well as the universe! Surrender yourselves now and we will show mercy; otherwise, you'll be seeing Lucas's dead mother and twin brother! Nwehehehehe!"

"You!" Flint shouted at him. "You've messed up our island bad enough already and even caused the death of my wife and son! I'm going to teach you a lesson if it's the last thing I'll do!" In rage, Flint picked up a random wooden board that was lying on the ground and then ran towards Fassad to whack him with it. "Hiyaaaaaaaaa!"

"Nwehehehehe!" Fassad simply laughed at Flint's attempt to attack, and then the villain's mechanical eye glowed with a bright light that caused Flint to be blinded.

"Gah! My eyes!" Flint cried as he dropped the wooden board and placed his hands over his eyes.

"PSI Thunder!" Fassad shouted as he raised his right arm into the air to launch a thunderbolt that dropped down on top of Flint.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"FATHER!" Lucas gasped. Lucas and Boney quickly ran up to his charred father while Kumatora and Duster turned to Fassad.

"You villain!" Kumatora angrily said. "PSI Freeze!" She stretched forth her arm to shoot out a large blue snowflake.

"PSI Counter!" Fassad said as he stretched forth his arm to create a purple diamond-shaped shield that negated the incoming snowflake.

"Hiya!" Duster shouted as he leaped at Fassad, attempting to hit him with a flying kick. Fassad quickly took off into the air to avoid getting hit, and then he dropped a thunderbolt on top of him.

"PSI Thunder!"

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Duster screamed, and then he onto the ground with his body badly charred.

"PSI Thunder!" Kumator shouted as she launched a thunderbolt into the air, but Fassad countered with the same move. Both the thunders canceled out each other upon contact.

"Nwehehehe! Resistance is futile! Just give it up!" the villain laughed. Suddenly, Aya dashed past him, causing him to spin in place. "Nweck!"

Aya then spun around and slashed her fan against the air to shoot out two crescent-shaped wind blades. "Gale Fan!"

"PSI Counter!" Fassad shouted as he quickly activated the purple diamond-shaped shield to protect himself from the incoming projectiles. Suddenly, his left leg was caught by a mechanical arm, and when he looked down, he saw that it was Nitori doing this to him. "Hey you!"

"Take this! Mecha Hand Slam!" Nitori shouted as the mechanical arm slammed Fassad onto the ground like a hammer over and over.

WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!

"OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!" Fassad cried as his face struck the ground over and over. Nitori eventually let go of Fassad to let the obese villain lie down on the ground in pain. "Doh... You brat..." When he rolled over on his back, he saw Aya attempting to hit him with a diving kick. "Uh oh..."

"Take this, fatty!" she shouted.

Fassad's mechanical wings appeared and released a burst of fire that caused him to move out of the way just in time to avoid Aya's diving kick that left behind a footprint on the ground.

"You're not bringing me down so easily!" the obese villain said.

"We'll see about that!" Aya said as she dashed at Fassad with her fan gripped tightly in her hand.

Suddenly, the mechanical fly's eyes released light that made the large metal crate appear. The front part of the crate was wide open and facing Aya, who dashed inside it. Quickly, Fassad ran to the front of the crate and slammed it shut before locking it up with a bolt. "Phew... That was close..." he said while wiping his forehead.

"Hey! Let me out!" shouted Aya's voice while the crate shook violently.

"Hey! Let Aya out of there at once!" Reimu told him.

"Never in a million years!" Fassad taunted. "All right; it's time to make a run for it! See ya later, dummies!" And then the mechanical fly once again cast down light onto Fassad and the crate, making the both of them disappear.

"He's gone!" Marisa said in shock. "He even took Aya with him-ze!"

The mechanical fly started to fly away, but Cirno went after it and hit it with a sword made of ice.

SLASH!

"Yeah! I've destroyed their flying fortress!" Cirno exclaimed as the pieces of the mechanical fly fell onto the ground. "But where's Aya? Why didn't she or the bad guys fall out? Weren't they all inside this thing?"

"Don't be silly... How can anything fit inside that thing...?" Reisen told her.

* * *

Alec was sitting on rocking chair on the porch of his cabin built somewhere in Mt. Oriander. "What a peaceful day!" he said to himself while rocking back and forth. "I wonder how Flint, Lucas, and Boney are doing back in Tazmily Village though. Maybe I should pay them a surprise visit around these days? That sounds like a good idea to me! Heheh!"

Suddenly, the entire place shook violently and it made Alec stand up from his rocking chair. "Eh? What on earth is happening?"

His farm animals ran around the place like crazy as the whole place shook violently. Alec quickly ran out to the open field for safety and started looking around the place. Suddenly, a large shadow loomed over him and when he looked at the source of the shadow, he was surprised to see a gigantic tower rising into the air.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT!" he gasped.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I have some reports to work on around these days, so do not be surprised if I take more than ten days to update, though I'll still my best to update within ten days.

**Next chapter: Message from the Thunder**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

If Keine was in the final version of this story...

The caribou spun through the until it hit a tree, but then it stood back up again and lowered its head to get ready to charge at them. Its back opened up to reveal a jet engine, and then with a burst of fire, the caribou shot forward like a rocket.

Lucas and the girls quickly moved aside, but Keine remained standing in her place and fighting stance as the caribou got closer and closer to her. "Ms. Keine! Get out of there quick!" Lucas shouted at her.

Keine then pulled back her head as far as she could before attacking the caribou in the head with a powerful headbutt.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The caribou fell back onto the ground and couldn't move around properly due to the headbutt doing severe damage to its head. Keine rubbed her forehead and said, "Much softer than that bell-like creature from that Pokemon world..."


	46. Message from the Thunder

**SBS Time!  
Blake Force: **Shouldn't the Touhou characters be banned from flying? That gives them too good of a recovery.  
**Game2002: **True, and that is why I made it so that they cannot fly for some time every time they arrive at a new world. Remilia, Aya, and Cirno are the only exceptions because they rely on their wings to fly.

**Blake Force: **No reference to the paintings from SM64?**  
Gam2002: **Sorry, no...

**Chapter 45  
Message from the Thunder**

* * *

The massive tower with a yellow sphere for its roof continued to rise into the air until it finally came to stop. It was at such a height that one could even see it from the far end of the island.

Alec and his farm animals were shocked by the sudden appearance of the tower. "What on earth is that?" he said in shock. "How did that rise out from the ground all of a sudden? And why do I have a bad feeling about this...?"

* * *

Within the tower, Fawful was looking outside the window and saying, "I have chortles! The Thunder Tower that is of the second version has been created in a mere week! Now behold the trembling of those fink rats as they watch in terror at the awesomeness that is this tower! Geeheeheeheeheehee!"

"Indeed!" said the voice of Porky from behind him. "I call this brand new tower Thunder Tower II! How's that? A very amazing and original name, don't you think?"

"Fawful thinks otherwise..."

"Heeheehee! Now let us show those happy-go-lucky folks of Tazmily Village what this thing is capable of. Surely, they have already witnessed what the original Thunder Tower could do, but now they show witness what this tower can do that the original could not!"

"What you say shall be done by Fawful!" Fawful said as he walked over to a controller placed at the side of the room. After pressing one of the buttons on it, a large machine in the center of the room started to release electricity while making loud engine noise.

This caused a large, futuristic cannon that was built on top of the tower's spherical roof to glow with bright blue light, and then it turned to aim at the village which was visible in the distance before firing a massive thunderbolt in its direction.

* * *

"Are you all right?" Wesker asked Duster as he picked him up by his arm and carried placed it over his shoulders.

"I'm fine, father..." he replied.

"Geez! Has age caught up with you or not? It's not like you to be taken out so easily like that! I guess that too much peace nowadays really isn't all that good. It's taking away your skills little by little!"

While Flint and Duster were being taken away to be treated, Leder noticed something in the distance. Matt walked up to him and asked, "What are you looking at, Leder?"

"There's a tower among the mountains in the distance, it seems..." he replied. "It wasn't there just now though..."

Suddenly and without a warning, a thunderbolt struck the ground next to the well and created a massive explosion that blasted everyone away.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

* * *

"Hahahahaha!" Porky laughed. "The original Thunder Tower was only powerful enough to destroy houses, but now this one is powerful enough to create craters on the ground! Am I a genius or what?"

"You did nothing..." Fawful reminded him.

"Heheh! Now the villagers will surrender themselves to me! Even those girls should be trembling before my power!"

"Long live King P!" Fassad said as he entered the room. "I have seen what happened just now and am very amazed at the power of this new Thunder Tower! Surely, the people will have no choice but to surrender themselves to you if they want to live! Sooner or later, you will become the king of this island!"

"Not only that," Porky reminded him. "The whole universe will soon fall into my hands as well. At last, I will be able to create the biggest playground ever in the universe, and everything belongs to me! Hahahahahaha!" And then he stopped laughing. "By the way, is it true that you've brought back someone from the village when you returned? That's what Fawful told me."

"Yes," Fassad replied with a nod, and then he proceeded to him about what was happening with Aya currently.

* * *

"Let me out!" Aya shouted as she kicked the inside of the metal crate really hard. "I said let me out of here! Let me out of here at once!" No matter how hard she kicked it, the metal crate refuse to open up or break apart. "I'm not going stay a caged bird like this! I'm getting out of here no matter what!"

She moved all the way to the way to the back of the crate and then charged forward as fast as she could. "Hiya!"

Suddenly, the front part of the crate swung open just when she was about touch it. She quickly came to a stop when she realized that she had exited the metal crate, and then she turned to look at it. "That's better! Whoever opened it should've done so earlier!" she said.

"Huhuhahahahaha!" laughed a voice that came from nearby the crate.

"Eh? Who's there? I know you're hiding next to the crate, so come out at once!"

Then a set of sharp claws appeared from behind the part of the metal crate that slid open, and then slowly, the person partially revealed his head, just enough to see rows of sharp teeth on the upper and lower jaws. "You're mine!" said the person with sharp teeth.

* * *

The village was totally busted thanks to the powerful thunderbolt that came from Thunder Tower II. Miraculously, everyone survived the explosion.

"Is everyone all right...?" Bronson asked as he slowly got back up.

"What was that just now...?" Reggie said. "It feels familiar somehow... Oh yeah, my teepee got busted in a similar way once..."

Boney walked to Lucas and licked him in the face to wake him up. Lucas groaned as he opened his eyes, and then he sat back up while dusting his face. Once he got the dust out of his eyes, he looked around and was horrified to see the entire village in ruins. "Oh my god... This is terrible... The entire village..."

"Is destroyed..." Flint said, finishing the phrase for him. "This cannot be... Our village..."

Leder got up and looked at the tower visible in the distance. "That tower... King P must've launched an attack from that tower as a warning to all those who dare oppose him!"

"What do we do?" Jill cried. "If we do not do anything about, we will all die!"

The villagers started to panic and cried among themselves that they were doomed for sure. "Everyone, please calm down!" Pusher, the mayor of the village, said to the panicking villagers. "Let us not panic, or else we will not be able to do anything!" However, the villagers were could not calm down.

"How can we calm down at a time like this?"

"We're doomed! We're all done for! This is the end of Tazmily Village and Nowhere Island!"

"We should just surrender ourselves to King P! At least we'll be able to save our lives in doing so!"

"I'd rather die than to work for that jerk!"

"What else can we do?"

"We have to fight back! For the sake of Nowhere Island and the whole universe, we must fight back!"

"There is no we can fight against him!"

"Are you forgetting Lucas, the boy who saved the world?"

Immediately, everyone's eyes turned to Lucas. The young boy swallowed hard as the entire village came up to him and then started begging him to save them.

"Please, Lucas! You saved the world once, so please save the world the second time!"

"You can do it! We're relying on you!"

"You have to save us all! Our lives rest on your hands!"

"Please... Don't force me..." Lucas cried while slowly stepping backwards. "I'm not sure... if I can..."

Suddenly, Flint ran in front of his son to protect him from the incoming crowd. "Do not burden my son!" he said. "It's true that he saved the world once, but that does not mean he can do it the second time! You must leave the decision to him instead!"

However, the villagers did not to listen to him.

"Who else can help save us? Only your son can do it!"

"Yeah, he did it once, so it shouldn't be hard to do it the second time!"

"Tell him to go that tower at once and beat the lights of King P! Do it before we're all screwed!"

"Yeah! Do it!"

"You're too overprotective of your son, Flint!"

As Flint tried to push back the crowd, the girls of Gensokyo watched from the side, unsure of what to do. "Quite a chaos we're having here-ze..." Marisa commented.

"We should be doing something instead of simply standing here..." Youmu said.

Sanae looked at the ruined village and said, "This is horrible... How can those villains be so cruel...? If we don't do something about them..." Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone crying.

"I can't allow this..." said Nitori, who was crying and showing anger at the same time with her fists clutched tightly. "Technology shouldn't be used for causing destruction... It should be used to benefit the world, not destroy it!"

"Nitori..."

The kappa then stepped forward and shouted at the top of her voice, "EVERYONE!"

This grabbed the villagers' attention and so they all turned to look at her.

"I'll save your island! I will take the responsibility of saving you all! I will stop the bad guys from harming you all! It's true that I love technology, but I love nature as well! I cannot allow them to use technology to bring harm to nature! Don't worry; I will defeat them for you all! You can count on me!"

Suddenly, Reimu patted Nitori on the shoulder. "You don't need to take the whole responsibility onto shoulders," the shrine maiden told her. "Don't forget that we are a group, so it only makes sense for us to go as a group and accomplish things together."

"Yeah!" Marisa said as she patted Nitori's other shoulder. "You have us to help you-ze!"

"Right! I cannot stand still and do nothing knowing that the villains have caused such harm to you villagers!" Sanae said. "They must be punished for their evildoings!"

"I'll beat the lights out of them!" Cirno said. "I'm the strongest!"

"You girls..." Flint said.

Mayor Pusher then stepped forward and said, "Then please help us! After seeing you taking out the Mecha-Drago yesterday night, I believe that you can do something about this as well! As the mayor of Tazmily Village, I ask for your help to save our island! I will reward you greatly afterwards!"

"Well, if you don't mind..." Reimu said as she imagined the mayor rewarding her with lots of money.

"You might as well give up trying to think that they'll reward you with money. Flint told us that monetary system has been abolished on this island," Remilia reminded her. Hearing this, the imaginary thought bubble above Reimu's head disappeared in a poof.

"I'm going with you!" Lucas suddenly said. "The villagers are right; I've saved the world once, so I should be able to save it the second time!" Boney, who was standing next to Lucas, barked to show that he was willing to tag along as well.

"Don't forget that I was one of the people who fought against the Pigmask Army!" Kumatora said while pointing to herself.

"Me too," Duster said as he came over to them. "We cannot allow Porky to do as he pleases. We must work together to bring him down once and for all!"

"But you're injured just now, Duster," Lucas said to him. "Can you still move around?"

"That was nothing. I got a bit careless, but I shall be more careful from now on."

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Wess said to him. "Don't disappoint me this time, Duster!"

"I will, father."

Lucas then turned to Flint and said to him, "Father, is it all right if I go with them?"

"As dangerous as it is, there is no other choice," Flint replied. "I trust in you, son. Please come back safely!"

"I will, father!" And then Lucas turned to look at the girls and his companions. "C'mon, let's go! That tower seems to be located at Mt. Oriander, so I'll take you there!"

And so, Lucas led the way towards Sunshine Forest.

* * *

Several minutes had passed since Lucas's group had entered into Sunshine Forest, and they had yet to reach Mt. Oriander. "We should be there very soon," he said. Suddenly, he noticed an old man approaching them from afar. "Hey, that's..."

"Isn't that Lucas?" the old man asked. "My grandson! What are you doing here?"

"Grandpa!" Lucas happily said as he ran up to embrace his grandfather. "Grandpa, you're all right!"

"Boy! Am I glad to see you!" Alec said as he rubbed the back of Lucas's head. "I was going to head to the village to tell you about this strange architecture that came out from the ground all of a sudden!"

"It came out near your house?"

"Yeah, somewhere around that place, but it's still a bit of a distance away. I've also heard a loud and terrifying sound similar to that of thunder..."

"Our village was destroyed by that thunderbolt..."

"What's that you say?"

"Exactly what he said," Kumatora said. "That tower launched a thunderbolt that destroyed the entire village. Everyone survived though."

"Oh my god! How can such a thing happen? I had a bad feeling ever since that tower showed up, and it seems that my hunch was correct after all!"

"King P has returned, grandpa!" Lucas told Alec. "We're heading over to that tower to stop him from taking over this island as well as the universe!"

"That guy's back again? Bad news indeed... Well, it seems that you're going to save the world again, am I right? You've done it once, so I believe that you can do it again! Get out there and go reckless, my boy!"

* * *

Lucas's group had finally arrived at Mt. Oriander and was walking on the rocky path that led to Thunder Tower II.

"I was wondering…" Cirno said. "Why can't we just fly straight to the tower instead of walking like this? It takes forever to get there on foot!"

"We have yet to regain abilities to fly," Reimu replied. "Even if Remilia can fly, she doesn't want to fly around in places where she will be exposed to the sun."

"I can fly as well!"

"Like you're going to be of any help when you get there first by yourself… Aya might be inside that tower, but she didn't escape from that place and return to us at all. This may mean that her opponents are no pushover and that she needs our help currently…"

"And they say that speed is superior to everything-ze…" Marisa said.

"Oh yeah…" Reisen said all of a sudden. "Didn't King P also said that he participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament?"

"He didn't participate in the tournament," Lucas replied while shaking his head, "but he did appear at the tournament. What's even more surprising is that he showed up without the Absolutely Safety Capsule despite that fact that he shouldn't be able to exit for eternity! Yet, he's back inside the capsule again…"

"If he wasn't participating in the tournament," Youmu asked, "then why was he there? Was he simply serving as an audience?"

"Actually, there's quite a story behind this… You see, the tournament did not exactly go smoothly…"

"What happened at the tournament?" Remilia asked.

"It was something that all those who went Smash World rather not remember, but if you really want to know, I'll go ahead and tell you about it."

"Having a fun time with your walk, eh?" said Porky's voice all of a sudden. Everyone looked around to see where the voice came from.

"Porky!" Lucas gasped.

"Where are you? Show yourself at once!" Kumatora demanded.

"Over here!" said the voice of Porky as a mechanical fly descended from the sky.

"Hey! I thought I destroyed that fly already!" Cirno said.

"Things like these can be mass produced. You destroy one, another one gets built! Simple as that! Can you not even comprehend such a common knowledge?"

"Well, she really isn't the brightest when it comes to common knowledge or any kind of knowledge for that matters-ze," Marisa said.

"Meh, whatever… Oh yeah, notice how I am able to speak to you without the usage of projections this time? Yeah, it's an upgrade! Who needs pictures when you can simply communicate through sound? Hahahahaha… *Cough* *Wheeze* Ack! Phew… Sorry about that… Old age is such a pain…"

"We're closing in on your tower, King P!" Kumatori said to the mechanical fly. "You better get ready to meet your makers!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know about that already. I'm looking forward to your visit! However, I would you to pass a trial first. Prove to me that you are competent and worthy enough to enter my tower!"

"What sort of trial?" Reimu asked.

"This trial!"

The mechanical fly then used its eyes to shine light onto the ground in front of Lucas's group, and then from the light, something started to materialize. Once the materialization was complete, the 'something' turned out to be a large statue built in the likeliness of a fat boy wielding a gun and a piece of board.

"The King Statue!" Lucas gasped.

"King Statue MK II to be precise," Porky replied. "As you can see, this thing is made of steel this time and now wields a gun and a piece of board. Certainly beats the original stone-made one that wields a slingshot and a book, eh? Well, what say you try to smash this thing into smithereens before coming to my tower? Good luck trying not to get smashed into smithereens yourselves! Hahahahahaha… *Cough* *Gasp*!" And then the broadcasting stopped.

The mechanical fly flew afterwards, and the girls looked at the statue curiously while the inhabitants of Nowhere Island took several steps backwards. "So we're supposed to bring down this thing?" Nitori asked.

"Easy! It's just a statue! What harm can it do?" Cirno said.

"Well, let's get to work then," Remilia said.

"Um… Don't underestimate this thing…" Lucas said. "I've encountered this thing twice, first in Porky's amusement park and the second time in Smash World…"

"And is this thing hard to deal with!" Kumatora said.

"We managed to destroy it the first time using the help of a New Year's Eve Bomb," Duster said. "I'm not sure about the one in Smash World because I wasn't around when it was destroyed."

"Ness destroyed using PK Flash," Lucas explained.

"Well, whatever the case is… This thing isn't moving at all," Reimu said. "How about we just walk around it and pretend that we didn't see it at all?"

She walked up to the statue, but suddenly, the statue's left hand, the one holding the piece of board, extended in length and swung down like a whip onto her. Luckily, Reimu reacted fast enough to jump out of the way.

"Whoa! That was close!"

**BGM: Piggy Guys (Mother 3)**

The King Statue raised his gun and fired energy bullets at them, Reimu set up a blue wall to block the shots. "Cautionary Border!"

"All right! It's my turn to fight back!" Marisa said as she stretched forth her arm. "Radial Strike!" A barrage of energy stars was shot out from her hand, but they bounced off the statue's metallic body harmlessly.

Suddenly, the statue leaped up into the air and fell back down towards the group. "Watch out!" Reisen cried.

Everyone quickly ran in separate directions when the statue fell down with a powerful crash.

CRASH!

Shortly after the statue landed, the Gensokyo girls launched a barrage of projectiles at it. Reisen fired several energy bullets at it, Alice commanded her dolls to fire from their rifles, and Nitori launched several missiles at it. "Kappa Missile!" she shouted.

Despite getting hit by all the projectiles at once, the statue was unharmed. It walked towards the three girls as they continued to shoot it while moving backwards. Suddenly, Youmu dashed past in front of the statue.

SLAAAAAAAASH!

She turned around and saw that she only left behind a shallow slash mark in front of the statue's body. "What? What is that statue made of?" she said in disbelief.

As the King Statue turned to approach Youmu, it was suddenly blasted by blue hexagons. "PSI Love!" Lucas shouted as he launched large energy hexagons from his hands.

"PSI Starstorm!" Kumatora shouted as she raised her arms into the air. In doing so, a glowing portal appeared above her, and then large energy balls flew out it and struck the statue as well as the ground around it.

CRASH! BANG! POW! BANG! KABOOM! BANG! BOOM! KABOOOOOOOOOM!

The powerful energy balls caused the statue to take several steps back until it finally fell over on its back.

CRASH!

"Wow! Amazing!" Sanae exclaimed.

"Heh! Going all out right off the bat!" Kumatora said. "We're in a hurry, so we might as well end this fast in order to save energy for the real battle up ahead."

"But I wouldn't think that using PSI Starstorm was a good idea," Duster said. "It makes you run out of energy fast."

"Don't worry; I still have lot of energy to spare! I won't go tired so easily!"

Despite getting hit by the energy balls really hard, the King Statue managed to remain in one place and stood back up, though there were some cracks and charred spots on its body. "It's just as tough as the first one, it would seem..." Kumatora thought. "But at least it is taking damage."

The statue pointed its gun at Kumatori and Duster and fired at them. The both of them quickly jumped out of the way and then Duster ran towards the statue as fast as he could. When the statue tried to shoot Duster, he in a zigzag path to avoid the shots, and then he jumped at the statue to land a powerful kick to its forehead.

KICK!

Duster flipped back into the air and landed in front of the statue in a crouched position. The statue brought up its piece of board and then brought it down on to of him in an attempt to crush him with it, but Duster moved back in time. When the piece of the board struck the ground, Meiling ran up the board and up its arm to deliver a rainbow-powered flying kick into its face. "Sky Dragon Kick!" she shouted.

KICK!

The kick was actually strong enough to cause the statue to take a step back. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire three yin-yang orbs at it.

"Hey you! Check this out!" shouted the voice of Cirno. The statue turned to look at the top of a slope where Cirno was, and the ice fairy had a large ice ball next to her. "Take this! Midsummer Snowman!" And then she got behind the ice ball to give it a push, causing it to roll down the slope at high speed.

The statue was unable to get out of the way in time, so the ice ball crashed into it. However, the statue was too heavy to be moved by the ice ball, and it also used its arms to stop the ice ball in its tracks. While it was doing this however, Marisa approached from behind with a card held in front of her hakkero. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" she shouted, and then she fired a massive laser beam from her hakkero.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The massive laser beam pushed the statue across the place until it crashed into the slope that Cirno was on top of. "Whoa!" Cirno cried when the ground shook a bit, and then she took off into the air.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Phew! That did the trick-ze!" Marisa said.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Lucas exclaimed. "It's exactly the same as Samus's Zero Laser, but more colorful!"

"Thanks for the compliment! And who's Samus?"

"One of the participants in the Smash Brothers Tournament."

Cirno landed in front the knocked down statue and looked at it, saying, "Haha! How'd you like that? No dumb statue is going to beat me! I'm the strongest!"

Suddenly, the King Statue stood back up.

"Yikes!" Cirno shrieked as she quickly got out of the way.

"What? It's not out for the count yet?" Reimu said in shock.

The statue pointed its gun in the direction the heroes and heroines and started firing nonstop aimlessly, but they got out of the way.

When Remilia landed from her jump, she noticed that there was a ledge above her, providing her with shade. "This place looks good enough," she thought, and then she put her parasol before cupping her hands together at the side of her waist. "Red Magic!" She formed a red energy ball in her hands and then fired it at the statue.

The energy ball left behind a red trail as it streaked across the air before hitting the statue in the side of its body. The statue turned to look at Remilia, who created three glyphs in the air. From each of those glyphs, bats made of red energy flew out and went towards the statue. However, the bats disappeared upon hitting the statue and did no visible damage to it.

The statue pointed its gun at her and fired projectiles, but Meiling jumped in front of her master and formed a colorful vortex in front of palm. "Water Form Taichi Fist!" she shouted, and the vortex absorbed the projectiles before firing its own rainbow-colored projectile that struck the statue in its body.

BANG!

"Move aside, Meiling!" Remilia said, and the gatekeeper obeyed her mistress and so moved away. A red vortex then appeared in front of Remilia's palm. "Chain Gang!" A red chain shot out from the vortex and towards the statue, striking it into belly. However, the statue's body was much too hard for the chain to penetrate. "Lots of protective fat you there, eh? How about this?" She made the chain went around the King Statue multiple times instead until it was bounded.

While the statue was bounded, the other girls used this opportunity to attack. "Scars of Stupor!" Reisen as she fired a black missile.

"Gray Thaumaturgy!" Sanae shouted as she used her gohei to draw gray-colored star in the air, and then the star broke down into several white bullets that flew towards the statue.

"Volatile Doll!" Alice shouted as she threw exploding dolls at the statue.

BANG BANG BANG!

After getting hit by the projectiles, the statue's body opened up to fire a barrage of missiles at them. Seeing this, Nitori quickly countered with her own missiles. "Kappa Missile!"

The missiles exploded upon coming in contact with each other, but the statue fired more missiles than Nitori, so not all of them were destroyed. However, Nitori fired laser beams from her backpack to take out the remaining missiles they got close to her. "Monster Cucumber!"

Meanwhile, Remilia gripped the red chain tightly and tried to swing the statue into the air, but the statue's weight was too heavy to be lifted off from the ground. "Ugh! This thing is heavy!" she thought.

The statue suddenly swung its arm underneath the chain and then forcefully raised the chain into the air to pull Remilia out of the shade and into the sunlight. "Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped. Knowing that her mistress cannot be exposed to sunlight for too long, she quickly picked up the parasol and then after her.

Remilia fell back onto the ground with a thud, and then she desperately tried to use her arms to cover herself from the sunlight. "Ugh! It burns and stings!" she cried.

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling cried as she ran over to her to offer her the parasol.

Remilia quickly opened the parasol and held it over her head. "Phew… Much better… Thanks, Meiling. That thing must pay for this!"

"PSI Flash!" Lucas shouted as he fired a green energy ball from his hand. The energy ball exploded in a huge burst of light upon hitting the statue, and it was so bright that everyone had to close his or her eyes.

FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

When the light died down, the statue was revealed to be unharmed. "What? It didn't work?" Lucas gasped. "But Ness managed to destroy it in single hit with PK Flash!"

"Is there a difference between PK and PSI?" Reimu asked him.

"Actually, they both mean the same thing, just with different ways of calling…"

The statue started walking in the direction of the heroes and heroines as they got into fighting stance. "Everyone, move back!" Kumatora said as she stepped forward and placed her hand onto the ground. "PSI Ground!" Brownish-orange energy ripples came out from her hand and traveled forward, causing the terrain in front of her to shake violently.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

The statue continued to walk forward while the ground shook, but the rocks on the cliff eventually began to crack and break apart, as well as the ground. Suddenly, the ground underneath the statue gave way and made it fall down, and then the rocks fell down on top of the King Statue until it was completely buried.

The shaking eventually stopped and Kumatora stood back up and dusted her hands. "Well, that takes care of that!" she said.

"Whoa! Did you just create an earthquake?" Sanae asked in surprise.

"Yeah, that's basically what PSI Ground is all about."

"Tenshi is really going to be surprise to know that a human can also do something like this-ze!" Marisa said.

Suddenly, rocks flew everywhere as the statue stood back up from the hole that it fell into. "What?" everyone gasped.

The statue leaped out of the hole and landed in front of them, and everyone stepped back to get away from it. "Just how tough is this thing?" Reisen said. "How can we take out something like this?"

The statue pointed its gun at them to and was about to pull the trigger when suddenly its arm fell onto the ground. "But it seems that it's no longer in a perfect condition," Nitori said. "We should be able to take it down eventually!"

"All right! Let's do it then!" Reimu said.

The front part of the statue's body opened up to shoot missiles. Seeing this, Reimu quickly created a blue wall and then pushed it towards the statue. "Cautionary Border!"

The blue wall flew in front of the statue's body just as the missile were about to be fired. As a result, the missiles exploded the moment they were fired, and the close range explosion not only pushed back the statue slightly, but also destroyed its missile launcher.

While the statue was struggling to stand properly from being pushed back by the explosion, Youmu, Cirno, and Meiling ran towards it to attack.

"Meditation Slash!" Youmu shouted as she swung down her energy-covered sword.

"Sword Freezer!" Cirno shouted as she created a huge sword made of ice to swing at the statue.

"Spiral Light Step!" Meiling shouted as she delivered a rainbow-powered punch.

All three attacks struck the opening on the statue's body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The combined force of the three attacks was powerful enough to break down the metallic exterior of the statue, revealing the circuitry inside.

"I'll give the finishing blow!" Nitori said as she reached her mechanical arms reached behind her and towards a pointed rock to grab hold of it. "Youmu! Cut the base of the rock for me!

"Got it!" Youmu replied, and then she ran to the rock and cut its base. Once the rock was separated from the ground, Nitori's mechanical arms lifted the rock into the air and then brought down its pointed top onto the King Statue's exposed circuitry.

"Take this! Diving Spike!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I wonder if anyone already figured out who the person with sharp teeth is.

**Next chapter: His Highness's Playground**


	47. His Highness's Playground

**Random Pointless Rambling: **I've known the Yukkuri meme for some time already, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago did I get to know better the dark and tragic side of the meme. How can people be so cruel to torture these cute little things? Depressing and heart-breaking, but at the same time, it's somewhat addicting...

It's been a rather busy week, but I managed to get some college works done. I'm sorry for making you wait for this chapter to come out...

**Chapter 46  
His Highness's Playground**

**

* * *

**

"Yes! I can see the outside now! I can see the scenery outside now!" Porky exclaimed when he was able to see Fawful by looking at the window in front of him.

On the outside of the Absolutely Safety Capsule, a circular device resembling a camera lens was attached to the front of its window. "The Lens of All-Seeing is made to be in one with your eyes," Fawful explained. "To think of turning yours eyes is the very same as the moving of the lens. Fawful has confident that what you see will never be forever be the boringness that is the ceiling or whatever it is that you see and find very boring. Fawful has chortles knowing that you see no boringness anymore! Geeheeheeheeheehee!"

"Heheheh! Let's try this thing out!" Porky said. He thought of looking to the left, and from the outside, the lens slowly turned to the left. From the inside, Porky could see the scenery outside the window showing the left side of the room. "Good! I like this! Now I will be able to get a better look at those girls and even Lucas again! How I really miss his face... His crying and angry face! Heheheh! By the way, how goes the fight with the King Statue MK II?"

Fawful then turned to the screen on the wall and turned it on.

* * *

From the air, the same mechanical fly was looking at what happened below.

The King Statue MK II was lying on the ground with its body crushed by the large rock. Nitori's mechanical arms dusted themselves before retracting back into the backpack. "Well, that takes care of that!" she said.

"Good, we managed to take it down," Reimu said.

"That was pretty touch-ze," Marisa as she placed her broom on her shoulder. "But in the end, no statue is good enough to take us down-ze!"

"Yeah! I was all thanks to me!" Cirno, who was standing on top of the rock that crushed the statue, said out loud. "I'm the strongest! Hahahahahaha!"

"Yeah, you did use that ice ball to distract the statue while Marisa attacks using Master Spark from behind," Reisen said, "but the statue managed to survive anyway..."

"Is everyone tired?" Lucas asked. "I can use PSI Lifeup to heal everyone. PSI Lifeup Omega!" And then he spread out his arms to create a green flash that made everyone feel refreshed.

"I feel better all of a sudden!" Sanae said. "Thanks, Lucas!"

"You're welcome!"

After that, they continued to travel down the mountainous road, getting closer and closer to Thunder Tower 2 with each step.

* * *

The heroes and heroines stepped through the door and looked around the interior of the tower. They saw several computers and machines set up around the place, but there was not a single person around the place.

"This place sure is empty…" Reisen said. "And I also have a bad feeling about this …"

The group slowly walked through the room while looking left and right for possible signs of danger, but there were none. They traveled across the room and walked up a staircase to reach the second floor, and that floor also contained nothing but computers and machineries.

"Um… Is there really no one here at all?" Lucas wondered. "Where are all the Pig Masks?"

"It's not a bad thing if there is nobody here," Reimu said. "It lets us easily make our way to the top and find the mastermind of this place."

Suddenly, they all heard a loud ringing sound, similar to the kinds that one would hear in a department store when there is going to be an announcement broadcasting.

DING DONG DING DONG!

"Welcome to the Thunder Tower 2!" said the voice of Porky. "I hope that you've enjoyed everything you've seen so far! Okay, maybe there's not much to look at yet. This place was only completed recently after all…"

"Porky!" Lucas shouted. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the top of the tower, obviously. If you really want to see my handsome house, then try to make your way to the top! Don't think that it'll be so easy however! I doubt all of you can even make it here together! Hahahaha! Ack! Gasp! *cough*"

DONG DING DONG DING

The broadcasting stopped and then the doors on the sides of the room opened up to reveal several rectangular robots, each with a green rectangular monitor for their faces. The army of robots stepped into the room and started to close in on the heroes and heroines. "Uh oh... Looks like trouble..." Reisen said.

"Geez... And I was hoping to get through this place without any interference..." Reimu grumbled.

"Don't be so lazy, Reimu," Marisa told her. "It's fun to exercise once in a while-ze! Now that they're here, there is no more use in crying over split milk, so let's give them what have-ze!"

Without a warning, one of the robots ran up to them and threw a punch at Lucas. Lucas quickly held up his arms to protect himself, but Boney charged into the robot's body to push it onto the floor. "Thanks, Boney!" Lucas thanked the canine.

The robots charged at them from all sides while flailing their arms in the air like crazy. Youmu dashed at the group of robots in front of her and with a single swing of her sword, sliced them in half.

SLASH!

"Bright Orbs Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire three yin-yang orbs that bounced across the place, crushing any robots that they fell on top of.

"Radial Strike!" Marisa shouted as she used the back of her broom to fire star-shaped projectiles that knocked down the robots one by one. When the robots fell down, they also bumped into the ones behind them, and then the robots fell over one after another similar to domino blocks.

One of the robots opened the front of its body and shot out missiles. Nitori swung one of her mechanical arms at the missiles to destroy them, and then the arm reached towards the robot to give it a punch to the face so hard that its face was bent inwards.

"PSI Freeze!" Kumatora shouted as she fired a snowflake from her hand. The snowflake flew towards a group of incoming of robots and exploded, freezing them.

"Cool! You can also use ice!" Cirno commented. "All right, watch me! Icicle Machine Gun!" And she used her arms to fire several icicles that shattered the frozen robots.

Duster landed a kick into the face of a robot before spinning around to roundhouse kick another robot behind him. Suddenly, a robot fired several missiles in his direction, but Meiling jumped in front of Duster and performed a rainbow-powered roundhouse kick to destroy those missiles. "Are you all right?" she asked him.

"I'm fine," Duster replied. "Thanks for the help!"

The robot then approached Meiling while flailing its arms, but Meiling took it out with a simple kick to the face.

"Demon Lord Walk!" Remilia shouted as she leaped through the air in a slight arc, smashing the upper half of the robots' bodies into pieces. She then leaped into the air before diving downwards. "Ceiling Fear!" She struck the floor with her hand so hard that a shockwave was released, blowing away the robots that were in its range.

"Cobalt Spread!" Sanae threw a packet onto the floor and caused an energy ripple to travel forward, tripping the robots as they approached her. She then threw several exploding paper amulets onto the back of the robots to destroy them.

"Doll Ambusher," Alice said as she sent her lance-wielding dolls to charge at the robot, impaling their bodies and faces.

"Disbelief Aspect!" Reisen jumped back into the air left behind a clone of herself that fired at the robots continually. Meanwhile, the real Reisen fired from the air and continued to do so even after landing. Along with her clone, Reisen shot down the robots one by one, but more and more kept on coming from behind. "They're not coming to an end! They just keep on coming!"

"PSI Love!" Lucas shouted as he released a large amount of energy hexagons that blasted down several robots.

Eventually, all the robots were destroyed.

DING DONG DING DONG!

"Not bad! You've managed to destroy the army of Minor Robot," Porky's voice said. "This really shows how troublesome you are to me! I don't even know if I can do anything against you... How about we make friends with each other? Will you please forgive me for my wrongdoings?"

"Cut off that act!" Lucas said. "We fell for it the last time you asked for forgiveness!"

"Ooh, so you still remember the time when I tried to blast you into smithereens with my beautiful robotic clones! Yeah, it's not a wise idea to believe me, and I'm not going to make a fool out of myself by asking for forgiveness either! Nyaha! Ack! *cough*"

DONG DING DONG DING!

The heroes and heroines were a bit exhausted from fighting all those Minor Robots. "Combined with the battle against the statue," Reimu said, "we've really used quite a bit of energy, and we're not even at the top yet... Who knows what sorts of enemies we're going to come across before we reach the top…"

"Use that healing PSI of yours to refresh us, Lucas," Marisa told Lucas.

"Yeah, I can do that," Lucas said. "PSI Lifeup Omega!" And then he released a green flash from his hands to make everyone feel better.

"I feel much better! Thanks, Lucas!" Sanae said.

"But I can't keep doing this too many times," Lucas told her. "The more I use it, the more worn out I will become; therefore, I have to use it sparingly."

"Oh, why did you tell us about it earlier? We're sorry in making you use that PSI…"

"It's all right. I'm glad that I am able to help other people with my powers. C'mon, let's keep on moving!"

The group headed across the room and came to an elevator and Lucas was about to press the button next to it when suddenly...

DING DONG DING DONG!

"Oh, I forgot to tell you one thing," said the voice of Porky.

"What is it now? Are you trying to annoy us to death?" Kumatora said, sounding frustrated.

"The average weight that this elevator can hold is about the weight of four people. Also, you have no control over it. It's been rigged to carry people to random floors every time, so you will never know which you will end up on. This way, you will never be together! Doesn't that sound fun?"

"That's not how an elevator is supposed to work!" Sanae protested.

"Who cares? This whole tower is my playground, so I can do whatever I want with it! Ack! *cough* *gasp* See what you've... *cough* Annoying girl!"

DONG DING DONG DING

"Well...? What do we do?" Reimu asked.

"Might as well give it a try," Lucas said. "At least we know that it'll take us upwards, and that's better than nothing. Okay, we'll go in four at a time."

Boney suddenly barked, so Lucas explained to everyone, "He asked if a dog like him will weigh too much for an elevator."

"Well, pets are usually too light to add weight to the elevator. Even if Boney is goes into the elevator, I'm sure that four other people can still use it with no problem."

"Then let's try it," Reimu suggested.

Lucas, Boney, Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae went into the elevator first, and the elevator was still able to close its door and move upwards.

When the elevator returned, Duster, Kumatora, Nitori, and Reisen used it. When it returned again, Youmu, Alice, Cirno, and Remilia used it. "Um... What about me?" Meiling asked.

"Just take it by yourself when it comes back," Remilia told her. "Don't worry; even if you're by yourself, you can still handle everything with no problem. I have faith in you, even if you're not reliable at guarding my mansion."

"Okay, Mistress Remilia. I won't let you down! I'll try to meet up with you again afterwards!"

With that, the elevator left. Meiling tapped her feet and hummed her stage theme song as she waited for the elevator. Eventually, the elevator returned, so she went into it.

Inside the elevator, she waited for the door to open. When it finally opened, she stepped out and emerged into a well decorated room that was filled with children's toys. "What is this place?" she wondered while looking around, and then she noticed a robot dressed in blue French maid costume standing at the far end of the room. The gatekeeper immediately got into fighting stance. "An enemy!"

The robotic maid bowed politely and said in a robotic, feminine voice, "Welcome to King P's playroom! I am the maid of this place, Lil' Miss Marshmallow, but you can simply call me Miss Marshmallow. Would you like some tea?"

"King P's playroom? And some tea would be nice, I think..."

"Please wait a minute," said Miss Marshmallow, and then went to a nearby table to pour a cup a tea. She then took the teacup to Meiling. "Here is your tea."

"Thank you" Meiling said as she reached out her hand to accept the tea, but before her hand touched the teacup, Miss Marshmallow splashed the tea onto her dress. "Hey! What are you doing!"

"King P told me to eliminate all intruders," Miss Marshmallow replied, "and you are an intruder. All intruders must be eliminated!"

Meiling hopped back a bit and then got into a fighting stance. "So you are an enemy after all! You will not eliminate me so easily! Sky Dragon Kick!" Meiling leaped forward and landed a rainbow-powered flying kick into Miss Marshmallow's body.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The robotic maid flew backwards until she crashed into a teddy bear. Miss Marshmallow stood back and said, "Enemy is too powerful. Activate Super Ticked-Off Mode!" And then a drill arm and a scissor arm came out from her back.

**BGM: MROB-6720M**

Meiling got into defensive stance as the robotic maid charged at her using jet engines that came out from the back of her shoes. She quickly stepped to the side when the robotic maid attempted to impale her with the drill and scissor, and then she hit her in the back of the head with a roundhouse kick.

KICK!

Miss Marshmallow turned around to face Meiling and then tried to jab her with the drill and the scissor, but the gatekeeper moved her body left and right swiftly to avoid getting hit, and then she landed a punch into the robotic maid's face

POW!

Miss Marshmallow took several steps back from the kick, but then she moved forward at high speed using the jet engines at the back of her shoe while flailing the drill and the scissor around madly.

Once again, Meiling stepped aside to avoid getting hit, and then she attempted to hit the robotic maid in the back of the head with another roundhouse kick. Suddenly, Miss Marshmallow spun around and swung her scissor at Meiling, hitting her in the ankle. "YA!" Meiling cried, and then she hopped back and fell onto one knee to look at the wound done to her. "Ow..."

Miss Marshmallow ran up to her while jabbing her drill and scissor rapidly against the air. Meiling quickly got in order to move left and right to avoid getting hit, but because Miss Marshmallow moved her drill and scissor faster than before, she was able to land a couple of hits on Meiling.

In the midst of the rapid jabbing, Miss Marshmallow pulled back the drill and made it spin at a fast rate before thrusting it at Meiling. Luckily, Meiling moved out of the way fast before she was hit in the body, and then she performed a leg sweep that hit Miss Marshmallow in the feet, knocking her face first onto the floor.

Before Miss Marshmallow could stand back up, Meiling planted her foot onto the back of the robotic maid and then grabbed the drill and the scissor. "Jaoooooo!" Using all her strength, she ripped both the additional arms off her body.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

"Missing body parts! Can no longer remain in Super Ticked-Off Mode!" Miss Marshmallow cried while pounding her limbs against the floor.

Meiling then leaped into the air and spun in a circle before falling onto her back with a rainbow-powered descending leg slam. "Descending Flower Slam!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

The powerful leg slam smashed through Miss Marshmallow's body, damaging the robotic maid greatly. "Critical damaged received..." she said in a weak voice. "Can no... longer... function... Sorry... King... P... I... failed... you..." And then she stopped moving.

Meiling stood back up and let out a deep sigh. "Phew... Done... I should meet up with the others now." She turned to see another ladder that led through an opening on the ceiling. When she got near the ladder, she noticed a large present box placed next to it. "Hmm? What's inside this box?"

Out of curiosity, she went up to the box and opened it, and then a yellow-faced spring-loaded puppet popped out, freaking her out. "YIKES!"

* * *

Unknown to Meiling, her battle been recorded by a security camera that was hidden in the corner of ceiling, so Porky, Fassad, and Fawful witnessed everything. "Cripes... There goes my maid, Lil' Miss Marshmallow..." Porky grumbled. "I've really underestimated those girls... They're not to be taken lightly all right..."

"No matter what, they will still fail in the end!" Fassad assured him. "There are dangers on every floor, so there is no way they can ever make it to this floor alive or, in the very least, unscratched!"

"Yeah, you're right. I don't have anything to be afraid of! And I was thinking... How about we spice things up a bit?"

"What is your idea, King P?"

Porky smiled evilly and said, "How about unleashing the... Ultimate Chimera?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Admittedly, I didn't have many ideas for this chapter, so I apologize for this short chapter despite the fact that you've waited for so long.

I'll try my best not to make you wait too long for the next chapter and also try to make it more interesting than this one.

Also, Meiling's stage theme is called "Shanghai House ~ Chinese Tea" for those who are curious.

And just so you know, I go back to some of the previous chapters once in a while to edit them, such as changing attack names and their descriptions and correcting minor grammatical mistakes and typos. If you've been reading carefully, you may notice that some of the attack descriptions in the later chapters are somewhat different from how they originally were when you first saw them. Such a change is also applied to the previous... Okay, you should get the point already...

**Next chapter: The Chimera of Ultimate Viciousness **

**Trivia:  
**1. "Jyaooooo" seems to have become a popular catchphrase for Meiling ever since a certain video on Nicovideo (can also be found on Youtube) depicting Meiling and Patchouli as a comedic duo used it.**  
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GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

More of my favorite Touhou songs!

**Because Princess Inada is Scolding Me: **For a fairly unpopular character, Minoriko sure has a catchy theme! The Aki Sisters really deserve more respect if you ask me. Actually, they're getting more and more popular all the time for being... unpopular...

**Catastrophe in Bhava-agra ~ Wonderful Heaven: **I'm not sure what to say about Tenshi's theme. It sounds neat with that catchy and fast-paced beginning, but then things start to slow down. Anyway, it's still a neat song!

**Dark Side of Faith: **It's a rather gloomy sounding name all right, but the song itself is catchy all right! Spin, spin, spin, spin Hina, spin!


	48. The Chimera of Ultimate Viciousness

**SBS Time!  
Sonicchaosc: **I wished that the Koopa. Bros. held up a stronger fight. I have seen Super Mario Z, and they where very strong with their special abilities, but they had the Chaos Emerald at the time, so that figures.**  
Game2002: **Fan-made materials will not be applied to this story since I want to portray everyone in this story as close as possible to canonical sources. The portrayal of the Touhou series in this story will be an exception as the series is full of fan-made materials, but even so, I want to stick as close as possible to its canonical portrayal, so do not expect stuff like Alice being a tsundere, Rumia transforming into Ex-Rumia when she loses her ribbon, Kaguya being a NEET and likes to sit in front of the computer all day long, etc. Okay, the latter two aren't important characters in this story, but you get the point...

**Chapter 47  
The Chimera of Ultimate Viciousness**

* * *

A phone rang on the wall rang, so someone went to pick it up. "Hello? Ah yes, Mr. Fawful! What's that? King P uses to dispatch the Ultimate Chimera? Okay, send it to the seventeenth floor. Got it! Will there be anything else? Oh, that girl? My boss is dealing with her even as we..."

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Yeah, he's dealing with her all right... All right, tell King P for me that the Ultimate Chimera will soon be set loose in the seventeenth floor. Hohohohoho!" And then the person hung the phone.

* * *

Remilia, Youmu, Alice, and Cirno walked together down the hallway that they arrived at when the elevator door opened. There were several windows on the walls, and on the other side of the windows were high-tech pieces of furniture such as computers and large unidentifiable machines.

"There's nobody here at all," Youmu said, "but we should still be careful of possible traps and ambushes. King P definitely won't let us be running around the place freely like this."

As they walked towards a fork on the road, a flying camera-like object with a pig nose flew in from around the corner and spotted them. "INTRUDER SPOTTED," the machine said in a loud voice. "INTRU..." And Remilia used her claws to send it flying aside until it crashed into the floor in pieces. "der... spot... ted..."

"No big deal," Remilia said, and then she looked at both the paths. "Which way are we going to go?"

"Left!" Cirno said. "That's what my instinct tells me, and my instinct is never wrong!"

"Proof?"

"Do you not believe the strongest?"

"Whatever, let's just take the left path," Youmu suggested.

"Why don't we split up into pairs?" Alice asked.

"It's better to stick together so that we can be able to take on whatever is thrown at us with ease."

So they took the left path, but suddenly, they heard the sound of growling. "Wait... The sound seems to coming from nearby..." Youmu said as she stopped in her tracks and placed her hand on the Roukanken.

"And I can tell that it's approaching us too," Remilia said.

The four of them got into defensive stance as they kept their eyes glued in the direction of the hallway's end. Suddenly, the floor shook and knocked them to their knees.

"What was that!" Alice said in shock.

The floor shook again. "There's something hitting the floor from below!" Youmu said.

Suddenly, a steel ball attached to a chain shot up from the floor, tearing a medium-sized hole on it in the process. Alice and Cirno fell back from the sudden appearance of the steel ball, which pulled back through the floor again.

The steel ball came out from the floor again, this time from behind them. "What is this!" Cirno said in shock. When the steel ball went back below the floor, the floor underneath them shook, and then it cracked apart and sent both Alice and Cirno falling to the lower floor. "YAAAAAAAAA!"

CRAAAAAAAAASH!

Remilia and Youmu looked down the large hole created on the floor to see the duo. "Alice! Cirno! Are you all right?" Youmu asked.

Alice dusted herself as she stood back up and replied, "I'm all right, and I've also found the culprit behind this."

"Whoa! Look at those huge muscles!" Cirno exclaimed.

Standing in front of them was a gray-furred gorilla with steel balls for hands. The gorilla let out a roar and then banged his steel ball hands together loudly.

DING DONG DING DONG!

"This is the new Steel Mechorilla," said the voice of Porky. "He's now equipped with detachable hands, thus giving him the ability to hit things from afar! Do not underestimate his power, or else you'll get your bones crushed into pieces before you know it. I feel bad for you already..."

"Don't think that you can scare us with those words," Alice said as she got into fighting stance.

"Yeah! I'm the strongest! Never in a million years will a gorilla be able to beat me!" Cirno said with her arms crossed.

"Hey! Do you need help down there?" Youmu asked.

"You're better off caring about yourself," Porky's voice told her. "There's someone up there who would like to meet you!"

Hearing this, Remilia and Youmu immediately stood up and then turned around. The sound of footsteps could be heard and it was getting louder and louder.

Suddenly, they heard a growling sound and then something appeared from around the corner. It was a pink quadruple creature with a massive mouth full of sharp teeth. The creature also had a pair of purple bat wings and an orange spear-tipped tail, but its oddest features were the yellow bird standing on top of its head and the white button on its back. The creature turned its head in their direction and stared at them with its yellow pupil-less eyes.

"What is that...?" Youmu asked.

"That is the Ultimate Chimera," replied Porky's voice. "It is the most powerful chimera that I have at my disposal! Lucas wet his pants when he saw how powerful and deadly this thing is. In fact, he ran like a crybaby when he saw that he couldn't do anything to it! Hahaha! It's so funny just by simply thinking about it! Ack! *cough* *wheeze* Phew..."

"Most powerful chimera, eh?" Remilia said with interest. "That sounds very interesting! Let's see how powerful it is!"

"I feel bad for you, you know? I'd be getting my coffin ready already if I were you. Good luck getting beaten up by it! I'll be at your funeral, so cheer up!"

DONG DING DONG DING!

The Ultimate Chimera slowly approached them while growling. Youmu unsheathed her Roukanken and said, "Let's take this thing down together!"

"Right, I'll show this monster that it's no match for me!" Remilia said as she bared her claws.

The chimera suddenly opened its mouth to monstrous proportions and then ran towards them, but Remilia and Youmu dashed at it as well, going pass it while attacking it with their claws and sword respectively.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

They came to a stop in a slightly crouched position, and when they turned around, they saw the chimera turning around to face them as well, and there was not a single mark on the chimera's body. "There's not a single scratch on it!" Youmu said in shock.

"It wouldn't be fun if it went down so easily, would it?" Remilia said to her. "This should be some good exercise!"

* * *

Downstairs, Alice and Cirno were taking on the Steel Mechorilla.

**BGM: Smashing Song of Praise (Mother 3)**

Alice summoned a small army of dolls and then ordered them to charge at Mechorilla to impale him with their spears. Mechorilla swung his arm at the dolls and managed to destroy them in a single swipe using his steel ball hands.

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted as she fired a rapid burst of icicles at Mechorilla, but the gorilla brought up his steel ball hand to use it as a shield to block the icicles, and then the steel ball shot out from his arm, though it was still connected to the arm via a chain. "Yikes!" Cirno quickly moved aside just in time to avoid getting hit by the incoming steel ball, which retracted to the arm afterwards.

While Mechorilla had his attention focused on Cirno, Alice managed to get Shanghai close enough to him to slash him in the waist with a sword. The cyborg gorilla let out a roar and then quickly swung his arm at Shanghai, but the doll moved back in time to avoid getting destroyed.

Alice immediately summoned more dolls. Armed with rifles, the dolls fired at Mechorilla rapidly. The gorilla roared angrily and then charged forward, enduring the bullets while flailing his flailing around his arms. Alice swung her arm to the side to get the dolls to move out of the way before jumping away herself to avoid getting hit by the gorilla as he smashed his steel ball hand into the floor.

SMASH!

"White Rose Cluster!" Cirno shouted as she hurled a large ice ball that she made a short while ago at Mechorilla. The gorilla quickly spun and managed to destroy the ice ball in a single blow of his steel ball hands.

SMASH!

"Ambusher Dolls!" Alice shouted as her dolls charged forward in a wall formation while pointing their lances at Mechorilla. However, the gorilla managed to destroy them as well. "Tsk!" The gorilla launched his steel ball hand at her, but she avoided it by quickly ducking. Once she moved to the side, she summoned more dolls to attack the gorilla.

Mechorilla swung his arms at the incoming dolls, but they spread out in every direction when they were about to get hit and then closed in on him from all sides to stab him in the body with their lances. However, the tips of the lances stopped the moment they touched the gorilla's skin, much to Alice's surprise.

"What!"

The gorilla flailed his arms around his body and managed to get rid of the dolls, and then he launched his steel ball hand at Alice. Alice quickly stepped aside, but the gorilla also launched his other steel ball hand at her. She failed to avoid this and was struck in the body and crushed against the wall.

SMASH!

"UGH!" Alice cried in pain. The gorilla retracted both his steel ball hands and then approached Alice while she was still leaning against the wall to smash her head in between his steel ball hands.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"ALICE!" Cirno gasped in horror upon seeing the magician receiving a painful blow.

Alice dropped to her knees and then fell forward onto the floor unconsciously.

"HOW DARE YOU HURT ALICE LIKE THAT!" Cirno angrily shouted as she flew at the gorilla to stop him. Suddenly, the gorilla spun around and slammed his steel ball hand into the side of her face to send her flying into the wall.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ow..." Cirno groaned as she fell onto the floor. She looked up and saw Mechorilla running towards her, and then the gorilla launched his steel ball hand at her. "Yikes!" Cirno quickly ducked to avoid the getting hit by the steel ball hand, which smashed through the wall behind her. Cirno quickly moved out of the way and then fired a three-way ice beam that spread out horizontally at Mechorilla. "Freeze Beam!"

The three-way beam was aimed at Mechorilla's lower torso, freezing him in place.

"Haha! Now you're frozen in place! You cannot move now!"

But the gorilla used his steel ball arms to smash the ice into pieces, freeing himself.

"Um..."

Mechorilla launched his steel ball hand at her, but she ducked down and then moved to the side before slamming her hands onto the floor to make several icicles shoot out from the floor and in Mechorilla's direction. "Frost Pillars!"

The icicles crashed into Mechorilla and pushed him across the room until he was seemingly crushed against the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Haha! How'd ya like that?" Cirno said, but Mechorilla smashed through the icicles to reveal himself unharmed. "What!"

The cyborg gorilla angrily roared while smashing his steel ball hands against each other, and then he ran towards Cirno while flailing his arms like crazy. Cirno quickly placed her hand onto the floor and caused it to freeze in the direction of the incoming gorilla. When Mechorilla stepped on the icy floor, he slipped, fell on his back, and slid forward at a fast speed. Cirno jumped out of the way as the gorilla slid towards her until he hit the wall.

CRASH!

Mechorilla got back up again and looked around angrily for signs of Cirno when suddenly the ice fairy hit him in the face with an icy diving kick. "Ice Kick!"

She planted her foot against Mechorilla's face as hard as she could until a thin of ice formed around his face, and then she flipped back into the air and landed in a crouched position. Despite having a frozen face, the gorilla was still able to move and he used his steel ball hands to hit himself in the face until the ice was shattered. Enraged, the gorilla roared at the top of his face and then lunged at Cirno.

"Icicle Rise!" Cirno shouted as she stretched forth her arms to make a white circle appear on the floor, and then a barrage of icicles shot out from the circle. The gorilla got hit in the body by the icicles, but the icicles did nothing to him and did not stop him from falling on top of Cirno with a mighty body slam.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Mechorilla stood back up to reveal a flattened Cirno sunk slightly into the floor. "Gugh... Why didn't... it work...?" she cried. The cyborg gorilla raised his right foot to stomp her when suddenly a pair of dolls rushed at him and sliced him across the shoulder with their swords.

SLASH! SLASH!

The gorilla hopped back a little bit before finally retaining his balance, and then he looked at the two dolls as they returned to Alice. "Alice... Is that you...?" Cirno asked without getting back up.

Alice walked up to the ice fairy and helped her up. "Are you all right, Cirno?" she asked the ice fairy.

"I'm the strongest, so I'm all right... How about you? Your head is bleeding..."

"This is nothing," Alice said while Shanghai used a handkerchief to wipe off the blood that was trickling down her head. "Take a rest now. I'll handle the rest by myself."

"Alice! Watch out!"

Mechorilla ran towards them with his arm thrust out, ready to hit Alice in the face. Two of Alice's dolls quickly flew at the gorilla and used their shields to block the steel ball. However, the cyborg gorilla's strength was too much for them to hold back, and it did not take more than five seconds for the gorilla to push the dolls back to Alice. Alice quickly jumped out of the way while holding onto Cirno tightly when the gorilla jumped at them and slammed down his steel ball hand.

When Alice and Cirno had landed, Mechorilla wasted no time in launching his steel ball hand at them. In order to keep Cirno safe, Alice quickly hurled the ice fairy and took the impact from the steel ball to her abdomen. "UGH!" And it pushed her across the place until it crushed her against the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"ALICE!" Cirno gasped in horror.

"Ugh..." Enduring the pain, Alice held up Shanghai and shouted, "Shanghai Doll!" Shanghai held out her arms and shot out a red laser beam from her palms, hitting Mechorilla in the chest. The gorilla roared in pain as he retracted his steel ball hand, but then he ran forward again. "Trip Wire!" Alice quickly hopped to the side and then sent a doll diagonally across the room, and then a red beam formed in between them, causing the gorilla to trip and fall on his face when his foot touched it. Next, Alice threw several dolls at the fallen gorilla. "Volatile Doll!" And the dolls exploded upon touching Mechorilla's body

KABOOM! BANG! BANG! BAM! KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the smoke cleared, the gorilla got back up as if he was never hit in the first place. "Pretty tough, aren't you?" Alice commented.

The gorilla was going to launch his steel ball hand at her again, but several icicles suddenly crashed into him from the side and pushed him away. Alice turned to the side to see that it was Cirno who did this. "I'm not down for the count yet!" the ice fairy said.

Mechorilla smashed the icicles before they pushed him into the wall, and then he ran towards Cirno while flailing his hands wildly in the air. "Seeker Dolls!" Alice shouted as she sent out several dolls into the air around Mechorilla, and then they each fired laser beams that formed a cage around him. Despite seeing the lasers, the gorilla still attempted to run through them, only to get zapped and pushed back slightly. Alice then took out a single doll. "Move back as far as you can, Cirno. Return Animate!" And then she hurled the doll through the gaps in between the laser beams. It touched the gorilla and then exploded in a huge blast of blue light.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The force of the explosion was so strong that everything in the room was blown away. Alice stood behind her dolls that were equipped with shields in order to avoid getting blown away while Cirno made herself an ice wall for protection, but the heat of the explosion was slowly melting it. "Whoa! It's hot!" she cried.

The explosion settled down, and so the dolls moved aside for their master to see the current situation. When the smoke cleared away more and more, Alice was surprised to see Mechorilla still standing, but the cyborg gorilla was in a badly damaged state and even lost its left steel ball hand.

The gorilla angrily glared at Alice and roared, but when he tried to take a step in her direction, his entire body short-circuited, causing him to fall on his knees and then on his chest.

"Hey you! Take a load of this!" shouted Cirno as she flew above the fallen gorilla. "Ice Cube: Great Crusher!" She took out a card and then let it float into the air before firing a blast of cold air at it. The card glowed with white light as the cold air formed around it, and then in an instant, a massive glacier was formed and fell on top of Steel Mechorilla.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The massive glacier caused the floor to crack, and then the floor broke apart, so Mechorilla, along with the glacier, fell to the lower floor.

CRASH!

But that was not all; they continued falling through the floors at the bottom one after another.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

This kept on going until they finally reached the first floor, where the glacier shattered into pieces, leaving the flattened and unconscious Mechorilla lying face first on the floor.

Alice and Cirno both looked down the hole, and then the ice fairy stood up with her arms crossed and laughed out loud. "Hahahahahahaha! I'm the strongest! No gorilla is strong to take me down! Hahahahahahaha!"

"That takes care of that," Alice said, and then she turned to her dolls while petting Shanghai over the head. "Good work, everyone!" Suddenly, there was a loud crash coming from above.

CRASH!

Alice and Cirno both looked up and wondered what was going on up there. "Youmu and Remilia are still up there..." Alice thought. "And what was that loud crash just now?"

About ten minutes ago, Remilia and Youmu encountered the Ultimate Chimera. They got into a fight with the atrocious beast and were still engaged against in a grueling battle against it.

"Lotus Stance Cut!" Youmu shouted as she used both her swords to fire a green x-shaped sword beam at the Ultimate Chimera as it ran towards her. Despite getting hit in the face by the sword beam, the chimera did not flinch at all and continued moving towards her. Youmu quickly leaped aside when the chimera jumped at with its mouth wide open.

"Red Magic!" Remilia shouted as she launched a red energy ball at the chimera just as it turned around, and it got hit in the face.

BANG!

The chimera emerged from the red smoke left behind by the explosion and lunged at Remilia, trying to chomp her. Remilia either moved from side to side or backwards at a fast speed to avoid every single jaw chomp. Remilia eventually jumped back before firing another red energy ball at the chimera. "Red Magic!"

However, the chimera charged through the incoming energy ball unharmed and continued heading for Remilia. The vampire flew into the air and went behind the chimera before forming three red spears in her hand. "Demon's Dinner Fork!" And then she hurled all three spears at the chimera from behind, and the chimera was hit as it in the side of the body was turning around.

Once again, the chimera charged at Remilia, but she flew into the air to escape it. "Is that all you can do? Running around like a mindless beast?" Remilia asked. "Well, you are a beast to begin with."

The Ultimate Chimera turned around and then looked up at Remilia, but suddenly, it was hit in the back by a green x-shaped sword beam. The chimera turned to see that it was Youmu who attacked it from behind, so it charged at her. "Human Sign: Slash of Present!" Youmu shouted, and then she dashed past the chimera while slashing it in the body really fast.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Youmu was in a knelt position with her sword partially sheathed, thinking that the chimera must've been knocked down by that attack. "Youmu! Behind you!" Remilia shouted at her.

"Huh?" Before Youmu could turn around though, the chimera rammed into her from behind and sent her flying forward. "YAAAA!" Youmu hit the floor, but she quickly sat back up and turned around to use her sword to counterattack the chimera when it ran up to her. Youmu swung her sword horizontally at the chimera, but it caught the blade with its mouth and then with a shake of its head, yanked the sword out of her hand. "My Roukanken!"

The Ultimate Chimera opened its mouth again and was about to close in Youmu to bite her. Quickly, Remilia caught the chimera by its tail and then pulled back as hard as she could to keep the chimera away from Youmu. "Get back here, you monster!" the vampire shouted.

The chimera suddenly spun around and swung Remilia into the wall. Before she had the chance to do anything else, the chimera charged at her with its mouth wide open, and they went through the wall together.

CRASH!

"Remilia!" Youmu gasped.

"Ugh! Accursed beast!" Remilia growled. The Ultimate Chimera had the vampire in its mouth, and Remilia was holding its upper and lower parts of the jaw with her hands and feet respectively to keep it open. As the sides of the teeth were blade-like, her hands were bleeding and not even her shoes could protect her feet from being cut.

SLASH!

The Ultimate Chimera was suddenly slashed in the back by Youmu, forcing it to open its mouth wider and thus allowing Remilia to escape. Remilia held out her hand and formed a large red spear. "Heart Break!" And then she threw the red spear at the chimera.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Tsk! This thing sure is getting on my nerves!" Remilia growled while looking at her bloody hands. Suddenly, the chimera emerged from the mass of red smoke much to her surprise. "What!" She quickly rolled to the side in the nick of time before the chimera hit her and then moved to a safer distance. "Won't this thing stay down?"

The chimera turned around and then ran towards the two girls again. Remilia and Youmu both jumped into the air, but Youmu fell back down onto the back of the chimera and planted her foot onto the white button there. Immediately, the Ultimate Chimera's eyes turned black as the beast fell lifelessly onto the floor. "What happened...?" Youmu asked, confused.

Both the girls walked up to the chimera and Remilia said, "It looks dead if you ask me."

Youmu poked the chimera with the sheath of her sword and said, "Yeah, it seems to be the case, but how did this happen? All I did was land on its back..."

"Maybe that's its weak spot? It's funny how he fell so easily just by being touched hit in the weak spot."

"Well, now that it's down, let's get out of here. We also have to find Alice and Cirno. I wonder how they are right now."

The two girls began to leave, and unknown to them, the yellow bird on top of the Ultimate Chimera's head suddenly hopped onto its back to press the button with its beak. When the button was pressed, the chimera's eyes turned yellow again, and then the beast stood back onto its feet before turning around to face the girls.

When the chimera growled slightly, Remilia and Youmu froze in their tracks. "You heard that, right?" Remilia asked.

"Yeah," Youmu replied with a nod, and then the two girls leaped aside as the chimera attempted to pounce onto them. "It's not dead yet!"

"Guess he was faking just now," Remilia said. "It wouldn't be fun if he goes down just like that anyway, so let's finish it off with our strongest shot!"

The chimera charged at them and then Remilia flew into the air while Youmu swung her sword at the chimera's face to stop it in its tracks. Youmu continued to swing her sword at the chimera over and over while Remilia released bats made of red energy at the chimera from behind. "Servant Flier!"

The chimera was too focused on fighting Youmu, so it did not seem to notice the bats when they crashed into it from behind. Every time the chimera jerked its head forward to bite Youmu, she would take a step back while hitting it in the teeth with her sword. The chimera suddenly swung its front leg at the Roukanken to knock it out of Youmu's hand. "What!" she gasped. She quickly held her hand over her face to protect herself from the chimera as it closed in on her.

Quickly, Remilia hopped onto the chimera's back and grabbed both its wings, pulling it backwards as hard as she could to try to turn the chimera's attention away from closing in on Youmu. As the chimera tried to shake off Remilia from its back, the vampire noticed the button on its back. "This must be what Youmu touched!" she thought, and then she slammed her hand onto the button to make the chimera inactive again. "There! That did the trick!"

Youmu lowered her hand to see that the chimera was no longer moving. "What happened again?" she asked.

"This is the weak spot," Remilia said, pointing to the white button.

"I see..."

"However, seeing how this guy came back to life earlier, we can be sure that it'll happen again."

Suddenly, the bird on the chimera's head jumped onto the button, causing the chimera to come back to life again.

"So that's the reason! All right, all I have to do is to get rid of that bird first!" Remilia swung her claws at the bird, but the chimera spun around and swung its front leg at her first, sending her into the wall with such a force that she crashed through it.

CRASH!

"Remilia!" Youmu gasped.

"Ugh..." Remilia groaned as she sat back up. The chimera charged into the room to attack her, so she quickly grabbed the leg of a nearby table and threw it at the chimera, but the chimera crushed it with its mouth.

CRUNCH!

Remilia then leaped aside before the chimera crashed into her. "Heart Break!" she shouted as she formed and threw a red spear at the chimera, but like last time, the chimera was unaffected by the attack and emerged from the red smoke unharmed. "Argh! You're really getting on my nerves! That does it! I'm taking you head-on! Vampire Claw!" She ran up to the chimera and started slashing it in the face over and over.

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

In the midst of receiving the claw slashes to the face, the chimera opened its mouth and caught Remilia's arm with it. However, Remilia used her other arm to catch the chimera by the upper jaw and used all her strength to keep it open. "You're not taking my arm!" she angrily said. She then brought up her left leg to use it to hold down the lower jaw, and then using her free hand, she form a spear out of red energy to throw into the chimera's mouth. "Heart Break!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

A blood red explosion came out from the chimera's mouth and blew Remilia backwards while the chimera itself roared in pain while shaking around its head. While the chimera was in pain, Youmu raised her arm underneath her phantom half and shouted, "Strange Half-Body!" And then her phantom half glowed with pinkish-purple light before firing energy bullets rapidly at the bird on the chimera's head.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bird chirped loudly and painfully when it was shot, and then it fell off from the chimera's head. Immediately after that, Remilia flew to the chimera's backside and pressed the button on its back. The Ultimate Chimera's eyes turned from yellow to black, and then it collapsed onto the floor lifelessly.

"That should do the trick," Remilia said, looking at the fallen chimera. "Now that the bird is also down, this monster shouldn't be getting back up again."

"Let's hope so..." Youmu said. "This monster sure was tough to deal with!"

"Youmu! Remilia!" shouted the voice of Cirno as she rushed into the room along with Alice. "Don't be afraid! I, the strongest, have come to help you!"

"Oh, it's the both of you," Remilia said. "Don't bother; we've just dealt with the enemy ourselves."

Alice looked at the chimera and said, "What sort of monstrosity is this?" And then she noticed Remilia's bloody hands and feet. "It would seem that you had a rough time dealing with this thing."

"Yeah, this guy's a bit tougher compared to my previous enemies," Remilia said, and then she noticed that there were blood on Alice's head. "You don't seem to be handling your opponent with ease either."

"You can say that..."

Sanae and Reisen were hugging each other and trembling in fright at what was happening around them. "Wha... What... is... happening...?" Reisen said in fear.

The walls, floor, and the ceiling of the room that they in were entirely black in color, but there were also grotesque and distorting red faces printed all over the place. These distorting faces were moving along the walls, floor, and ceiling. Both the girls could also heard a deep, echoing voice saying, "Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Why are Reisen and Sanae together when they originally weren't? Please wait for the next chapter to find out. Look forward to it!

BTW, is anyone other than SL the Pyro is trying to guess who the person with sharp teeth is?

Also, exams are starting, so update may be a bit slow. Actually, it probably won't matter given my update speed nowadays...

Attacks with names changed:  
**Seeker Wire **is now **Trip Wire**

**Next chapter: The True Form that Cannot be Grasped**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If Mokou was in the final version of the story...**

"So that's the reason! All right, all I have to do is to get rid of that bird first!" Remilia swung her claws at the bird, but the chimera spun around and swung its front leg at her first, sending her into the wall with such a force that she crashed through it.

The chimera started to walk towards Remilia as she was sitting back up, but then Mokou ran towards the chimera with fist on her. "Take this!" she shouted, and then she leaped at the chimera with her arm pulled back, ready to throw punch at it.

However, the chimera turned to her with its mouth wide open. Mokou was too late to do anything, so she fell straight into chimera's mouth.

Remilia was shocked and lost in words at the sight of the chimera opening and closing its mouth over and over to chew Mokou into pieces, but then she thought, "I don't really have to worry about her, do I? She should be all right..."

After swallowing its meal, the chimera turned to Remilia and then ran towards her, so she quickly grabbed the leg of a nearby table and threw it at the chimera, but the chimera crushed it with its mouth.

Remilia then leaped aside before the chimera crashed into her. "Heart Break!" she shouted as she formed and threw a red spear at the chimera, but like last time, the chimera was unaffected by the attack and emerged from the red smoke unharmed. "Argh! You're really getting on my nerves!"

The chimera was going to charge at her again, but suddenly, it felt something moving within its throat mouth. Fire suddenly came out from between its teeth, and then its mouth was forcefully pried open by Mokou as she forced her way out its maw. "How dare you try to digest me!" she angrily shouted, and then she leaped out from the chimera's mouth.

"Looks like we have someone here who managed to go into a monster's belly and then come back out alive to tell the tale," Remilia told her.

"Yeah, and what a fantastic journey that was!" Mokou grumbled in sarcastic manner while using her arms to wipe saliva and slimy liquid off from her body.


	49. The True Form that Cannot be Grasped

**Random Pointless Rambling: **I'm very excited about Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, even though I won't be able to play it due to not owning a Playstation 3 and Xbox360...

**Chapter 48  
The True Form that Cannot be Grasped**

**

* * *

**

"Hiya!" Duster shouted as he landed the flying kick into the side of a hippopotamus's head.

KICK!

"PSI Fire!" Kumtora shouted as she fired a spark at the hippo's face. The spark exploded in a burst of fire that caused the hippo to take a step back.

BANG!

When the explosion had cleared, the hippo's face was charred, and then it fell on its side with a thud.

THUD!

"That's that!" Kumatora said while dusting her hand. "All right, let's keep on going!"

Nitori walked up to the fallen hippo and said, "While the concept of a hippo that can open its back to launch missiles is cool, I still think that it is cruel to turn an innocent animal into a partly mechanical being like this."

"That's Porky for you. His messed up mind makes he turn every innocent living thing possible into monstrosities of his liking!"

"We have to stop him before he goes too far with this!" Reisen said.

"Then let's go!" Duster said as he led the way out of the room and up a flight of stairs.

After going up the winding staircase, they emerged into a hallway and encountered Lucas's group. "Lucas!" Duster said in surprise.

"Duster and Kumatora!" Lucas said.

"What are you doing here?" Reimu asked.

"Well, it's easy to see that they somehow met up with us-ze!" Marisa said.

"Right, it's for the best if we can reunite with each other," Sanae said.

"All right, now that we are together again, let us go and fight Porky together!" Kumatora suggested, and so everyone ran down the hallway.

On the other side of the hallway was another flight of stairs, so they ran up it as fast as they could.

DING DONG DING DONG!

"I see that you've managed to meet up with your separated comrades," said the voice of Porky. "Okay, only some of them, but it's still rather surprising."

"Miracles will happen if you believe in them!" Sanae told him.

"Eh, whatever... Not like it's going to make any difference. I'll have to congratulate you for making it this far. My room is just at the top of this flight of stairs."

"Oh really? Then we're very close to teaching a lesson-ze!" Marisa said.

"Yeah right... Like I'm going to let that happen! Why don't you have a bit of exercise before coming up here? Let's see how fast you can run!"

As soon as he said this, the staircase suddenly started to move downwards. "What the!" Reimu said in shock, and then they all ran as they could to prevent getting carried back down. At the bottom of the staircase, a square-shaped hole opened up on the floor as well.

"There's a hole down there!" Reisen gasped.

"Hahahaha! How do you like it?" Porky asked while laughing. "Enjoy the marathon!"

"Like we're going to enjoy this!" Kumatora shouted back.

The heroes and heroines kept on moving their legs as fast as they could to try to get to the top of the staircase. "I... can't... take it... anymore..." Sanae said while panting heavily. "My legs... are tired..." When she could it no longer, she fell and was taken down the staircase.

Unfortunately, she bumped into Nitori and Reisen along the way and so pushed them down as well. "YAAAAAAAAAA!" the three girls screamed as they got carried down the moving staircase until they fell into the hole.

"Sanae! Nitori! Reisen!" Reimu shouted while looking back.

"Just keeping running upwards for now!" Marisa shouted. "We don't have time to care about them!"

"But what if there are traps down there?" Lucas asked. "They may need our help!"

"Don't worry," said the voice of Porky. "There's nothing down. They'll only fall down to the next floor and then so on, that's all."

"Are you saying that they're going to fall through more than just one floor?"

"Yeah, exactly like that. I'm not sure if they'll fall all the way back to the first floor though. It's gonna hurt a lot if they do go all the way back to the first floor though, but it'll be very funny at the same time!"

"You're one sick freak!" Kumatora shouted.

The remaining heroes and heroines continued to run as they could, and as they ran, they were slowly reaching the top of the staircase. When the top was in reach, Reimu and Marisa both leaped for it and grabbed onto the floor before slowly pulling themselves up. They then turned around and reached out their hands to pull up the others one by one. "Phew... That was tiring... My legs almost fell apart..." Lucas said while panting heavily. "Thanks..."

"We really owe you one..." Duster said.

The staircase then stopped moving. "That was boring..." grumbled Porky's voice. "I was hoping that you would all fall into the hole. Eh, whatever... It's not like you can make it into my room that easily."

"Just you wait!" Kumatora angrily shouted while pointing at the ceiling. "We're going to make it there before you know it! You better be prepared by then!"

"Ooh! I'm so scared! All right, let's see if you can really make it here!"

DONG DING DONG DING

"Geez! I want beat up that guy already!" Kumatora grumbled.

"Yeah, he's starting to sound like an annoying fellow-ze," Marisa said with a nod.

"But what about Reisen, Sanae, and Nitori?" Lucas said while looking at the hole at the bottom of the staircase, but the hole closed up shortly afterwrds. "Uh oh... It closed up as well..."

"Porky said that they'll simply fall to the lower floors," Duster reminded him, "so they should be all right."

"They won't be taken out so easily," Reimu assured Lucas. "You don't have to worry about them."

"All right, if you say so... Let's pray for their safety..."

* * *

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Reisen, Nitori, and Sanae as they fell out from an opening on the ceiling, but there was another hole on the floor below them, so they continued falling to the next floor.

Nitori quickly used one of her mechanical arms to grab onto the edge of the floor before she fell too far and then pulled herself back up. She turned around to the hole to look at Sanae and Reisen, but the hole suddenly closed up before she could do anything to help them. "Oh no!" she gasped. She then pounded that part of the floor. "Sanae! Reisen! Can you hear me? Hello? Answer me!" But there was no reply at all. "Oh no... I'm separated from them. I hope they're all right though..."

She then stood up and looked around the place. "Where am I anyway? This should be one of the lower floors..." And then she noticed a door at the far end of the room. "I'll just explore this floor then." So she went up to the door.

In the next room, she saw a seashell-shaped house built in the center. Out of curiosity, she walked up to the seashell-shaped house and knocked on its door. "Hello? Is anyone home?" she asked, but there was no reply. "Should I go inside? But it's not nice going in without the permission of the owner... Nah, better not be so curious..."

When she turned to leave the place, a door leading into the room opened up and Fassad came in. "Hey! What are you doing in front of my house?" he asked.

"You're that fat guy who showed up at the village!" Nitori pointed out. "What are you doing here?"

"You're the one who should be answering me instead! How dare you come to my house without my permission!"

"But I never went inside!"

"Who cares? For coming here, you will have to pay! And by the way, I'm sure that you gave me a slamming of a lifetime back in the village. This is my chance to get back at you! Nwehehehehe!"

"Oh yeah? I should get back at you for causing trouble back in the village too!" Nitori said as she got into fighting stance. "I'm not going to lose to you!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Sanae and Reisen finally hit the floor after falling for a while.

THUD! THUD!

"Ow... What a fall..." Reisen groaned as she sat back up.

"It's a miracle that we still alive even after a fall like that..." Sanae said. "My bones still hurt though..."

The girls look up to look at the hole on the ceiling, but it closed up shortly afterwards. "Even if we can fly, we can't back to the top anymore..." Reisen said. "Looks like we'll have to find another way back to the top..."

"Hope there's an elevator around here..." Sanae said. "Even stairs will do."

The girls then went through a door across the room and emerged in a circular room that was empty. They moved forward with awareness, and when they reached the center of the room, the lights suddenly went out. "Hey! Who turned off the lights?" Reisen cried.

Suddenly, red light poured into the room and red grotesque faces showed up on the walls, floor, and ceiling. These red faces started moving around the room while distorting in shape and size constantly, and all the while, a deep, echoing voice could be heard. "So you have the willingness to add this slice of recording into the final version of the sandwich of terror? Fawful understands! Strange sense of humor you have! You make Fawful have chortles! Geeheeheeheehee!" it said.

Freaked out by this, the girls hugged each other tightly and Reisen said in fear, "Wha... What... is... happening...?"

**BGM: Cease to Exist (Earthbound)**

"Where are we?" Sanae said in fright as the red grotesque faces moved along the walls nonstop.

"Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..." said the voice.

As the two girls watched the faces move around the room, bright light suddenly filled the room, blinding them.

"Ugh! My eyes hurt!" Reisen cried.

"Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..."

Lights of various colors started flashing within the room over and over in such a way that one would suffer from epilepsy. The two girls could not open their eyes because of this and were in great pain.

"Ya! My eyes hurt!" Sanae cried. "I'm going to go blind at this rate!"

"Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..." The voice continued to chant the same phrase over and over again, but as it did, the pitch began to change as well. "Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..." Originally a deep voice, it has became a really loud g-major voice.

"Ugh! Even the voice is starting to hurt my ears for some reason!" Reisen cried while pushing down her ears over her head. "We have to stop whatever this thing is before it tortures us to death!" And then she fired using one hand at one of the red faces on the wall. However, the energy bullets struck the wall and nothing happened.

"Friends..." said the voice in g-major voice. "Go... b... a... c... k..."

"I don't know what you're trying to say," Sanae said while holding up a paper amulet, "but the fact that you are attacking us means that you are an enemy! You're probably a demon as well, so I must exterminate you!" And then she threw the amulet at a random part of the wall. The amulet exploded, but it did nothing and the red faces continued to move around the wall.

"It hurts, Ness..." said the voice.

"Wait a minute..." Reisen said. "Isn't Ness the name of the person that also joined the Smash Brothers Tournament?"

"Yeah, I think so..." Sanae said as she opened her eyes. Suddenly, there was another bright flash that caused her to shut her eyes. "Ugh!"

The red faces in the room started to speed up as well as becoming even more distorted than before. The voices also changed from low pitch to high pitch constantly, not to mention the volume constantly changing.

"Ugh! This thing is going to annoy us to death!" Reisen shouted as she fired all over the place, hoping to bring down this monstrosity, but her attacks were not doing anything.

Sanae threw a card into the air and shouted, "Daytime Guest Stars!" The card released a bright flash and then rained down energy projectiles in diagonal trajectories, striking the faces that were moving along the floor. Even so, the faces did not suffer any kind of damage.

"Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..." the voice said in monstrous voice, and then red lightning bolts rained down all over the place, zapping the girls once again.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Both Sanae and Reisen screamed in pain and then fell onto the floor charred.

"It hurts, Ness..." the voice said in deep voice. "It... Ack! *cough* Geez! My throat is in pain chanting all these over and over!"

"Well, you came up with the idea of recreating that alien named Giygas in simulation form, complete with voice acting," said another equally deep voice.

"Yeah, that's what I remember hearing the whole time when he fought Ness and his friends. Boy, what a freaky experience that was... I have to admit that Giygas scared me quite a bit..."

"In the process of recording we are still in," said another voice that sounded just as deep, but then it became monstrous sounding. "For you to say things that are of no importance will only make this simulation of the very past that you have once experienced no longer the same."

"It hurts, Ness..."

"In the process of recording we are still in," said the voice, this time in the kind of voice heard when one inhaled helium. "For you to say things that are of no importance will only make this simulation of the very past that you have once experienced no longer the same."

"Well, then don't install this part of the recording into the final version of the simulation! But if you think of it, it may be funny if they do hear this blooper. Heheheh!"

"Well, you came up with the idea of recreating that alien named Giygas in simulation form, complete with voice acting."

"So you have the willingness to add this slice of recording into the final version of the sandwich of terror? Fawful understands! Strange sense of humor you have! You make Fawful have chortles! Geeheeheeheehee!"

"Hey! I didn't... *beep* Friends... Go... b... a... c... k..."

"Um... What was that just now...?" asked a curious Reisen after hearing series of weird dialogues.

"Simulation...?" Sanae wondered, and then something came to her. "That's it! I know what this thing is now! It's actually!"

Suddenly, a bright flash filled the room, blinding them.

FLASH!

"Yaaa!" Sanae shrieked as she placed her hands over her eyes.

"What is it?" Reisen asked while rubbing her eyes.

"So you have the willingness to add this slice of recording into the final version of the sandwich of terror? Fawful understands! Strange sense of humor you have! You make Fawful have chortles! Geeheeheeheehee!" said the voice in g-major.

"A simulation is basically an imitation of something," Sanae explained. "In the outside world, scientists have invented machines that can make one feel as if he or she is experiencing something real, but as real as it may feel, it's actually fake. What you see and feel are in fact holograms and illusions!"

"Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... Ness... I'm h... a... p... py..."

"Illusions..." Reisen said. "Then maybe I can do something about this..." She closed her eyes for a second, and when opened her eyelids again, her pupils were glowing with red light. Using her glowing eyes, she looked around the room as if scanning the place, and when she looked at the ceiling, she saw something. "There it is!" And then she swung her arm upwards to fire grenade-shaped energy balls. "Mind Sacrifice!" The energy balls struck the ceiling and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Immediately, the red faces disappeared and the room became pitch black. "Phew... It stopped..." Sanae said while sighing with relief.

"Okay... That was weird..." Reisen said. "Now the room is pitch black... I can't see anything at all..." She took a step forward and kicked something, so she bent down to pick it up. "What's this?"

"Let's get out of this first, shall we?" Sanae said, and then she threw a card into the air. "Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars!" The card released a large amount of white light that brightened the room, thus allowing them to see the door that leads to the exit.

They went over to the door while it was still bright, but found that it was locked, so Sanae stuck a paper amulet onto it. The paper amulet exploded and blasted down the door.

KABOOM!

After that, they went outside and found out what was it that Reisen picked up. It was a circle device with several lights around it, but it now mostly in pieces. "What's this?" Reisen asked.

"This must be the simulation device," Sanae said. "How did you find it anyway?"

"You said that simulation causes people to see illusions, and I have the ability see through illusions; therefore, I was able to see through the simulation and find the source behind it."

"It sure came in handy! Thanks to you, we're no longer within that freaky simulation!"

* * *

Lucas's group made their way into a large room where they encountered a large pig-like creature standing on the other side. "It's that thing again!" Duster said in shock.

"But we destroyed it before!" Kumatora said.

"What is it?" Reimu asked.

"That's the Natural Killer Cyborg!" Lucas replied.

DING DONG DING DONG!

"Correct! It's the Natural Killer Cyborg, the NK Cyborg for short!" said Porky's voice. "To be precise, it shouldn't be called a cyborg anymore as it no longer uses an actual brain, but rather, a computer. Still, the name NK Cyborg is stuck, so let's just go with it, okay? Or maybe we can call it the Natural Killer Robot from now on... That doesn't sound so bad! All right, it'll be called the NK Robot from now on!"

"Man... This thing was a pain to deal with back then..." Kumatora grumbled. "I can't believe that we have to fight it again..."

"Oh, you better believe that you have to fight it again! It's been given new upgrades, so expect an even tougher fight! You're not going to come meet me so easily!"

"You're basically a coward who doesn't want to face us-ze!" Marisa said. "Am I right in saying this?"

"Mock me however you want to! I won't get offended! All right, take your time playing with the NK Cyborg! I've given him orders to destroy anyone who comes into the room. Have fun!"

DONG DING DONG DING!

Lucas took a step back while Boney lowered his body slightly while growling angrily at the pig monstrosity. "Be careful... This thing is tough..." Lucas warned everyone. "We better be on our guards, or else..."

Before he could finish talking however, the robot pointed its arms at them and fired several missiles from the center of its claws.

"Watch out!"

Everyone except for Reimu ran away. The shrine maiden held out her arms and shouted, "Cautionary Border!" A blue wall was formed, and it protected her from the missiles.

Immediately after the missiles exploded from hitting the wall, the robot rushed towards Reimu as fast as its crab-like legs could carry it, and then with a swing of its arm, the shrine maiden was knocked to the side really fast.

SMACK!

"UGH!" Reimu cried as she flew straight into both Lucas and Boney, and the force of the hit was so strong that they flew out of the window together.

CRASH!

"LUCAS! BONEY!" Kumatora gasped.

"REIMU!" Marisa gasped.

Kumatora, Duster, and Marisa ran to the window to see what happened to those three, and they were surprised to see Reimu hovering in midair with Lucas holding onto her right leg, and he was also holding Boney by his body using one arm. "What the!" Kumatora said in surprise.

"Reimu! Your flight ability is back!" Marisa said. "Then that means..."

"Yeah, we can fly again," Reimu said with a nod, "but it's not easy trying to stay in air while carrying two people at once..."

Boney barked, so Lucas translated it for Reimu. "Boney said, 'I'm not heavy!'"

Reimu looked at the top of the tower and said, "I'll go to the top floor to find Porky first. Can the three of you deal with that pig thing?"

"Don't worry!" Marisa told her while giving a thumb up. "Leave that swine to us! You go on ahead and fight Porky!"

"All right, I'll be going there first!" Reimu said before flying upwards, carrying along with her Lucas and Boney. "Ugh... It's going to take a while flying and carrying the two of you at the same time..."

"Sorry..." Lucas apologized.

After Reimu, Lucas, and Boney left, Marisa, Kumatora, and Duster turned around to face the NK Robot. "All right! Let's take out this thing together-ze!" Marisa said.

"You bet!" Kumatora said.

"After that, we have to get to the top in order to help Reimu, Lucas, and Boney in their battle against Porky!" Duster said.

**BGM: Natural Killer Cyborg (Mother 3)**

The robot pointed its arms at Marisa and the others and then fired missiles from center of its claws. Duster and Kumatora ran for their lives from the incoming missiles, but Marisa stood simply moved left and right in a graceful style to avoid the missiles. "You'll have to aim better than that if you want to hit me-ze!" Marisa said. "I've dodged even more intense stuff than this!"

Marisa then ran towards the robot while moving left and right to avoid the incoming missiles. When she was in front of the robot, she performed an uppercut with her magically-enhance broom. "Miasma Sweep!" After hitting the robot in the face, she landed back onto the floor and then leaped back while using the back end of her broom to fire star-shaped projectiles at its face. "Radial Strike!"

The robot was unaffected by the projectiles however. It fired missiles at Marisa again, but with a swing of her magically-enhanced broom, she managed to destroy them.

"PSI Freeze!" Kumatora shouted as she fired a snowflake that exploded upon hitting the NK Robot's face, resulting in the face being covered by a thin layer of frost.

Duster ran up to the robot and landed a flying kick into its nose, and then he flipped back into the air before landing in a crouched position. The robot slammed down its claw at him to hit him, but he quickly leaped to the side and landed next to an indoor plant, and then he kicked the indoor plant at the robot.

"Green Spread!" Marisa shouted as she used a green card to fire a spread of green laser beams that converged just before hitting the robot. The robot turned its attention to Marisa and then fired a pair of eye beams at her, but she jumped out of the way and then used the same move again. "Green Spread... again!"

"PSI Fire!" Kumatora shouted as she shot multiple exploding sparks at the robot. Duster approached the robot from behind to kick in the back as hard as he could while Marisa attacked it with a combination of star-shaped projectiles and laser beams.

The robot, annoyed at being attacked from all sides constantly, made its body rise slightly from its legs using a metal pole, and then its claws turned into machines gun before the body started spinning 360 degrees over and over while firing from its machine gun hands rapidly.

"Watch out!" Duster shouted. All three of them quickly ducked down to avoid getting shot by the bullets.

As the robot continued to fire nonstop but never hitting anybody, Marisa threw a bottle across the floor and underneath the robot's body. "Get away as far as you can!" Marisa shouted as she crawled backwards as fast as she could.

Kumatora and Duster quickly did as she said by crawling away as fast as they could. The NK Robot was still going trigger-happy with its machine gun hands when suddenly the pot exploded in a huge blast of blue light.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion was so strong that the robot was blown into the air, and it left behind a hole on the ceiling before crashing back down onto the floor so hard and left behind a crack on it. The explosion was also so strong that the indoor plants were blown away and Marisa, Kumatora, and Duster were blown back into the wall.

"What was that!" Kumatora said in shock.

"Deep Ecological Bomb," Marisa replied. "Pretty flashy, don't think you-ze?"

Despite this, the NK Robot got back up again and its eyes were glowing with bright yellow light. "Uh oh... Those eyes are telling me that it's going to use that..." Duster said.

"Well, it sure is one hardy pig to still be standing even after getting blasted at such a close range-ze!" Marisa said. "What's it going to do now?"

The robot opened its mouth to reveal a cannon hidden it, and then it stuck out a little bit before releasing light from its turret. "It's going to fire!" Kumatora cried. "Get out of the way!"

When the robot was done charging, it let loose a huge laser beam that sped across the room and towards Marisa. "Yikes!" Marisa cried as she quickly jumped aside in the nick of time.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The huge laser beam left behind a large hole on the wall, and even the floor was charred despite not getting hit by it. While Marisa did not receive a direct hit from the beam, she was still blown across the room by the sheer force of it. "Ow..." she groaned as she sat back up while dusting herself. "That thing reminds me of my Master Spark... Wait a minute, why don't I use it against him-ze? Boy, I sure become forgetful sometimes!" She took out her hakkero and a card and then got into stance to get ready to use it. "All right, you better get ready for..." Before she could finish talking however, the robot scuttled over to her really fast and delivered a punch to the side of her body really hard. "UGH!" And she shot across the room and flew into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Marisa!" Kumatora gasped. As she was running towards Marisa, the robot turned to her to fire missiles at her. "Yikes!"

"Kumatora, watch out!" Duster shouted as he ran towards her. He quickly swung his leg at the missiles to kick them off course, but he was still hit by another missile that collided into his chest. "GAH!"

BANG!

He was blown back into Kumatora and was badly injured. "Duster! Are you all right?" Kumatora asked him in concern. "I'll heal you! PSI Lifeup!" But while was doing this, the NK Robot approached her from behind and was going to slam down its claw onto her.

"Behind you!" Duster told her.

"Master Spark!" Marisa shouted as she combined her card with the hakkero to fire a huge laser beam at the robot. It struck the NK Robot in the side with such a force that the robot was pushed across the room and towards the wall.

However, the robot managed to turn to face the laser and then slammed its feet into the floor really hard to come to a brake. It then opened its mouth to counter with its own laser beam. Marisa's Master Spark was pushed back and it became a classical scene of a pair of beams pushing back and forth against each other.

"Ngh! He's got a strong beam as well-ze!" Marisa thought as she tried her best to hold up her Master Spark. As she tried to keep up the Master Spark, she started to feel more and more tired, so the NK Robot's beam was overpowering her beam little by little. "Oh no..."

Just when things were looking bad, Duster leaped towards the top of the NK Robot and slammed his leg onto the glass dome there really hard.

SMASH!

This caused the robot to halt its laser beam, and at the same time, Marisa's Master Spark came to its end. "Phew... That was close..." she said as she sat down onto the floor out of exhaustion, "and tiring..."

"PSI Starstorm!" Kumatora shouted as she raised her arms into the air to summon a portal that shot out several meteor-like energy balls. The energy collided into the NK Robot with such a force that the robot was pushed back several steps with each hit, and the energy balls also struck the floor and walls, creating behind massive damage as they did.

CRASH! BANG! BAM! CRASH!

When the energy balls stopped raining down, the room was a mess and the robot had fallen on its back. "How'd you like that?" Kumatora said to the fallen robot.

"Man, you just had to go ahead and use it that move despite knowing the amount of damage that it can cause..." Duster said to her. "Luckily, this tower is a very durable one; otherwise, we would have gone down together with it..."

Marisa ran up to them and said, "You almost got me with that attack earlier! Good thing I managed to dodge every single one of them-ze!"

"Sorry about that... I forget that you were in the way of the attack..." Kumatora apologized to her. "You're good at dodging however."

Suddenly, the NK Robot helped itself back onto its feet again and opened and closed its claws rapidly. "Whoa! That guy's still up and at it-ze!" Marisa said in surprise.

"Ugh... I've used up quite a bit of energy using PSI Starstorm earlier..." Kumatora cried. "I'm running out of power to fight now..."

"I can still fight," Marisa told her. "Leave this to me-ze!"

"I would recommend aiming for the glass dome on its head," Duster told her. "I remember aiming for that spot when we fought the original version of this thing in the past. There shouldn't be any difference just because the brain is replaced with mechanical components."

"Okay, aim for the glass dome on top of its head, right?" Marisa said as she got out her hakkero. "Leave it to me-ze!"

The NK Robot fired a plethora of missiles at Marisa as she ran towards it, and she used her broom to destroy the missiles when they came near her. Marisa then hopped onto her broom and used it to take flight towards the ceiling. The robot fired missiles at her again, so she quickly placed a card in front of her hakkero. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" And then she fired a massive laser beam that destroyed the missiles and went towards the glass dome on the NK Robot's head at the same time.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The powerful laser beam struck the head of the robot with such a force that it pushed the robot downwards until the floor gave way, so the robot fell through the floor and landed onto the lower floor with a powerful crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Marisa continued to fire the laser beam at the robot until the robot exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion of the NK Robot was so powerful that the floor underneath Kumatora and Duster were also apart, so they fell to the lower floor as well. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" they screamed.

When the explosion finally settled down, the upper and lower floors were now connected to each other because they were entirely destroyed by the explosion. Debris and pieces of the NK Robot were everywhere while dust floated around the air. Duster and Kumatora got up and dusted themselves. "Whoa... And I thought Kumatora's PSI Starstorm was destructive enough already..." Duster said. "This is even more destructive!"

Marisa floated down on her broom and said, "Sorry for getting the both of you into this mess, but at least I managed to teach that swine a lesson-ze!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

In case some of you did not get it yet, the voices heard in the Giygas simulation room are prerecorded voices. Pokey told Fawful not to put in the voices that has nothing to do with Giygas, but Fawful put them in anyway because he misunderstood what he said.

I'm going to church retreat tomorrow and will return on Tuesday to work on this story again.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Greedy Facade**

**Trivia:  
**1. "Cease to Exist" is official name for the popular theme that most people call "Pokey Means Business".


	50. Greedy Facade

**SBS Time!  
Keith Kurogane: **Will there be a Metal Gear arc?  
**Game2002: **Questions involving arcs cannot be answered. Sorry for the inconvenience...

Good news! Wario World music can now be found on Youtube! After listening to the major boss themes, I've added BGMs to the Chapter 11: World of Monsters (as well as changing the BGM title for the Black Jewel's theme in the chapter after that).

Also, Marisa's attack where she swings with her magically-enhanced broom is not called Bosky Sweeper; it doesn't have a name. And in case you haven't noticed yet, Alice's Trip Wire has been modified so that it functions like how it does in the game.

Lastly, PSI Psycho-Shield has been renamed PSI Shield. PSI Psycho-Counter mentioned in Chapter 47: His Highness Rises Again should be PSI Psycho-Shield, which has been... You know it already... Its shape has been changed from hexagon to diamond as well.

**Chapter 49  
Greedy Facade**

* * *

Nitori and Fassad were staring at each other, the former with a serious expression while the latter with an evil smile on his face. "Show me what you've got, little girl!" Fassad taunted her.

"You're going to get it!" Nitori shouted. "Kappa Missile!"

**BGM: Hustle for Pride (Mother 3)**

Missiles came out in large numbers from Nitori's back and flew towards Fassad. The obese villain simply smirked while raising his right arm to make the missiles stop in midair, and then with a flick of his finger to the side, the missiles turned around and headed for their owner.

"What!" Nitori said in shock, and then she quickly dodged the missiles as they flew towards and exploded around her. "Whoa!"

BANG BOOM KABOOM!

"Nwehehehehe! How'd you like that? Surprised, eh?" Fassad asked.

"Can't say that I wasn't surprised by that," Nitori replied. "You must have PSI powers just like Lucas and Kumatora as well!"

"It's no brainer that Magypsy like me would have powers like that! In fact, I'm more skilled in using PSI than those two combined!" Fassad said as he formed electricity in his hand. "Compared to me, those two are nothing but novices! PSI Thunder!" And then he launched a thunderbolt at Nitori.

The thunderbolt came at such a fast speed that Nitori was unable to avoid it, so she was hit directly and electrocuted by it.

BZAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAA!" Nitori screamed as she fell back onto the floor from the shock. "Ugh! I won't let you beat me so easily! Monster Cucumber!" Guns came out from the top of her backpack and fired a barrage of green laser beams at Fassad.

"PSI Shield!" Fassad simply smirked while raising his arm to create a purple diamond-shaped shield, and the lasers disappeared upon hitting the shield. Suddenly, one of Nitori's mechanical arms stretched forward and punched him in the face. "Oof!"

POW!

"Ha! Take that!" Nitori said as the mechanical arm retracted back to its original length. "You don't really look like the kind of person to engage in melee combats!"

Fassad got up while rubbing his nose and said, "Why you! Don't get too cocky, little girl! I haven't even gotten serious yet! Just you wait!" And then he ran into the seashell house.

Nitori watched with curiosity at the seashell house and wondered what Fassad was doing. Shortly afterwards, the obese villain came back out with a pair of trumpets in his hands. "Now let's get serious!" he said. "Get ready to meet your maker!"

"What are you going to do with those trumpets?" Nitori asked. "Annoy me to death with loud noise?"

"You're going to see for yourself right now!" Fassad said before blowing into one of the trumpets. The trumpet not only produced loud noise when it was blown, but it also shot out several small black balls that flew towards Nitori. Sensing danger, she quickly got out of the way. The black balls exploded upon hitting the floor.

KABOOOOOOM!

"Whoa! That was scary!" she said in shock. When she looked at Fassad, she saw the villain blowing into the trumpet again to fire exploding black balls at her, so she kept on running. Fassad then switched to the trumpet on his right hand, and he blew into this one, it shot out several missiles that went after Nitori.

Nitori ran as fast as she could from the homing missiles, but when she realized that she could not run from them forever, she quickly countered with her own missiles. "Kappa Missile!" Her missiles collided with Fassad's missiles in midair and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

Nitori then turned to Fassad and fired laser beams from her backpack. "Monster Cucumber!" But the villain eliminated the lasers using PSI Shield.

"It's useless!" he said. "PSI Thunder!" And then he launched a thunderbolt at Nitori, zapping her badly.

BZAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAA!" Nitori screamed as she suffered the electrocution. Fassad then followed up by blowing into the right trumpet to shoot out missiles that blasted the kappa across the room until she hit the wall.

CRASH!

"Ugh..." Nitori groaned as she slowly pushed herself back up. "I have to fight more seriously..." When she saw Fassad using the left trumpet to fire bombs at her, she quickly stretched both her mechanical arms into the ceiling and grabbed onto a pipe there before pulling herself into the air to escape the bombs.

"What!" Fassad said in surprise.

Nitori then let go of the pipe to fall towards Fassad. The obese villain quickly got out of the way before she fell down with a powerful stomp onto the floor. "Don't underestimate the strength of a kappa!" Nitori said. "I'm going to take on your using physical strength if projectiles aren't useful against you! Get ready!" She then ran up to Fassad before he had the chance to escape and then started hitting him in the body with a series of palm strikes. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Fassad cried in pain as Nitori struck him rapidly in the body with the palm strikes, and then she ended the barrage with a powerful thrust to his belly that sent him shooting backwards until he hit the wall.

CRASH!

"Doh... This girl sure has some brute strength..." he groaned. When he saw Nitori running towards him, he quickly revealed his metallic wings to take flight into the air. "Haha! I'd like to see you take on me while I'm in air!"

Nitori stretched both her mechanical arms upwards to grab him by the feet, but Fassad moved out of the way while bringing his arm into the air. "PSI Thunder!" he shouted, and then he fired a thunderbolt at her.

Nitori knew that this move was coming the moment she saw Fassad raising his arm, so she hopped back a second before he brought down his arm to fire the thunderbolt. As a result, she managed to avoid getting hit. "Monster Cucumber!" she shouted as she fired laser beams from her backpack at Fassad.

"You know that won't work!" Fassad said as he used PSI Shield to defend himself from the lasers. He then blew into one of his trumpets to spray small black bombs in every direction. Nitori quickly ran around like crazy to avoid the bombs as they rained down onto the floor and exploded.

KABOOM BANG BOOM BANG!

"Whoa! This is dangerous!" Nitori cried as she ran for her life. A bomb fell behind her and its explosion propelled her forward. "Wah!"

BAAAAAANG!

She tumbled roughly onto the floor, but another bomb dropped in front of her and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOM!

"YAAAAAAA!" Nitori was blown back by the bomb, and unfortunately, more bombs fell around her and even on top of her. The kappa was caught in a series of explosions and was tossed around the place several times.

KABOOM BANG BOOM BANG KABOOM!

Fassad eventually stopped blowing into his trumpet and saw Nitori lying on the floor with her back facing the air. "Nwehehehe!" the villain laughed. "How'd you like that? Learned your lesson yet?"

Nitori groaned in pain as she slowly pushed herself back up. "Not yet..." she said. "I won't be defeated so easily by you! People who abuse technology must be taught a lesson!"

"Oh, come on! There's no way you can defeat me! Look at the state that you are in! Plus, I'm up in the air, so how are you going to fight me properly?"

Nitori looked up and said, "Don't get so cocky just because you can fly! Once my flight ability has returned, I can take on you even more seriously!" As soon as she said this, her feet took off from the floor a few inches. "Hey! It's back! I can fly again! All right!" Immediately, she shot off into the air and flew in the direction of the surprised Fassad.

"What the!" he said in surprise, and then he was rammed in the belly by Nitori's flying headbutt. "OOF!"

Nitori moved back through the air while Fassad placed his hands on his belly while groaning in pain. "How'd you like that? Now we're equal!" Nitori said.

Fassad glared at Nitori and angrily said, "So what if you can fly? It's not like the tables are turned just because of this! I'm going to show you that it won't make any difference!"

* * *

Aya slowly opened her eyes and looked around the place. "Where am I? What happened to me?" she wondered. When she tried to move her arms and legs, she saw that her arms were held in the air by chains while her legs were chained to the floor. Her wings were also spread out and held in place by mechanical arms. In fact, she was suspended in midair by the chains. "Hey! What's happening here! Why am I caught by arms and legs in chains?"

"Huhuhahahahaha!" laughed the voice of the person with sharp teeth. "Such a unique creature that you are! I would be a waste to kill right away!"

"That voice... It's that guy's voice! Hey! Where are you? What are you going to do to me? Let go of me at once!" Aya shouted as she struggled with the chains. Despite her superhuman strength, she could not free her arms and legs from the chains. "Ngh! These chains are tough!"

"It's useless! You will not be escaping from here!" the voice said. "Let me show you what you are to become in the future."

A large board came down in front of Aya from the ceiling, and the board showed a picture a herself with mechanical body parts, such as a pair of mechanical wings, a right hand that was merged with her fan, a robotic left eye that was glowing with red light, and metallic talons for the feet. "That... is... me...?" Aya said with a surprised look.

"Yes, that is what you will become after a while. Now let us start the construction process! It's going to be painful, but that's the most fun part about it!"

After the board returned into the ceiling, Aya heard a buzzing sound. She looked up and was shocked to see a giant buzzsaw slowly moving downwards and towards her wings. "What the!" she said in shock.

"Let's start with cutting off the wings!" said the voice. "Go ahead and scream if it hurts. It will be music to our ears! Huhuhahahahaha!"

"Hey! Stop that!" Aya shouted as she struggled with the chains. She also tried to retract her wings back into her body, but the mechanical arms that were holding onto them prevented her from doing so. She become more and more frightened as the buzzsaw got closer and closer to her wings. "No! Don't cut off my wings! How am I going to fly without my wings! STOP IT! DON'T! IT'S GOING TO HURT! NOOOOOOOOO! STOP IT! STOP!"

As Aya screamed and struggled intensely to break free, the person with sharp teeth and another person were watching her from a one-way window. They could see her, but Aya could not see them.

Suddenly, the door behind them slid open and Sanae and Reisen stepped into the room. "The two of you!" Reisen shouted. "I just heard someone screaming!"

"What are you!" Sanae said in shock as she was surprised by the bizarre appearances of the two people.

The person with sharp teeth slowly stared around and stared at them with his yellow eyes that had slit pupils while grinning evilly. "Huhuhahahahaha! Just like in the movies! The hero shows up just in time to rescue the damsel moments before she suffers a terrible fate, but in this case, we have heroines rather than heroes!" he said.

* * *

"Monster Cucumber!" Nitori shouted as she flew towards Fassad while firing green laser beams from her jetpack rapidly.

"PSI Shield!" Fassad shouted as he created a purple diamond-shaped shield to block the lasers. When Nitori was about to fly into him, he quickly moved aside. "Whoa! That was close!"

Nitori spun around and then extended a mechanical arm at Fassad, punching him in the face.

POW!

"Oof!" Fassad was punched back through the air, and when he came to a stop, he caught in the neck by the mechanical and then Nitori spun in circles several times before hurling the obese villain across the place and into the wall.

CRASH!

"Ugh... This shouldn't be happening..." Fassad cried.

"Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as she fired several missiles from her backpack. Seeing the missiles coming, Fassad quickly flew straight down to avoid the missiles. He then swooped down at his trumpets, which had fallen onto the floor, and grabbed the both of them before blowing into one of them to shoot out several homing missiles. "Kappa Missile!" Nitori once again fired several missiles that collided with Fassad's missiles.

The missiles exploded upon hitting each other, and just as the smokes were clearing away, Nitori flew through the smoke and towards Fassad with her hand stretched forward in the form of a fist, ready to punch him.

"Shield!" Fassad shouted as he created a blue diamond-shaped shield. Nitori's fist struck the shield as if hitting a piece of glass. The shield started to crack, but then Fassad fired a thunderbolt right through the shield, zapping Nitori. "PSI Thunder!"

BZAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAA!" Nitori cried in pain as she fell back through the air.

"Big Belly Ram!" Fassad shouted as he threw himself at Nitori and rammed her using his belly. The powerful impact sent the kappa tumbling across the room until she hit the wall. "Haha! How'd you like that? You said earlier that I don't look like the kind of person to engage in melee combats, right? Well, what do you think now? Ready to eat your words now?"

Nitori stood back up and said, "Okay, I take back my words, but I'm still going to defeat you no matter what!"

"We'll see about that!" Fassad said as he used his metallic wings to charge at Nitori, and then he spread out his limbs to get ready to hit her with a flying body slam. "Big Belly Ram!"

Nitori stomped her feet against the floor hard like a sumo, and then she used her hands to stop Fassad in his tracks when he charged into her. Fassad's momentum was strong enough to push her back a few inches, but Nitori remained standing while mustering all her strength into her arms. "Ngh! I won't lose to humans when it comes to physical strength!" she said loudly. "HIYA!" And then she hurled Fassad away to the side.

The obese villain tumbled across the floor for a while before coming to a stop. "Ow! You're stronger than I thought!" he said while getting up and dusting himself. "And I'm not human! I've already told that I'm a Magypsy! I am a being that is neither man nor woman and specializes in PSI! Admittedly, I've been holding back my PSI powers for a while now, but it seems that I will have to go all out if I want to defeat you!"

"Neither man nor woman?" Nitori said with a confused expresson. "But you look like a man to me in every way."

"Bah, that's not the point! All right, time to meet your maker!" Fassad said, and then he slammed his hands onto the floor really hard. "PSI Ground!" Brownish-orange ripples spread across the floor, creating a powerful earthquake that shook the whole place.

"Whoa! Kumatora also used something like this!" Nitori said, and then she took into the air. "It's not going to work on me when I'm in the air!"

"PSI Freeze!" Fassad shouted as he fired a large snowflake at Nitori.

"Yikes!" Nitori quickly flew out of the snowflake's way. The snowflake exploded in a blue flash that sent snow and ice shards flying everywhere. Nitori was caught in the explosion, but as it was not a direct hit, only thin layers of ice covered certain parts of her body. "Oooo... It's cold..."

Suddenly, Fassad flew at her and fired a spark at close range. "PSI Fire!" Due to the range, Nitori had no time to get out of the way, so the fire hit her and exploded in a burst of flames that propelled her backwards.

"YAAAA! IT BURNS!" Nitori cried while rolling around the floor until she put out the flames.

"Too hot for you?" Fassad asked the panicking Nitori. "How about something cold? PSI Freeze!" And he fired another snowflake at her. This time, she was caught in the blast, and when the mist cleared, Nitori was found frozen in a block of ice. "Nwehehehehe! How'd you like that? Cold enough for you? Let's see if you will shatter into pieces when I smash the ice!" Using his PSI powers, Fassad made the block of ice float into the air by pointing his arms at it, and then he slammed it onto the floor really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The block of ice shattered into pieces, thus freeing Nitori. The kappa got back up and sneezed. "Achoo! Brrr... That was freezing..."

"So you're still in one piece... Maybe the ice wasn't cold enough. All right, I'm going to freeze you again using even lower temperature, and then you will be in pieces for sure once I break the ice!"

"I won't let you do that to me! Optical Camouflage!" said Nitori, and then she turned invisible.

"Uh? Where'd she go?" Fassad wondered. As he was looking around for the kappa, he was suddenly punched in the belly. "Oof! What the! She must've turned invisible!" And then he was punched across the face. "Oof! Why you!" He quickly moved as far back as he could and then blew into one of his trumpets to shoot out several homing missiles that flew in a certain direction. "She must be over there!"

The missiles suddenly changed direction and made several turns in the air as if they were going after something. "Kappa Missile!" Nitori's voice shouted, and then missiles flew out from nowhere and collided with Fassad's missile.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

"There she is!" Fassad thought. "PSI Thunder!" And then he fired a thunderbolt in the direction of where the missiles appeared from. Nitori was struck by the thunderbolt and became visible again as a result.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed.

"Haha! You're finished! PSI Freeze!" Fassad shouted as he fired a snowflake at her.

Nitori managed to recover from the electric shock in time, so she was able to fly out of the snowflake's way to avoid getting frozen. "Exteeeending Aaaaarm!" she shouted. Her mechanical arms stretched out sideways and then she started spinning. As she spun, the hands glowed with green light and fired laser beams in every direction.

"What the!" Fassad said in shock. "PSI Shield!" He quickly set up a shield to protect himself from the lasers.

As Nitori continued to spin like a cyclone, she moved in the direction of Fassad and swung the mechanical arms into his face, and so the obese villain found himself smacked in the face over and over.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!

One of the mechanical arms suddenly caught Fassad in the face and made him join the spinning and at the same time zapped his face with energy. Nitori eventually stopped spinning and let go of Fassad, thus making him fly across the place until he hit the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Whoa... I feel dizzy..." Nitori said as she tried to retain her balance. "How does Hina not get dizzy from spinning all the time...?"

"Ugh... My head is spinning..." Fassad as he tried to stand back up, but had a hard time doing so due to the spinning. "Time for something to munch on..." He took out a banana from his pocket and then unpeeled it before eating the fruit. After eating the banana, he stood still with his head lowered, but then he flexed his arms and raised his head into the air while shouting as loud as he could, "DELICIOUS! I FEEL SUPER!"

"What! Just by eating a banana?" Nitori said in surprise.

Fassad threw the banana peel aside and said, "Nwehe! I feel much better now! After being resurrected as a cyborg, I can replenish my energy by eating bananas! You shall now see the power that I get from eating bananas!"

"Incredible... Getting powers from eating bananas... Maybe I can think of a way to strengthen myself by eating cucumbers. What if I reconstruct myself into a cyborg...? Nah, there's no need to go that far..."

"PSI Offense Up!" Fassad said as he raised his arms into the blue arrow-shaped aura shot out from below him, and then he used his mechanical wings to charge at Nitori really fast.

Seeing the obese villain approaching, Nitori quickly brought up her arms to stop Fassad in his tracks. However, Fassad charged into her with such a force that she was forcefully pushed backwards. Not even planting her feet firmly against the floor could help her stop moving. "What the! He's stronger than before!" she said in shock.

Fassad pushed Nitori until she hit the wall, and then he pulled back a little bit before firing an orange arrow-shaped beam at her. "PSI Defense Down!"

When Nitori was struck the beam, her legs became wobbly and she could barely stand. "What the...? My body... suddenly became... weak..." she said in a tired voice. Suddenly, Fassad slapped her across the face.

SLAP!

"Ow!" Nitori flew to the side, but then sat back up again and placed her hand on her face. "That hurts!" Suddenly, Fassad jumped onto her and crushed her body with his massive weight. "YAAAAAAAAAA!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Nwehe! Take this! Take that!" Fassad shouted as he brutally punched her in the face over and over.

POW SMASH WHAM POW SMASH POW WHAM SMASH!

Fassad then picked her up by the collar and took off into the air. Placing her underneath his body, Fassad fell back down with his limbs spread out, and then he hit the floor with a tremendous force, crushing Nitori underneath him.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Nitori screamed in pain from the powerful impact.

"Nwehehe!" Fassad laughed as he got up on his feet. "How'd you like that? Have enough?"

Nitori could barely get back up due to the tremendous pain, and she could also tell that everything inside her backpack had been crushed because she was lying flatly on the floor.

"All right! Time to end this fight! I'm going to turn you into a pile of ash!" Fassad said as he pointed his finger at her.

Nitori slowly got back up and thought to herself, "I mustn't lose here… I can't let the others… down!"

"PSI Fire!" Fassad fired a spark at her, but Nitori managed to jump out of the way. The spark hit the floor and exploded, leaving behind a pillar of fire that burned continuously. "Nweh? You can still move?"

Nitori threw her flattened backpack aside and said, "I won't lose so easily to you! Don't underestimate kappas!"

"And don't underestimate Magypsies! PSI Fire!" Fassad fired another spark at Nitori, but she jumped out of the way again. Fassad continued to fire sparks at her one after another, but the kappa managed to avoid them all.

The sparks disappeared after traveling through the air for a while, but the ones that hit the wall exploded and left behind burning spots that released smoke into the air. When the smoke reached the ceiling, an alarm suddenly went off.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Sprinklers underneath the pipes on the ceiling sprayed water everywhere to put out the fire. "Tsk… The smoke detector must've detected the smoke…" Fassad grumbled. "So much for wanting to turn her into a pile of ash…"

"Water!" Nitori exclaimed as the sprinkler sprayed down water nonstop. "All right! This is my chance! Time to fight seriously!" She raised her arms into the air to make the water drops gather together over her palms until a ball of water was formed.

"Nweh? How'd you do that!" Fassad asked in surprise.

"Kappa's Pororoca!" Nitori shouted as she flung the ball of water at him. The ball of water exploded into smaller bits, and each of them struck Fassad all over the body with a force equivalent to rocks being thrown.

"OOF!" Fassad cried as he took several steps back from being pelted by the water projectiles. "What the! They're only water! How can they hurt that much?"

"You should be glad that I didn't throw this one at you!" Nitori said as she hurled another water ball at Fassad, but this one struck him in the face without breaking into smaller bits.

BONK!

Getting hit by the water ball was almost the same as getting hit by a bowling ball. Fassad's mechanical nose was flattened as a result, so he placed his hands over his nose and cried out loud, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW! IT HURTS! HOW DARE YOU DESTROY MY NOSE! I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOUR NOSE IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO! A NOSE FOR A NOSE!"

"Try to break my nose if you can!" Nitori said to him.

"PSI Freeze!" Fassad shouted as he fired a snowflake at her, but Nitori managed to avoid it by flying into the air.

"I need more water than this," Nitori thought. She flew towards the pipes on the ceiling and then grabbing hold of one of them, she yanked it as hard as she could to tear it off. This caused water to pour out, and then she did the same with the nearby pipes. "Good! This amount of water is enough for me to use!"

"I won't let you!" Fassad shouted. "PSI Thunder!" And then he fired a thunderbolt at her.

Nitori managed to avoid the thunderbolt, and the thunderbolt ended up destroying some more pipes to make more even water pour out. Holding out her right arm, Nitori made the water gather around her hand, and then she folded her hand into a fist before punching in Fassad's direction. "Hydro Fist!" she shouted. The water around her hand stretched forward in the shape of a fist.

Fassad quickly used his metallic wings to take flight in order to avoid the incoming fist. Despite being made of water, the watery fist still managed to punch the floor so hard that cracks were left behind on it. "Man, that's scary…" he thought.

"Kappa's Pororoca!" Nitori shouted as she threw a water ball that broke down into smaller particles.

"PSI Shield!" Fassad shouted as he created a shield that protected him from the projectiles. "PSI Thunder!" And then he fired a thunderbolt at her.

Nitori quickly flew aside to avoid the thunderbolt, and then she formed a whip out of water to swing at Fassad, smacking him across the face.

SMACK!

"DOH!" Fassad cried in pain as he was sent spinning across the air from the hit.

As Nitori flew through the air, she made the water surround her body until she was encased within a ball of water. "Water Cannonball!" she shouted as she sped towards Fassad, hitting him in the back.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"NWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" Fassad screamed as the kappa hit him in the back really hard, so hard that his metallic wings were destroyed. Nitori pushed him across the place until they came to the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The impact against the wall was so strong that it burst apart, and Fassad was sent flying out of the tower and towards the bottom of a canyon, where the tower was built next to.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" The obese villain screamed at the top of his voice as he plummeted towards his doom below.

Nitori, who was floating in air, watched him fall until she could no longer hear him scream. "Ouch... That's gotta hurt... At least there's a stream the bottom... I wonder if he'll be all right." She then flew back into the tower and landed onto the floor to do some stretches. "Phew... I won... That was pretty tiring..." She walked across the room and then noticed the banana peel on the floor, so she picked up. "Littering isn't nice... Where's the trash can?"

* * *

The door slid open and then Reimu, Lucas, and Boney stepped into the room, and in front of them was none other than the Absolutely Safety Capsule. "Porky!" Lucas shouted.

The lens on the capsule looked at the two and then the voice of Porky was broadcasted from the capsule, saying, "Heheheheheh! So the both of you have managed to make it here! Welcome to my throne room!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope that this chapter is good enough for the long wait. Look forward to more!

Please keep in mind that when it comes to Nitori, I need to come up with original moves for her due to the fact that she never appeared in a fighting game, so she has very little moves compared to the other Touhou characters featured in this story. Will I come up with original moves for the other Touhou characters? You'll have to find out by yourself!

**Next chapter: Absolutely Impenetrable Defense**

**Trivia:  
**1. Fassad's name when he was a Magypsy is Locria.

2. Fassad's Japanese name, Yokuba, is a pun on 'yokubari', which means 'greediness'. The fan localizard name, Fassad, is a play on 'facade'. Both names fit him very well. He likes to eat bananas, making him greedy, and his appearance is but a deception to hide that fact that he is actually a Magypsy . It is also derived from the Arabian word 'fassa', which means corrupted, and among the Magypsies, he is the only who is corrupted.


	51. Absolutely Impenetrable Defense

I apologize for the long wait. I have to admit that the habit of procrastination is really getting onto me, and I had serious writer's block trying to come up with certain parts of this chapter. All right, let's begin the chapter! Enjoy!

**Chapter 50  
Absolutely Impenetrable Defense**

* * *

Reimu, Lucas, and Boney approached the Absolutely Safety Capsule, and then Pokey's voice was broadcasted from it, saying, "Well, it seems that the three of you have managed to make it here! Congratulations on reaching my throne room! It's also the highest part of this tower if you're curious."

"Porky! Your reign of terror ends here!" Lucas said while pointing at the capsule. "We won't let you take over this island!"

"I probably don't have to point this out, but what can you do if you are inside that round thing?" Reimu asked. "You can't move around inside that thing, can you?"

"Good question!" Porky replied. "The answer to your question would be... wrong! Well, you're not far from being correct either. While it's true that I cannot move around by myself, I can still strike fear to people!"

"How?"

"Simple! This Absolutely Safety Capsule is linked to this tower. I'm not saying that it is physically linked to the tower; it's more like a mental link. It means that I can control this tower just by thinking of something!"

"Okay, I get the point..."

"It doesn't matter, Porky!" Lucas said out loud. "We're going to stop you here no matter what! PSI Love!" He shot out blue hexagons at the capsule. The hexagons exploded into sparks when they hit the capsule, but the capsule was revealed to be perfectly unharmed afterwards.

"You should know by now that this capsule is immune to everything!" Porky reminded him. "I'm perfectly safe in here, so there is no way you can hurt me! Nyaha!"

"Well, you can't hurt us either," Reimu said.

"Oh really? Why don't we find out? But before that, I would like to offer you a little surprise for being the first batch of people to make it here. Lucas, you should be happy that you aren't in your village at the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't you look outside the window?"

Lucas went up to the window, and when he looked outside, he saw Tazmily Village in the distance. "I can see my village from here!" he said.

"Yes, but that very village will disappear right now!" Porky said. As soon as he had said this, the massive cannon at the top of the tower started to charge up electricity. "A single blast didn't wipe out everything in that village, but the second blast should definitely wipe out everything!"

Lucas turned to Porky and shouted, "NO! STOP IT AT ONCE!"

"Over my dead body! Muahahahahahaha!"

Once the cannon had finished charging, it fired a massive electric beam in the direction of the village. Lucas looked out the window again in horror as the beam got closer and closer to his village. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted in horror.

Reimu, on the other hand, remained calm and expressionless while Boney had a worried look on his face.

The unexpected happened however; a translucent, blue wall appeared in front of the beam when it was about to hit the village. A bright explosion occurred when the two came in contact with each other, and when bright light died down, the village was revealed to be perfectly unharmed.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD!" Porky said in shock when he saw the result.

Reimu smiled and said, "I placed some seals around the village before we left. This is to make sure that the village is safe in case you launch another attack at it. Looks like it worked out really well after all!"

Lucas let out a sigh of relief. "Phew... That really scared me for a moment... Thanks goodness that you've made preparations beforehand, Reimu!"

"It's best to be careful than to be sorry."

"Argh! I didn't expect you to pull off something like that!" Porky angrily growled. "It's going to take a while before another beam can be fired, but I'm not going to care about that for now! I'm going to teach you a lesson for messing with me! Come out, my robotic clones!"

The moment he said this, a part of the wall opened up to reveal an army of robots that looked identical to Porky when he was younger, and they were all dressed in black and white overalls with red ribbons. They all head red lights on top of their heads as well.

"Crush them all!" Porky shouted, and then the army of robotic clones charged at the trio.

**BGM: Porky's Pokies (Mother 3)**

"What are those?" Reimu said in surprise.

"Uh oh... Not these again... and there' are a lot more than before as well..." Lucas cried.

The entire army of robotic clones charged at the trio with their arms stretched forward. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire blue yin-yang orbs at them.

"Wait! Projectiles won't work against them!" Lucas told her. However, the yin-yang orbs managed to hit the robots and destroy them. "What...?"

"Projectiles don't work on them?" Reimu asked him. "Doesn't seem to be the case though."

"Maybe it only applies to certain projectiles... Now that I think about it, Kumatora's PSI Thunder hitting them with no problem... Or maybe..." He turned to one of the robot and fire blue hexagons at it. "PSI Love!" However, the hexagons bounced off the robot's body and went back to him. "Yikes!" He quickly jumped aside to avoid getting hit by the homecoming projectiles. "Okay, not all projectiles work against them..."

One of the robots tossed itself at Lucas, but Boney quickly jumped at the robot from the side to push it onto the floor. When the robot hit the floor, the red light glowed brightly while giving off a loud siren. Boney quickly got away from the robot before it exploded.

KABOOOOM!

"And it will explode when destroyed!" Lucas added. "Though that one seems to have fallen a bit too easily..."

"They have been redesigned to explode more easily," Porky explained. "It really makes things a blast, doesn't it? Hahaha! What a pun!"

"Yeah, thanks for the info!" Reimu said as she stepped aside to avoid a robot jumping at her. She then ducked down to avoid another one that attempted to lunge at her. When she stood back up, she swung her spiritually-enhanced gohei into the face of another robot to knock it backwards. The light on top of the robot's head gave off a siren before exploding.

KABOOOOOM!

More robots continued to charge at the three of them. Reimu swiftly moved around the room to avoid the robots as they flailed their arms at her while using her gohei to strike them.

Lucas thrust a handful of PSI energy into the body of a robot to push it away. Another robot attempted to jump at him from behind, but Reimu flew into it with a flying kick to knock it away.

KICK!

"Be careful of you surroundings!" Reimu told him. "They're coming from everywhere!"

"Thanks for the help and warning!" Lucas told her. When another robot tried to charge into him, he held out his hands to freeze the robot in place, and then he used telekinesis to lift the robot into the air before throwing it at a pair of incoming robots. The three robots exploded afterwards.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Boney bit a robot in the right arm. As the robot was trying to get the dog off, Lucas ran towards the robot while saying to Boney, "Hold it still, Boney!" And then he deliver a thrust a palm full of PSI energy into the robot's chest to knock it backwards, and Boney managed to tear off its right arm as well.

"Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire yin-yang orbs from the air. The yin-yang orbs fell onto some of the robots and crushed them, and then the orbs continued to bounce across the room, crushing any robots that got in the way. When she landed from her jump, several robots surrounded her, but she slapped a card onto the floor to make a pillar of blue light shoot into the air. "Dream Sign: Demon Sealing Circle!"

The robots were blown back by the pillar and then hit the floor before exploding.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

"Whoa… Amazing!" Lucas said in awe.

There was still one more robot standing, and it lunged at Reimu to attack her. The shrine maiden simply spun in a circle to kick the robot in the head with a powerful roundhouse kick.

KIIIIIIIIICK!

The kick knocked the robot onto the floor, and then it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

Reimu looked around to make sure that there were no more robots. "Well, that takes care of that," she said when she saw no more robots. "All that's left is to…"

"Don't celebrate just yet! It ain't over till the fat lady sings, and the fat lady hasn't even come on stage yet!" said the voice of Porky. The trio turned to look at the Absolutely Safety Capsule and was surprised to see that the capsule had grown eight spider-like legs and a pair of mechanical arms that ended with large white glove-like hands.

"What the! When did you become like that?" Lucas said in shock.

"While you were busy dealing with my robotic clones," Porky replied. "Did I not say that I have control of this tower? Using my thoughts alone, I was able to command the computer to add extra parts to this capsule. Did the three of you think that I was doomed to stay in one spot forever? Think again, suckers! Nyanya!"

"Oh no… How are we going to fight him…?" Lucas said in worried tone. "We cannot hurt him, but he can hurt us… This isn't a fair fight at all…"

"Well, we don't know until we try it ourselves," Reimu said. "We'll take whatever it takes to bring him down!"

* * *

The buzzsaw suddenly stopped moving, much to Aya's surprise, and she could've sworn that she heard an explosion a second before the buzzsaw stopped moving as well. "What happened?" she wondered.

Suddenly, one-way glass in front of her exploded, and then Sanae rushed into the room. "Aya! I'm here to rescue you!" she shouted.

"Sanae!"

"Hold on a second!" Sanae said as she taped paper amulets onto the chains that were holding her in place. The amulets exploded, but to her surprise, the chains were not destroyed! "What!"

"I can't even break them using my strength!" Aya said. "They're really tough!"

"Insolent fool!" shouted an angry voice that came from behind the one-way glass. Sanae and Aya turned to look at the opening created on the one-way glass and they could see a green arm gripping Reisen tightly by the neck.

"Ack! Can't… breathe…" the lunar rabbit cried.

"You shall die for the damage that you've caused!"

"Reisen!" Sanae shouted. She quickly rushed over to Reisen and helped her by whacking the arm with her gohei, causing it to let go of the lunar rabbit. Sanae then turned to face the person with sharp teeth behind the one-way glass. "I won't let you hurt my friend, and let go of my other friend as well!" Suddenly, a pair of eye beams was fired at her, so she quickly ducked down to avoid getting shot. "Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"No!" the person with sharp teeth replied before swinging his arm at her, but she jumped back to avoid getting hit, only to get caught by someone.

"Gotcha!" said the person.

"Hey! Let go of me, you pig cow demon!" shouted Sanae.

All the while, Aya continued to struggle with the chains in hope of breaking them. "Grrrrr! Why won't these break!" she growled.

"Well, what do we have here?" said a voice that sounded familiar to Aya.

"That voice... It's Remilia!"

* * *

Nitori stepped out from the seashell house while dusting her hands. "It sure is a mess in there," she said. "Banana peels everywhere... I wonder how the others are by the way."

Suddenly, a mouth lined with rows of sharp teeth came down a few millimeters in front of her face, and before she could do anything, energy balls were fired at her at point blank.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Nitori shot back into the seashell house and hit the table on the far end of the room, and then she passed out with a charred face.

**BGM: Fawful's Theme (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)**

Fawful descended just outside the door and laughed. "Geeheeheeheeheeheehee! Such carelessness you have shown! My ambush is of flawlessness! I laugh at the stupidity that you have! Fassad you may have defeated, but the moment to shine comes when I, Fawful, take the stage! Geeheeheeheehee! Fawful shall take you prisoner!"

The extendable mouth on his headgear extended over to Nitori's left foot to bite it, and then Fawful left the place, dragging along the unconscious kappa.

* * *

Reimu, Lucas, and Boney took a step back as the Absolutely Safety Capsule took a step forward while cracking its fist. "Are you ready to be pounded into grounded meat?" Porky asked. "I'm coming after you whether or not you're readied! Here I come!"

**BGM: Master Porky's Theme (Mother 3)**

The capsule raised his fist into the air before throwing a punch at them, but they jumped out of the way. The fist hit the floor with such a force that pieces of the floor flew everywhere.

SMASH!

Reimu took out several paper amulets to throw at the capsule. The amulets touched the capsule before exploding, but no damage was done to it. The swung its arm at Reimu to hit her while she was still in air, so she quickly swung her gohei at it to block it. However, the force was too strong for her to block, so she was knocked through the air until she hit some machines at the side of the room.

CRASH!

"PSI Love!" Lucas shouted as he launched blue hexagons at the capsule, but the PSI attack did nothing to it. "Um..."

"It's useless!" Porky said as the capsule turned to face him. "I have the absolute defense that protects me from everything! I can attack you at the same time too, so this makes me the ultimate being in the whole universe! Nobody can hope to stop me now! Hahahahahaha! Ack! *cough*"

The capsule brought its hand together into air and then slammed them down to hammer Lucas, but he moved out of the way in time. Boney then jumped at the arm while it was still lowered and bit it as hard as he could. The arm tried to shake the dog off, but Boney gripped onto it tightly with his teeth.

Reimu threw several paper amulets onto the arm, and when the amulet exploded, the arm was also blown off.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

"Looks like the arms aren't as vulnerable as the body," she concluded.

"Argh! How dare you!" Porky angrily said. The capsule backed off a few steps while continuing to shake its other arm until Boney was finally thrown off, but Lucas used telekinesis to catch and slowly place him onto the floor.

"Thanks, Lucas!" Boney said to him in 'dog language'.

"Don't think that you can defeat me just by destroying the additional parts!" Porky said Reimu. "I can add more whenever I want to! Just watch!"

Suddenly, a large machine placed at the side of the room broke down into pieces and then flew over to the capsule. The pieces of the machine reassembled themselves into the form of an arm when they reached the capsule. "See? Everything in this tower listens to me!" Porky said while making a fist out of the capsule's new arm. "I give them the command simply by thinking, and then they will go as I say! How's that? Cool, eh?"

"Then I'll just destroy this tower," Reimu said. "That'll keep you from doing anything."

"Talk big, will ya? Do you seriously think that you can take down this tower? Don't make me laugh! Hahahahaha!"

"Don't underestimate me and my friends! As long as the eleven of us work together, we can cause massive destruction!"

"Don't be so sure about it until after you survive this!" Porky shouted. The capsule suddenly leaped at Reimu and threw a punch using the new arm at her. Reimu jump out of the way and then threw a paper amulet onto the new arm to blow it up.

KABOOM!

"PSI Love!" Lucas shouted as he fired blue hexagons at the other arm, blowing it off.

BANG!

Without its arms, the capsule jumped back and then called for more pieces of metal, and within a few seconds, the capsule once again had new arms. This time, the right arm was a large sword while the left arm was a shield. "How about some good old sword and shield setup?" Porky asked.

The capsule rushed towards the three of them as fast as its spider legs could and swung its sword at them, but they all jumped straight up to avoid getting hit. While in the air, Reimu threw several paper amulets that attached themselves onto the front part of the capsule, and when they exploded, a large amount of smoke blotted Porky's view.

"Hey! I can't see!" Porky shouted.

"PSI Love!" Lucas shouted as he took advantage of this by blasting the sword and shield with blue hexagons. The sword was destroyed, but not the shield.

The capsule backed off from the smoke, but Boney rushed after it and jumped at it. However, he banged his head against the shield and so passed out on the floor. The capsule raised one of its front legs over the dog and Porky said to Lucas, "Would you like some hot dog on a stick, Lucas?"

"Stop! Don't hurt Boney!" Lucas shouted. He pointed his finger at Boney and was going to pull him over using telekinesis, but the shield was suddenly fired at him. "OW!"

Porky was about to bring down the capsule's spider-like leg onto the unconscious dog, but quick as a flash, Reimu threw herself at Boney and slid across the floor to push him away. As a result, she became the spider-like leg's victim. "YAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed in pain.

Lucas threw the shield aside and was horrified to see Reimu stabbed by the capsule's leg. "REIMU!" he gasped.

The capsule pulled its leg out of the shrine maiden's back and then took a few steps backwards. "Well, that was unexpected," Porky said. "So much for a hot dog on a stick..." He then called together some more pieces of metals to create a large hammer arm. "Let's have girly pancakes instead! It's hammer time!"

"Reimu!" Lucas cried out loud.

The hammer came down on to of Reimu, but the shrine maiden managed to roll aside in time before getting back on her feet.

SMASH!

Enduring the pain done to her earlier, Reimu threw paper amulets at the hammer arm to blast it into pieces, and then she took out another card to fire a large blue yin-yang orb at the capsule. "Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!" The giant yin-yang orb collided into the capsule and pushed across the room.

"That won't work!" Porky shouted. More pieces of machinery flew over to the capsule to form large arms, and then the arms caught the yin-yang orb and wrestled against it. "This giant glowing ball of doom won't do anything to me, and I can also outmatch it in strength!" Grabbing the sides of the yin-yang orb tightly, the capsule spun in a circle before throwing it across the room and towards Reimu. "Hiya!"

Meanwhile, Marisa, Duster, and Kumatora were rushing up a spiraling staircase. They eventually came to a room that had another set of staircase leading to a door at the top. Marisa also noticed a shattered window at the side. "Reimu must've gotten in through that window-ze," she thought.

Duster looked at the door at the top of the staircase and said, "They must be up there! C'mon, let's go!"

The three rushed up the staircase. Once at the top, they pushed against the door to open it. "Ngh! Why isn't it opening!" Kumatora asked.

"Stand back! I'll blow it open!" Marisa said as she got out a pot. "I'm going to throw this thing at the..." A giant yin-yang burst through it.

The three of them had no to run and were hit by the yin-yang orb. They screamed in pain as the orb zapped them with spiritual energy while going through them. Once the yin-yang had gone through them entirely, they fell onto the floor unconsciously and charred.

Reimu saw the three of them lying on the floor and was shocked. "Marisa!" she gasped.

"Duster! Kumatora!" Lucas gasped.

"Hahaha! Looks like I scored three hits unintentionally!" Porky laughed. "That really made me laugh!"

Reimu turned to capsule and said, "To think that you can grab and throw the Yin-Yang Demon God Orb... You sure are something..."

"Because I'm a child prodigy! Behold my awesomeness and tremble in terror!" Porky said as the capsule ran towards Reimu to hit her with its drill.

Reimu flew into the air and then out of the way to avoid the drill. When the capsule turned around to face her, she flew towards the lens to land a powerful kick into it. However, the lens was unharmed. "It's no use!" Porky said. "Even though the lens is an additional part of the capsule, it is also as durable as the capsule itself! Nothing can destroy it!"

The capsule then attempted to jab Reimu, but the shrine maiden moved left and right in the air to avoid getting hit.

"Doesn't that hole on your body hurts?" Porky asked.

"I'm used to suffering from painful wounds already, so I can easily shrug this off!" she replied.

"Oh really? How about I make that hole bigger? I'd like to see if you can still shrug it off!"

As the capsule continued to try to hit Reimu, Lucas charged at it with a metal rod that he found lying on the floor in his hand. "PSI Offense Up!" Lucas shouted as he transferred orange PSI energy into the rod, and then he swung the charged up rod at the capsule's legs. With a single swing, he knocked out two of its eight legs.

SMAAAAAAAAASH!

"What the!" Porky said in shock when the capsule shook and shook and tilted slightly. He turned to look to look at Lucas and said, "Why you!" The capsule tried to hit him with the drill, but Lucas jumped aside and then hit the drill arm hard with the rod to destroy it.

SMASH!

"Argh!" Porky growled as the capsule quickly backed off from Lucas.

"You're not getting away!" Lucas said. "PSI Offense Up!" He transferred PSI energy into the rod again as he approached the capsule, and then he jumped at the lens to whack it as hard as he could.

WHACK!

The lens was struck with such a force that a slight crack actually appeared on it. "What the! How can this be!" Porky said in shock. "The lens is supposed to be super tough! How can it break!"

"Take this!" Lucas shouted as he took a swing at the capsule itself.

DONG!

"Wawawawawawawa..." Lucas cried as his entire body 'vibrated' like a tuning fork.

"At least you can't break through the capsule itself! You shall pay for putting a crack on the lens" Porky was about to throw a punch at Lucas using the capsule's other arm, but Boney jumped at the arm and hit it as hard as he could. "Hey mutt! Get off it!"

Lucas came back to his senses and then quickly swung his metal rod at the legs again, this time taking out another two, thus reducing the amount of legs to only four on one side. This caused the capsule to tilt to one side.

"Argh! How dare you!" Porky growled. "But this won't stop me!" Using his thoughts alone, he managed to reassemble the remaining legs so that there were two on both sides, thus allowing the capsule to stand properly again. "And the dog has to go!" The capsule swung its arm as hard as it could, but Boney remained gripping onto it with his teeth. "LET GO OF IT ALREADY! GO CHEW ON A BONE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CHEW SOMETHING!"

While the capsule was busy trying to shake off Boney, Lucas swung his metal rod at the legs again. However, the capsule stood up on its hind legs when Lucas swung at it. He quickly jumped back when the front legs came down again.

Annoyed that Boney wouldn't let go of the arm, the capsule detached the arm and made it fly across the room along with the dog. "Boney!" Lucas shouted as he ran to his dog in concern

"Enough is enough!" Porky shouted. Suddenly, wires hidden within the ceiling burst out from it and went to the capsule to reassemble themselves into a pair of whips. Swinging the whip arms around in air, Porky said out loud, "Time for you to feel some pain! Have a taste of my whip!"

Seeing that Reimu was in front of him, Porky went for her first. The capsule swung its whips rapidly at Reimu, but she kept on moving around with skill to avoid getting hit. However, the wound on her body reacted due to moving around too much. The pain hindered her movements slightly, and this caused her to get hit by one of the whips.

WHIP!

"Ugh!" Reimu cried as she fell back onto the floor, and then she quickly held her arms over herself as the whips came down on her constantly and mercilessly.

"Stop attacking her! PSI Love!" Lucas shouted as he launched several blue hexagons at the capsule. The capsule spun around to swing one of its whips at the hexagons, but it ended up getting blown apart.

"Darn you!" Porky angrily growled. The capsule jumped at Lucas in an attempt to crush him, but he quickly dashed underneath it and then fired a green ray of light at Reimu. "PSI Lifeup!" When Reimu was hit by the ray of light, she suddenly felt better.

"Thanks, Lucas!" Reimu thanked her. "Watch out behind you!"

Lucas failed to turn around in time and was struck in the side of the body by the capsule's remaining whip arm.

WHIP!

"Ya!" Lucas cried as he flew across the room.

"Enough is enough! I'm going to crush you all!" Porky growled.

Reimu rushed at the capsule and then moved to the side when the whip was slammed down on top of her. Taking out an orange card, she jumped in front of the lens and shouted, "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" And an orange blast came out from the card.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The capsule was blown backwards from the powerful blast, and the lens cracks even more. "Argh! You're messing up my vision!" Porky shouted. The lens was still working, but there were several cracks on it. "You'll pay for this!"

When Reimu jumped at towards the lens again, the whip separated itself into several strands of wires that it was consisted of in the first place. Reimu quickly flew back to avoid the wires as they were at her, but one of them caught her by the left leg. "Oh no!" she gasped. Suddenly, electricity flowed down the leg and into her body, zapping her badly.

BZAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed the shrine maiden in agony, and then she was slammed against the floor over and over.

"Take this! Take that!" Porky said while enjoying the sight of the shrine maiden being used a hammer. "Get out of here!" And then the capsule hurled Reimu towards the wall. After the shrine maiden hit the wall with a crash, the capsule scuttled towards her as fast as it could and then threw itself into her to smash her through the wall.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Reimu was sent flying out of the tower and towards the ground below, but despite the large amount of pain that she was feeling, she still managed to pull herself together in order to fly upwards. "Tsk! You sure are a pain to deal with!" Porky growled when he saw that she was all right.

Reimu looked at the roof of the tower and thought, "I think I should take out that lightning-firing thing at the top first. This should stop him from trying to destroy the village again. Plus, the seal won't be able to hold up forever if it keeps on getting hit by something as powerful as that like that." And then she flew towards the rooftop.

Porky saw her heading for the rooftop, so he said, "What? Are you trying to take down that cannon? I won't let you!" Suddenly, metal bars and pipes burst out from various parts of the tower's exterior and went to the capsule to reassemble themselves until a pair of long longs with sharp claws were formed. The capsule jumped out into the air, but then quickly spun around to sink its claws into the wall, and then it began climbing upwards.

Lucas and Boney ran to the hole on the wall and looked up to see the Absolutely Safety Capsule making its way to the roof. "He's making his way to the roof... If only we can find a way up there as well..." Lucas thought.

* * *

Reimu landed onto the orb-shaped roof of the tower and saw the cannon sticking out from the center. "All right, now to destroy that thing!" she said to herself.

"You're not having things your own way around here!" said the voice of Porky as the capsule climbed onto the rooftop. Its spider-like legs dug as deep as it could into the roof in order not to slip and fall off. "This is as far as you go, annoying girl! Meet your end here!" The capsule leaped towards and slammed down its right arm at her, but she flew out of the way.

Reimu then threw several amulets onto the right arm before the capsule pulled it back to destroy it.

KABOOOOOOOM!

"Argh! Why you!" Porky growled. "Those exploding pieces of paper of yours are starting to get on my nerves! That does it! You're forcing me to take the extreme route! Don't blame me if you cry!"

Pieces of metal burst out from the surface around the cannon, and then the cannon itself was also pulled up into the air by an invisible force. Reassembling itself with the pieces of metal, the cannon had now become a part of the capsule. "What in the world!" Reimu said with surprise.

"Take this! Super Thunder Cannon!" Porky shouted as the capsule used its newly constructed arm cannon to fire a powerful electric beam at her. Reimu quickly rushed out of the way beam's way to avoid getting hit.

"It's no laughing matter if I get hit by that!" she thought. "I must avoid getting hit at all cost!"

The capsule continued to fire at Reimu, but the shrine maiden moved around as fast as she could to avoid every single shot.

"Stand still, will ya?" Porky said with frustration.

Reimu then took out a card and used it to fire a large yin-yang orb at the capsule, "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Demo God Orb!"

The capsule aimed at the blue yin-yang orb as it came closer and closer, and then an electric beam was fired at it. The beam pierced through the orb and destroyed, and as Reimu was caught off guard by this, she was struck by the beam.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Reimu screamed in agony as the high voltage electricity fried her badly, and then she fell onto the surface of the roof unconsciously.

"Hahahahahaha!" Porky laughed. "How'd you like that? I win! I win! I win! Hahahahahahahaha! Ack! *cough* *wheeze*"

Despite getting hit by such a powerful attack, Reimu managed to open her eyes. "Darn it..." she muttered. "I'm too... weak... to move..."

As the Absolutely Safety Capsule approached Reimu to give her the finishing blow, an explosion could be heard.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The shaking caused the capsule to lose its balance, so it slid downwards. "What the heck!" Porky said in shock. "What happened?" Suddenly, the capsule's legs as well as the arm cannon fell off, so the capsule itself hit the surface, and as the surface was slanted, it started to roll downwards. "What the! What is happening! Why can't I control the parts anymore? Wait a minute! This can only mean one thing! The tower's central computer is destroyed! Who destroyed it?"

Reimu also slid down from the tower, but she fell onto the front of the capsule. Seeing this as an opportunity, Reimu slapped an orange card in front of the lens and shouted, "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The close range burst of energy propelled the Absolutely Safety Capsule backwards and towards the canyon below. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Porky screamed as the sight of the tower's roof got farther and farther away from him.

The Absolutely Safety Capsule struck the side of the canyon's cliff, and this caused the cliff to break and rain down a large amount of rocks that accompanied the capsule's fall to the bottom of the canyon. The capsule struck the bottom first, and then the rocks fell on top of it until it was completely buried.

Reimu also fell through the air, but she suddenly froze in midair. When she looked at the tower, she saw Lucas using his PSI to keep her in air. "Phew... Just in time..." Lucas said with a sigh of relief.

Reimu gave her a thumb up and said with a smile, "Good work, Lucas!"

* * *

Smoke was all over the place as Sanae sat up and coughed, and then she said, "Thanks goodness that we're still alive... It's a miracle!"

Remilia stood up from a pile of debris and said, "That sure went off with a bang. I didn't expect that. It sure wrecked up this place good."

"Thanks goodness that you showed up in time to help us, otherwise the three of us would have been goners..."

"Yeah! I'm the strongest!" Cirno said with her arms crossed while standing on top of a pile of debris.

"You... How dare you... cause such a damage!" said an angry voice. The girls turned to the source of the voice and saw a pair of yellow eyes looking at them from among some fallen iron bars.

"He's still alive!" Reisen said in shock.

"But then... it doesn't really matter that this tower gets destroyed. It's not part of our plan anyway. It was simply to satisfy King P." The person with sharp teeth then came out from among the iron bars to reveal himself.

He resembled a reptilian creature with cybernetic parts. Instead of having legs, he had fire coming out from underneath his mechanical upper torso, thus allowing him to hover in air. His arms were green and scaly in appearance, but his hands were mechanical in appearance and had really sharp claws that were glowing with orange light. On top of his head was a piece of metal that resembled a Mohawk and at the same time a shark fin, and his eyes were yellow and had slit pupils.

"However, you shall still feel the true pain from me, the mighty Rez!" said the person with sharp teeth.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I was reminded of Yami from Amaterasu when I thought up of the way for Porky to fight while inside the Absolutely Safety Capsule. Both are giant orbs that can grow different body parts to fight. Admittedly, I'm more familiar with how Yami fights in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom than in Okami...

And finally, the person with sharp teeth's identity is revealed! People who have fond memories of the original Playstation should know about the gecko named Gex and the three games that he starred in. Rez is the main antagonist of all three games, and he's taking the form from the second game Gex: Enter the Gecko because that is the first of the three games I managed to beat. I only got to play the demo version of the first game, and it contains only the first stage... Those who played Gex: Enter the Gecko should also know who that 'pig cow demon' is.

Once again, I apologize for making you wait so long for this chapter. I will try my best to get the next chapter out. Have fun waiting!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Wonderful Nature**

**Trivia:  
**1. The Gex series has been dormant since 1998, but Gex's last known video game appearance is in the Playstation 2 game Mad Dash Racing. Gex 4 was once planned for the Playstation 2, but it got cancelled for unknown reasons. There exist concept arts for the game however.**  
**


	52. Wondeful Nature

I'm not sure if this is considered a big change, but I've changed Porky's scream from "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" to a generic scream. I think it makes more sense that way.

Also, Fawful's theme from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story has been added as the BGM for the scene where he ambushed Nitori.

Lastly, a major change has been done to Chapter 41: Grand Prix Legend. The conversation between the mysterious villains have been moved to the part after Captain Falcon suggested that he enter the F-Zero Grand Prix to obtain the Light Essence for the girls. I made this change because I thought it would make more sense for the villains to have a meeting soon after Deathborn's defeat rather than waiting until the next day.

**Chapter 51  
Wonderful Nature**

* * *

Remilia, Alice, Cirno, Sanae, Aya, Reisen, and Youmu got together as Rez approached them. "Planning to take on us all at once?" Remilia asked the villain. "My, you sure are a bold one! Do you seriously think that you can win?"

"It may be true that in movies and TV shows, the heroes and heroines always win," Rez said, "but this is reality, so such a rule does not apply! Don't be so sure of your victory just yet!" As soon as he said this, his back opened to fire a pair of missiles at them.

Remilia flew at the missiles and swung her claws as she went pass them. The missiles suddenly broke into pieces and then exploded in midair.

KABOOOOOOOOM!

From there, Remilia charged at Rez and swung her claws at him, but the villain countered by swinging his glowing claws at her as well. Their claws clashed against each other in midair, and then Rez immediately swung her other arm at Remilia's face, but she ducked down in time. When Remilia attempted to slash him in the body, Rez quickly moved back as far as he could, and then he lowered his head before dashing across the air while spinning like a drill.

Remilia quickly moved out of the way to avoid getting hit. The girls also stepped aside when Rez flew in their direction. Rez came a stop shortly afterwards and then turned to them before firing more missiles, but Reisen fired at them to take them out.

Youmu then dashed at Rez and swung the Roukanken at him, but with a quick swing of his claws, Rez managed to hit the sword by the top of its blade to make it hit the floor. While Youmu was caught by surprise by this, Rez thrust his claws at her face. Luckily, Youmu reacted in time by ducking down, and then she performed a back flip that kicked Rez in the chin as well as moving farther away from him.

"Grrr!" Rez growled as he moved back while rubbing his chin. Suddenly, several dolls armed with knives over his head and were going to strike him in the back, but Rez stretched out his arms to the side and spun really fast, causing the dolls to bounce off and break their arms when they attacked him.

Alice quickly caught the dolls when they fell towards her. "My dolls!" she said in shock.

Rez looked around and saw that he was surrounded by the seven girls, and he growled, "Taking on all seven of you at once seems to be out of my league... I admit that you have me surrounded..."

"Hey boss!" shouted a voice, and then everyone turned to the side to see a centaur-like creature that had the lower torso of a cow and an upper torso of a pig—Mooshoo Pork. "You want me to use the same thing used for taking down that winged girl? I'm standing next to it right now!"

"Anything will do as long as it will give us the upper hand!" Rez told him.

"All right, boss! It's time to fry some little girls!" the pig-cow hybrid said while adjusting his monocles, and then he flipped the switch on the wall in front of him.

"Oh no! Not that one again!" Aya gasped. "Everyone! Run as far as you can!"

"What is that?" Cirno asked her

When the switch was flipped, a large lightning rod-like machine next to Mooshoo started emitting electricity. The pig-cow hybrid was laughing with his hands placed on his belly as the machine charged up, but then it released electricity all around it.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"OINK!" Mooshoo squealed in pain when he was electrocuted, and then he fell over to the side charred. "Gugh..."

"What was that all about...?" Reisen asked.

"Well, I guess that thing broke down after Remilia wrecked this place..." Aya said. "We sure are lucky! When I got hit by that thing, it knocked me silly onto the floor, thus giving that freak over there chance to take me out with his missiles!"

"This proves that luck can also come without the presence of that prankish rabbit from Eientei," Remilia said, and then she turned to look at Rez. "Well, it seems that luck has run out for you! What are you going to do next?"

As Rez was looking around and wondering what to do, a voice said, "Trouble is brewing like coffee, I see?" Everyone turned to the source of voice and saw Fawful coming into the scene. "Such a mess this place is! I take that it is the girls who did this? Fawful has chortles and fury at the same time! The chortle comes from their might strength and the fury comes from the destruction of this place! Geeheeheeheehee!"

"You have come at the right time, Fawful!" Rez said to him. "Now that this place is ruined, there is no more reason to be here. With the central computer destroyed, King P can no longer do anything without our help, and we do not need someone who cannot do anything by him or herself in our organization!"

"Disagreeing with you any further I cannot do! King P is now like a helpless fink rat that is trapped inside a globe, the globe of eternal imprisonment! Get out of this place we shall! Waste of time it is here to fight these girls! And you can have your friend back as well!" Fawful's headgear then hurled Nitori across the air and towards them.

"Nitori!" Sanae gasped. The girls ran up to the unconscious kappa in concern. "Nitori! What happened to you? You're injured!"

"Blast her in the face I did!" Fawful said. "Such a weakling she was! An ambush of littleness was all it takes to make her go to sleep! I laugh at such feebleness! Geeheeheeheehee!"

"How can you do this to our friend!" Reisen angrily asked.

"Because I can! Geeheeheeheeheehee!" Fawful replied, and then he took out a remote control that had a single purple button on it. When the button was pressed, a door appeared out of thin air behind him, and when it opened, he stepped inside. "Leaving this place I am! It was nice knowing you!"

Rez quickly rushed through the door, but Aya went after him as well. "You're not getting away! I have a score to settle with you!" she said. However, when she attempted to go through the door, she suddenly felt a powerful presence that made her feel sick, so she quickly backed off. "Ugh! What's this awful feeling!"

Rez did his trademark laugh as the door began to close. "Huhuhahahahaha! We shall meet again, and that is when our score will be settled!"

"Boss! Wait for me!" shouted Mooshoo Pork as he rushed towards the closing door. Luckily, he managed to make it inside before the door fully closed, and then it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

"They're gone..." Reisen said.

"We're going to meet them again," Remilia said. "This is our fate as long as we keep on traveling throughout different worlds."

Alice then Aya and asked her, "By the way, what was it that you felt just now?"

"All I can say is that it's a really awful feeling..." Aya replied. "Almost made me want to puke..."

* * *

"Ow..." Marisa groaned as she sat back up. "What on earth happened-ze...?"

"Are you all right?" Reimu, who was crouched down next to her, asked.

"It's you, Reimu! How's everything?"

"It's all over. Porky is already defeated."

"What! You defeated Porky?" Kumatora said in surprise. "Incredible!"

"How did you beat him when he is inside the Absolutely Safety Capsule?" Duster asked. "It should be impossible to break that capsule apart."

"I sent him falling into the canyon below," Reimu replied. "Since he cannot move around inside that thing, he shouldn't be able to do anything without anyone's help."

"Yeah, that should hopefully keep him quiet forever!" Kumatora said, sounding delighted.

"It's a pretty horrible fate if you ask me," Lucas said. "Trapped forever inside something and can never die... I feel bad for him..."

"That's what he always wanted, right? He should be happy that he will never get to see people that he hates anymore."

"By the way, I wonder how the others are," Duster wondered. "Are they all right?"

"Oh right... We should go and find them at once!" Lucas suggested.

* * *

"It's broken..." Sanae asked while rapidly pressing the elevator button.

"Can you fix it?" Alice asked her.

"I don't know how to fix elevators. Maybe Nitori can do something about it, but she's out cold at the moment..."

"Why don't we just fly out through the window?" Remilia asked. "You should all be able to fly now, right?"

"Oh right! I totally forgot about the fact that we can fly!" Reisen said. "It should be back by now." And then she floated into the air. "Yep, it's back all right!"

Suddenly, they heard someone knocking on the window, and when they turned to look at it, they saw Reimu knocking on the window from the other side. Alice went up to the window to open it. "It's you, Reimu," she said. "I suppose that you've taken care of King P, right?"

"Yeah, so we're leaving this place now," Reimu told her. "Before that, some of you will have to go to the top to bring down Lucas and his friends.

Behind her, Marisa could be seen sitting on her broom with Kumatora. "Watch it!" Marisa said to Kumatora. "Don't shake this thing! You'll fall if you keep on moving around-ze!"

"This is my first time sitting on a flying broom, so I'm not used to it!" Kumatora told her.

* * *

Eventually, Lucas, Boney, and Duster were brought to the bottom tower thanks to the Remilia, Cirno, and Aya carrying them down respectively. Nitori was also carried to the bottom thanks to the help of Youmu and Reisen.

"Let's go back to the village," Lucas suggested. "Dad and the others must be worried about us. Let's go and tell them the good news that Porky has been defeated once again!"

So the group headed down mountain path, but then Remilia remembered something. "We seem to have forgotten someone," she said.

"Who?" Cirno asked.

"Hey! Why are you all down there?" shouted a loud voice. They all turned around to look up at the tower and were all surprised to see Meiling looking out at them from a window.

"Her," Remilia said.

"Oops... We totally forgot about her..." Reimu said.

* * *

Fawful and Rez came into the room where the rest of the members were and took their seats in front of the table. Actually, Rez didn't have a seat due to fact that he hovers in the air.

"Back home we are!" Fawful cheerfully said.

"Everything was ruined thanks to those girls, especially that vampire," Rez said. "Never would've thought that she possesses enough power to take out the central computer of the tower..."

"I have my eyes on that vampire," said the person with a goatee. "I look forward to meet eye to eye with her someday!"

"Those girls are much stronger than we expect after all," said the staff-wielding person. "To think that the shrine maiden would be able to defeat someone who is encased inside something that even we cannot destroy..."

"And that is what led to his downfall!" said the person wearing a hat. "What use is an absolute defense if it does not provide means of mobility? He was only able to move around and fight after Fawful and Rez helped him! His downfall shows that he is not fit to become part of us!"

"Indeed," said the bald one. "People like him will only hinder us!"

"He was useful when he was out of the Absolutely Safety Capsule though," said the voice. "Pity that the same method used for bringing him out of there could no longer be used."

"Bah! Enough of this recruiting silliness!" said the annoying one. "The eleven of us are more than enough to take over the whole universe! We do not need to recruit anymore weaklings who will only disappoint us!"

"Right," said the person wearing the hat. "Weaklings shouldn't be part of us, so we ought to kick you out."

"What! Are you calling me a weakling? Eat your words, you who got killed by someone who can shoot fireballs out of his hands!"

"Then I would like to see you win a fight against that guy! You probably can't even lay a single scratch on him!"

"Enough arguments!" said the voice loudly. "Even though it is useful in helping us reach our goal, it is still not a good idea for people within the same organization to fight against each other. We have come a long way already, so for the organization to fall apart now will only make our hard work come to naught!"

Suddenly, there was a beeping sound. The bald one looked at a device that he was holding in his hand and said, "He has a reply."

"Your client, I assume?"

"Yes, I helped him rise to former glory a week ago and also invited him to join of our organization, but he wanted to think over it first. It seems that he has come up with an answer."

"Then go. I hope that you will obtain a desirable answer from him!"

* * *

It was nighttime and everyone in Tazmily Village was celebrating in the square. "Lucas and his friends have saved our island!" Mayor Pusher said as he raised his cup into the air. "Let us all give them a round of applause for defeating King P!"

"Hip, hip, hooray!" the villagers cheered while raising their cups into the air. "Hip, hip, hooray!"

Flint patted Lucas on the back and said to him, "You've made me proud, Lucas! Good job, mah boi!"

"Actually..." Lucas said, "I didn't do much... Reimu was the one who defeated Porky!"

Reimu turned to him and said, "You helped a lot too. I admit that I wouldn't have been able to pull through that as easily without your help."

"Really? I didn't really think that I helped much."

"Don't always look down on yourself, Lucas," Flint said to him. "You should be more optimistic. You're much stronger than you think you are! The fact that Master Hand chose you for his tournament means that you are strong!"

"You're right. Thanks for those words, dad!"

Reimu smiled as she watched the father and son chat happily with each other, and then she went over to where her friends were and said to Nitori, "How are you feeling, Nitori?"

"I'm all right, Reimu," said Nitori, who had bandages all over her face. "Thanks for your concern!"

"Be more careful next time and don't push yourself too hard. It's good that you got away with only physical injuries."

"Thanks! You should be careful yourself too. You seem to get brutally mauled in every fight lately."

"Well, I do have to admit that my opponents are pretty tough, but at least everything turned out well in the end. That's better than nothing!"

"By the way," Marisa asked while taking a bite from a piece of bread, "we haven't found the Light Essence yet."

"You're right..." Reisen said. "We forgot about that... We have no idea where it is either..."

"That's the problem..." Reimu said. "Until we find that thing, we have to remain in this world..."

"I think I have may an idea," Lucas said as he walked up to them.

"Really?" Sanae asked.

"But I'm not sure if it'll be of any help. We'll have to talk with Duster about this."

"Did you just call my name?" Duster asked as he walked up to them.

"Duster, we were just planning to find you!" Lucas said to him. "You've been on collecting antiques from all over the island lately, haven't you?"

"Yeah, that's true. Ever since the fall of technology on this island, there are several things left behind all over the island, so I went around looking for them to pass time. Since I used to be a thief, I still have the hobby of collecting rare and unique things. What about it?"

"Reimu and her friends are looking for the Light Essence, and I was wondering if you have picked up something like that."

"I don't know what a Light Essence looks like, but you can come over to my house and look at my collection of artifacts and antiques if you want to. Follow me!" And so, Duster led the way to his house.

* * *

Duster led Lucas and the girls into a certain room of his house that contained several artifacts and antiques. "Here they are," he said. "Feel free to look around for whatever you are looking for."

The girls started moving around the place to look for the Light Essence. "Wow! There are a lot of neat-looking things in here!" Nitori said as she looked at the unidentifiable gadgets on the table with interest. "They look like they can be put to use if fixed!"

"Hey look! There's even a frog here!" Cirno said, holding up a model of a save frog.

Marisa was looking at a book and said, "Funny story we have here-ze!"

The story was:

"_My Secret Life, chapter three."  
(Story from the previous chapter.) _

_I was neither a murder suspect, nor a target for an international spy organization. But I drove a car down the Jersey Turnpike at 80 mph. A police officer pulled me over and asked for my driver's license. He said I was going 20 mph over the speed limit. I instantly pointed to my wife and said, "I'm in a hurry, my wife is in labor." Fortunately, my wife actually had a big stomach. I hoped he'd let me go with this excuse. _

"_Oh, since it's an emergency. I'll lead you to the hospital with my police car," he said. _

"_No, it's not necessary." _

"_Why not?" asked the officer. _

"_Uh... well..." _

"_Let's get going," said the officer._

"_No, no! We can't! This baby is a demon child!"_

After finishing the story, Marisa put it back into the shelve and then looked for another book. "That was some story-ze..." she thought. "Hmmm... What's this? Overcoming Shyness..."

"I found it!" shouted Reimu's voice all of a sudden. Everyone immediately ran up to the shrine maiden, who was holding a miniature globe in her hand. It was blue and green in color like most globes, but it lacked an axis and a base.

"This is the Light Essence-ze?" Marisa asked her.

"Yeah, I sparkled when I said the term 'World Light'!" Reimu replied. When that term was mentioned, the globe sparkled. "See!"

"I found that globe in Castle Osohe's wreckage," Duster said. "Never would've thought that this thing would be the one that you're looking for... Go ahead and take it! Wes won't mind at all since these things belong to me."

* * *

The next day, the girls left the village and where back at the Hakurei Shrine. Everyone from Tazmily Village was there as well to send them off. "It's been nice staying here!" Sanae said. "We have to go now!"

"Good luck trying to make it to Smash World!" Flint said.

"And I hope that you make it back to your world as well!" Lucas added.

As the girls were entering the shrine, Nitori said to the villagers, "I know that the majority of you here have bad impressions towards technology ever since your world was first destroyed, but you should know that technology isn't evil. In fact, it makes people's life better! This is assuming that it is used correctly... Trust me; technology is great when used in the right way! You shouldn't abandon it entirely! Preserving nature is good, but getting with the times is also important."

"That's what I've been trying to tell them for some time," Dr. Andonuts said. "While some people do agree, there are still quite a few of them who disagree, thinking that they will repeat the same mistake like in the past."

"I've been taking that into consideration for some time already," Mayor Pusher said. "I'll be talking it over with the villagers someday. Thanks for everything though!"

"You're welcome! All right, I'm leaving now! See ya!" Nitori said as she waved good-bye to them, and they she ran into the shrine.

Reimu, who was standing at the shrine's porch, let the globe into the air. The other Light Essences appeared to join the globe, and then a vortex showed up above the shrine to shine down a beam of light onto it. After that, the Hakurei Shrine disappeared.

"They're gone..." Lucas said. "I'm sure going to miss them..."

Flint placed his arm onto his back and said, "Don't worry; even if the parting is forever, the memory that is left behind will never disappear!"

Lucas looked up into the sky and smiled, saying, "Good-bye and good luck! Please have a safe trip, everyone!"

* * *

Momiji was sitting on a tree branch, guarding the way to Youkai Mountain. She let out yawn and then leaned her head against the tree as she was starting to feel tired. Being a guard wasn't all that fun, especially if there were no intruders to deal with, and invasions were rare in Youkai Mountain as well.

"So boring..." the white wolf tengu grumbled while watching Hina spinning along the side of a river. Within the woods not too far away, one could see the Aki Sister roasting sweet potatoes.

Just as Momoji was about to fall asleep, a voice called out to her, "Excuse me." The white wolf tengu immediately shifted her eyes to the person who called her and saw a girl with a pair of brown pigtails flying in the air using a pair of crow wings. "You're the guardian of this mountain, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, my job is to guard the mountain. Who are you? State your business!" Momiji replied as she raised her sword and shield to get into a defensive stance.

"You don't have to get so acted up!" the girl said. "I'm Hatate Himekaidou from the Kakashi Spirit News. I'm here to look for Aya Shameimaru."

"Oh, you're from that newspaper company. Sorry, Aya Shameimaru isn't here at the moment. She went missing about a week ago and still is."

"So she was among those who went missing?" Hatate asked. "No wonder I haven't seen her around lately. I was going to ask her about ways for making my newspaper more popular. She's making Bunbunmaru famous, so I want to find out how she obtains information for her articles."

"Simple," Momoji told her. "Just go around and force people to spill out information or make up your own information if you do not have enough. That's how Aya get her information, so people don't like her very much. I don't like her very much either."

"Yeah, I've been observing the both of you. It seems that the both of you do not get along at all."

"Crow tengus are inferior to white wolf tengus, that's why."

"That's just your opinion. Oh well, I'll be taking my leave. Hope that she'll return someday!" And with that, Hatate flew away.

After the tengu left, Momiji sat down to continue doing her job.

* * *

Yukari stepped out from a portal and onto an empty street. When she saw the skyscrapers in the distance, she said, "This place reminds me of the outside world. And by the way, why is place so empty?" After a bit of looking around, she noticed something in the distance. "What's that? Looks like some sort of a show..."

Suddenly, a F-Zero vehicle sped into her from behind really fast.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The demon of boundaries was sent flying and spinning through the air like a pinwheel and towards the finish line in the distance. "What's that coming over here?" the announcer said. "It's coming straight in this direction!"

And then Yukari crashed onto the racetrack and slid forward until she came to a stop from hitting the bottom of the staircase leading to the podium holding the trophy.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The announcer ran up to Yukari, who was laying face first on the racetrack, and said in shock, "It's a person! How did she crash down from the air?"

The Blue Falcon then crossed the finish line, and it was shortly followed by several other F-Zero vehicles. Captain Falcon got down from his vehicle and then quickly ran up to Yukari. "Oh no! I hit someone!" he said in panic, and then he shook Yukari by the shoulder. "Ma'am, are you all right? Say something!"

Dr. Stewart came up to him and said, "It's hopeless. An impact like that should've killed her or left all of her bones broken. She's more or less dead."

Suddenly, Yukari pushed herself back up and said in an angry tone, "Who did you say is dead?"

"What the? This is impossible! How can anyone still get back up like that after getting hit by a speeding F-Zero vehicle?"

"I'm only 18... No... I'm only 17 years old, so I'm still very healthy and strong!" Yukari said while dusting herself.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" CF asked her.

Suddenly, Yukari grabbed him by the collar and said in an angry tone, "How dare you run into me with your car?"

"I'm really sorry about that! But you shouldn't be standing in the middle of the racetrack as well! It's really dangerous! It's amazing that you're still alive though!"

"Do not underestimate the durability of demons! We can easily shrug off and even survive fatal blows that would normally kill humans!" Yukari said as she stood back up, but suddenly, a loud crack could be heard.

CRACK!

"Ugh!" Yukari cried in pain as her back suddenly started to hurt a lot.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" CF asked her.

"I'm all right... You don't have to... worry about me..."

"But that was the sound of your back breaking," Dr. Stewart told her. "Do you want me to do something about it?"

"What are you talking about? My back is in a perfect condition!" Yukari said, trying to smile despite the large amount of pain coming from her back. "Anyway, I'm here looking for a group of eleven girls. I can track the spiritual powers of one of them, and it appears that she is in this place."

"Group of eleven girls? Does one of them happen to be named Reimu?"

"Yep! That's one of them! So they did come here after all!"

"But they left a few days ago already."

"Figured as much... Oh well, I'll just go ahead and keep on looking for them. Because you gave information, I'll forgive you for running into me earlier! All right, I'm taking my leave! Bye-bye!" She opened up a portal in the air and took a step inside, but then her back started to hurt again. "Ugh!" This caused her to fall over into the portal, and then it closed up afterwards.

Everyone was surprised at how Yukari left the scene, and soon, voices filled the air as the audience discuss among themselves about what they saw earlier.

"Well, that was strange..." CF said, and then he turned to look at the announcer. "Announcer, I'm the winner of this race, so..."

"Oh yeah!" the announcer said, and then he pointed his arm at Captain Falcon. "Captain Falcon is the winner of the F-Zero Grand Prix! Let us give them a round of applause for his stunning victory!"

* * *

"Just now, I felt as if someone was making fun of me..." Aya said.

"Who?" Reimu asked her while drinking tea.

"Or maybe it's just my imagination... I wonder how my colleagues are back at Youkai Mountain. Something tells me that Momiji is glad that I'm no longer around..."

"You don't get along with her, right-ze?" Marisa asked her.

"Yeah, she looks down on crow tengus, so we really don't get along with each other."

"So anyway, we have six of the eleven Light Essences now," Reimu said. "Only five more to go before we can go to Smash World."

"I wonder what the next world is," Cirno wondered.

"It would be nice if we can breeze through the next world with ease and not run into troublesome stuff..."

"Considering that we ended up saving the worlds that we came across, I won't be surprised if we do the same thing again in the next world," Youmu said while polishing the Roukaken. "In fact, I'm going to find it weird if we do not encounter anything troublesome in the next world."

"I can't agree any better than Youmu..." Reisen said. "I have a feeling that we won't be breezing through the next world as easily as well..."

"Then let's hope that it won't be as troublesome this time..." Reimu said.

"I can see the next world!" shouted Meiling from the front door.

"Hooray!" Cirno shouted as ran out of the room.

"I'll just sit here and wait until we actually reach there," Reimu said, and then she drank tea again.

* * *

Not too long afterwards, the Hakurei Shrine finally arrived at the next world. The girls exited the shrine and were greeted with the sight of rocky landscape, towering cliffs, and mountains.

"This place looks... barren..." Sanae commented.

Remilia looked at the sky and noticed that it was dark and there were lots of stars as well. "It's nighttime here," she said.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

With this chapter, the Mother 3 arc is complete! Look forward to the next arc and try to guess what it is as well! However, due to the increase in college work, I'm afraid that I won't be able to update within ten days. I will try my best to update the story within ten days, but please do not be surprised if it does not happen.

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. The book about the guy going over the speed limit and the book entitled Overcoming Shyness can both be found in Earthbound and Mother 3.

2. This chapter's title is a reference to Tenshi's theme song, Wonderful Heaven.

3. Before Touhou 12.5: Double Spoiler was released, fans tend to portray Momiji as being very loyal to Aya since her biography since her biography in Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith says, "She has a very cooperative personality and executes her duties faithfully."

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
Things That You Might Want to Know

**Why are some of the attacks used by the Touhou girls portrayed differently from the games?  
**They're usually portrayed different due to the fact that I failed to look up on their attacks with more accuracy in the first place. My first Touhou story is Godzilla x Touhou: Giant Monster Catastrophe, and that is where I first portrayed the girls using some of the attacks. Attacks that were portrayed wrongly in that story were also carried over to this one in the exact same manner. Because I want to enforce accuracy in attack portrayals between both stories, the wrongly portrayed attacks became stuck.

Danmaku attacks used in the shoot'em up games are portrayed differently because it is hard to portray them in a more literal sense. Even so, I tried my best to make them as accurate as possible to the games. In the end, only Reimu's Duplex Barrier ended up very different. It was first portrayed like that in Godzilla x Touhou: Giant Monster Catastrophe, so it got carried over to this story with the same portrayal as well.

Meiling's True Radiant Rainbow Fist, on the other hand, is portrayed differently in the way that she punches with two arms rather than only one arm because I want to differentiate it from Radiant Rainbow Fist.

**Is this story a continuation of ****Godzilla x Touhou: Giant Monster Catastrophe****?  
**No, the previous story is a standalone title, so it has no relation to this story at all asides from the aforementioned attack portrayals. I'm going to say it this right now: This story WILL NOT have a sequel. Once the story is finished, it is finished for good.


	53. Undefined Fantasic Organisms

**SBS Time!  
sotnosen93: **You really like people getting kidnapped, don't you?  
**Game2002: **You're probably referring to the part where Fawful carries the unconscious Nitori away. I'm neutral towards, but you have to agree that kidnapping cases are very useful for advancing storylines and giving characters a 'reason to do something'.

I truly apologize for the long wait. There were quite a bit of college works to deal with, and combined with procrastination, this chapter really did take a while to come out. I have to admit that I suffered from a rather serious writer's block while doing this chapter as well. Hopefully, this chapter is worth the long wait!

I've corrected a major mistake in the previous chapter where the bald person said that he that helped someone 'eat to former glory'. It's actually "rise to former glory". I've also added the trademark "ze" to most of Marisa's quote in the previous chapter. Almost forgot about those...

**Chapter 52  
Undefined Fantastic Organisms**

* * *

The girls looked around the place, but all they saw were rocks and mountains. "We seem to have arrived at mountainous region or something..." Aya said.

"And there are no signs of living things around here either..." Reisen said.

"It better not be an uninhabited place," Marisa said, "or else we're going to starve to death."

"We have enough provision to keep us running for several days," Reimu told her. "Anyway, it's going to be really troublesome if this place really is uninhabited. We'll have to rely on ourselves to look for the Light Essence, and in a place like this, it can be hidden anywhere. I have a feeling that searching for it is going to be a real pain..."

"Maybe it's hidden underground!" Cirno said. "Why don't we start digging?"

Meiling tapped the ground with her foot and said, "But the surface is made of rock. Digging won't help..."

"Then we'll break it!"

"Okay, I can do something like that! Watch!" Meiling then raised her arm into the air and then punched the ground as hard as she could. "Hiya!"

SMASH!

But she only succeeded in creating a miniature crater. "But at this rate, it may very well take forever to find something..." said the gatekeeper while rubbing her sore fist.

"Enough of this nonsense..." Reimu said. "We'll never make any progress if we follow Cirno's brilliant idea."

"Ya really think so?" Cirno excitedly asked. "Hooray! My plan is brilliant!"

"Opposite of brilliant, to be precise-ze," Marisa told her.

"Opposite of brilliant?" Cirno rubbed her hand under her chin and thought for a while before finally figuring it out. "Hey! I'm not stupid! In order to prove this to you, I'm going to find the Light Essence of this world! Just you wait!"

"Oh really? Good luck finding it all by yourself-ze!"

"Okay... Where do we start?" Cirno wondered. She looked around the place and then noticed a cave at the bottom of a cliff, and there was something at the entrance of the cave that grabbed her attention. "Hey, there's something over there..."

Aya looked at the cave entrance and said, "Yeah, it looks sorta like a frog... A really ugly frog..."

"Frog? Frog!" Cirno exclaimed, and then she flew towards the cave entrance as fast as she could.

"Duh... The things that you can expect from Cirno-ze..." Marisa said.

"Better not let her wander around too far," Reimu said. "We don't know anything about this place, so it's dangerous to run around aimlessly. She's not very strong either."

As Cirno got closer and closer to the cave entrance, the frog that Aya claimed to have seen jumped into the darkness within the cave. Cirno stopped in front of the cave and shouted into it, "Hey froggy! Come out and let me freeze you!" There was obviously no reply. "Hello? Can you hear me? Don't mind if I come in!" And then she went into the cave.

Cirno felt her way around the cave using her arms as it was pitch dark. "Whoa... This place is really dark..." she thought. "I can't see anything... How can I find that frog like this?" Suddenly, she tripped on a rock and then fell forward. "Whoa!" She did not hit the ground; instead, she fell down a slope and rolled all the way to the bottom. "OW! YA! OUCH!"

After a bit of tumbling, Cirno finally hit the ground. "Ow..." she cried as she sat back up. "That hurts..." Suddenly, she noticed several eyes that were glowing with blue light in front of her. "Whoa! Lots of eyes!" The ice fairy quickly stood back up to get into a defensive stance. "Who are you guys?"

The eyes stared at her and she could also hear the sound of frogs croaking.

"This sound... I know! You must the frogs! Oh boy! I've got you and your whole family! Get ready to be frozen by the strongest fairy in the world, Cirno!"

A pair of glowing eyes jumped at her, but Cirno fired an ice beam at it. The creature stopped moving and thus fell onto the ground, but immediately shattered into pieces due to the height and impact. The creature was able to move again as a result, and it didn't seem to be dazed by being frozen previously as well.

Such a sight was more then enough to tell those creatures with glowing eyes that Cirno was an enemy, so they leaped in her direction. "Whoa! Not all at once!" Cirno shouted while waving her hands at them in panic. "Yikes!" She quickly held her arms over her head to protect herself when the creatures fell towards her.

Suddenly, rays of light shot down from the air and struck those creatures.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

"Cirno! Are you all right?" Reimu asked as she slid down from the slope behind the ice fairy in a slightly crouched position.

"Phew... Thanks goodness that you showed up in time..." Cirno said with a sigh of relief.

The rest of the girls also joined the two at the bottom. "What are those?" Reisen said when she saw the true form of those creatures.

"Well, they do look like frogs..." Aya said.

Before them, there was a large amount of grotesque frog-like creatures. The upper halves of their bodies were reddish-purple in color while the lower halves were blue. Theirs eyes were blue and lacked pupils, and unlike other frogs, they had only two legs rather than four.

One of the frogs leaped at Reimu, but she used her gohei to knock it away. Another one tried to jump at her, but Marisa knocked it away with her broom before using it as a gun to fire at the remaining frogs. "Take this-ze! Radial Strike!" she shouted as she went trigger happy against the frogs.

Some of the frogs were shot by the star-shaped projectiles, but some of them jumped out of the way. When they landed, they saw that the girls were out of their league, so they quickly escaped before they were taken out like the others. "Hey! Get back here!" Cirno shouted as she gave chase, but Reimu caught her by the back of the collar.

"Don't," she told the ice fairy. "You're going to get lost again."

Once the frogs were out of sight, Cirno stopped trying to go after them, so Reimu let go of her. "Those are probably the fiercest frogs I've ever seen," said the ice fairy, "and also the ugliest..."

"I wouldn't want to meet frogs like that back in Gensokyo-ze,"

"By the way, where is the light coming from?"

Sanae pointed to the air to show Cirno a glowing thing up there. "I'm using Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars to light up the place," she explained. "However, I can only keep it activated for a limited amount of time, so we should get out of this place before it goes out."

"We can easily get out of here by simply backtracking," Remilia said, "but supposed that the Light Essence is hidden somewhere around here?"

"Remilia has a point," Nitori said. "This world appears to lack civilization, so we may have to look for the Light Essence by ourselves. Our adventures in the previous worlds also taught us that they can be found anywhere. It's no surprise if this cave contains the Light Essence."

"You do have a point," Reimu said with a nod, and then she looked around this place. "As much as I want to get out of here fast, let's still look around this place a bit for the Light Essence."

"Just imagine that this place is the underground like back in our world," Marisa told her, "but with bizarre creatures-ze."

* * *

For several minutes, the girls walked through the cave to look for the Light Essence. They failed to find anything related. They spotted several strange creatures that stared at them from behind rocks and stalagmite. "I don't like the look of those strange animals," Alice commented. "They look to bizarre for my taste..."

"At least they're not coming over to attack us," Marisa said. "Bizarre or not, animals aren't scary as long as don't come charging into you for the kill-ze."

"Smile!" Aya said as she took a photo of a red one-eyed creature with tendrils growing out of its head.

"Hey! Don't!" Reimu told her. "You might startle it and cause it to attack us!" However, the creature simply walked down the back of the rock that it was standing on.

"I thought your camera is already out of film," Sanae asked Aya.

"One of the villagers in Tazmily Village had film in his house, so he gave me some," the tengu replied. "Now I can take pictures again!"

As they continued on through the place, Reimu noticed something unnatural. She walked up to a structure to examine it, and then Marisa asked her, "What's wrong, Reimu?"

"This thing doesn't look natural..." the shrine maiden replied. "At least when compared to the cave floor..."

Youmu observed the same structure that Reimu was looking at and said, "You're right... It seems to be manmade. It looks like a stone pillar that has been torn down."

"In fact, this whole place seems to be manmade!" Aya said while looking around the place. The girls looked around as well and saw that the whole place was indeed artificial.

"Seems like a ruin to me," Alice said.

"Indeed," Sanae said with a nod. "Look at those bricks... There's no way they can be found in natural places..."

They girls went deeper into the place, and the deeper they went, the more their surroundings resembled the interior of a temple. "It seems that civilization once existed in this place," Remilia said.

"Then where are the people living here now?" Meiling wondered. "Did they all die out?"

"With all those bizarre creatures living here, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the reason."

"Hey, look at this! There's a statue of a... um... bird!" Cirno said while pointing to a statue that was in a sitting position.

The girls went over to the statue to observe it. Aya looked at the statue from head to toe and then took a picture of it. "It looks like a bird all right," she said. "Some sort of a bird-human hybrid... The face looks like a bird, but the body looks like a human. A new kind of tengu?"

"So tengus once lived here, am I right?" Cirno asked. "Wow! I discovered the amazing fact that tengus live here!"

"We don't even if that is a tengu," Reimu said.

Nitori looked around the place and noticed that there were several identical-looking statues all over the place. "This place is full of them," she pointed out. "Is it possible that these bird-like creatures are actually the inhabitants of this place?"

"Then where did they all go?" Reisen asked. "This place doesn't look like the perfect place for civilization... Did they all die out or what...?"

"Or maybe they simply moved away from here," Youmu said. "Either way, it seems clear that this place isn't suitable for civilization. It's deep inside a cave and has all sorts of bizarre creatures. Either they were all wiped out by the creatures or they moved away when they realized that this place was not suitable for life."

"I'm starting to think..." Sanae said as she looked around the place. "Do you think that it's possible for the Light Essence to be hidden somewhere around here? This place clearly shows that civilized beings once lived here, and it seems to be the best place for hiding the Light Essence if you ask me."

Reimu placed her hand under her chin and said, "You do have a point there. This place looks like the best place for finding the Light Essence. All right, let's look for the Light Essence in this place and then get out of here fast. I really don't like the atmosphere of this place."

"I can't agree any better than you," Marisa said with a nod. "This place gives me the creeps-ze..."

"Wait a minute!" Meiling said all of a sudden. "It's going to be really dark if we split up! Sanae is the only person here who can provide light, so what are the others going to do without her light following them?"

"We can use flashlights," said Nitori, who was holding a flashlight in her hand.

"Hey, you brought that along with you the whole time or what?" Marisa asked her.

"Yeah, I had it in my backpack the whole time. I simply never took it out since we didn't need it at all. It's going to come in handy now!"

"It would be nice if you have more than one..." Sanae told the kappa.

"Um... I only have one..."

"You don't have to worry about me," Remilia said. "Being a vampire, moving around in the dark is nothing for me. You all can just stay here and wait for me to come back with the Light Essence."

"Do I need to come with you?" Meiling asked her mistress.

"As long as you can see in the dark," Remilia said as she turned around to walk away into the darkness.

"Um... I can't see in the dark either... I think I'll just wait here..."

"Suit yourself," Remilia said before disappearing into the darkness.

"Maybe I should go and look for the Light Essence as well," Nitori said as she turned on the flashlight. "I'll be back in a while." And then she used the flashlight to shine her way through another part of the temple-like area.

"So... what do we do now?" Reisen asked. "Are we going to simply wait here until they return?"

"Do whatever you want," Reimu told her, and then something came to her. "Wait a minute... Shouldn't you be able to use your ability to see in the darkness, Reisen? You can see through illusions using the manipulating of wavelength or, so maybe you can use it to see in the dark as well."

"That's not how my ability works..." Reisen told her. "My ability is only used for causing madness and seeing through illusions, not seeing in the dark."

"This isn't good..." Aya said while looking around the place. "Even if my eyesight is really good, I still cannot see very well in the dark..."

While the girls were walking among themselves, Sanae walked up to another bird-like statue one the other side of the place. She looked at the statue for a little while and then walked up to the statue next to it, but she noticed that this statue was different from the rest. Instead of being a bird-like statue, it resembled some sort of a mutated turtle standing on its hind legs, and it had a three-fanged mouth as well as three large claws on reach on each of its hands. "What a strange creature..." she said in disgust.

"What's wrong?" Youmu asked as she came up to the shrine maiden.

"What is this thing...? This statue looks nothing like the others at all..." Sanae told her.

Youmu inspected the statue for a while and even touched it. "It feels different..." she said. "It's not made of geological substance..."

"What do you mean?"

"It feels more like flesh... Flesh that has been dried up..."

"What...? Are you saying... that this thing is alive...?"

"Was alive," Youmu corrected her. "Whatever it is, it's dead now. From the looks of it, something drained its blood to make it look shriveled up like this."

"Something drained its blood...? Like a vampire...?"

"Dunno, though it's true that vampires drain blood from their victims, but it's definitely Remilia. She was with us all along, and even if she did attack this thing while traveling with us, we should be able to hear something."

"So that means... there is some creature here that can drain blood...?"

"Seems to be the case," Youmu said as she turned to Sanae, and then she suddenly placed her hand on the sheath of the Roukanken while shouting to the shrine maiden, "Sanae! Duck down at once!"

"Wah!" Sanae was confused, but due to Youmu looking very desperate, she quickly ducked down. Immediately after Sanae had ducked down, Youmu swung her sword at the air above her. When Sanae stood back up, she asked, "What was it just now?"

"Look behind you," Youmu said while sheathing her sword.

Sanae turned around to look behind herself, and she was shocked to see a strange creature that was severed in half lying on the ground. "What is this!" she said in shock. It was a dome-shaped creature with a translucent body, and its innards were colored red. It also had what appeared to be its mouth underneath its body, and around the mouth were four fangs.

"What are these!" screamed Reisen's voice all of a sudden. Youmu and Sanae turned around and were shocked to see several of the same kind of creature flying around in the air around their friends.

"What are these!" Reimu asked. "They showed up in large numbers all of a sudden!" One of the creature opens it mouth and let out a hiss-like cry before charging at Reimu, but she used her gohei to swat it away. "Go away!"

Marisa swatted away another creature with her broom and then fired star-shaped projectiles from the back of her broom at the creatures. "Take this! Radial Strike!" she shouted. The creatures flew back through the air from being shot, but they did not seem to suffer any form of damage as they flew back to her again.

Alice sent out an army of dolls at the incoming creatures. Armed with lances, the dolls flew at the creatures and started swinging their weapons at them. One of the creatures opened its mouth to devour the doll, but the doll thrust its lance into it and out the top of its dome-shaped body. The creature hissed painfully as its innards were punctured, and then the doll swung her lance until the creature fell off.

Suddenly, another creature charged at the doll and caught her in its mouth. However, the creature let go of the doll shortly afterwards. The creature then saw Alice, so it charged at her, but Shanghai flew in front of her master to protect her by firing a laser beam at the creature to blast it backwards.

Reisen fired energy bullets at the creatures as they flew around in front of her, but they merely got pushed back by the shots and were not injured. The creatures charged at her together, but she moved aside to avoid getting hit before firing a pair of eye beams at them from behind, but it had no effect on them. "These things are immune to our attacks!" Reisen said.

Several creatures tried to close in on Aya from all side, but with a single swipe of her fan, a cyclone was formed around her and it blew away the creatures. Another set of creatures charged at her, so she knocked them out of the air by firing wind blades at them. "Gale Fan!"

Meiling swung at a creature that was close to her, and when more creatures charged at her, she punched the air rapidly with a fist full of rainbow-colored energy to knock them away. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!"

"You cannot catch me!" Cirno shouted as she ducked down avoid a creature that swooped at her. She then turned around to fire an ice beam at the creature, and the creature fell onto the floor, frozen. "Ha! How'd ya like that? This is what you get for messing with the strongest!" She looked up and saw several more creatures floating before her. "You want to take on me? Bring it!"

The creatures opened their mouths and let out loud hiss-like cries before charging at her.

"Freeze Touch Me!" Cirno shouted as she spread out her arms to release cold air all around her body. The creature instantly became in a thin layer of ice when they came in contact with the cold air, and then they fell onto the floor one by one.

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae shouted as she fired a snake-like missile at a creature, but the creature survived the attack. "It's not working! What sort of demon is this?" When the creature charged at Sanae, she held her arm over her face and screamed, but Youmu dashed at the creature and sliced it in half.

SLASH!

"Are you all right?" Youmu asked Sanae.

"I'm all right," Sanae said. "Thanks, Youmu."

"Hakurei Amulet!" Reimu shouted as she threw a pair of large orange amulets at a larger than usual creature. The creature was blown back through the air upon getting hit, and then it slowly descended onto the floor. Reimu watched with curiosity as the creature shook its body rapidly, and then a crack appeared on top of the creature's dome-shaped body. "What...?"

The creature's translucent body burst open, and out came an even stranger-looking creature that had a pair of tusks below each of its eyes, a horn protruding out of its forehead, and a translucent orb containing a red organic sphere that had veins growing out all over it underneath its body.

The creature let out a hiss-like cry and then charged at Reimu really fast, but the shrine maiden set up a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!" The creature rammed into the wall and then fell onto the floor, dazed. Reimu then took a closer look at the creature. "Is this creature a parasite or did that creature simply shed its skin to become this?"

"Hiya!" Marisa shouted as she swung her magically-enhanced broom at a group of creatures to knock them away. "Man, these things keep on coming, and they're very tough to kill-ze!" She looked around and saw Youmu slicing the creatures with ease while Cirno was freezing them up. "Those two are doing just fine though..." Unknown to her, a different kind of creature was floating behind her.

Alice, however, noticed that there was a creature behind Marisa, so she shouted to her, "Marisa! Behind you!"

"What?" Marisa turned around and met face to face with a grotesque face. "Eeks!" She quickly jumped back in the nick of time before the creature jabbed her with what appeared to be its hind legs. The creature resembled the one that Reimu knocked out using Cautionary Border, but it was slightly larger, had four legs, and eyes that came in pairs of three.

The creature moved forward while attempting to hit Marisa by thrusting its front legs at her, but she moved left and right to avoid getting hit. "Watch it!" Marisa shouted. "You'll hurt someone with that-ze!"

Suddenly, a burst of electricity came out from the translucent orb that was partly visible underneath the creature's body and zapped her.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Marisa screamed as the powerful voltage stung her body, and she became paralyzed from head to toe in a standing position afterwards. The creature then pulled back its front legs to get ready to stab her in the forehead.

Quick as a flash, Shanghai rushed in front of the monster and blocked the thrust from the pair of legs using her shield while Alice threw herself at Marisa to push away from the creature. "Marisa, are you all right?" Alice asked her.

"Dazee..." Marisa replied.

"Okay, you look fine..." Alice said with relief, and then she turned around to see Shanghai using her shield to block the creature's electric attack. While she was blocking the attack, Alice commanded some of her other dolls to charge at the creature with all sides to stab it with their swords and lance. The creature let out a painful hiss and then fell onto the floor after the dolls pulled out their weapons. "It would appear that these things are less resistant to blades than projectiles."

Meanwhile, Reisen found herself face to face with a bizarre bipedal creature with a leech-like mouth. Its eyes came in pairs of three and the front part of its body was translucent, thus allowing one to see the red orb that had several red veins coming out of it inside.

The creature let out a hiss-like cry while taking steps towards Reisen. The lunar rabbit took a step back in fear while pointing her finger at the creature. "Come any closer and I'll shoot!" she said while trembling in fear. When the creature opened its mouth to let out a loud hiss, Reisen fired an energy bullet straight into its mouth. The creature took a step back as a result, but then it stepped forward again while letting out an angry hiss. It then lunged itself at Reisen, but she jumped to the side to avoid getting hit and then fired more energy bullets at it, but they didn't hurt the creature at all.

The creature turned to her and then spit out a yellow liquid-like substance at her, but she jumped out of its way. When Reisen looked at the substance, she saw that it was burning up the part of the floor underneath it. "Acid!" she said in shock.

"Hey you!" shouted the voice of Cirno. The bipedal creature turned around and saw Cirno hovering into the air with her arms pointing at it. "Take a load of this!" And then she released a burst of cold air at the creature's face.

The creature hissed loudly while taking several steps back when it was exposed to the cold air. "Ha! How'd you like that?" she asked. "It would appear that you and your friends do not like the cold! I managed to freeze your little friends and scared away the ones uglier than them as well!" She continued to blow cold air into the creature's face while it kept on taking steps backwards. Suddenly, one of those dome-shaped creatures latched onto her head from above. "Hey! What are you doing!"

This caused the ice fairy to stop releasing cold air from her hands, and then she flew around frantically in air while using her hands to try to get the creature off her head. "Get off of my head!" she shouted. The creature suddenly let go of her and flew through the air while trembling uncontrollably, and then Cirno attacked with an ice beam that froze and made it fall to the floor. "Geez, that was rude! Grabbing onto someone's head like that!"

Suddenly, Nitori came flying into the scene with a powerful crash.

CRASH!

"Ow..." the kappa cried while sitting back up.

"Nitori! What happened to you?" Reimu asked as she ran up to her.

"That thing..." the kappa replied while pointing to something that was stepping out from the darkness in front of them both. Reimu looked at the thing until it stepped out into the light to reveal itself as a large bipedal creature.

"What in the...?" Reimu said in horror. The creature was twice the size of an average human being and had a leech-like mouth similar to the bipedal creature from earlier. The creature took a stomp forward before crying in a high-pitched roar.

At once, all the girls, as well as the creatures, turned to look at the new creature. "Whoa man... That's easily the largest of the bunch here-ze..." Marisa said.

"But it will be no match for my awesome power!" Cirno said. "I'll scare it away with some cold air! Just watch!" She was going to fly over to the creature when another high-pitched roar could be heard. "What was that?"

Everyone turned to the other side of the room and saw Remilia flying out from the darkness while being chased by the same kind of bipedal creature that Nitori previously faced. "Geez, this thing sure is a tough one!" Remilia said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh no! Not another one of the same kind of monster!" Reisen said.

"Man! Whatever these things are, they're coming from everywhere!" Aya said.

The bipedal creature that Remilia faced swung its claws at the vampire, but she jumped back into the air to avoid it and then fired a red energy ball at its head. "Red Magic!" she shouted. However, the creature emerged from the explosion unharmed. When it slammed down its hand at Remilia, she quickly moved aside and then charged at the creature to slash it in the chest with her claws. "Vampire Claw!"

Her claw slash did not leave behind a single scratch on the creature's skin, and when she moved back, the creature swung its claws at her to send her flying backwards, but Meiling managed to catch her mistress. "Are you all right, Mistress Remilia?" Meiling asked her.

"Like I'm going to be taken out by something as ugly as that!" Remilia replied.

The girls quickly got close to each other as the creatures closed in on them from all sides. "Oh no... We're surrounded..." Reisen said. "What do we do...?"

"I can cut them down with my sword, but the amount of them is a bit too overwhelming..." Youmu said. "They're no pushovers themselves either..."

"But asides from you and Cirno," Reimu told her, "none of our attacks are working on them!"

"Ahem," Alice said.

"Okay, your dolls are doing a good job as well..."

One of the smaller bipedal creatures suddenly leaped at Sanae and was about to fall onto her when suddenly a missile flew into its body from the side.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The creature was blown away as a result, and then everyone turned to the source of the missile to see a person clad from head to toe in red, orange, and yellow armor pointing its arm cannon in their direction.

"Who do we have here now?" Marisa wondered.

"I don't know, but let's that it's not an enemy," Reimu said. "We're facing against more than enough already..."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

So what arc do you think this is? It should be very obvious by now. It's definitely what you think it is!

**Next chapter: Wonderful Bounty Huntress**

**Trivia:  
**1. The chapter title is named after Touhou 12's subtitle, Undefined Fantastic Object, which in turn is an obvious reference to the term _unidentified flying object_.


	54. Wonderful Bounty Huntress

**SBS Time!  
Astral Knight Albireo: **Exactly which game in the series does this take place in?  
**Game2002: **It's best that you let the story reveal everything to you.

Once again, I apologize for the long wait. All my college works are finished, but exams are on the way. Even so, I now have more time to work on this story. This is assuming that I do not spend too much time playing Pokemon games...

Okay, so everyone knows that it is the Metroid arc, but it seems the majority didn't find out about it until the mentioning of the bird-like statue.

The frog-like creatures are Hornoads. They originally had a green upper body and an orange lower body, but Fusion changed it to purple and blue respectively. Actually, the artwork shows them with those two colors, but in the game, the upper body is red instead of purple, and I've also changed their skin colors from purple to reddish-purple as a way of blending the artwork and the in-game sprite together.

The creature with one eye and tendrils on its head is Moheek while the shriveled turtle-like creature is an Arachnus. The creatures that attacked the girls as well as the armored person at the end of the previous chapter should be obvious to everyone.

**Chapter 53  
Wonderful Bounty Huntress**

* * *

What the person fully clad from head to toe in armor did made all the creatures glare at him, and then several of the dome-shaped creatures flew towards him very fast.

The armored person moved his arm cannon left and right rapidly while firing white beams at the incoming creatures, and when the creatures were hit, they became frozen. After the frozen creatures hit the floor, the person's arm cannon fired several missiles at once. The missiles homed into each of the frozen creatures and then blasted them into pieces.

KABOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Immediately, the rest of the creatures charged to the armored person. The armored person fired several missiles from his arm cannon at a fast rate and blasted down the creatures that were flying towards him. The bipedal ones managed to survive getting hit by the missiles, and then one of them lunged at the person in an attempt to bite it, but the person jumped out of the way before blasting the creature in the side of the head with a missile.

Two flying creatures flew towards the person and fired lightning bolts, but the person transformed into a ball to avoid getting hit. As a ball, the person rolled around the place really fast and left behind circle flashing objects when he passed by the legs of the bipedal creatures.

The circle flashing objects then exploded, blasting the bipedal creatures in the legs to knock them on their backs. The person then changed back to normal in order to fire several homing missiles that struck and destroyed each of the fallen creatures.

After that, another bipedal creature ran towards the person. The person quickly roundhouse kicked the creature across its head to send it flying aside before firing a missiles at it. A flying creature then flew towards the person to attack him with a whip made of electricity. The person managed to avoid it by ducking down and then fired a missile at the creature, but the creature used the electric whip to destroy the missile.

Suddenly, a bipedal creature rammed into the back of the person and managed to push him down onto the floor. The creature then brought down its head to bite the person in the back, but he quickly changed into a ball, so the creature ended up biting the floor. The person quickly rolled to a safer distance before changing back to normal to fire a missile at the creature.

"Whoa... That guy is good!" Reisen said in awe.

"He even has a Third Leg!" Aya said.

"Arm cannon would be a better term," Sanae said.

As the armored person fired a combination of missiles and white beams at the creatures, one of the two large bipedal creatures appeared behind it with its arm raised. "Watch out behind you!" Reimu shouted at the person.

Hearing the shrine maiden's voice, the person quickly rolled aside before he was hit by the creature's hand. He then fired a missile at the creature's belly, but all it did was blast the creature backwards. However, the fact that the creature roared in pain showed that it was hurt.

The other bipedal creature appeared before the armored person to attack him by swinging its claws at him. The armored person managed to jump out of the way before firing three missiles in a row at its belly. The creature roared in pain while taking several steps back when it was shot, and then it ran towards the person while swinging its claws rapidly.

The person kept on moving back to avoid getting hit and fired at the creature at the same time, but the missiles were deflected by the creature's claw swinging. The other large bipedal creature appeared behind the person to bring down its hand onto him, but the person leaped at the face of the creature in front of himself and then kicked off it and back into the air while spinning. The person stopped spinning at the peak of its jump and fired missiles at the back of the head belonging to the creature that tried to attack him from behind.

While the person was still falling towards the floor, the creature that was kicked in the face by him suddenly flew into the air and towards the person. The person was caught off guard by this, so the creature managed to push the person to the ground with a powerful slam.

SLAM!

"Ugh..." the person groaned in a feminine voice. While he was pinned down by the creature's hand, some dome-shaped creatures appeared in the air and were about to come down onto him.

Suddenly, several icicles struck the dome-shaped creatures and pierced through their translucent bodies. This made both the armored person and the creature pinning it down turn to look at Cirno, the attacker of those dome-shaped creatures.

"You made that monster look at us!" Reisen said to her.

"But I was just trying to help that guy in metal suit," Cirno told her.

The second large bipedal creature immediately ran towards the girls to attack them. "It's coming!" Youmu said as she gripped her sword tightly.

The creature swung its claws at them when at range, but the girls either jumped to the side or flew into the air. "Red Magic!" Remilia shouted as she fired a red energy ball at the creature's head from above.

BANG!

The creature emerged from the explosion unharmed, and then it let out a roar before floating into the air, much to Remilia's surprise. "What!"

The creature swung its claws at Remilia, but she moved out of the way. The creature continued to fly after her while swinging its claws rapidly, and then it spit out yellow liquid from its mouth. Remilia managed to avoid this as well. Suddenly, Aya landed a powerful kick to the back of the creature to send it flying diagonally downwards.

KICK!

"Didn't expect this guy to be able to fly," Aya said. "When that other creature flew in an arc towards that guy, I thought it was merely a very long jump."

"Yeah, I'm honestly surprised by this as well," Remilia said.

Meanwhile, the armored person was still pinned onto the floor by the other creature, but the creature was busy looking at the girls as they fought its partner. This gave him the opportunity to fire a missile at the creature's head. The creature roared in pain and then moved back to allow the person to escape. The armored person then ran towards the creature and jumped at its neck. He pressed its arm cannon against the creature's neck hard and then fired a missile at point blank.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion propelled the person and the creature in opposite directions. The person landed on its feet, but the creature on its back. The creature's neck was ripped apart by the missile's explosion. It let out a painful roar before falling limp on the floor.

After the creature was dead, the armored person turned to look at the other creature as it fought the girls. "Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted as she she threw card into the air. The card gave off a large amount of light and then rained down rays of light at the creature from behind.

Annoyed, the creature turned around to face Sanae and then ran towards her, but Meiling got in front of Sanae and then ran towards the creature to hit it in the abdomen with a rainbow-powered flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

The powerful kick made the creature take a couple steps backwards, and then it was blasted in the side of head by a laser beam fired by Marisa. "Narrow Spark!"

"Psycho Missile!" Reisen shouted as she fired a large energy missile at the side creature's left eye. Its eye actually consisted of four eyes in a single set.

The powerful explosion blinded the creature, and it roared in pain while swinging its claws and stomping around the place angrily. Reimu threw several paper amulets that taped themselves onto various parts of the creature's body, and then they all exploded at the same time.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The large explosion badly damaged the creature and left behind several wounded all over its body. While the creature was dazed by the explosion, the armored person ran towards it and then leaped at its open mouth. He transformed into a ball in midair and then went into the creature's mouth. Shortly afterwards, the creature a burning feeling inside its body, and then...

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM !

A huge explosion blew the creature into piece and caused the girls to fly back as well. "Whoa! What happened?" Aya said in surprise.

When the smoke cleared, the armored person was seen standing at where the creature used to be. He looked around the place to see pieces of the creature's body lying on the floor. The girls slowly walked up to the person, but they approached him with caution because they were unsure whether or not he was an enemy.

Aware of their cautiousness, the armored person said to them, "Don't be afraid; I'm not your enemy."

"Okay... I'll believe you for now..." Reimu said. "You did help us take down those monsters."

"Yeah, and you rocked a lot-ze!" Marisa said.

"I've fought Metroids before, so they were nothing to me at all," the armored person said, "although I'm still thankful for your help."

"Would you mind if I ask you something?" Aya asked the person.

"Go on. What is it?"

"Are you a girl? Your voice was a giveaway when I heard you grunted earlier."

"You can't be any more correct than that. Yes, I'm a girl. I also want to ask you girls something. Why are you dressed so... casual in a place like this? It's true that SR388 has breathable air, but that doesn't give you an excuse to run around wearing such simple clothing!"

"It's not like we have a choice to begin with..." Reimu grumbled.

Suddenly, the entire place became dark. "Hey! Who turned off the lights?" Cirno asked.

"My Daytime Guest Stars has reached its time limit..." Sanae said. "It's going to take a while for it to recharge before it can be used again..."

Nitori turned on her flashlight and said, "My flashlight shall be the substitute then."

The armored person's visor also lit up with green light. "I can see just fine thanks to my power suit," she said. "The exit isn't very far from here, so let's all hold hands while I take the lead."

Seeing that this was the best idea, the girls formed a line by holding each other's hands, and then the armored person took the lead. Luckily, no more creatures showed up to attack them and the way forward wasn't very rough, so they managed to make it through the cave with little issue. After a while, they emerged from the cave. "We're out now," the armored person told them. She looked at the night sky and then noticed something approaching in the distance, "That's a... Everyone! Get back inside quick!"

"Why?" Reimu asked.

"Just do it!"

Because the armored person sounded very desperate, the girls quickly returned into the cave. They all went back inside the cave and the armored person poked her head outside to look at the sky. A blue tadpole-shaped spaceship flew zoomed across the air, and when it had went far away, the armored person told the girls that it was safe to come back out. "What happened just now?" Reimu asked her.

"Space Pirate ship..." the person told her. "I'll explain everything to you after returning to my starship. They better not have found it yet..."

The armored person scanned around the place for danger, and after making sure that the coast was clear, she told the girls to follow her. They traveled across the rocky wasteland until they came to a purple spaceship that was parked behind a large rock and underneath a ledge. The armored person went underneath the spaceship, and then she went into an opening underneath it when energy rings came down on top of her from the edge of the opening. "I know this! It's a tractor beam that is usually seen in science fiction movies and TV shows!" Sanae said. The girls then stepped underneath the spaceship one by one until they were all taken inside.

"Welcome to my starship," the armored person told them. "I might be a little bit cramp because there are a lot of us here."

"It's all right," Reimu said as she looked around the place.

"Wow! I can't believe that I'm inside a spaceship!" Sanae said in awe.

"Okay, now that we're here, let's get some things clear," the armored person said. "By the way, my name is Samus Aran."

"I'm Reimu Hakurei," Reimu said, and then one by one, each of the girls introduced themselves to Samus.

"Okay, it's nice knowing your names," Samus said.

"It would appear that you have brought some customers back with you, Samus," said masculine, computerized voice.

"It's just as you see, Adam," Samus replied.

"Hmm? Who spoke earlier?" Reisen asked.

"It came from behind Samus," Aya said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," said the voice that came from the starship's controller. "I am Adam, the computer of this ship."

"A sentient computer that communicates like a real person? Wow! This is my first time seeing one!" Sanae said.

"You talk as if you're not keeping with the times. It looks like there's going to be a lot of explaining to do... Wait a minute; I'll take off my power suit first." As soon as she had said this, the armor disintegrated into glowing orange particles, and the person was revealed to be a blond woman with a ponytail dressed in a blue jumpsuit. "Okay, where do we begin?"

"How about the question on why we are dressed so casually-ze?" Marisa asked. "You were curious about that, aren't you?"

"Okay... That's a good start... Do tell."

"It sounds really exaggerated, so chances are likely that you won't believe it..." Reisen said.

"But the others believed us when they told us about it," Nitori reminded. "If she happens to be someone who has gone to Smash World before, she should understand what we are talking about?"

"Smash World? Yes, I've been to Smash World before. So you know about that place as well?" Samus asked.

"So you have been to that world before," Reimu said.

"Yes, I've participated in that tournament three times already. So what does Smash World has to do with you girls dressed up like that?"

"Okay... It's like this..." And so, Reimu explained to Samus everything regarding the World Light and the things that they have gone through so far.

"I see... So you are looking for the Light Essence of this world in order to travel to the next world," Samus said, trying to summarize what she was told, "and you will have to do the same for remaining worlds until you can go to Smash World and then find a way back to your own world. Okay, your story does sound believable, but I'm afraid that I do not know where the Light Essence is. I have never even heard of that thing before."

"We were hoping that you would know something..." Nitori said. "That would've made things a lot easier."

"Speaking of which," Aya said. "Did you and Remilia find anything back in the cave?"

"Nope, I didn't find anything."

"Same thing for me," Remilia said. "There were only broken statues, and let's not forget about those monsters."

"Oh yeah, just what exactly were those monsters?" Reisen asked. "They were very hard to deal with! Most of our attacks are useless against!"

"Those are Metroids," Samus replied. "They attack their preys by draining their life energy. They are recognized as one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, so I was given the mission to exterminate the entire species once. Metroids can eventually evolve into more powerful beings and only special Metroids can become the strongest of them all, the Queen Metroid. Metroids are known for their thick hides, so unless one uses a powerful weapon, Metroids are very tough to kill. Their biggest weakness is vulnerability to low temperature. Because of this, Metroids can easily be frozen and then blown into pieces with explosives. However, their weakness to low temperature disappears once they have evolved; though that doesn't necessary mean they are completely unafraid of the cold."

"No wonder I was able to take them out with my moves!" Cirno said. "I am really the strongest!"

"Only in this world, I think," Marisa said.

"Wait a minute..." Aya said. "You said that you were sent to eliminate the entire Metroid species... Does that mean you killed every single Metroid in the world?"

"Or so I thought," Samus replied. "I only managed to wipe out all the Metroids on this planet. It turns out that the Galactic Federation once bred Metroids in secret for peaceful purposes, but I ended destroying the lab used for the breeding program. After seeing that, I wouldn't be surprised if there are people or organization out there secretly breeding Metroids."

"But... if you really did wipe out all the Metroids in the world, or at least on this planet, then why were there Metroids back in the cave...?" Reisen asked.

"That is exactly why Samus came to this planet," Adam replied, "to find out the mystery behind the reappearance of Metroids on this planet."

"Indeed," Samus said with a nod. "The Galactic Federation found out that Space Pirates are performing activities on this planet, so they sent me here to investigate. When I arrived at this planet, I immediately looked around for the possible location where the Space Pirates built their base, and when I came across a cave, I saw a Metroid flying around near the entrance. I was very surprised to see a Metroid, and after killing it, I went into the cave to see if there were more, and that's when I came across you girls."

"It's a good thing that you saw us," Reimu said. "We were in dire need of help back then."

"You were really powerful back there!" Sanae said.

"I'm used fighting creatures such as Metroids," Samus said, "so that was no problem for me, but I do appreciate the fact that you helped me out a bit."

"So what are you going to do now?" Aya asked. "Look for the Space Pirates' base."

"That's my mission, so it's my job to complete it. By the way..." Samus then turned to look at Cirno and said to her, "It would appear that you have ice-based powers."

"Of course! I'm an ice fairy!" Cirno proudly said.

"Interesting... Your power will be useful for taking down Metroids. I'm not asking for you to help me though. You're all outsiders, so I do not wish to drag you into something that has nothing to do with you."

"Even if we do end up getting into your business," Reimu said, "we won't mind. We're used to it already..."

"I won't be surprised that if we really do get involve again-ze," Marisa said.

Suddenly, there was a loud siren. Samus turned around to face the starship's computer and saw the words _Enemy approaching_ on the screen. "A Space Pirate ship has spotted us!" Adam said.

The Genoskyo girls all turned to look at Marisa with angry glares. "You just had to say it, didn't you?" Reimu grumbled.

"It's not like the bad guys won't find us if I don't say it-ze..." Marisa said.

"What are your options, Samus," Adam asked Samus. "Fight or flight?"

"Flight will most likely grab the attention of other Space Pirates, but I can't guarantee that this ship will be undamaged if I fight the Space Pirate's ship on foot..."

"How about you leave this to me?" Remilia asked. "I'll go out there and be done with it in a moment."

"But..."

"You don't have to worry about me," Remilia said as she walked to the circle on the floor. "It shouldn't be anything hard, right?" And then she was lowered through the floor.

"Will she be all right?' Samus asked.

"She'll be all right," Meiling assured her. "My mistress is at her strongest during nighttime!"

Once outside, Remilia walked away from underneath the starship and then looked up into the air to see a tadpole-shaped spaceship approaching from the distance. "So that's the one, eh?" she asked. "All right, here I go!" Spreading out her wings, she took flight at a high speed towards the incoming spaceship.

The long Space Pirate, a black-skinned creature with pincers for hands, inside the spaceship saw her approaching and said, "Who's that girl? Is she the pilot of that ship or what? Whatever... I'm going to blow her to bits!"

As Remilia approached the spaceship, she held her right arm to the side and then created a spear of red energy. "Heart Break!" she shouted as she threw the spear at the spaceship, and just like that, the spaceship was blown into pieces.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

From inside the starship, Samus was amazed at the sight of Remilia taking out the spaceship with ease. "Amazing! She destroyed the Space Pirate's spaceship in a second!" she said in amazement.

"That's Remilia for you," Reimu said.

"See? That's exactly how strong my mistress is!" Meiling said.

Meanwhile, within what appeared to be a high-tech base, a person covered from head to toe in a brown cloak was standing in front of a large purple pterodactyl-like creature that was crouched down on top of a raised platform. "What is your answer, Ridley?" the cloaked figure said to the pterodactyl-like creature. "Do you accept our offer or do you turn it down?"

The creature, Ridley, narrowed his eyes and tilted his slightly towards the ceiling as he pondered the person's question in his head. "Working with him again, eh?" Ridley said to himself. "Never thought he would still be alive... But the last time I joined force with him resulted in a shameful defeat, so I wonder..."

"Yes, that may be true, but that will not happen any longer. He looks forward to work with you once again, and you will surely not be disappointed this time!"

"Hmmm... The benefits do sound satisfying... However, being Space Pirates, we are not ones to have goals or anything. All we care is about raiding planets and displaying our might to everyone."

"But your actions grab the attention of the Galactic Federation and various other peace enforcers, doesn't it? I'm very sure that you are more than annoyed about that bounty huntress. Once our goal has been realized, you will be able to as please with no fear of people trying to stop or annoy you! Anyway, the fact that you called me here means that you finally have an answer, don't you?"

"True, I do have an answer, and my answer is..."

Ridley was about to reveal his answer to the cloaked man when the door at the back of the room opened. A Space Pirate stepped inside and saluted to Ridley before saying, "Captain Ridley! We have just lost contact with Scout Trooper Number 42! It would appear that he his ship has been shot down! The fact that this happened most likely means that there is someone else here on this planet! There is possibly no way a creature living on this planet can take down one of our ships!"

"That explanation sounds plausible," Ridley said. "Just go and send out more scout ships to find out who is doing this. You don't have to report small things to me all the time!"

"Yes, Captain Ridley!" the SP said before leaving the room.

The cloaked person then turned back to Ridley and said to him, "So... Let's get back to our topic, what do you say?"

"About that? How about this answer? No!"

"Hmmm? And why would that be your answer?"

"We have had enough of working with other people. Our previous alliances all failed miserably! First, we joined force with a being called Dark Samus, but our failure was a big one. Second, we worked with that guy, and what do you think happened? Do you expect me to work with that same guy again? I have come to a conclusion: Forming alliances will only make you fail in the end!"

"Ah, so that is your philosophy. Such a pity! He was looking forward to meeting you again! Very well, I will trouble you no longer. I shall take my leave then."

The cloaked person turned around to leave, but the door opened again and the same SP came inside. "Captain Ridley!" he said. "It turned out that Scout Trooper Number 42 sent back an image of what he saw before his demise! You will not believe what he saw!" He ran up to Ridley to hand him a photo that he was holding.

Ridley looked at the photo for a few seconds, and then he widened his eyes. What he saw on the photo was a cave and there was a person in red, orange, and yellow armor standing at the entrance. "Those colors..." he said in an angry voice. "It's her! She's here! She's here! SHE'S HERE!" Out of rage, he tore the photo in pieces. "That bounty huntress is here! This time, I'm going to tear her into smithereens for sure! She's going to regret coming to this place!"

"Ah, I see that your archenemy is here," the cloaked person said. "You should calm down. It's true that she managed to defeat you several times, but compare yourself to me. I was defeated by the same person eleven times!"

"Grrrr! I will not let that bounty huntress mess up my plans again! All these creatures on SR388! We Space Pirates are trying to stand back up building a lab here that specializes on creating bio weapons! The remains and cells of specimens from the Biologic Space Laboratories' research center allowed us to make this a reality, and we went as a far as cloning Metroids! No way she is going to stop us this time!"

"All those happened thanks to our help," the cloaked person reminded him. "You should be thankful!"

Ridley then turned to look at him. "Very well," he said. "I will reconsider your offer again, but only under one condition!"

"And what may that be?"

"Help me take down that bounty huntress! I'm not asking for you to kill her because I want to slay her with my own hands, but you should show her that she never should've set foot onto this planet or even come near here!"

"I see. Very well! It's good to hear that you are reconsidering our offer! I will show that bounty huntress who the boss is around here, so do not worry!" The cloaked person turned around and began to leave, but then he stopped and turned his head around slightly. "However, just because you do plan to join us, you still have to prove your worth and meet our expectations. Heheheheheh!"

* * *

Samus's starship slowly took off from the ground and then flew away from underneath the alcove before ascending into the air. "Where are we going?" Cirno asked.

"Find a better hiding place," Samus said. "It's possible that the Space Pirate contacted the others when he first spotted us, so it's no longer safe to stay in the safe location. Plus, I can use this opportunity to look for their base."

Suddenly, there was a loud siren again as the computer screen showed the words _Enemy approaching_.

"Space Pirates are approaching from behind, Samus!" Adam said.

"Ugh... Why now...?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

For your information, I'm using Ridley's Metroid: Other M design in this story. Many people seem to have something against his design in that game, but I actually love it! He looks more muscular and the spikes on his on his wings make him look very intimidating!

**Next chapter: Girls are Joining the Mission  
**

**Trivia:  
**1. The chapter title is named after Reimu's character title in Touhou 7, Touhou 7.5, Touhou 8, and Touhou 9, Wonderful Shrine Maiden of Paradise.

2. According to the comedic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the number 42 is the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything. The author of the novel, Douglas Adams, said that he came up with that number as a joke. In this story, I called that Space Pirate Scout Trooper No. 42 because his duty is to scout the planet and report his findings. The number 42 is given to him because he is the best scout and has managed to provide the base with _**everything**_ that is happening on the planet. All right, not really everything, but all the notable things that Space Pirates back in the base should know about. He was originally called Scout Trooper No. 43 before I changed it to 42 because I can't remember what the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything is, and 43 was decided pretty much right when I was going to come up with a random number for him. In short, I came up that number in a brief second and thought that I should number him after the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything as a reference to that science fiction series.


	55. Girls are Joining the Mission

**SBS Time!**

**Ancestor's Dragon: **What about the shrine?  
**Game2002: **You'll find out in this chapter. Also, I want to thank you making me come up with an idea for this chapter!

Also, I've added a couple of trivia into the previous chapter. Go and check them out if you want to. Also, the chapter title has been changed. Explanation for it will be given at the end of chapter.

**Chapter 54  
Girls are Joining the Mission  
**

**

* * *

**

Samus's starship zoomed through the air as fast as it could while the Space Pirate ships gave chase and fired laser beams at the same time. Luckily, Samus was skilled at piloting the starship, so she managed to avoid the shots by steering left and right in a zigzag formation. Because of this, the girls had a hard time standing in one place and kept on falling down.

"Ow! Get off me-ze!" Marisa shouted to Sanae, who was lying on top of her back.

"Sorry!" Sanae said to her.

"I'm sorry for this!" Samus said to them without turning her head. "Bear with me for a while! I'll try my best to shake them off!"

"Can't you fight back using this ship?" Nitori asked her.

"Unfortunately, this ship doesn't have any form of weaponry installed into it! The only thing I can do now is to escape!"

"How about you let me out of here so that I can take on them?" Aya asked Samus. "Don't underestimate me when it comes to fighting in the air!"

"But..."

"Oh, come on! It's better than to run for them for who knows how long? Just let me out of here so that I can handle the rest!"

"Count me in too," Remilia said. "I'll get rid of those annoying bugs in a instant."

"I'll go too!" Cirno said. "I'll show them that I'm the strongest!"

"Just listen to them!" Reimu said. "That way, we can easily escape those guys!"

"All right," Samus said with a nod. "Good luck then!"

* * *

The SP ships went continued to fire laser beams at Samus's starship as they gave chase. Suddenly, they saw Aya coming out from the bottom of the starship via the traction beam. She was shortly followed by Remilia and then Cirno.

"All right! Here I go!" Aya said as she flew towards the incoming SP ships. "Opening Wind of the Tengu Path!" With a slash of her fan, she launched a large cyclone at the incoming ships, and the cyclone blew the ships away.

However, the Space Pirates inside managed to regain control of their ships and then they fired at Aya, but she flew straight up to avoid getting shot. One of the ships went after her and continued to fire beams, but Aya managed to avoid them with ease. She suddenly performed a u-turn and went above the ship before performing a drop kick onto it. "Tengu Downburst!"

KICK!

The powerful kick not only bent the top of the spaceship, but also caused it to be pushed downwards.

Meanwhile, the others ship fired their laser beams at Remilia, but she had an easy time avoiding them by moving around swiftly. "Learn to aim properly. Your aims are horrible," she said while dodging the beams. She moved out of the way when one of the ships tried to fly into her, and then again when the second one attempted to do so. She managed avoid getting hit by the third one, and then she stretched out her right hand. "Red Chain!" A red vortex appeared on her palm and then a large red chain shot out from it.

The spike at the tip of the chain went through the body of the third ship. Using all her strength, Remilia swung the chain in circles and used the caught ship to hit the other two ships.

SMAAAAAAASH! SMAAAAAAASH!

Once those two ships were knocked out of the air, Remilia made the chain disappear, so the third ship was sent flying through the air until it crashed onto the top of a cliff and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The other two ships also exploded when they hit the ground.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Well, that was easy," Remilia said while dusting her hands.

"Hey! You guys didn't leave any for me at all!" Cirno complained.

"We're gals, not guys," Aya corrected her, "and there's still one over there." She pointed to the SP ship that she kicked from above, and it was flying away from them.

"Whoever they are, they're strong!" the SP inside thought. "I better get out of here fast! They others are all defeated!"

"Hey you! Get back here!" Cirno shouted as she chased the escaping ship. "You're not getting away from me!"

Aya went after the ship and caught it by its tail. She pulled back as far as she could to keep the ship from moving. "What's happening!" the SP said while trying to get his ship to move. He increased the ship's speed all the way to the max, but because of Aya pulling the ship's tail, it could not move very fast.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Aya said. She continued to pull against the tail as the ship tried its best to move forward, and all of sudden, the tail was ripped off from the ship and Aya jerked back as a result. As for the ship, it sped forward really fast, but because the tail was ripped off, the engine towards the back of the ship wasn't working properly, so the ship moved through the air awkwardly.

"I CAN'T GET THE SHIP TO WORK PROPERLY!" the SP cried as he desperately tried to maintain control of the ship.

Cirno continued to chase the ship as it sped off awkwardly. "Hey you! Get back here!" she shouted.

"Enough already," Aya told her while swinging the tail around in her hand. "That poor guy is already suffering enough, so just let him go."

Seeing that the ship had went pretty far away, Cirno decided to stop going after it. "All right..." she grumbled, and then she went back to the others with a puffed up cheek.

With the enemies out of the way, the three girls flew back towards Samus's starship, but they flew alongside it rather than going inside. Aya went in front of the windshield and gave a wink and a thumb up to let Samus know that everything was okay. "No more enemies on the radar," Adam said.

"Wow! You sure took care of them! I didn't expect you take out those Space Pirate ships so easily!" Samus said.

"When it comes to aerial battles, we do it better than anybody else-ze!" Marisa said. "Of course, with the exception of those three, the rest of us lost our abilities to fly. We'll have to wait for a while before we can fly again, and there appears to be no set time to it-ze..."

"A strange object has been sighted on the ground," Adam said all of a sudden.

"What's is it?" Samus wondered. She stopped the starship in midair and then tilted downwards a little bit in order to see what was down there. "It looks like a building. A very primitive building..."

Reimu came up to the front to see what it was and saw that it was her shrine. "Hey! That's my shrine!" she said.

"Oh really?"

Suddenly, Reimu noticed that there was something different about the shrine. "Samus! Land at once! I need to go to my shrine immediately!"

"What's wrong?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay..." So Samus flew her starship towards the ground and landed next to the shrine. The moment it landed, Reimu immediately exited the starship via the tractor beam and ran up to the shrine's front porch.

She immediately froze in horror upon seeing what was wrong with the shrine. Marisa came up to her and asked, "What's wrong, Reimu?"

"It's... It's... It's..." Reimu said while trembling violently. "It's gone..."

"What's gone?" Marisa asked in confusion. She then look at the front door and said, "I don't see anything... Oh wait... I see it... Uh oh... Not the wisest thing to do-ze..."

The other girls came up to them and Sanae asked, "What's wrong?"

"What's missing?" Marisa said to her while pointing at a specific spot on the porch.

Sanae looked at the porch and it took her a few seconds to realize what was wrong. "The donation box is gone!" she said in shock.

Reimu's expression slowly turned from shock to anger, and then she shouted at the top of her voice, "WHO STOLE MY DONATION BOX!"

* * *

A Space Pirate ship landed onto a docking bay where there were several other ships of the same kind. Some Space Pirates came out from the ship's hatch and they were carrying with them a wooden box. After that, a green robotic being with a yellow visor and a red ponytail stepped out from the ship and watched as the SPs took the box away. "Put it in the treasury room," the robotic being said to them. "Be careful not to break it."

Then a SP came up to the robotic being and asked him, "What is that box, Commander Weavel?"

"We found it at a peculiar architecture somewhere on the planet's surface," the robotic being named Weavel replied. "After looking through the interior of the building, this box was the only thing worth taking because it contains treasures inside."

"Really? Can't believe that such a thing would exist on this planet!"

"However, that architecture doesn't look like something a Chozo would build. It's definitely not their style. Either someone came and built a shelter there or there is actually another kind of civilized species living on this planet... We did not see anyone when we went there, though."

"Should we report this to Captain Ridley?"

"There's no need to report minor things to him. It's not like the people living there are going to be a huge threat to us or anything. They can't be anyone dangerous if they live in a very primitive-looking house like that. It's made of wood for crying out loud!"

"Made of wood? Man! That's like the most primitive material for making things nowadays! They must be very primitive people if they made their house out of wood! Wait a minute... There is wood on SR388?"

"Well, plants do live deep inside SR388... Nah, I'd rather not think too much about it. All right, I'm off to a break." With that, Weavel walked away.

* * *

"IF I GET MY HANDS ON THOSE GODDAMN THIEVES, I'M GOING TO BLOW THEM INTO PIECES!" Reimu shouted in rage when she saw that the living room was a mess. The closet was open and everything inside was thrown out and drawers were opened and the stuff inside were now all over the room.

"Whoa... It really is a mess here..." Marisa said. "It's almost as bad as my house..."

"Who could have done this?" Sanae wondered. "Does somebody else live here and they broke in here to steal things?"

"It must be the Space Pirates," Remilia said. "Samus said that she was here to look for them, right? The only logical explanation is that they came in here while we were away and made a mess as well as stealing the donation box."

"I can't agree any better than that," Youmu said.

Aya took a picture of the room, and when Reisen saw it, she asked her, "Why are you taking a picture of the room?"

"T o use it as evidence once we've found the culprit," replied the tengu.

"They sure made a mess here..." Samus said. "Don't worry; I'll help you get back your donation box. I better start looking for their base now." After saying this, she left the shrine and returned to her starship.

Once she was inside, Adam said to her, "Samus, you have a message." And then the screen on the controller showed the image of a bald African-American.

"How ya doing, princess?" the man asked her.

"It's you, Anthony," Samus replied. "What is it?"

"Just giving ya a call to see you're all right," the man named Anthony replied. "So have you found out anything yet?"

"Yes. Space Pirates did make their base here, but I have yet to find it. Furthermore, Metroids have reappeared on this planet!"

"Metroids! Wow! Never thought that they would still exist! They really refuse to stay extinct, don't they?"

"I have a feeling that it has something to do with the Space Pirates. Not only Metroids, but life forms that are supposed to have been wiped out during the X Parasite incident were seen again. This led me to think that the Space Pirates are somehow cloning these creatures in order to make them populated this planet once again?"

"They're Space Pirates, so they can do pretty much all kinds of crazy experiments. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the truth."

Behind Samus, Reisen came into the starship via the tractor beam. Anthony noticed the lunar rabbit and asked, "Who is that girl?"

"Oh, I met her and her friends on this planet," Samus replied.

"Oh really? There are people living on this planet after all!"

"The truth isn't really what you think..."

"Anyway, I was thinking about something that might help you out of a bit."

"What is it?"

"Remember that you crashed the Biologic Space Laboratories' research center onto this planet?"

"Yes. The Galactic Federation wasn't too happy about it either."

"Yeah, that's true, but then they thought that this was the best decision after all. Anyway, I was thinking that if it is possible that the Space Pirates built their base at where the research center's crash site?"

"Is that what you think?"

"I'm just saying. I don't have any evidence to this as well, but I still hope that it'll help you out somewhat."

"That is good information. Thank you, Anthony!"

"You're welcome! Good luck on your mission, princess! Feel free to call me if you need to chat! I'm hanging up the call! See ya!" With that, Anthony ended the conversation with Samus.

Immediately after that, Samus started working on the controller. "Adam, show me the map of the planet's surface at once," she said.

"Map of the planet's surface will be shown in a second," Adam replied. A second later, the map appeared on the screen. "The crash site of the Biologic's Space Laboratories' research center is 10 kilometers northeast from our current location."

"Good! That is all I need to know! I'm heading over there to see if what Anthony said is true."

"So you found out where the Space Pirates built their base?" Reisen asked. "And what that was your friend on the screen just now?"

"Yes and yes. Tell your friends that I've found out the possible location of the Space Pirate's base. I'll go and reclaim Reimu's donation box. Wait for me here."

"I'm going with you!" Reimu shouted as she came aboard the starship via the tractor beam. "I'm not going to let the thief get away with this! I'll do whatever it takes to get back my donation box!"

"But it's dangerous! The Space Pirates are vicious beings! I have crossed their paths several times, so I can be sure of this."

"I don't care! I'm going to teach them all a lesson for stealing for donation box!"

"Um... It's best that you let Reimu go long..." Reisen told Samus. "She's always very serious about things concerning her donation box..."

Samus thought her a while and said, "All right... You can come along if you want to. Seeing how you girls were able to hold up by yourselves back when dealing with the Metroids and the fact that three of you managed to take out the Space Pirate ships with ease, I can safely assume that you know how to fight. So are all your friends coming along?"

"Of course we are!" Marisa said as she entered the starship. "It's a lot more fun than staying here-ze!"

* * *

Two Space Pirates were carrying Reimu's donation box side by side down a hallway when they came across Ridley and the cloaked man. Upon seeing their captain, they dropped the donation box onto the floor with a thud in order to salute. "Captain Ridley!" they said simultaneously.

Ridley looked at the donation box and then asked them, "What is this?"

"Commander Weavel and his division found a wooden architecture out on the surface the planet," replied the SP standing on the right of the donation box. "We looked around inside the house to see who lives there, but we found no one. As this box contains treasure, we brought it back to the base and we are now taking it to the treasury room."

"Hmm?" Ridley opened the donation box and saw the coins and jewels inside. "Well, that's quite a discovery. Okay, take it to the treasury room and make sure that it's well kept."

"Yes captain!" the SPs said before carrying the donation box down the hallway.

Ridley and the cloaked man continued to walk down the hallway, and the cloaked man laughed, "Heheheheh! It would appear that they are here already!"

"They? You mean the girls who have been traveling from world to world in hope of getting to Smash World?" Ridley asked.

"Yes, them. The fact that they are here means that you will have to a lot more careful."

"Bah! I fail to see how a bunch of girls can cause you so much trouble!"

"Oh? You say that despite that fact that you are constantly losing to a woman!"

Hearing this, Ridley swung his hand at the man and caught him by the neck. "You bring up anything about that again and I'll make sure that you regret it!" shouted the angry SP captain.

The cloaked man was not intimidated however. "Heheheh! That's if you have the power to do so! I'm just giving you a warning! I haven't faced those girls myself yet, but judging from what I've seen so far, they are not to be underestimated. It's best that you prepare yourself for what's coming. I dare say that Samus has joined force with them in order to come after you! Heheheheh!"

Ridley let go of the man and said, "Bah! I don't need you to remind me about this! Let them come if they are feeling brave! I will show them the consequences of crossing us Space Pirates' line!"

Just then, a SP came up to them and said to Ridley, "Professor Pix wants to let you know that Project X is a success. He wishes for you to come to the lab to view the results."

"Good," Ridley said with a nod. "I'll go and see."

The three of them traveled down the hallway and eventually took a turn to the left until they came to a door. The door slid open for them to enter into the massive room filled with lab equipments.

The three of them approached the SP at the end of the room and Ridley asked him, "How goes Project X, Professor Pix?"

The SP named Pix replied, "It's splendid, Captain Ridley! Just look at what is before your eyes!"

Ridley looked through the large piece of glass in front of his eyes and saw a capsule in the center of the room, and inside the capsule was a large monstrous creature. Pix spoke into a microphone placed on top of the controller in front of the glass and said, "Pork, you can move now. Go ahead and pummel whatever comes into the room!"

As soon as Pix had said this, the eyes of the creature named Pork glowed with yellow light, and then with a loud roar, the creature spread out his arms to destroy the capsule. When the being was free from the capsule, Ridley and the others were able to get a better glimpse at the creature's appearance.

The creature stood about seven meters tall and wore a dark gray armor that was radiating yellow light from the shoulder pads and certain parts of the legs. Also, the front part of its head protruded upwards like a horn and curve slightly backwards at the tip.

Shortly after the creature's awakening, cylinder-shaped robots came into the room through openings on the walls and slowly approached the creature, and as they approached the creature, they fired energy rings at Pork from their red visor-like eyes. However, the energy rings disappeared upon touching Pork's chest and face, and it did not even make the massive creature flinch at all.

The robots kept on firing nonstop at Pork, but then the giant walked up to them and, with a swing of massive arms, sent them flying into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"That's some powerful strength!" Ridley said.

"There's more!" Pix told him. "I will now pit the Zazabi against it!" Pix pressed a button on the controller to make a part of the wall behind the glass open, and out from the opening appeared a towering one-eyed creature that had five reddish-purple tendrils on its head and a see-through body.

Pork turned his attention to the creature known as Zazabi as it slowly approached him, and suddenly, the creature leaped into the air and then fell towards him with the mouth at the bottom of its body wide open, ready to devour him.

However, Pork managed to catch Zazabi by the bottom of its body with a swing of his hand, and then he slammed the one-eyed creature against the floor over and over like a wooden club.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

And then he flung Zazabi into the wall with such a force that creature's body was flattened upon impact.

SPLAT!

"Heheheh! That's a violent one you have there!" said the cloaked man, sounding impressed. "What method did you use to create such a powerful beast?"

"Through the usage of Metroid DNA and X Parasites," Pix explained. "You see, Metroids feed on X Parasites. By injecting Metroid DNA into specimens, they will be able to absorb X Parasites and obtain energy from them. As for the one over there, it's a bit different. X Parasites are also able to mimic the appearances and powers of their preys. As you know, many Space Pirates died volunteering themselves to be test specimens for Project Helix during the whole Phazon incident, and we still have their corpse kept in storage. After letting a large amount of X Parasites digest every single one of the corpses, we unleashed them at Pork. Due to being injected with Metroid DNA earlier, his body absorbed all those X Parasites, and because parasites had previously digested the corpses, Pork mutated into a powerful being that is a replicate of the most powerful creation of Project Helix, the Omega Pirate!"

"Interesting!" Ridley said, sounding very impressed. "Even without the usage of Phazon, you were able to recreate the Omega Pirate!"

"As long as he absorbs X Parasites, Pork will be able to stay in a healthy condition! That guy's a big eater, so I'm sure that he likes his appearance and power!" Pix said. "Some Space Pirates have also been injected with Metroid DNA, so they are able to become stronger by absorbing X Parasites!"

"Good! With these powerful fighting forces, we will be able to show the galaxy... No... We will be able to show the entire universe the power of the Space Pirates! Hahahahahahahaha!"

* * *

"There it is!" Samus said. The girls went up to the windshield to look at what Samus had discovered, and they saw a humongous crater that had several buildings built at the center of it.

"So that's their base?" Youmu asked.

"What's with that massive crater?" Sanae asked. "It's as if a massive fireball crashed struck that place before!"

"Pretty much," Samus told her. "I crashed the Biologic Space Laboratories' research center onto this planet in hope of getting rid of all the X Parasites onboard, and the powerful impact took out a huge chunk of the planet. Anthony was right after all. The Space Pirates did build their base at the crash site. Okay, let's find a safe place to land the starship."

"There is a good spot on the cliff near the crater," Adam said. "You can hide the ship behind a large rock on top of the cliff."

Samus nodded and then steered the starship towards the cliff below, and then she landed it behind a large rock that was big enough to keep things in front of the rock from seeing it. Samus and the Gensokyo girls then exited the starship and walked up to the cliff to look at the base at the center of the crater. "Okay, we have to sneak into that place quietly," Samus said. "It's no joking matter if we raise the Space Pirate's alarm."

Cirno looked at the sky and said, "It's still night. Why don't we go in the daytime?"

"Because most people are less active during the daytime," Nitori told her. "This is the perfect opportunity to sneak into their base."

"Plus, I can fight at full power when there is no sun," Remilia added.

"Furthermore, the sun here is never going to rise, because there is none," Samus said. "The sky that you are looking at is in fact space. There is no daytime or nighttime here."

"What are you talking about?" Cirno asked, confused. "It's currently night. The sky is black and there lots of stars."

"I just said that what you saw is not the sky, but space!"

"Don't bother explaining things to her," Marisa said to Samus. "You'll use up your energy before we even arrive at the base if you try to..."

"Can we go now?" Reimu asked. "I'm itching to get back my donation box already!"

"All right," Samus said. "Let's go! But can you go down the cliff? It's a bit high here..."

"Well, can you?" Marisa asked her.

"My suit will keep me safe from high falls, so you don't have to worry about me."

"It won't be a problem if we can fly," Reisen said, "but we can't at the moment..."

"Need my help?" Aya asked.

Reimu look at Remilia, Cirno, and Aya. "Well, if the three of you don't mind..." Reimu said.

* * *

A lone Space Pirate was walking left and right in front of an entrance of the base. He eventually became tired, so he stopped in place to take a deep breathe. "What a pointless job..." he grumbled. "It's not like someone or something is gonna to show up and invade this place all of a sudden... I should be inside the base and playing with Wart instead..."

"Planning to slack off, are you?" asked a voice.

Immediately, the SP spun around in a stiff position. He immediately saluted at a SP that was clad from head to toe in purplish armor. "Commander Punk!" he loudly said.

"Be on your guard," the SP named Punk said. "Samus has been reported to be on this planet, so you better keep an eye on her if she shows up."

"Yes sir!"

"As for your pet Hornoad... Don't worry; the others back in the base will take care of it."

"Wart is male."

"Whatever..." Punk said before walking towards the base.

After he had left, the SP continued walking left and right while scanning around the place for possible signs of intruders.

Meanwhile, several figures could be seen descending the cliff wall far away.

"And that's the last!" Aya said as she placed Reisen onto the floor.

"Thanks!" Reisen said

"All right," Samus said. "Now that we are all here, let's get ready to sneak into their base! Follow me and don't do anything reckless, okay?"

"Okay!" Cirno said in a loud voice

"And not too loud! They'll hear us! I wouldn't be surprised if you end up being the one to raise the alarm!"

"I can't agree any better than you-ze..." Marisa said.

"Let's go fast! I want to get my donation box back already!" Reimu impatiently said.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Now the reason for the change in chapter title is because there aren't any scenes where the girls are being hunted by the Space Pirates, and the part where the Space Pirates ships are chasing Samus's starship doesn't really count as being hunted either. However, I didn't change the chapter title until a day after posting the chapter. I originally planned to have the girls sneak deeper into the base before ending the chapter, but since I didn't want to keep you all waiting, the chapter ended earlier than originally planned.

I have to thank to Ancestor's Dragon for making me come up with what to do in this chapter. I originally had a hard time trying to come up with a way for letting the girls join Samus in her mission, but when Ancestor's Dragon asked me about the Hakure Shrine's condition, I suddenly came up with the idea of the donation box getting stolen. I thought of having the donation box getting destroyed due to the aerial battle with the Space Pirate ships at first, but then thought that getting stolen would be a better idea. Thanks a lot for you help, Ancestor's Dragon! God bless you!

I'm sure that some of you should be familiar with the names Punk, Pix, and Pork. Yes, they are the names of my OC from my SSB series. Seeing how they are Space Pirates, I decided to throw them into this arc. What will role will the play though? Are they going to steal the spotlight from other Metroid bosses? Well, Pork is implemented as the Omega Metroid from Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime Pinball, but not the same one. As for the other two, you'll find out soon enough!

**Next chapter: Chaos in the Base  
**

**Trivia:  
**1. As with the title of Chapter 34: Girls are Driving, this chapter is named after the loading phrase found in all Touhou games, _girls are preparing_. Okay, I need confirmation on whether or it is seen in all official Touhou games, so can anyone please answer my question? Thanks in advance!


	56. Chaos in the Base

**SBS Time!  
Patcheresu: **Weavel? As in the one from Hunters?**  
Game2002:** Yes, that Weavel. He's a Space Pirate, so it makes sense for him to show up in this arc.

Additional information on how the previous chapter came to be has been added to the previous chapter, so go and check it out if you want to. Just keep in mind once again that I sometimes go back to the previous chapters to either do grammar corrections or make minor alterations.

**Chapter 55  
Chaos in the Base**

**

* * *

**

The Space Pirate was still walking left and right in front of the gate when a plasma beam was suddenly fired at him.

BANG!

"YAAAAA!" screamed the SP as he flew back from the shot and hit the wall next to the gate.

Immediately after this, Samus and the Gensokyo girls ran towards the gate while the SP was down. "Is he dead?" Sanae asked.

"Space Pirates can be very resilient at times, but let's not care about that for now," Samus said.

They went through the open gate and then Samus told the girls to stay close to the wall of the building nearest to them. Samus then looked around the place with awareness to make sure that the coast was clear. When she saw that there were no enemies at all, she told the girls that it was safe to keep on moving.

"Why don't we just shoot everyone at sight?" Cirno asked. "It's more fun than sneaking around!"

"It's not always a wise choice to pit yourself against a large number of enemies at once," Samus told her. "Plus, I need to find out what exactly are the Space Pirates up to on this planet first, so I need to quietly sneak into their base to gather information. Fighting my way into the base will only make it tougher to obtain information."

Suddenly, Aya turned her head around. "Hmmm? I think I heard something," she said.

"What did you hear?" Youmu asked.

"Sounds like footsteps... To be precise, the sound of something metallic and heavy touching the floor..."

"I don't hear anything," Cirno said.

"That's because your hearing isn't as good as Aya's," Reimu told her.

"To be fair though, none of us hear can hear as well as Aya," Marisa said.

"INTRUDER LOCATED. INTRUDER LOCATED." said a loud, robotic voice all of a sudden.

They all turned around just in time to see something about the size of a car scuttling over to where they were. It was a machine with a golden cylinder-shaped body and six blue legs. Immediately, the Gensokyo girls got into fighting stance while Samus pointed her arm cannon at the machine. Suddenly, she realized that she had seen this machine before. "Wait a minute... It's the B.O.X. Security Robot from the Biologic Space Laboratories' research center!"

"INTRUDER LOCATED. ELIMINATE ALL INTRUDERS AT ONCE." said the B.O.X. Security Robot, and then the top of its body opened to fire several missiles that flew towards them.

"Watch out!" Reisen shouted, and then they all jumped in separate directions to avoid the missiles as they struck the ground that there were originally standing on.

Samus landed from her jump and fired a plasma beam at the robot, but the projectile disappeared upon hitting its legs. The robot turned to face the bounty huntress and then fired more missiles at her, but Aya rushed in front of Samus to protect her by blowing the missiles away with a gust of fan caused by a swing of her fan.

"Take this!" Aya shouted as she whipped up a large blast of wind using he fan, but the robot was too heavy to be blown away.

"Red Magic!" Remilia shouted as she fired a red energy ball.

"Psycho Missile!" Reisen shouted as she fired a silver energy missile.

"Narrow Spark!" Marisa shouted as she fired a thin laser beam from a card.

"Lotus Stance Cut!" Youmu shouted as she fired a pair of sword beams using both her swords.

All four projectiles struck the robot from four different directions.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the explosion cleared, the robot was revealed to be charred and parts of its surface were broken. "ELIMINATE ALL INTRUDERS." the robot said as it opened the top of its body to get ready to fire missiles.

"Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire energy yin-yang orbs at the robot. The orbs bounced towards the robot and fell into the opening on top of its body.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Because of this, the missile launcher inside its head was badly damaged. The crippled robot moved back from the girls and said, "CRITICAL DAMAGE RECEIVED. MUST RETREAT."

Samus prepared to fire a missile at the escaping robot. Suddenly, a laser beam struck her in the right shoulder. "Ah!" She then turned to look at where the laser came from and saw a Space Pirate standing on top of a building. Suddenly, several SPs showed from all over the place. "Oh no! We're surrounded!"

"Get them!" shouted one of the SPs, and then they all closed in on the girls to attack them.

One of the SPs swung his pincer at Youmu, but she ducked down and then slashed him from behind.

SLASH!

"YAAAAAA!" The SP screamed as he fell down.

"Hiya!" Meiling cried as she punched the abdomen of a SP to knock him out. Another SP tried to hit her with his pincer from behind, but Meiling swung her arm to block the blow and then turned around to punch him away in the face.

A SP came spinning through the air and fell towards her, but Meiling jumped to avoid getting hit. When the SP landed from his spinning jump, he got into a fighting stance. "You want to fight me using martial arts?" Meiling asked as she got into martial arts stance as well. "Then bring it!"

"Hiya!" The SP cried as he jumped into the air to perform a flying kick. Meiling jumped up to avoid getting kicked, and while in the air, she performed a spinning kick straight to his face. "Oof!"

Several SPs fired laser beams at Alice, but she had her dolls hold up shields to block them. Marisa was also hiding behind her, and she stuck the back end of her broom through a gap in between the shields. "Radial Strike!" she shouted as she used her broom to fire star-shaped projectiles at the SPs.

Some of the SPs were knocked down by the shots, but two of them jumped into the air to avoid getting shot and then they ran towards the shields. They attempted to jump behind the shields to take on Marisa and Alice from behind, but Shanghai and another doll dressed in red flew into the air with swords in their hands and went past the SPs, slashing them in the waist in the process.

SLASH SLASH!

"UGH!" The SPs cried as they collapsed onto the ground behind Marisa and Alice.

Shanghai and the other doll went back to Alice and she said to them, "Good work, Shanghai, Hourai."

Remilia moved around swiftly to avoid getting shot by the SPs as they launched a volley of laser beams at her. She quickly dashed at one of the SPs to slash him across the body, and then she dashed up to another one to do the same. "That girl is fast!" one of the SPs said in shock.

Remilia then leaped into the air with her arms and wings spread sideways. "Scarlet Netherworld!" she shouted, and then several red projectiles appeared and moved around her in circles, and then they flew at the SPs on the ground at a fast speed. The SPs were unable to avoid the large amount of bullets and were pelted rapidly.

"Get that girl with rabbit ears!" shouted a SP as he led his comrades towards Reisen.

Reisen's eye glowed with bright red light that blinded the SPs when they got too close. When they were able to see again, they suddenly suffered from headaches.

"Ugh... My head hurts..."

"What happened...?"

Little by little, their visions started to become blurred and distorted. Unable to see properly, the SPs tried to feel their way around their place using their pincers, but some didn't dare to move around too much.

"Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted as she threw a card into the air, and then the card released bright light before firing rays of light at the SPs.

"Frost Pillars!" Cirno shouted as she slammed her hand onto the ground to make icicles shoot out from the ground and in the direction of some SPs. Some of them jumped to the side, but some of the others were either knocked into the air or pushed back by the icicles.

Nitori ducked down to avoid some laser beams fired at her by a Space Pirate. "Monster Cucumber!" she shouted as she bent over to allow green laser beams to shoot out from her backpack. The SP jumped into the air to avoid getting shot while firing at her. Nitori jumped out of the way and unleashed her mechanical arms at the SP.

The SP was caught by both his legs, and when Nitori landed from her jump, she swung the SP in circles to knock away the surrounding SPs. Once they were all knocked out, the hands let go of the SP to send him flying into a couple of SPs.

CRASH!

Aya swung her fan against the air really hard, thus whip up a violent gale that sent several SPs flying high into the air. "Heh! You guys are so light!" Aya said. "But then, everything looks light when blown around by my wind!"

Reimu ducked down to avoid a laser beam fired at her, and then she jumped aside to avoid another one. She then dashed towards the SP that was firing at her to swing her gohei at him, but the SP moved out of the way before swinging his pincer at her. She managed to move aside in time to avoid getting hit, and then the SP jumped back while firing laser beams at her. Reimu jumped into the air to avoid getting shot, and while in the air, she threw several paper tags at the SP, but he managed to shoot down each of the paper tags.

The SP then fired at Reimu while she was still in the air. "Dimensional Rift!" Reimu shouted as she took out a white card, and then she disappeared before the laser beams hit her.

"Eh? She vanished into thin air!" said the SP with surprise. He was suddenly kicked in the the body by Reimu when she reappeared behind him. "Ow!" Reimu threw three paper amulets at him before he could get back up, and he was blasted by them. "YAAA!"

BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Samus fired from her arm cannon at three SPs. The three SPs were jumping around like grasshoppers and were successful in avoiding getting shot. One of them eventually got hit, but the other two leaped at Samus with their pincers wide open. Samus quickly morphed into a ball and then dropped a bomb before rolling away. One of the SPs landed on top of the bomb, so he was blasted by the explosion that came a second later.

Samus changed back to normal and spun around to shoot that SP. The third SP fired laser beams at her, but Samus stepped aside and then lunged at the SP. She tackled him in the body and then struck him in the chin with an uppercut using her arm cannon. After the SP was knocked into the air, Samus shot him with a plasma beam.

BANG!

Despite the fact that the heroines were holding up against the SPs with relatively ease, there were still a lot of SPs coming after them from all sides.

"Geez! When are these guys going to stop coming!" Marisa complained as she used Narrow Spark to take out the SPs.

"Sooner or later, we're going to run out of energy to fight," Alice said in nervous tone. "They're suppressing us using large numbers." Suddenly, she noticed someone firing at Marisa's back from atop a building. "Marisa, watch out!" She quickly made Shanghai fly over to Marisa's back to protect her from the laser beam. The power of the beam was more powerful than the previous ones, so Shanghai was pushed back into Marisa. "Marisa! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Marisa while giving an OK sign.

The both of them turned to look at the top of the building to see a Space Pirate clad in purplish armor. The SP suddenly disappeared, much to the surprise of the two girls. "Eh? He disappeared!" said Marisa.

Suddenly, the SP reappeared behind her with his arm cannon raised into the air. "Marisa! Behind you!" Alice shouted.

Marisa quickly spun around to use her broom as a shield in order to block the SP's arm cannon strike. She then jumped back to get to a safer distance and fired star-shaped projectiles from the back of her broom upon landing. "Radial Strike!"

The SP once again disappeared, reappearing a few yards behind Marisa to fire laser beams at her. Marisa moved out of the way and then used a card to fire a laser beam at him. "Narrow Spark!"

Once again, the SP disappeared. This time, he reappeared above Marisa. She quickly moved out of the way in order to avoid getting hit by the SP when he fell down. "Geez! You're really annoying with that teleportation of yours-ze!" Marisa said in an annoyed tone. "Cut that out already!" And then she swung her magically-enhanced broom at him.

The SP brought up his arm cannon and blocked the strike with ease. His arm cannon then glowed with red light, and he pushed Marisa's broom aside before firing a beam at her head. Luckily, Marisa reacted in time by bending her body backwards to avoid getting shot. "Phew... That was close..." she said.

Alice sent Shanghai in the direction of the SP to slash him in the back of the neck with her sword. However, the SP spun around and hit Shanghai with his arm cannon to knock her away. Alice immediately made several more dolls appear and had them gather around the SP. They all fired energy bullets at the SP, but he teleported to safety.

He reappeared in the air and fired at the dolls rapidly. When all the dolls, except Shanghai, were shot down, the SP fell onto the ground and then rushed towards Alice as fast as he could. Marisa quickly got in front of Alice to protect her from the SP. However, the SP disappeared when he got close to Marisa. "Geez! Not again!" Marisa grumbled.

"Heheh! You have no chance of victory against Commander Punk!" a Space Pirate said to her. "Of all the Pirate Commanders, he is the most talented one!"

"Oh really? That should be interesting!"

Suddenly, Punk reappeared above Marisa and Alice and dropped towards them. Both the girls quickly leaped out of the way. Alice quickly turned around to face Punk, but the moment she did, Punk swung his arm cannon into her face to knock her away. "Hey you!" Marisa shouted as she raised her broom over her head use it to hit Punk, but the SP teleported away before he got hit. "Argh! Stop teleporting around and fight me properly!"

"If you really want to," Punk said as he reappeared behind Marisa.

"Eeks!" Marisa cried as she quickly ducked down to avoid getting hit by his arm cannon. She then spun around to swing her broom at him, but Punk easily stopped it with his arm cannon. He used his other hand to grab by the neck and then lifted her into the air with little effort. "Ugh! Let me go!"

"Scout Trooper Number 13 said that he was attacked by three flying girls while chasing Samus's starship," Punk said. "Number 44 and Number 100 were shot down, but Number 13 managed to escape, but his ship was in a faulty condition when he returned. I assume that you are one of the girls who attacked them."

"You got the wrong person... Remilia, Aya, and Cirno... are the ones... who fought them..."

Suddenly, a plasma beam struck Punk from the side and made him let go of Marisa.

"Ugh!" He then turned to see Samus pointing her arm cannon at him. "The huntress herself!"

Samus charged up her arm cannon to fire another shot, but suddenly, a green robot appeared behind her with its curved energy blade pulled back into the air. Samus sensed this, so she ducked down in the nick of time to avoid getting hit and then jumped forward and spun around in midair to fire at the robot, but the robot avoided the shot by stepping aside. "Weavel!" Samus said.

"It's been a while, Samus!" Weavel said. "We were expecting you to show up sooner or later! Today is your bad day! This is where you will meet your end!" He got ready to use his cannon that was built on top of his right arm when suddenly he was struck in the side of the body by two green sword beams, one coming after another. "OW!" He then turned to the side to see that it was Youmu who attacked her. "Why you! Take a load of my Battlehammer!" And then he fired green globules from his cannon in an arc at her.

Youmu swiftly dodged them by moving aside, and then she rushed at Weavel at a fast speed. Weavel quickly swung his plasma scythe at her when she swung the Roukanken at him, and they clashed their weapons against each other really hard. The both of them clash blades, but since they were equally skilled, none of the their hits landed on each other.

* * *

"Get that girl in blue!" shouted a SP, and then a four SPs threw themselves onto Cirno from all sides.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Cirno shouted as the SPs laid their hands on her.

However, they quickly let go again when they realized that their hands became encased in blocks of ice upon touching her skin.

"My hands are frozen!" one of them cried.

"Freeze Touch Me!" Cirno shouted as she released a large amount of cold air from around herself to freeze those SPs. "Haha! You're a thousand years to early to be catching me! I'm the strongest!"

Suddenly, bullets whizzed past her and struck the ground around her. "Whoa!" So she quickly got out of the way.

Reimu looked up at a building to see three SPs firing at them from behind mounted guns. When the SPs aimed their turrets at her, she quickly ran to avoid getting shot. She then threw paper amulets at the part of the building underneath the mounted guns, and when the amulets exploded, the mounted guns were sent plummeting to the ground below.

CRASH CRASH CRASH!

"There's no end to this thing!" Reisen shouted as she fired at the SPs while dodging their shots. "We can't keep this up forever!"

A SP dropped down in front of her and swung his pincer at her. She managed to avoid it by ducking down, but when she stood back up, the SP kicked her in the abdomen. "Oof!" Reisen took a couple of steps back from the kick, and then she received a few shots from the SP's laser beams. "YAAA!"

The SP then charged at her and caught her by the neck using his pincer.

"Ack! Let go of me!" Reisen cried while trying to pry open the pincer. The SP was about to close his pincer even tighter in order to break her neck when suddenly Nitori charged at him and gave him a great big push to send him rolling away.

She then asked Reisen, "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right..." Reisen said while rubbing her neck. "Thanks for the help."

As the battle between the girls and the SPs raged on, a loud roar was suddenly heard. This caused everyone to stop fight and look around the place with curiosity. "What was that?" Aya wondered. "It doesn't seem to be coming from around here..."

Suddenly, there was a loud stomp that made the ground shook. A Space Pirate noticed a figure approaching in the distance. "There's something coming over here!" he said.

Everyone fixed his or her eyes at the approaching figure that was giving off yellow light from certain parts of its bodies.

"What... What is... that...?" Reisen said in fear when the figure came closer and closer.

Weavel recognized what it was near when it came close. "It's the Omega Pirate!"

The massive creature, the Omega Pirate let out a roar when it came up to where the girls and the Space Pirates were. With a slam of both his hands onto the ground, a yellow shockwave spread across the surface.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

Friends and foes alike were all sent flying into the air when they came in contact with the shockwave. Reimu landed on one knee and said, "What is that monster!"

"The Omega Pirate!" Samus said in shock. "But how? Phazon doesn't exist anymore!"

"True," Punk, who was standing on top of a building, said. "Phazon no longer exist thanks to you, but we have come up with an alternate source of energy for recreating powerful fighters that once needed to run on Phazon."

"And that would be..."

"X Parasites."

Samus widened her eyes in shock upon hearing this. "X Parasites! Impossible! Even if X Parasites still do exist on this planet, how can you make use them?"

"Metroids are the natural predators of X Parasites. Because the Metroids' DNA structures make them immune to being taken over X Parasites, we injected Metroid DNA into our test subjects in order to make them immune to being taken over by X Parasites, and to give them the ability to absorb them in order to become more powerful."

"Just like me!" Samus thought to herself, and then she asked him, "What about the Metroids? How can they still exist?"

There was another loud roar as the OP slammed both his hands onto the ground to create a shockwave. Samus and Reimu quickly leaped into the air to avoid getting hit. Upon landing, Samus used her visor to scan the Omega Pirate. "The weak spots are still the same," she said to herself. "I'll blow away the glowing parts to weaken him!" She took aim at the OP's right shoulder and was going to fire when suddenly Cirno slammed down an ice hammer onto that part. "What!"

"Take this, big ugly freak!" the ice fairy shouted as she hammered the same spot over and over. She kept on doing this until the ice hammer shattered, but the shoulder pad was still intact. "Um..." The OP then roared into her face so loudly that she was sent flying backwards. "Whoa!"

Suddenly, Meiling tossed herself at the OP and kicked him in the abdomen. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

The OP took a step back from being kicked, and then he swung his arm at Meiling to try to hit her, but she jumped back. Meanwhile, Remilia threw a large red spear at the OP from the air. "Heart Break!" It struck him in the back of the head.

BANG!

The OP roared in anger as he turned around to face Remilia, and then it fired a pair of large missiles at her, but she easily avoided them by flying aside.

"Red Magic!" Remilia then fired a red energy ball at OP, but he brought up his left hand and released yellow light from his palm. It allowed him to absorb the energy ball when it hit his palm.

"Hiya!" Meiling cried as she hit the OP's leg with a roundhouse kick, but it failed to do anything. The OP swung down his arm at Meiling and managed to catch her before she could escape. Without wasting a single second, the OP forcefully hurled her in the direction of Remilia, and the gatekeeper crashed into her mistress.

CRASH!

They both flew higher into the air as a result before falling back down with a crash a bit of a distance away. "Ow... That was a painful headbutt you gave me..." Remilia cried while holding her abdomen in pain.

"Sorry, Mistress Remilia..." Meiling cried while holding her hands over her head.

Back at the site of chaos, Samus fired rapidly at the Omega Pirate, but the giant SP absorbed her projectiles with his glowing palm. He then slammed both his hands against the ground to create a shockwave. Samus quickly leaped into the air to avoid the shockwave, but while she was still in the air, the OP fired a pair of missiles that fell towards her. "Oh no!" Samus gasped. She was unable to move in midair or destroy them on time, so they both crashed into her.

KABOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Samus!" Reimu said in shock. When the smoke cleared, Samus was seen lying on the ground and a bit of electricity came out from certain parts of armor to show that it was damaged by the missiles. Reimu then turned to face the OP as he came over to her. The shrine maiden quickly threw paper amulets at him.

The OP swung his arm at the incoming paper amulets, but became stuck onto his arm and exploded shortly afterwards.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The OP wasn't bothered or hurt by this however; he rushed at Reimu with his fist pulled back. Acting quick, Reimu set up a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!" The OP swung his fist at the wall, and unfortunately, the wall was not strong enough to withstand the punch. It shattered the moment the fist came in contact with it and Reimu was hit by a devastating uppercut that sent her shooting into the air.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reimu screamed as she soared across the air above the base.

"REIMU!" Marisa gasped in horror upon seeing friend being sent flying through the air.

"Reimu!" Youmu said in shock.

"Do you have time to care about your friend?" Weavel asked as he rushed at Youmu. Before Youmu could counter him, she was slashed across the waist by his plasma scythe.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"UGH!" Youmu cried in pain and fell to her knees.

"Youmu!" Sanae said in shock. Suddenly, she was hit in the back by a Space Pirate's flying kick. "Ya!"

The SP pinned her onto the ground by standing on top of her, and he opened his pincers above the back of her head and got ready to fire. "Say good night!" But he was struck in the side by a barrage of green laser beams. "GUAH!" He then turned to his attacker and to see that it was Nitori. "Why you?" He then fired at her.

Nitori swung her mechanical arms at the beams to eliminate them, and then the arms closed in on the SP from both sides and caught him by the head.

"Hey! Let go of me!" the SP shouted as she struggled to escape. The mechanical arms then tossed him into the air and punched him in the body to send him flying backwards through the air.

POW!

"WAAAAAAAA!" the SP screamed as he flew through the air until he landed somewhere in the distance.

Chaos was all over the place as the battle between the heroines and the Space Pirates raged on, and little by little, the girls were wearing themselves out while more and more SPs kept on joining the fray.

As the battle went on, something zoomed across the air all of sudden, and this made everyone stop whatever he or she was doing. They looked at the thing that flew around in the air, and then it performed a u-turn before flying towards the ground. Samus widened her eyes in horror when she saw what it was. "Ridley!"

The Space Pirates quickly got out of the way when their captain came close to the ground in order to give him a clear landing spot, and then they saluted him. "Captain Ridley!" they all said at the same time.

"Um... Now what...?" Marisa asked.

Ridley looked around the place and then asked, "All this chaos just to take care of a few intruders? Well, I expected something like this since it was Samus who barged into this place after all!" Then he shifted his glare to Samus.

Samus took a step back and then pointed her arm cannon at him. "Ridley! How are you still alive!"

"Surprised, eh?" the Space Pirate captain replied. It truly is a nightmare that your worst nightmare can never stay dead! The day I killed your parents is the day you wanted to kill me. You succeeded several times, but guess what? Here I am once again! Standing before you in the flesh! No matter what you do, you can never erase what happened that very day from your head!"

Hearing this, Samus began to have flashbacks of the time when she was a child living in K2L and how the Space Pirates took everything from her, from leaving her homeland in ruins to her mother getting killed by Ridley. Thinking of these filled her with sorrow and at the same time made her burn with anger.

"Yes! Those horrible memories will never leave your mind! They will always linger and I, your nightmare made flesh, will always appear before eyes to remind you of that time!" Ridley said as he approached Samus. "We are destined to cross each other's path no matter what! No matter how you try to escape, it is your destiny to run into me as long as you live!"

"SHUT UP!" Samus shouted at the top of her voice as she fired a plasma beam at Ridley, but he managed to counter it by swinging his hand at it. Just like that, the plasma beam was eliminated and Ridley received nothing more than a slight burn on the back of his hand. Before Samus could do anything else, Ridley grabbed and lifted her up into the air. "Ugh! Let go of me!"

"This is your last stand, Samus!" Ridley said to her. "The bounty huntress who made her name known throughout the galaxy will fall to captain of the Space Pirates today! With you out of the way, we Space Pirates will be able to take over the whole universe with ease! Nobody will be able stop us!"

Samus still had both arms free, so she was able to aim her arm cannon at Ridley, but the SP captain flung her into the ground before she had the chance to fire.

CRASH!

"Ugh..." Samus groaned as she stood back up, but then she was struck in the body by a powerful tail whip from Ridley. "YAAAAAA!" The powerful hit sent her flying backwards in an arc.

"Hey you!" Aya shouted as she landed a kick into Ridley's back.

"Ow! Why you!" Ridley growled as he spun around to hit Aya with his hand, but she flew to safety in time.

Suddenly, several projectiles were fired at Ridley. "What the!"

"Take this, you big monster!" Cirno shouted as she and the other girls rapidly fired projectiles at Ridley, and the SP captain was forced to take a few steps back due to the firepower.

Marisa was using her broom like a machine gun to shoot Ridley when suddenly Punk appeared out of thin air next to her. "How dare you lay a hand on our captain!" Punk said, and then he swung his arm cannon at Marisa's face before she could react.

SMACK!

"Bunch of pests!" Ridley shouted as he used his right wing to block the projectiles. While doing so, he churned fire within his mouth, and then he pulled away his wing to unleash a huge blast of fire at them.

"Watch out!" Sanae shouted, and then the girls quickly jumped out of the way to avoid getting burned.

Ridley immediately charged at Nitori the moment she landed. Before the kappa could do anything, the SP captain swung the back of his hand at her to send her flying.

SMACK!

He then turned to face Alice and Sanae and swung his tail at them. His tail lengthened when it was swung, so it was able to hit Alice and Sanae even though they weren't standing close to him. Both the girls were knocked back into the air when hit.

"Heart Break!" Remilia shouted as she hurled a large red spear from above Ridley.

"Gale Fan!" Aya shouted as she fired a wind blade using her fan.

Ridley zoomed out of the way to avoid getting hit by both the projectiles and then swiftly flew to where Remilia and Aya were. Both the girls quickly got out of the way to avoid getting hit, and Remilia unleashed a red chain at him from her palm. "Red Chain!"

Amazingly enough, Ridley caught the chain just below its spiked tip with no effort, and then he extended his tail towards Remilia. Remilia quickly moved out of the way, but the tail wrapped itself around her body. "What the!"

"Domination Dash!" Aya shouted as she charged towards Ridley as fast as she could while surrounded by an armor of wind, but Ridley countered her by using his tail to swing Remilia into her from the side. "Gua!" Both the girls shot down at an angle until they hit the ground with a powerful crash.

CRASH!

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped in horror when she saw that her master had fallen.

Meanwhile, Marisa was injured due to receiving several painful blows from Punk. "Ow... You're strong-ze..." Marisa said.

Punk charged up his arm cannon with red energy and said, "This is the power of a Pirate Commander! Time for you to die!" Suddenly, he was blasted in the side of the body by a missile. "GAH!"

BANG!

After the Pirate Commander was blown away, Samus said to Marisa from not too far away, "Marisa, are you all right?"

"I'm exactly all right, but thanks for the help anyway," Marisa replied.

Samus looked around the place and saw that the other girls were faring worse and worse against the Space Pirates, especially after Ridley joined the fray. "This is not good..." she thought. "We're all going to be wiped out if this keeps on going..." And then she turned to Marisa and said out loud to her, "Marisa! Get out of here first! You and friends should escape right now! We are in no condition to fight them any longer!"

"What about you?"

"I'll try to buy you time and then escape as well! We need to replenish ourselves somehow before we can fight them again! For now, just focus on getting out of here!"

"Samus has a point," Alice said as she ran up to Marisa. "We cannot keep on fighting like this. I'm concerned about Reimu as well. She might be injured somewhere in this place."

"She should be fine," Marisa said. "I think-ze... Anyway, let's get out of here!" She threw a pot at some SPs that were running towards her before running. The pot hit the ground in front of the SPs, and then it exploded in a huge blast of blue light.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the SPs screamed as they were blown away by the explosion.

"C'mon! Let's go!" Marisa shouted as she made her escape with Alice.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar from the Omega Pirate as he threw a mounted gun at them. Alice managed to avoid it by hopping back, but Marisa wasn't so lucky. She tried to avoid it by jumping forward, but her legs were still struck by the mounted gun when it shot across the air. "YAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed as the powerful blow caused her to spin through the air.

"Marisa!" Alice gasped. Suddenly, the Omega Pirate's shadow loomed over her with his arms raised into the air. The magician quickly ran out of the way before the gargantuan Space Pirate brought down his hands onto the ground to create a powerful shockwave. The shockwave sent her flying forward. "AH!"

"Acura Spectral!" Reisen shouted as she leaped into the air, and then she dashed around in the air several times to leave behind clones of herself.

"Eh? What happened?" said a confused SP. The clones remained floating in air and did absolutely nothing at all, and while the SP was looking at the clones, Reisen quickly made her getaway.

Another SP came up to him and whacked him in the back of the head. "Idiot! Those clones are for distracting you! The real one had already escaped!"

Reisen came across Marisa as she ran, so she bent down next to her and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"My legs... They must be broken..." Marisa cried. "Ow! It's still hurting!"

"I'll get you out of here!" Reisen said as she placed Marisa's arm over her shoulders. Suddenly, two Space Pirates dropped down in front of them. "Oh no!"

"Haha! You're finished!" one of the SPs said, but suddenly, Meiling came flying in from the side and knocked them out with a flying kick. "OW!"

"Quick! Let's get out of here! Samus told me to get out of here first!" Meiling told the two.

"What about the others?" Reisen asked.

"They went their own ways already. We can only pray for their safety at the moment. C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

The Omega Pirate let out a roar as he swung his arm at Samus, but she jumped over it and then fired a missile into his face.

BANG!

The OP reeled back in pain while roaring in pain, and while he was doing so, Samus turned to Alice and said, "This is your chance! Run!"

"What about you?" Alice asked.

"Don't worry about me! I know what I'm doing!"

"Okay, but please be careful," Alice said before making her leave. As she was running, she saw Sanae throwing paper amulets at some Space Pirates, but they were dodging them with ease. "Sanae! Enough! Let's get out of here first!"

"No! I must exterminate these demons!" Sanae said while throwing paper amulets in vain. "These monsters must not be left alive!" Suddenly, several dolls caught the back of her clothing and pulled her back. "Hey! Let go of me!"

Alice grabbed Sanae's hand when the dolls brought her close and then dragged her along. "You'll get yourself killed if you keep on fighting them!" Alice told her. "Do you really want to die here?"

Sanae became scared upon hearing this. "Um... You have a point... Miss Kanako and Miss Suwako will miss me if I die..."

"Don't let them get away!" one of the Space Pirates that Sanae was previously fighting shouted.

"Tsk! Edo Explosive Pawn!" Alice shouted as she dropped a doll onto the ground.

The doll slowly walked up to the Space Pirates, and they looked at it with curiosity. "What's this?" one of them asked. All of a sudden, the doll exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Samus saw the explosion and said, "I wish them all luck... Hopefully, we can meet each other again..."

"That will never happen!" Ridley said as he closed in on Samus along with the Omega Pirate. "Even if your friends do escape, they will not live long! We will hunt them down one by one and then kill them all! None of you are going to get out of here alive!"

"Like I'm going to let that happen!" Samus angrily said, and then she morphed into a ball and dropped a purple bomb onto the ground.

Ridley's eyed widened in horror when he saw that bomb. "That's a Power Bomb!"

But before he could get out of the way, the bomb exploded in a huge burst of light.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The force of the explosion was so powerful that even the Space Pirates standing far away were blown backwards. A building that was behind the bomb also had a chunk of it blown off. In fact, there was even a smoking crater on the part of the ground where the bomb originally was.

The Omega Pirate was on his knees when the explosion cleared, and the parts of his armor that were giving off yellow light were blown off. Ridley, on the other hand, had his wings folded together in front of his body, but they were badly scorched. He spread out his wings and looked around for Samus, but the bounty huntress was nowhere to be seen. "Dammit! She escaped while in the midst of the explosion!" he growled. "But she won't be hidden for long!" He then turned around to face his subordinates and said to them, "Look for Samus and her friends at once! Do not show mercy! Kill them if you come across them! As for Samus, bring her to me if you capture her! I'll be the one to kill her myself!"

"Yes, captain!" the Space Pirates said before running off in various directions.

Weavel looked around the place for a certain person and then asked a random Space Pirate, "Have you seen that girl with white hair?"

"Nope," the SP replied.

"Strange... Last time I saw her, she was on her knees with a cut on her waist. She must've escaped while I wasn't paying attention, but to think that she can still move even with a wound like that... Doesn't matter; she'll drop dead sooner or later anyway." And then he walked away.

The Omega Pirate started to walk away when Punk appeared next to him and asked him, "How are you feeling, Pork?"

"Need to replenish..." the Omega Pirate replied in a monstrous sounding and somewhat incomprehensible voice. "Need X Parasites... Must absorb X Parasites..."

After everyone had left the place, a lone figure sat up from the top of a building. Cirno looked around the place and saw the SPs walking away while Ridley was seen flying towards the tallest building in the center of the place. "Everyone is gone..." she thought. "My friends are missing as well... That can only mean one thing..." She then stood up and said loudly, "It's my turn to shine!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

About a day after posting this chapter, I changed the chapter title to Girls are Being Hunted, but then changed it back to Chaos in the Base again. It fits more due to the contents of this chapter.

And in case people haven't noticed yet, Punk is portrayed as a Pirate Commander, a boss from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but they are not the same person.

BTW, there's a Metroid and Touhou crossover on this site called Metroid: The Gensokyo Project, written by U.N. Owen the Sandvich. It's pretty good, so check it out if you want to! That story also inspired me to use Weavel in this arc, so I would like to thank him for giving me an idea on what Metroid characters to use in this arc!

Oh, one the side note, most of the trivia and information about the Touhou series are taken from Touhou Wiki. I'm saying this in case I get accused of plagiarism...

**Next chapter: Girls are Being Hunted**

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GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

More favorite Touhou characters from me!

**Minoriko: **But the Aki Sisters are unpopular! Why would I like them or even one of them? The fact that they are unpopular is what makes them popular. Funny, eh? I grew to like the Aki Sisters after reading the artist Rapattu's 4koma series, Four Seasons. Also, Minoriko's official artwork in Touhou 10 shows her with two left legs. While this may look like a mistake, it is supposed to be intentional because ZUN compared her to a scarecrow, and scarecrows are usually made with one leg. It is supposed to give her the impression that she has only one leg, but even so, there is not a single fan art portraying her with two left legs. At least I haven't found any yet...

**Shizuha: **See above, except the part about having two left legs.

**Minamitsu: **I wasn't a fan of her at first, but I grew to like her after the artist Tohonifun's doujin, Yuka vs. Byakuren Reloaded. I'm fonder of pirates due to being a fan of One Piece, but Minamitsu is a good example of how awesome sailors can be! She even swings around that anchor like it is nothing!


	57. Girls are Being Hunted

I would like to thank Ancestor's Dragon for answering the question in Chapter 54: Girls are Joining the Mission. Thank you very much!

There's been some confusion between Sanae's two attacks: Daytime Guest Stars and Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars. Back in Chapter 18: Fortress of the Forsaken, Sanae actually used Daytime Guest Stars to defeat Jalhalla, and a couple chapters back, she used Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars to light up the cave. These errors have been corrected now.

What's the difference between anyway? Well, Daytime Guest Stars created a ball of light that shoots down rays of light while Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars simply creates of ball of light that damages whoever touches it, thus making it an anti-air attack.

**Chapter 56  
Girls are Being Hunted**

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* * *

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"They can't have gone far yet!" said a Space Pirate as he led his comrades through the place. "Look everywhere carefully!"

As the Space Pirates looked ran through the place, Youmu looked at them from an alleyway. "Phew... They're gone..." she said with a sigh of relief. "Ah!" The cut on her waist acted up, causing her to cry in pain. "It hurts... That guy... He sure got me good, and he's very skilled himself too... I need to be more careful next, and also stronger..."

Suddenly, a Space Pirate appeared right before her eyes. "Aha! Found ya!"

Acting fast, Youmu slashed the SP with the Hakurouken before he could do anything else.

SLASH!

"YAAAAAA!" the SP screamed loudly as he fell over. Youmu then dragged him into the alleyway to hide him.

Suddenly, she heard someone shouting. "A cry came from over there!" it said.

"Uh oh... They heard his cry! I can't stay here any longer!" Youmu thought, and then she ran deeper into the alleyway in order to escape.

* * *

"Have you seen any of them?" a Space Pirate asked his comrade.

"Nope," said his comrade.

"They should've have gone far yet. Search everywhere! They can be hiding anywhere, even inside the buildings!"

"Speaking of which, shouldn't we search inside the buildings as well?"

"The others are searching inside the buildings already, so we should be focusing on the outside instead. All right, let's go!"

The two SPs left to look for the girls. Unknown to them, Nitori was standing against the wall of a nearby building, listening to their conversation. However, they did not see her because she was invisible. "They're really searching everywhere..." she thought. "Nobody can see me as long as I keep my Optical Camouflage active, so I'm safe from being caught, I think... I wonder if the others are all right."

She then looked at the large building in the distance. "I have a feeling that they're all heading there. Samus said that she wants to know what the Space Pirates are up to. Important information is usually kept in important places, and that large building over there looks like the most important building here. Important buildings are always very big compared to other buildings, right?"

With her Optical Camouflage still activated her, she ran in the direction of the building.

* * *

"Ah, you're back!" the cloaked person said when Ridley came into the room.

Ridley glared at him and said, "Where were you? You said you were going to lend a hand!"

"I was simply sitting back and watching what you are capable of and seeing whether or not you are worthy enough to become a one of us."

"Are you underestimating me? You better think otherwise or else you will really get it!"

"Now let's not get into a pointless conflict. All right, if you really want me to do something, then I'll do you the favor of getting rid of the intruders if I come across them. There, are you happy?"

"After you actually succeed, then I will be happy!"

"My... You're not kind to put faith in others, do you? Very well, I'll prove to you that what I say are to be believed! You will see for yourself soon enough, heheheheh!"

* * *

"Ow... My legs are still hurting..." Marisa cried as Reisen and Meiling carried her by both her arms through a hallway.

"Hold on," Reisen told her. "We're trying to look for the infirmary. There's got to be one around here since they need to have some way to tend to the wounds of injured comrades."

The three girls eventually came of the hallway and into a large room with several computers. As they walked through the place, they suddenly heard footsteps approaching them. "Heard that? Someone is coming towards us!" Reisen said in shock. "We can't get caught here!"

Meiling looked to the side and saw a door. "Quick! In here!" she said, and then they went through the door.

Shortly after they went inside, Sanae and Alice came walking by. "There's nobody here at all," Sanae said.

"That's good," Alice said. "We should try our best to avoid getting into fights until we meet up with some of the others."

Behind the door, the three girls sighed with relief that they did not get caught, even though it was their friends who appeared. "We're safe..." she said.

"Um... Is this place the infirmary?" Meiling asked.

Reisen looked at the room and saw several beds, and some of the beds had Space Pirates lying on them, but they were asleep. "Looks like it," said the lunar rabbit. "Wait a minute... That means we can find a way to cure Marisa's legs!"

"Shhh! Not too loud! You'll wake them up! All right, let's look for something that can help ease Marisa's pain."

They quietly carried Marisa by her arms through the place until they came to another door that had a sign on it. The sign wrote: _Doctor's Room. The doctor is out._

When they came near the door, it slid open, so they went inside. After going inside, Reisen and Meiling placed Marisa onto a bed and then Meiling went to lock the door. "Okay, I've locked the door," she said. "Nobody should be able to come in now."

"Okay... I'll see if I can do anything," Reisen said. "I've helped Eirin with her medical treatments before, so I have a certain amount of knowledge on first aids. Let's see if they have anything here." She went up to the cupboard and looked at the bottles inside through the glass. "Um... All these are... terms that I have never seen before..."

"Do you actually know what to do...?" Marisa asked her.

* * *

Still with her Optical Camouflage activated, Nitori walked up to the gate that led into the area around the large building. A pair of SPs were each standing on both sides of the gate, but Nitori, being full of herself due to her invisibility, went right through the gate. The moment her body went through the gate, a siren kicked off.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"The siren!" said one of the SPs.

"It can only mean one thing," said the other SP. The both of them immediately equipped visors and then looked around the place, and then they spotted Nitori standing there with a shocked look. "Aha! I knew it!" The SP immediately fired laser beams at her.

Nitori quickly dodged the laser beam and then ran for the building as quick as she could. "How are they seeing me!" she said in shock and confusion. "I'm supposed to be invisible! And how was the siren even able to detect me in the first place!"

"Invisibility won't work!" the same SP told her. "Our security system can detect the presence of heat! Even if you are invisible, your body heat will still be detected. This kind of system was made so that we can keep anyone with invisibility from getting in! Our thermal visors also allow us to see invisible beings' body heat as well!"

Nitori deactivated her Optical Camouflage when she saw that it was useless. She then released both her mechanical arms and extended them in the direction of the SPs, but they jumped away to avoid getting hit.

When they landed, an explosion was suddenly heard. "What was that?" one of the SPs asked. When they turned to the side, they saw in the distance a pillar of smoke rising into the air.

"Something happened over there!" said the other SP.

"The others can handle it. Let's just take care of the..." But the SP never got to finish speaking as Nitori used this opportunity to grab both the SPs by their heads using the mechanical arms. "Hey!"

"You should've have gotten distracted so easily by other things!" she said, and then the mechanical arms released electricity to zap the SPs. "Electric Arm!"

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the SPs screamed as the electricity zapped them, and then Nitori flung them into the distance.

"That's that!" she thought. "Gotta go!" And then she reactivated her Optical Camouflage before running towards the building's entrance.

* * *

At the site of the pillar of smoke, Aya and Remilia were standing in front of a wrecked and burning Space Pirate ship, and surrounding them were several Space Pirates. "Don't get too cocky just because you are strong enough to take down a ship!" one of the SPs said to them. "You shall see the true power of us Space Pirates!"

"Oh really?" Remilia said, not daunted at all. "Then let me show you the true power that I, Remilia Scarlet, possess!"

"I will also show you the true power of Aya Shameimaru!" Aya said. "That would be me!"

* * *

"Ahhh... It's very comfortable!" Marisa said as she lied down on the bed while Reisen massaged her legs.

"Are you feeling better?" Reisen asked her.

"Sure do! Whatever you sprayed on my legs, it works wonder!"

Reisen looked at the spray bottle that she applied on Marisa's legs. "This appears to be a muscle relaxant. Since this world is more advanced than our world, it's probably no surprise that they have very advanced medical technology as well."

"Yeah, Eirin's medicines still require one to rest for a few days before returning to perfect health."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Oh no! Someone's outside!" Meiling gasped.

"Is anyone in there?" said the voice behind the door. "If so, open up! Who gave you the permission to enter my office when I'm out? You even locked the door! This is a crime of trespassing, don't you know that?"

"Uh oh... What do we do?" Reisen said. "There's no other way out of this room... The only way is through that door, but we'll surely be caught if we go through there..."

"Did I hear someone talking in there?" said the voice. "Open up at once!"

"Looks like we have no choice," Marisa said as she stood back up. "We'll have to fight our way out of here."

"You can stand already?"

"Yeah, I'm back to perfect condition! Thanks a lot, Reisen!"

"Okay, I'll open the door," Meiling said as she placed her hand on the lock. "The moment I open the door, you shoot whoever is ouside, Marisa."

"Glad to follow your orders, Ms. Bodyguard!" Marisa said as she readied her broom.

"Okay, here goes!" Meiling said, and then she unlocked the door. The moment the door slid open, Marisa let loose a rapid burst of star-shaped projectiles at the Space Pirate that was standing outside.

"Radial Strike!"

"Wha!" Before the SP could do anything, he was shot in the body. "GAH!" After he was shot down, the girls quickly ran out of the room.

"C'mon! Let's get out of here!" Meiling said.

They made their way out of the infirmary, and the moment they stepped outside, they saw several Space Pirates all over the place. "Uh oh..." Reisen cried.

"There they are!" shouted a SP. "Get them!" And then the whole mob of SPs lunged at them.

"Meiling! Reisen! Stand back!" Meiling told her two friends. After the two had moved back into the infirmary, Meiling spun in circles to surround herself within a rainbow-colored cyclone. "Colorful Rain!"

The SPs were knocked back by the attack, and projectiles that shot into the air from the colorful cyclone also fell back down them. "All right! Let's go!" Meiling said, and then she quickly ran across the room with her two friends following her.

"Get them!" shouted another SP, and then another mob came after them.

"Looks like we can't get out of here without going wild," Marisa said. "Not that I mind. It's payback time-ze! Radial Strike!" And then she fired all over the place using her broom.

"Radiant Rainbow Fist!" Meiling shouted as she threw a series of super fast rainbow-powered punches at a Space Pirate using one arm. After punching him away, another SP fired a laser beam at her using his pincers, but she ducked down and then rushed at him to punch him in the abdomen.

"Disbelief Aspect!" Reisen shouted as she jumped back into the air to leave behind a clone of herself, and then they both started firing at the SPs.

"Miasma Sweep!" Marisa shouted as she performed a jumping uppercut using her broom to knock a SP into the air. While she was still in the air, a SP standing on a walkway lining along the wall in the air fired laser beams at her. She managed to avoid it by tilting her body to the side, and then she shot the SP on the way back down. "Radial Strike!"

Meiling threw a powerful punch into a SP's abdomen, and then she grabbed him by the arm and flung him away into an incoming SP. When a laser beam was fired at her, she swiftly moved aside and then lunged at the SP who fired the laser beam at a very fast speed to punch him away in the chest.

A SP on the walkway fired a laser beam at her, and at the same time, another SP tried to hit Meiling from behind. She leaped back into air, landed onto his head, and then kicked off his head to fly towards the walkway in the air. The SP on the walkway fired a laser beam at her, so she quickly formed a rainbow-colored vortex using her hand. "Water Form Taichi!" The vortex absorbed the beam and then released a projectile at the SP. The SP was knocked back by the projectile, but was then punched in the face by Meiling when she flew onto the walkway.

Turning to the bottom, she saw Marisa and Reisen still fighting the SPs. "The both of you! Get up here! Quick!" she shouted.

"It's not as easy you think!" Reisen said while firing at the SPs

"You go on ahead, Reisen!" Marisa told her while using her broom to shoot down the SPs. "I'll try to hold them back for you! Consider this a thank you gift for helping me with my legs earlier!"

Reisen nodded and then headed for the staircase not too far away. Suddenly, a SP fell on his back from above in front of her. "Ya!"

"Sorry!" Meiling, who was fighting SPs on the walkway, called out to her.

Reisen quickly ran up the stairs, but three SPs ran after her. "You're not getting away!" one of them shouted.

"Disbelief Aspect!" Reisen shouted as she leaped all the way to the top of the staircase in a single jump, and in doing so, she left behind a clone of herself that fired rapidly at the SPs to keep them back. Reisen ran down the walkway to catch up with Meiling, but a SP suddenly jumped onto the walkway in front of her. "Yikes!"

"Haha! There's no escape for... OW!" The SP was kicked in the side of the waist by a roundhouse kick from Meiling and was sent flying off the walkway as a result.

"Thanks, Meiling!" Reisen said.

Meiling then looked down to see Marisa running towards the staircase. "Quick, Marisa!" she called out to her.

"I'm coming!" Marisa said as she got closer and closer to the top of the staircase. Suddenly, a Space Pirate clad in purplish armor appeared in front of her in a burst of red light. "What the!" The SP swung his arm cannon at her to knock her back to the bottom. "Ow!"

"Marisa!" Meiling gasped. She then ran towards them SP to attack him, but two SPs that had golden skin jumped onto the walkway in front of her.

"Commander Punk is about to kill that girl, so why don't you'll be fighting us instead?" one of them said.

"You won't be taking us down so easily! Heheheh!" the other one said.

Marisa groaned as she sat back up. "Ow... Now my back is hurting a bit..." she cried. She then looked at the SP as he came down the stairs. "It's you again!"

"We meet again," said the Pirate Commander, Punk.

* * *

Alice poked her head out from behind a wall to look around for signs of danger, and when she saw none, she motioned her Sanae to follow her around the corner. The two girls then ran down the hallway at a moderate pace. "Um... I've wanted to ask this," Sanae said. "Do you know where we are supposed to go?"

"Not sure," Alice replied. "We have no idea about the layout of this place. Somehow, we made it into one of the buildings without getting caught. All we can do now is to run around and look for the others."

"We're running around aimlessly, aren't we...?"

"You can say that..."

Unknown to them, a security camera on the ceiling was watching them run down the hallway, and as the two girls got closer and closer to the door at the far end of the hallway, the sound of something pounding against the floor was suddenly heard. "Uh? What's that sound?" Sanae wondered.

Suddenly, the door in front of them opened and the B.O.X. Security Robot, patched up from its previous battle, stepped out. "It's that thing again!" Alice said in shock.

"INTRUDERS DETECTED," the robot said in a loud, computerized voice. "ELIMINATE ALL INTRUDERS AT ONCE." The robot then bent down a little bit and opened the top of its of head to lob a metal ball in their direction. When the metal ball hit the floor, it exploded into a wall of fire that traveled in their direction while growing and shrinking in height.

"Run!" Alice shouted as she quickly back down the hall.

"No wait! I can counter that!" Sanae said. "Make Waves!" She slammed the back end of her gohei onto the floor to send water appear around her. The water and the fire collided and the fire was obviously doused out as a result. "Okay, now that the fire is gone, we can now fight it!"

Alice, wet due to being caught in Make Waves, looked at Sanae standing bravely before the Security Robot, so she went up next to her with her arm ready to summon and control dolls. "All right," she said. "Seeing how you're standing without fear in front of the enemy, I don't see why I shouldn't as well. Let's take down this thing together!

* * *

BANG!

A Space Pirate crashed into the wall with a very powerful force. Another one appeared from around a corner and ran as fast as he could for his life. "The enemy is too strong!" he shouted into his communication device. "Request for backup immediately!"

"This is the second time that you ran from your opponent, Scout Trooper No. 13," said the voice of Ridley through his communication device. "The only reason that you were spared the first time was because of your report that Samus is on this planet, but you have no reason to be retreating this time."

"I'm sorry..."

"For your cowardice, you shall be shot in the back as punishment! You better get ready for this!"

"Yes..."

Around the corner, Aya and Remilia were standing in front of an injured Space Pirate. All the other SPs were taken out by them, and the hallway was a mess due to the battle. "Well, you're the only one left," Remilia said. "What do you plan to do now?"

Suddenly, the SP heard a voice speaking to him through his communication device. After listening to what was being said, he nodded and then got into a fighting stance. "What are you going to do now?" Remilia asked him. "They say that a cornered rat will fight back. I wonder what you are capable of now that you're the only one left still standing."

"There's only one chance to this," the SP thought. "I have to succeed no matter what!" And then he rushed at the two girls as fast as he could.

"Gale Fan!" Aya shouted as she used her fan to fire a wind blade. The SP jumped over the wind blade and towards the wall. He then kicked off the wall and towards Remilia at a very fast speed and snatched her hat when he went over her.

"Hey! Give it back!" Remilia shouted at him.

The SP quickly dashed between the girls as fast as he could and then disappeared around the corner. "Return my hat at once, you thief!" Remilia shouted as she gave chase.

The SP ran as fast as he could down the hallway, and he eventually came to a door at the side. He quickly threw the hat into the room behind the door and then continued running down the hall. Aya and Remilia eventually came to the door and stopped chasing the SP. "What was that for?" Aya wondered.

"He's out of his mind!" Remilia said, and then she went into the room to pick up her hat. Aya also went in along with her. "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind the next time I run into him!"

Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut. Aya walked up to the door, but it did not open, so she pounded against it using one hand. "The door won't open!"

Remilia looked around the room and saw that the room was circular in design and had a very high ceiling. "I don't see any other exits around here," she said. "Guess that guy took my hat for the purpose of luring us into this room. Okay, what's next? He has us trapped in here, so there's probably going to be some death trap waiting for us."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ridley and some other Space Pirates were watching the two girls through a large screen.

"Good! They have been lured into the room!" Ridley said when he saw that the two girls were in the room. "Awaken Nightmare at once!"

* * *

Unknown to the two girls, a large creature was attached to the ceiling via several wires. Energy traveled down the wires and into the creature's body, and then the creature started to twitch its arms. Aya heard the flow of the energy, which sounded like electricity, so she looked up and saw the creature starting to move its body. "Hey, there's something up there," she said.

The wires were ripped off when the creature trashed around violently, and then it floated to the bottom of the room and stopped a few meters above the floor.

The creature was completely made out of metal that was dark blue in color, had a tail, and lacked legs. The creature's face, which looked more like a mask, was dark blue like the rest of its body. Its eyes were glowing with red light and the mouth looks as if it had been stitched together. The creature then spread out its arms and roared as loud as it could—Nightmare.

"Okay, what do we have here?" Remilia asked, undaunted by the appearance of the creature.

* * *

Nitori came into a room and saw a pool of water there. As she was desperate to escape her pursuers, she had no choice but to jump into the pool of water. Some Space Pirates came into the room shortly afterwards just in time to see the ripples on the water surface disappearing. "Did she jump in there?" the SP in lead wondered.

"She probably can't hold her breath for too long. It's a while from here to the next resurfacing spot," said another one. "Plus, some of the creatures in the water are dangerous. She's definitely screwed."

Under the water, Nitori swam through the passage and looked around to see several bizarre-looking fish, but they merely swam by her without doing anything. "Those are some really strange-looking fish," she thought. "I wonder where this passage of water leads to anyway."

After a while of swimming through the water-filled passage, Nitori eventually came to a spot where she could resurface. She poked her head out of the water and looked around to make sure that it was safe to come out, and when she had made sure of it, she climbed onto the floor. "Good, there's nobody here," she said while twisting her hat to dry it, and then she noticed a door not too far away, so she went up to it.

The door automatically opened when she got close to it, and when she went threw it, she found herself standing on a platform that was surrounded by water. "What is this place?" she wondered. "There's nothing but water here. Maybe it's a swimming pool?"

Suddenly, she noticed something moving underneath the water. She wasn't sure what that thing was, and out of fear, she decided to leave the room before trouble arises. When she turned around, there was the sound of water splashing. Nitori turned around just in time to see something with long serpentine body rising out of the water and straight into the air. When she looked up, she saw an open mouth falling towards her.

Nitori managed to jump out of the way in time before the creature fell on top of her, and the creature crashed its head onto the surface of the platform as a result. Nitori emerged from the water surface and looked at the large serpentine creature in front of her with wide open eyes. "WHAT IS THAT!"

The creature turned to look at her and then let out a loud roar before lunging at her.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I don't have much to say. Just look forward to the battle matchups in the next chapter!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Predators vs. Preys**


	58. Predators vs Preys

In order to identify random Space Pirates with more ease, they will be referred to names like Space Pirate A (Pirate A for short) and Space Pirate B (Pirate B for short) whenever necessary.

**Chater 57  
Predators vs. Prey**

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* * *

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Nitori quickly swam out of the way when the five-eyed sea serpent fell towards her. The sea serpent splashed into the water with such a force that a wave was created, and it carried Nitori across the room until she hit a glass wall.

Behind the glass wall, Space Pirate A watched with a surprised expression at Nitori's presence. "Hey, there's someone inside Serris's room!" he said.

Space Pirate B came over to him and saw Nitori. "I know that girl! She is one of the intruders and is on the same side as Samus!" he said. "When did she get in there?"

Nitori quickly swam away when the sea serpent, Serris, swam towards her, so he smashed his head against the glass instead.

CRASH!

"Thanks goodness that the glass is extra tough..." Pirate A said.

"Serris is a creature capable of moving at high speed, so the walls have to be strong enough to resist impacts from him when he moves at such a speed," the Pirate B said. "Well, that girl's screwed. Even if she is a good swimmer, there's no way that she can escape from Serris."

**BGM: Serris/Yakuza Battle (Metroid Fusion)**

Back in the water-filled room and under the water, Nitori was carefully watching Serris as he swam around the place at a very fast speed. "This monster is fast!" Nitori thought, and when the sea serpent swam towards her, she quickly moved aside to avoid getting hit. When the sea serpent turned to her again, Nitori quickly swam upwards and then grabbed onto his back using her mechanical arms, and as a result, she was pulled along by him. "Electric Ar... Wait a minute! We're in water! I'm going to get electrocuted myself too if I zap him with Electric Arm!"

Serris suddenly leaped into the air and shook his body violently in midair. This caused the hands to lose their grips on the sea serpent's back, and thus Nitori fell off. "Whoa!"

Serris dived back into the water at the same time Nitori resurfaced and said, "I must get out of here fast!" And then she swam her for the platform. Suddenly, Serris shot up from underneath her and then snapped shut his jaws. The kappa was swallowed whole by the sea serpent.

"Well, what did I tell you?" said Pirate B. "Told ya that she wouldn't last long! Sucks to be her!"

"Wait a minute... Something's not right..." Pirate A said.

"What?" Pirate B then looked through the glass wall to see Serris moving around underwater as if it was in pain.

The sea serpent eventually opened his mouth to let out a painful cry, and then he coughed as hard as he could until Nitori was coughed out into the water, much to the surprise of the two SPs.

"Phew... Glad to have made it out..." she thought. "I used Electric Arm to zap his throat until he coughed me out..." She then turned to look at Serris. "This settles it! I'm going to give this a guy a good beating until he learns a lesson! Eat this! Kappa Missile!" And she fired several missiles from her backpack.

The missiles struck Serris and made the sea serpent reel back in pain, but he quickly recovered and charged at her at high speed. Nitori quickly moved down and used her mechanical arms to hold onto Serris when he passed over her, and then she pulled herself towards the sea serpent and rammed him underneath the body as hard as she could with her head.

SMASH!

The impact caused Serris to cry in pain and flip over to the side. Nitori then moved backwards until her back touched the glass wall, and then she planted her feet against the glass wall before kicking off at the sea serpent while spinning like a drill. "Spinning Torpedo!" she shouted, and then she rammed into the side of Serris's face.

SMASH!

Serris was pushed by the head all the way into the wall really hard. Nitori moved back once again and then fired green laser beams at him. "Monster Cucumber!"

The sea serpent roared in pan as the beams pelted him constantly, and then he quickly swam to the surface.

"You're not getting away!" Nitori said. When Serris leaped out of the water and was directly above her, she shot up really fast. "Kappa's Great Illusionary Waterfall!" Nitori, surrounded by a pillar of water, shot up into the air and hit the sea serpent from below so hard that he was pushed all the way to the ceiling.

CRASH!

"Whoa... That girl sure is something!" Pirate A said.

"That's not something to be amazed about!" Pirate B reminded him. "Yeah, she is indeed stronger than I thought, but we're not supposed to be rooting for her!"

Both Serris and Nitori fell back into the water. Nitori emerged from the water and said, "Haha! How'd you like that?" Suddenly, Serris's tail swung out of the water and knocked her into the glass wall. "YA!"

The sea serpent then jumped at Nitori. Luckily, she fell into the water before Serris reached her, so he hit the glass wall instead. Nitori quickly swam to a safer distance and then turned around to fire missiles at him. "Kappa Missile!"

Serris was hit by the missiles, but he easily shrugged them off and than charged at Nitori. The kappa quickly swam out of the way, but Serris pulled off an unexpected move of swinging his tail at her as she attempted to swim away from him. Serris then charged at her with his mouth wide open while she was still spinning backwards through the water vertically. Nitori quickly released her mechanical arms and used them to grab upper and lower parts of Serris's mouth to keep it open, and then she used the arms to swerve Serris into the wall.

CRASH!

Nitori backed off from Serris while the sea serpent was shaking his head. "You must have a really hard head to able to shrug off ramming your head against walls!" she said.

Serris looked at her and growled angrily, and then his body started to give off white light that had a pinkish tinge.

"Uh? What's happening?"

Suddenly, Nitori found herself crushed against the wall by Serris's head.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

"There it is!" Pirate B said. "Serris is now moving at ultra-high speed!"

Nitori started sinking to the bottom when Serris pulled back his head. "What happened...?" Nitori said in her head. "I didn't even see him charging at me at all!" Suddenly, she was hit in the left side of the body, then the right, then the left, then the right, and so on. "AH! YA! AH!"

The kappa was knocked around the place as Serris swam around at an incredibly fast speed, so fast that one could only make out a trail of white light with a pinkish tinge traveling around the water.

"I can't keep on getting hit like this!" Nitori told herself. "I must get out of the water at once!" And then she quickly swam for the surface as fast she could, and when she did, she also flew into the air. "Hey! I can fly again!"

"What! How is she floating in the air!" Pirate A said in shock.

"How would I know!" Pirate B replied with an equally shocked expression.

Nitori looked down and saw Serris moving around underwater at a really fast speed. "Looks like that guy is getting serious," she thought. "I better get serious too. First, I'll have to give myself some form of protection from his high speed impacts! Hydro Sphere!" She grabbed the water and then pulled up a glob of water. When the glob of water fell onto Nitori, she became encased inside it. Basically, Nitori was now inside a ball of water.

Serris shot out of the water at high speed and rammed into Nitori. Despite being made of water, the Hydro Sphere was actually durable enough to remain unbroken when hit. It merely flew back and bounced off the wall. "You won't be breaking my Hydro Sphere so easily!" Nitori said to him. "I can also attack you while in here! Kappa Missile!" And then she fired missiles at Serris.

The sea serpent jumped straight at the missiles, but because of his high speed movement, he grazed through the missiles unharmed. The Hydro Sphere was once again hit and sent bouncing off the wall. Serris charged at the Hydro Sphere for the third time, this time with his mouth wide open.

"Uh oh..." Nitori quickly moved aside when Serris came close. The side of the Hydro Sphere was caught in Serris's mouth when he closed it, and his sharp teeth managed to make the ball of water splatter into bits. "Curses! He used his teeth to break it! The Hydro Sphere can be penetrated by sharp things!"

When Serris fell back into the water, his body stopped glowing. "It seems that he was reached his limit," Pirate B said.

"What do you mean?" Pirate A asked.

"He can't move at ultra-high speed forever. He needs to stop to take a rest once in a while."

Nitori dived into the water and saw Serris floating there, so she thrust her palm in his direction. "Torpedo Palm!" This caused Serris to be in the head hit by an invisible force.

POW!

"Surprised, eh?" Nitori asked. "I can thrust my palm against the water so hard that a portion of it gets pushed forward. Getting hit by it hurts as much as getting hit by a rock!"

The sea serpent roared angrily and then charged at Nitori. She quickly swam out of the way and then started thrusting her palm against the water really fast to fire several invisible projectiles at Serris. "Torpedo Piston!"

SLAP SMASH SMACK POW SMASH SLAP SMACK!

Serris was struck in the side of his head rapidly, and the powerful force of the invisible projectiles pinned him to the glass wall, and he was hit with such a force that the glass shook and seemed like it was going to break apart. The two Space Pirates could not believe what they were seeing.

"Are you kidding me! That girl has that much power?" Pirate A said in shock.

When Nitori was done thrusting her palm, Serris sank to the bottom to the bottom of the water unconsciously.

"Heh! That should do the trick!" Nitori thought.

"Incredible! She actually defeated Serris!" Pirate A said in shock.

"This can't be happening!" Pirate B said in horror. "I must be seeing things! How can she defeat a giant monster like Serris? Samus I can believe, but her? Who is she?"

Nitori swam onto the platform, but right when she was about to go through the door, Serris leaped out of the water and towards her with his mouth wide open. "Yeah! That's the boy!" Pirate B said. "Get her, Serris!"

Nitori spun around and reached out her mechanical arms. The arms grabbed the upper and lower parts of Serris's mouth and held the sea monster in place the best it could. "Was the beating earlier not enough for you?" Nitori asked. "Don't blame me for going too rough on you! Monster Cucumber!" And she fired green laser beams straight into Serris's mouth.

The sea monster roared in pain and then the mechanical arms let go of his mouth. "Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as she fired several missiles at Serris.

KABOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the smoke cleared, Serris, badly charred, let out a weak growl before falling back into the water.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"There! That should teach you!" Nitori said as the mechanical arms retracted back into her backpack, and then she turned to leave the room.

"Looks like Serris down for real..." Pirate A said.

"I can't believe it!" Pirate B said in disbelief. "That girl's not going to get away with this! Quick! Let's inform the others about this! She must pay for this!"

* * *

A lone Space Pirate walked up to a large window and said, "Time to feed that Hornoad kept by that guy guarding the western gate. What did he call that Hornoad again? Oh yeah, it's Wart." When he looked through the window, he was horrified to see a frozen Hornoad. "OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO WART!"

He quickly went into the room that was made to resemble the caverns of SR388 and picked up the frozen Hornoad. "Wart! What happened to you? Make a noise or something! What am I going to say to your owner when he finds out about this?" Suddenly, he the sound of footsteps, and when he turned around, he caught notice of something slipping out of the room. "Hey! Who's there?"

He ran out of the room to see who it was, but the person had already left the place. "Tsk! He got away!" He then looked at the security camera at the corner of the ceiling and said, "I better go and check the security camera to see what happened." And then he ran out of the room.

The Space Pirate headed in the left direction when he left the room. Had he turned to the right instead, he would noticed Cirno with her face planted against the wall as flat as she could. Cirno watched the Space Pirate ran down the hallway and snickered. "Heheh! My hiding skill is so good that nobody can find me at all!" she thought. "I managed to sneak all the way into this place without being caught! Okay, they did catch me running around the place, they didn't actually catch me! After all, I'm too fast to caught by them and also too smart to be found by them when I go into hiding!"

"Hey you! Who are you and what are you doing over there?" shouted the voice of a SP.

Cirno turned around and saw a Space Pirate pointing at her. "Oops... Busted... Gotta go!" And then she ran.

"You're not getting away!" the Space Pirate shouted as he gave chase.

Cirno pointed back her arm and fired a beam at the floor as she ran to freeze it. When the Space Pirate ran onto the icy floor, he slid forward at a fast speed. "Whoa!" Cirno quickly jumped aside so that she doesn't get hit by him, and the Space Pirate fell over on his chest when he slid onto the unfrozen part of the floor. "Haha! Idiot!" Cirno laughed. "Even a little kid knows how to avoid icy floors!"

"Why you!" The Space Pirate angrily said as he got back up. "Die!" And he fired a laser beam at her from his pincers.

Cirno dodged the laser beam and then fired an icicle at him, but the Space Pirate jumped out of its way before firing more lasers at her. Cirno flew forward while moving left and right to avoid getting hit, and then she quickly formed an ice sword in her hand to swing at the SP.

The Space Pirate stepped aside to avoid getting hit and then tried to attack Cirno with his pincers, but she quickly blocked it with her ice sword. She then swung the sword at him several times, but the Space Pirate managed to avoid every single strike by moving around swiftly. "Don't underestimate me, little girl!" the Space Pirate said. "You're out of the league when facing a Space Pirate! We Space Pirates grew up learning everything that we need to know about combat, so our knowledge and experience in a fight is much more compared to what you may know! You're a hundred years behind me!"

"Oh yeah? Would you be surprised that I am the strongest?" Cirno asked him. She thrust the ice sword at the SP, but he caught and crushed it with his pincer. "What!"

"I told you that you are a hundred years behind me when it comes to fighting!" the Space Pirate told her. "Now die!" He thrust his pincer at Cirno's face, but she quickly ducked down.

"Icicle Rise!" Cirno shouted as she slammed her hand onto the part of the floor in front of the SP, and then a white circle appeared underneath his feet.

"What's this?" the Space Pirate wondered when he saw the white circle, and then icicles shot upwards and hit him. "YAAAAAAAAA!" With each hit, he was pushed upwards until he hit the ceiling, and when the icicles stopped shooting out from the white circle, he fell back down with a thud.

THUD!

Cirno crossed her arms and laughed, "Hahahahahahaha! Told ya that I'm the strongest! This is what you get for not believing me!"

"Someone's laughing over there!" said the voice of another SP.

"Someone's coming!" Cirno thought. "No problem! I can deal with him all by myself!" And then several SPs showed up from around the corner of the hallway.

"What's happened here?" Pirate Z said.

Pirate C noticed the knocked out Space Pirate on the floor and said, "Hey! What happened to him? Did he get defeated by that little girl?"

"Either he's very weak or that girl is very strong," Pirate G said.

"Whatever the case is, get that girl!" Pirate H said, and then the entire mob of SPs charged at Cirno.

"Okay... This is a bit unfair..." Cirno said when she saw the amount of SPs coming at her at once, "but I'm not backing out without a fight! Frost Pillars!" She slammed her hands onto the floor to make icicles grow in the direction of the incoming SPs.

"Watch out!" Pirate Z shouted, and then the SPs quickly jumped at the walls on both sides of hallway and somehow latched onto them to avoid getting hit by the icicles, and then they fell back onto the floor to continue going after Cirno. "That didn't work on us!"

Seeing that her attack didn't work, Cirno quickly took flight, but as she flew down the hallway, she pointed back her finger to fire a beam at the floor to freeze it. "Happy slipping!" she said. However, the SPs jumped at the wall and crawled along it like geckos to continue going after her without slipping on the icy floor. "Hey! That's cheating!"

"Get back here!" Pirate Z shouted as he fired a laser beam at Cirno after falling back onto the floor.

The laser beam struck one of her wings. "Ow! That hurts!" she angrily said, and then she noticed a door at the side of the hallway. "I'll hide in that room!" And then she went into the room, only to find out that it was a small square room with nothing inside at all. "Hey! What's with this room? It's so small and empty!" When she turned around, she noticed a button with an arrow pointing downwards imprinted on it. "What's this?" And then she pressed the button.

When the button was pressed, the door closed. The SPs came too late, so they were unable to go inside the room. "Hey! She went down the elevator!" Pirate Z said.

"This elevator leads to the Metroids' research room!" Pirate H said.

* * *

"So... this is the death trap?" Aya asked while looking at the creature known as Nightmare.

"Seems like it," Remilia said with a nod. "What's it going to do to us anyway?"

**BGM: Nightmare/Goyagma Battle (Metroid: Other M)**

Nightmare let out a roar before charging at them while flailing around its arms. The two girls jumped out of the way and Nightmare rammed his face into the wall instead. When he turned around, both Aya and Remilia fired projectiles into his face.

"Gale Fan!"

"Red Magic!"

Nightmare was struck in the face, and then he let out of a roar before flying into the air. There, he stretched out his arms to fire energy projectiles from the turrets built along them at the two girls, but they easily avoided them by moving around swiftly.

"You can't hit me!" Aya taunted as she flew higher than Nightmare. "Tengu Downburst!" And she landed a drop kick onto the top of his head.

"Demon Lord Cradle!" Remilia shouted as she flew diagonally upwards through the air while spinning to hit Nightmare from below. The mechanical creature was knocked through the air and into the wall with a powerful crash, but he quickly recovered and roared loudly, and then the tip of his tail started spinning.

Suddenly, Aya and Remilia fell onto the floor as if it was sucking them downwards. "What the! I can't fly all of a sudden!" Aya said in shock.

"I can't even stand back up!" Remilia said as she pushed her hands against the floor to get back up. "What is happening!"

Meanwhile, two Space Pirates were watching them from behind a part of the wall that was made of glass. "Nightmare has activated his Gravity Manipulator," Pirate D said.

"But is it really a good idea for us to release Nightmare?" Pirate E asked. "Sure, we did this under the captain's order, but..."

"Don't worry; this room is made to withstand Nightmare's destructive power. No matter how wild he goes, there is no way he can break out of this room!"

Aya and Remilia were still pinned the floor and unable to get back up. "Ugh... My body... hurts..." Aya cried. "It's as if some... thing... is crushing... me..."

While the two girls were unable to move, Nightmare came down to them and then slammed his arms on top of them over and over really hard.

SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM!

They both cried in pain as the mechanical creature attacked them mercilessly, but there was nothing that they could do to fight back. Nightmare then swung his arm at Remilia to send her flying across the room and into the wall, but she was immediately pulled onto the floor.

"Ugh... You monster..." Remilia growled as she tried to get back up. "You'll pay for this!" And then she mustered all her strength into her legs to stand back up. She did her best to hold out her hand to create a red energy spear, and then taking aim at Nightmare, she threw the spear. "Heart Break!" However, her arm swung downwards when she did so, and as a result, the spear exploded against the floor.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sound of the explosion grabbed Nightmare's attention, so the mechanical creature stopped attacking Aya to turn around to see the vampire lying on her back and charred from her own attack. The mechanical creature then flew over to her.

"Ow... My whole body hurts..." Aya cried. "That merciless monster..."

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

When Aya heard the sound, she turned over to where Remilia was to see Nightmare slamming his hands over her mercilessly.

"Ow! Stop it!" Remilia shouted. "Stop it... OW! At once! OW!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Remilia!" Aya shouted. She tried to get up, but the gravity forced her to stay back down. "Ugh! I can't move like this! Remilia is in trouble! Just what is happening! Why can't I stand up?" She could do nothing but watch Nightmare mercilessly pounding Remilia with his hands.

"Gyah! Ah! Stop it!" Remilia cried as she received the painful blows. "I'm going to... AH! Get back at... AH! You when I... YEOW! Get the chance to... OW! Fight back! OW!"

"Must do... something..." Aya told herself as she tried to get back up again, "or else... Remilia... will die!"

After Nightmare was done smashing Remilia, he picked her up using both hands and then flew in Aya's direction while sliding the vampire's face across the floor. Aya was hit by Remilia when Nightmare slid the vampire into her, and so she was pushed across the floor until she hit the wall. Nightmare then slammed his hands on top of them over and over again.

"I'M GOING TO TEAR THIS THING INTO PIECES IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO! LET GO OF ME AT ONCE, YOU DISGUSTING PILE OF SCRAP METAL!" Remilia shouted at the top of her voice, and then she rolled over on her back and grabbed Nightmare's hand.

While receiving the painful blows, Aya noticed the tip of the Nightmare's tail in front of them. "I think I know the reason... OW! Behind our inability to... YA! Stand up!" she said. "Look at the tip of his... OW! Tail! I noticed that... UGH! We were no longer to stand up... GAH! When it started spinning! OW! It must have something to do... YA! With this!"

"Then I'm going to stop it from spinning!" Remilia shouted, and then she held out one hand created a red spear.

"Hey! We're going to get caught in the blast too!" Aya told her.

Too late; Remilia threw the spear at the tip of the tail. "Heart Break!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Nightmare was sent flying backwards by the explosion, and the blast had blown off his tail, leaving only a stub. There were also cracks on his face, and from the cracks leaked green ooze. All that remained of it was a stub. "Geez! You just had to drop your attack right there, didn't you?" said Aya as she came out from the smoke, charred.

"You should be thanking me that we are able to stand up again," Remilia said as she came out.

"Yes, yes, thanks a lot, Mistress Remilia."

"All right, it's payback time!" Remilia said as she turned to glare at Nightmare.

"You bet!" Aya said as she brought up her fan in front in front of her face.

Nightmare let out a roar while spreading out his arms to get ready to fire energy projectiles, but Aya rushed in front of him to kick him in the face. "Oh no you don't!" she said, and then she swung her fan. "Maple Leaf Fan!"

The towering tornado created from the swing of the fan sent Nightmare spinning to the top of the room. "Demon's Dinner Fork!" Remilia shouted as she created five red energy spears, and then she threw them all at the same time at Nightmare from below.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Nightmare hit the ceiling and then fell back down to the bottom with a crash. Despite this, the mechanical creature still got back up, though it looked to be in a weakened state. "What? Not enough beating yet?" Remilia asked.

The mechanical creature let out a roar and then lunged forward to slam his hand onto the floor to hit the girls, but they jumped out of the way. "Wind of the Tengu Path!" Aya shouted as she swung her fan to fire a horizontal cyclone that hit Nightmare in the face and pushed him backwards until he hit the wall.

CRASH!

"Red Magic!" Remilia shouted as she fired a red energy ball at his face.

BANG!

Even more cracks appeared on Nightmare's face as a result. The mechanical creature flew into the air while flailing his arms around madly, and then with a loud roar, the metallic surface of his face shattered into pieces to reveal the true face—a green, slimy face with six yellow eyes. The creature let out a high-pitched roar.

"Whoa man! Your previous face looks better!" Aya commented.

"Such a disgusting beast..." Remilia commented.

**BGM: Nightmare Unmasked (Metroid Other M)**

Nightmare came down to them to attack with his arms, but the girls flew into the air. Nightmare flew to the same level as them, spread out his arms, and spun in circles while firing a constant stream of energy from the turrets lined along his arms. Remilia flew higher into the air while Aya flew downwards to avoid getting hit.

"Midnight Queen!" Remilia shouted as she stretched forth her arms to fire a rapid burst of red energy balls that struck Nightmare on the head.

While Nightmare was getting pelted by the energy balls, Aya fired wind blades at him from below. "Gale Fan!"

Nightmare cried in pain as the projectiles struck him from both directions nonstop. He then flailed his arms around while firing energy projectiles rapidly, and as a result, the projectiles were fired in random directions. Fortunately, the girls were used to dodging large amounts of projectiles, so they had no problem avoiding them.

"Lost your mind, haven't you?" Remilia said as she formed a red energy spear in her hand. "Then you might as well give up already! Heart Break!" And she threw it at his face.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Nightmare flew back from getting hit in the face. Electric currents and sparks started coming out from various parts of his body, and with one last roar, the gravity-manipulating monster exploded into pieces.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Remains of Nightmare fell onto the floor. His arms were in pieces and his body was full of holes. As for the face, it slowly turned from green to red and looked as if it was going to melt. Nightmare growled weakly and then became perfectly silent.

Aya and Remilia landed next to him and Remilia said, "That should put you in your place."

"Sorry if that hurt too much, but you did hurt us a lot either, so this should be fair," Aya said to the lifeless creature.

The two SPs behind the glass wall were shocked at what they saw. "What! Nightmare is defeated?" Pirate D said in shock. "How can this be!"

"Beats me! I didn't know that those two are this strong either!" Pirate E said. "This is bad! What do we do?"

* * *

"WHAT! THEY DESTROYED NIGHTMARE!" Ridley said with wide open eyes. All the Space Pirates in the room were equally shocked as well. Ridley then shouted into the microphone on the controller in front of the large screen. "Don't let those two leave the room! Keep them inside until the X Troopers arrive!"

* * *

"Got it," Pirate D said when he heard his captain's orders through his communication device, and then he pressed a button on the controller in front of the glass.

Suddenly, Aya showed up on the other side of the glass and said something, but the two SPs could not hear her. "Hey! The both of you!" she said in a loud voice. "Did you like the show just now? Pretty cool, eh? You were expecting us to get killed by that monster, right? Too bad!"

"She looks happy and proud of herself," Pirate E said.

"That happy expression of hers will disappear the moment the X Troopers come in! Same thing goes for that winged friend of hers over there!" Pirate D said.

Remilia was standing in front of the door and looking around the place. "The door won't open," she said. "There's no other way out of this room as well. So they plan to keep us locked up in this room?"

* * *

"Grrrr! How can they defeat Nightmare! They can't be that strong, can they?" Ridley growled.

"Captain! Samus has been spotted in the hallway leading to the construction room!" said a Space Pirate sitting front of a computer.

"What! Transfer the footage over here at once!" Ridley told him.

"Yes, captain!" the Space Pirate said, and then he transferred the footage to the big screen. The footage showed Samus standing against the wall and looking around the corner. Instead of being in her usual bulky armor, she was wearing an orange armor that was more skintight in appearance. She suddenly noticed the security camera, so she quickly fired a plasma beam at it. The screen became gray static as a result.

"So she's close to the construction room, eh?" Ridley asked. "If I remember correctly, a robotic version of me is being constructed at that place even as we speak."

"Captain, the robot is currently ninety percent complete," a Space Pirate told him.

"Whatever... Anyway, I'm going to go and take on Samus myself!" Ridley said as he turned to leave the room. "Today is the day that the bounty huntress meets her end! Heheheheh!"

* * *

Sanae and Alice were running through a hallway while the B.O.X. Security Robot chased them from behind. "ELIMNATE ALL INTRUDERS,"the robot said, and then it fired missiles at them, but Alice made her dolls hold up shields to block the missiles.

"We should at least get to a large room before fighting that thing," Alice, wet from head to toe, said. "It's not a good idea to fight here due to lack of space. The fire created by the bombs that it throws takes up too much space for us to escape. Plus, I always get wet if you use Make Waves!"

"Sorry about that... Hey, I see a door over there!" Sanae said. The two girls ran as fast as they could until they went through the door.

Once inside the room, they were greeted by some Space Pirates. "Hey! These two were with Samus earlier!" one of the Space Pirates said.

"Then let's get them!" said another one.

"ELIMINATE ALL INTRUDERS," the Security Robot said as it entered the room.

"Oh no! We're surrounded!" Sanae said.

"Don't worry," Alice told her. "We're not entirely helpless now that there is enough space here for us to fight. Stay close to me, Sanae!" And then Alice used a card to summon several dolls. "Spring Kyoto Dolls!" And then the dolls moved in circles around the girls were firing green projectiles from their hands rapidly.

"What the heck!" a Space Pirate shouted before he got hit by the projectiles. The SPs were unable to avoid such a large amount of projectiles, so they got hit all over the body.

The Security Robot, on the other hand, withstood the projectile thanks to its tough armor. "ELIMNATE ALL INTRUDERS," it said, and then it fired missiles. However, the missiles were hit by the projectiles the moment they came out, so they exploded and blasted the robot's head.

BAAAAAAAANG! KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The onslaught of energy projectiles eventually stopped, and the SPs were lying unconsciously on the floor. "Wow... You took them all out using just a single move..." Sanae said in awe. Then she noticed a Space Pirate trying to get back up, so she threw an exploding paper amulet at him.

KABOOM!

"GAH!" the Space Pirate cried before passing out.

"ELIMNATE ALL INTRUDERS," the Security Robot said loudly while stomping the floor over and over.

"That thing is still active?" Alice said.

**BGM: B.O.X. Security Robot Battle (Metroid Fusion)**

The robot lobbed a metal ball at them, so they quickly moved out of the way. The bomb exploded into a column of fire when the hit the floor. Alice made her dolls aim at the robot, but their bullets simply bounced off its legs.

"Fortune Slip Bomb!" Sanae shouted as she threw packet at the robot. The packet fell on the top of the robot's head and exploded like a firework.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Sparks flew out from the robot's head due to the damage caused, and then it turned to face Sanae and said, "OFFENDER DETECTED. MUST ELIMINATE OFFENDER." And then it leaped at her.

Sanae quickly ran out of the way before the robot fell on top of her. The robot landed with a powerful crash and then fired several missiles at Sanae. "Oh no!" Sanae said in shock when she turned back her head to see the missiles coming after her. The missiles were about to hit her when suddenly several dolls came in front of the missiles to block them with their shields.

BAAAAAAAAANG! BOOOOOOOOOM!

Sanae turned to look at Alice and said, "Thanks, Alice!"

"Save the thanks for later!" Alice told her.

Sanae turned around to look at the Security Robot to see that it was scurrying towards her like a spider. The dolls tried to push it back using their shields, but the robot easily rammed them out of the way and continued heading for Sanae.

"Get away from me!" Sanae shouted, and then she threw a packet onto the floor in front of the approaching robot. "Cobalt Spread!"

The packet exploded and created a blue ripple that caused the robot to stand up on its hind legs like a startled horse

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae then used a card to fire snake-like missiles at the robot's underside, and the robot fell back onto the floor in an upside-down position.

"Artful Sacrifice!" Alice shouted as she threw a doll at the upside-down robot.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Whoa!" Sanae held her arm over her face due to the force of the explosion.

"Did that do it?" Alice wondered as she watched the explosion. When the explosion cleared, she saw that the robot was still upside-down on the floor, and there were several holes all over its body.

"MUST DESTROY OFFENDER," the robot said all of a sudden, and then it started moving its legs.

"What! It's not destroyed yet!" Sanae said in shock. "How can it be so tough!"

The B.O.X. Security Robot placed the legs on one side its body against the floor and then slowly flipped its entire body upright. "STILL IN CONDITION TO FIGHT. OFFENDER MUST BE DESTROYED," it said after getting back to normal position.

"Oh well," Alice said as she brought her dolls together. "Looks like this isn't going to end so fast..."

The robot fired several missiles at Alice, but she let her dolls destroy them by shooting at them with their rifles. She then held up Shanghai and said, "Shanghai Doll!" And Shanghai placed her hands in front of each other to fire a large pink laser.

The laser struck the robot in the face, thus causing it to take a step back. "ELIMINATE OFFENDER," the robot said, and then it leaped into the air and towards Alice. Alice quickly got out of the way when the robot landed, and then electric currents started running throughout the robot's body. "SYSTEM UNSTABLE. SYSTEM UNSTABLE." Suddenly, a part of its head exploded and let loose sparks into the air.

BANG!

"What's happening to it?" Alice wondered.

The robot started stomping its legs against the floor over and over, and then it scurried over to Alice very fast. The magician quickly moved aside to avoid getting hit, but the robot unexpectedly went after her and rammed her. Because the robot was covered in electricity, she got electrocuted.

ZAAAAAAP!

"AH!" Alice screamed as she flew back through the air.

"ELIMNATE ALL OFFENDERS. ELIMINATE ALL OFFENDERS. ELIMINATE ALL OFFENDERS," the robot said over and over as it fired missiles all over the place

Sanae desperately run around the place as the missiles soared through the air aimlessly. "That things going berserk!" she said. A missile struck the floor behind her and thus sent her flying forward. "YA!" She got back up after hitting the floor, and then an idea came to her when she looked at the Security Robot. "That's it! Water and electricity do not go well with each other! Maybe water will do something about it now that electricity is traveling throughout its body! Make Waves!" And she slammed the back of her gohei onto the floor to release water all around herself.

The robot was still firing missiles nonstop when the wave approached.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The robot stopped firing missiles after getting soaked by the wave, but electricity was still running throughout its body. Suddenly, more and more parts of its body exploded and sparks flew into the air as a result. "CRITICAL DAMAGE RECEIVED. SYSTEM UNSTABLE. CRITICAL DAMAGE RECEIVED. SYSTEM UNSTABLE. SYSTEM... UNSTABLE... SYS... TEM... UN... STA... BLE... MUST... ELI... MI... NATE... ALL... IN... TRU... DERS... MU... ST... ELI... MI... NI... MATE... ALL... OFFEN... DERS... MU... ST..." The B.O.X. Security Robot stopped talking when its body released even more electricity, and then it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"All right! I did it!" Sanae happily said, and then a piece of the robot's leg fell onto her head.

CONK!

"Ow!"

Alice got back up and saw the remains of the robot lying on all over the floor. "Good work, Sanae!" she said.

Sanae rubbed her head as she walked over to the magician and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right. What about you?"

"Yeah, I'm all right, asides from receiving a bump on the head..." Sanae then looked at the pieces of the robot and said, "This is the first time that I fought a robot. Now I can imagine how it feels to be in a science fiction movie or TV show!"

"You enjoy watching science fiction?"

"Of course! I have always been a huge fan of robots and aliens! When I was still living in the outside world, I watch TV shows and movies that contain robots and aliens all the time! It's normally a strange thing for girls to like those things. They say that girls are supposed to like dolls and cute things, but to me, robots, especially gigantic ones, and aliens fascinate me the most! I have a collection of actions figures back in the Moriya Shrine! Back in the outside word, I often save money in order to buy the newest action figures! I also remember staying out late night with my friends in order to be on the lookout for UFOs!"

As Sanae rambled on and on about her love for robots and aliens, a door appeared in the air behind her, and the moment it swung open, the cloaked person, armed with a scythe that had its blade made of green energy, jumped at the shrine maiden.

"Sanae! Watch out!" Alice shouted. She quickly shoved Sanae aside by the body and then ducked down to avoid getting hit by the scythe when the cloaked person swung it with the intention of cutting off Sanae's head. Alice then jumped back from the cloaked person and summoned her dolls together upon landing. "Who are you?"

"Heheheh! You sure acted fast!" the cloaked person said. "Let's see if you still have the strength to fight after the battle you had with that security robot!"

* * *

A lone Space Pirate was walking down the hallway. When he walked past a passage on the side, a stick came down in front of his face and then he was caught by the neck. "Ack! What the!"

Reimu, who was holding him by the neck using her gohei, asked him, "Hey you, I need you to do something for me. You better do what I say, or else..."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

There's a clarification that I need to make: I originally thought that Gale Fan is another way for calling Breeze Fan, but they are in fact two different moves. Breeze Fan involves sending a shockwave along the ground and using it in air causes the shockwave to travel diagonally downwards. Gale Fan, on the other hand, involves firing crescent-shaped wind blades through the air. Because of the description given in this story, Gale Fan is actually the one that has been used the whole time.

**Next chapter: Pirates vs. Girls**

**

* * *

**

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

I'm going to talk about some of my favorite themes in the series again!

**Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever:** I wasn't a big fan of Kogasa's theme at first, but the more I listen to it, the more it grew on me. It sounds very powerful and at the same time a bit depressing. After all, Kogasa has a depressing past where she is an umbrella that nobody wants to buy, so it fits. However, she is currently to be enjoying her life of scaring people in Gensokyo. At least she is trying to... Do your best, Kogasa-chan!

**Interdimensional Voyage of a Ghostly Passenger Ship: **This is probably one of the catchiest stage themes in the series. It definitely gives one the feeling of going on an epic voyage out to sea! Or the sky... Or wherever the ship is heading to... Also note that you can hear the Window notification popup two minutes and nine seconds into the song. According to someone on Youtube with the username raymoohackuray (spelled with a lowercase 'r'), ZUN said in his blog that the popup got there by accident.

**Bad Apple!: **Hands down to one of the best stage themes in the series! Elly's stage theme became super popular thanks to one of its vocal remixes and the video accompanying it. I'm very sure that all or most Touhou fans should know what video I'm talking about.


	59. Pirates vs Girls

**SBS Time!  
JakeCrusher: **What are the inspirations for your stories?  
**Game2002: **One Piece is a big inspiration for my stories when it comes to action and fighting scenes. Humor, on the other hand, is mainly inspired by Crayon Shin-Chan. In fact, many of the not-so-serious SSB stories are adaption of Crayon Shin-Chan chapters and episodes.

I sincerely apologize for making you all wait so long for this chapter. I got addicted to Touhoumon recently and spent too much time playing them, which is why it took me so long to get this chapter out. I hope that this lengthy chapter makes up for the long wait.

**Chapter 58  
Pirates vs. Girls**

* * *

"Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa shouted as she used a combination of her hakkero and a spell card to fire a huge laser beam at Punk.

"What in the world!" Punk said in shock, and then he teleported out of the way before he was hit by the laser. The laser was aimed diagonally upwards, so it blasted the ceiling.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Aw man... Missed!" Marisa grumbled.

Punk reappeared and was shocked at seeing the massive hole on the ceiling. "Such power..."

"Whoa..." one of the golden Space Pirates said in awe when he saw the same damage. Seeing this as an opportunity, Meiling threw a punch at his head, but the SP avoided the blow in time. "Didn't get me!" Meiling then threw a series of punches and kicks at the SP, but he was able to block them all.

The second golden SP appeared behind Meiling and thrust his pincer at her, but she stepped aside in time. The golden SP in front was able to catch that SP's pincer to avoid getting hit by it. "Watch it!" Golden Pirate A said.

"Sorry about that..." Golden Pirate B said to him.

"Jaooo!" Meiling shouted as she attacked with a roundhouse kick, but they both ducked down and then jumped back a bit.

"You won't be taking us down so easily!" Golden Pirate A said. An energy bullet was suddenly fired at them from the side, but they avoided it by ducking down.

Golden Pirate B turned to the side to see Reisen pointing her finger at him and his partner, so he quickly dashed towards her in an attempt to thrust his pincer into her face.

"Whoa!" Reisen cried as she stepped aside, and then she aimed for his back. The SP spun around and blocked it using his pincer before firing a pair of laser beams at her, but Reisen jumped out of their way.

Back at the bottom of the room, Marisa and Punk were still fighting each other. Punk swung his glowing red arm cannon at Marisa, but she leaped back into the air to avoid getting hit. "Narrow Spark!" Marisa shouted as she used her hakkero to fire a blue beam at Punk, but he teleported away. "Man! Enough of that teleportation business! It's becoming overused and annoying already-ze!"

"Like I'm going to change my fighting style!" Punk said as he reappeared behind Marisa to hit her with his arm cannon.

Marisa quickly spun around in the nick of time to block his attack using her broom. "And I already know how to defend myself from your fighting style! This will get you nowhere unless you try something new-ze!"

"You bet I will!" Punk said. He charged up his arm cannon and swung it at Marisa like a sword several times, but she managed to avoid each hit by stepping aside, ducking down, and moving backwards. In the midst of swinging his arm cannon, Punk suddenly fired at Marisa. Luckily, Marisa reacted fast enough to avoid it by bending her body backwards—limbo style.

"Whoa! That was close!" she thought, but then Punk slammed down his arm cannon onto her body. "GAH!"

The Pirate Commander then planted his foot onto her abdomen and pointed his arm cannon at her face. "It's over," he said as she charged up his arm cannon.

"Oh really?" Marisa said as she pointed her hakkero at him. "Narrow Spark!"

Punk quickly moved back to avoid getting hit by the laser, and this allowed Marisa to stand back up. "You won't get away with this!" Punk shouted as he fired his laser at her, but she leaped out of its way. The Pirate Commander then disappeared.

"Tsk! Not again!" Marisa grumbled. Punk reappeared right in front of her in a crouched position all of a sudden, and by the time Marisa noticed it, she was too late to do anything. With a power uppercut, the Pirate Commander knocked her into the air. "GUAH!"

Marisa flew towards the hole on the ceiling, and when she was just about to fly through it, she stopped and floated in midair. "What the!" Punk said in shock.

"Hey! What do you know? I can fly again-ze!" Marisa said with joy.

Reisen saw Marisa floating in the air and said in shock, "Marisa! You can fly without your broom?"

"Of course I can fly without my broom. It's no surprise that you don't know, though. I always fly around using my broom."

"What is the broom for if you can fly without it?"

"For looks-ze."

"Okay..."

"How did you do that?" Punk asked Marisa.

"This is something that most people from our world are capable of doing," Marisa told him. "We can't fly upon arriving at a new world. It'll take a while before we can fly again. As long I think of wanting to fly in my head, I can fly-ze! All right, now that I am able to fly again, I will be able to take on you with full power-ze! Let's take this battle to the air if you dare! Dazee!" And then she flew outside the base.

"Air or ground, I'm still going to strike you down!" Punk said before running and jumping towards the hole on the ceiling, and he disappeared at the peak of his jump while the others watched on.

* * *

"What's going on over there?" Youmu wondered when she heard loud noises coming from afar. She sent Myon into the air to see what was going on. "That's Marisa fighting over there! I better go over and help her!"

She prepared to move forward when green projectiles were suddenly fired at her, but she ducked down in the nick of time. She then unsheathed both her swords and looked at where the projectiles came from and saw Weavel standing there. "It's you again!" she said.

"Yes, it's me again!" Weavel said as his energy scythe appeared from his arm. "You sure can still run around with that wound on your waist. I'm going to make sure that you do not stand back up this time!"

"I won't lose to you! You won't be landing a hit on me so easily either!" Youmu said**.**

**BGM: Weavel (Metroid Prime: Hunters)**

"Get ready to die!" Weavel shouted as he ran towards Youmu. Youmu dashed at him and they clashed blades. "Just how is it possible that a normal sword can stay intact even when hit by an energy blade? This doesn't make sense!"

"My swords are not everyday swords!" Youmu told him. "Something that belongs to the Konpaku clan cannot be destroyed so easily!" While using the Roukanken to hold back Weavel, she swung the Hakurouken at him, but he quickly moved back.

"Eat my Battlehammer!" Weavel shouted as he fired green projectiles at her from his cannon on his right arm.

Youmu swiftly dodged the projectiles as she ran towards Weavel and slashed him at close range, but the Space Pirate blocked the blow with his energy scythe.

They both swung their blades at each other over and over, and when Weavel used his Battlehammer again, Youmu ducked down to avoid getting shot in the face and then dashed past him, slashing him in the waist in doing so.

SLASH!

"Ugh!" Weavel cried as he flew back from the strike, and then he fell on one knee. "You really... got me... NOT!" Suddenly, his upper torso separated from the lower torso and shot up into the air a few feet before falling back down and landing the hands.

"What!" Youmu said with a shocked expression.

Equipped with a cannon, the lower torso knelt down and fired Battlehammer rounds at Youmu. She ran from the incoming projectiles, and when Weavel's upper torso jumped at her, she quickly blocked a blow from his scythe and knocked him back. Weavel rushed at her again upon landing and attempted to slash her in the legs, but she quickly leaped into the air.

The moment Youmu landed, Weavel turned around and jumped at her. Youmu quickly spun around to the block the blow. Weavel was knocked back onto the ground, but despite this, he kept on jumping at her, only to be knocked back every time. While blocking and knocking back the Space Pirate, a Battlehammer round was fired at her. The projectile was about to hit her by the time she noticed it, so she desperately swung the Hakurouken at the projectile. The projectile exploded in a burst of green light upon getting hit.

BANG!

Youmu was blown back by the blast a little bit, and while was trying to retain her footing, Weavel jumped at her and slashed her in the waist.

SLASH!

"Kya!" Youmu cried as she spun in a circle before falling onto her knees and hands, and then she was hit by a series of Battlehammer rounds. "AH!"

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Youmu rolled across the ground a few feet before coming to a stop on her back. Weavel went up to Youmu and said, "You were saying that you won't get hit so easily. Too bad! This is where you will meet your end! Say good-bye!" Then he jumped into the air and fell back down with his energy scythe pointing towards her body.

Suddenly, Youmu crossed her swords in air to block the scythe.

"What! You can still move!" Weavel said in shock, and then he was pushed aside.

Youmu quickly got back onto her feet and slashed Weavel while he was still in the air.

SLASH!

"GYAAAAH!" Weavel cried as the slash sent him tumbling onto the ground. He got back up with a slash mark that revealed his inner circuits on his body. "Ugh... How dare you! You'll pay for this!" Then his lower torso fired at her.

"Netherworld Reflection Slash!" Youmu crossed her swords together to form a hexagonal shield that reflected the projectiles. When the lower torso was hit and blown back through the air by its own projectiles, Weavel felt intense pain running throughout his body. "GUAAAAAAAH! IT HURTS!"

"Uh?" Youmu was curious about his behavior. She looked at the lower torso and then at the upper torso. She was able to come up with a conclusion a second later. "I see... Attacking the lower torso will also hurt the upper torso. Looks like it's not a wise decision to leave your lower torso unguarded."

"You'll pay for this!" Weavel shouted, and then he jumped at Youmu to slash her, but she stepped aside and slashed him in the back. "UGH!" Weavel tumbled onto the floor, and when he got back up, he quickly ran as fast as his arms could carry him to the lower torso and merged with it. "That does it! I'm getting serious!" Then he used his Battlehammer against her.

"Netherworld Reflection Slash!" Youmu crossed her swords together to create a hexagonal shield that reflected the projectiles back to him.

Weavel moved out of the homecoming projectiles' way and ran towards Youmu. Youmu ducked underneath Weavel's energy scythe when he charged at him and then turned around to clash blades with him. They swung their weapons at each other for a while and then Weavel pointed his cannon at Youmu's face, but she quickly cut off his arm from below.

SLAAAAAASH!

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Weavel screamed as he fell back onto the ground and rolled around in pain. "MY ARM! MY ARM! YOU CUT OFF MY ARM!"

"Strange Half-Body!" Youmu shouted as she brought up her arm underneath Myon, and Myon glowed with pinkish-purple light before firing projectiles of the same color at the crying cyborg.

The Space Pirate was blasted in the body several times, and when Myon finally stopped shooting him, he lied there motionlessly. Youmu kept her eyes on him to make sure that he's down for the count, but the cyborg slowly got back up after a while. "How dare you!" he angrily said.

"Now that you've lost your weapons," Youmu told him, "you should admit defeat. It's clear that I'm the winner already."

"Don't think that you have won just because you cut off my right arm! Even without my weapons, I can still fight you! I'll simply grab and crush your head with my bare hands! DIE!" Then he charged at Youmu with his left arm reached out towards her.

"You really should listen to me. Do not blame me for what happens next," Youmu said with a serious expression, and then she crouched down slightly with the Roukanken in her hand. "Human Sign: Slash of Present!" And in a blink of an eye, Youmu was behind Weavel.

Weavel remained motionless with a confused expression at first, but then a huge gash appeared on his body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed, and then he fell onto the ground with a short-circuiting body.

Youmu sheathed her sword and turned around to look at the unconscious Space Pirate. "You should've listened to me," she said, and then she turned around to leave.

* * *

SMASH!

With a powerful punch from above, Meiling smashed Gold Pirate B by his head onto the floor.

Seeing that his partner was taken out, Gold Pirate A said, "How dare you do this to my partner! I won't forgive you for this!" He prepared to fire laser beams from his pincers when he was suddenly shot in the back. "Ah!" He turned around to see that it was Reisen who shot him.

Meiling used this as an opportunity to run up to Gold Pirate A from behind, but the Space Pirate spun around to block her punch. Meiling then attempted to kick him in the head, but it was blocked as well. When Gold Pirate thrust his pincer forward, Meiling stepped aside, caught his arm, and bent it.

SNAP!

"YEOW!" The SP cried upon having his arm broken, and then Meiling punched him in the side of the head really hard before delivering the final blow—a powerful uppercut to the chin.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The SP was sent flying into the air and hit the ceiling before falling back down onto the floor.

"That takes care of that!" Meiling said.

"We better go and help Marisa," Reisen suggested. Meiling nodded, and then they flew through the hole on the ceiling.

Once outside, they looked around the place for their friend. They eventually saw two figures fighting in the distance, one fighting from the air while the one fought from the rooftop of a building. "There they are!" Meiling said. "C'mon! Let's go!"

The two girls flew in the direction of Marisa and Punk. Suddenly, a pair of large missiles was fired at them, but they managed to fly out of their way. "Whoa! What was that!" Reisen said in shock. They looked down and saw Pork down there.

Fully replenish and with his armor repaired, the Omega Pirate raised arms into the air and said at the top of his voice, "COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME!"

"It's that giant monster from before!" Reisen said in shock.

Pork let out a roar before firing another pair of missiles at them. The girls once again avoided them and Meiling said, "He wants us to go down there and fight him, right? I'll fight him if that's what he wants!" So the gatekeeper flew down to face the Omega Pirate.

"Wait! What about Marisa?" Reisen asked. She looked at Marisa and then at Meiling. "Marisa should be able to deal with her opponent without any help. Meiling, on the other hand, is facing someone much larger. Maybe I should help Meiling instead." So she flew down to help Meiling.

Pork swung his massive arm at Meiling when she flew towards his face, but she flew into the air to avoid getting hit and spun vertically before slamming her leg onto his head. "Descending Flower Slam!"

After that, Meiling flew in front of his face and attacked him with a series of punches and kicks, and then she placed her palm in front of his face. "Red Inch Punch!" A burst of energy came out from her palm and blasted the Omega Pirate backwards.

While Pork was attempting to retain his feting, Meiling flew towards him to continue attacking him, but Pork retained his footing in time and smashed her onto the ground with his fist.

SMASH!

"Meiling!" Reisen gasped.

While Meiling was lying on the ground, Pork brought up his foot to stomp her, but Reisen quickly shot him from above to grab his attention. Fortunately, Meiling wasn't knocked out and was still capable of moving. She stood back up while Pork was distracted by Reisen's shooting and jumped at his body to punch it with a fist full of rainbow energy. The powerful punch made Pork take a few steps backwards.

Pork roared with anger as he raised his arms into the air, and then he slammed them down at Meiling, but she jumped out of the way. However, she was hit and blown into the air by the shockwave shortly after landing. "Wa!"

As Meiling soared through the air, Pork ran towards her with his arm pulled back, ready to punch her. "Oh no you don't! Reisen shouted as she flew after him and prepared to shoot the back of his head, but the OP suddenly spun around and punched her.

POW!

"GYAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen screamed as she flew backwards really fast until she hit a building wall.

CRASH!

She fell down on her face and lied on the ground for several seconds before getting back. "Ow... It hurts..."

"My! It's such a surprise that you're still alive after getting punched by the Omega Pirate!" said a voice. Reisen turned to the side and saw Space Pirate, so she quickly got into a defensive stance. "Heheh! It seems that you still have the strength to fight too! Such a strange creature you are! Look at those ears! That's not something you see everyday! A human with rabbit ears!"

"I'm not human," Reisen told him, "and you won't be taking me down so easily! That monster may be too tough for me to take down, but I can at least take down a lackey like you!"

"Watch your mouth, girl! I am the Space Pirates' top scientist, Professor Pix!" the SP said. "I have been providing the Space Pirates with most of the weapons, be it biological or mechanical. The monster that you punched you here is my latest creation, the Omega Pirate! Impressive, don't you think?"

"I have no interest in your creation!" Reisen said. "I'll take you out right here if you do not leave me alone!"

"You are an intruder to this place, so I have every reason to kill you right here and now!" Pix said as he approached her.

"Go away!" Reisen shouted as she fired an energy bullet at Pix, but he easily dodged it by sidestepping.

"Firing projectiles from your finger? Very interesting!" Pix said as he opened his pincers. "I will find out how you did that soon after bringing you into my lab!" And he fired laser beams at her.

Reisen leaped into the air and remained floating there to fire a barrage of energy bullets at Pix, but he leaped aside and latched onto the building's massive steel door. From there, he used one pincer to fire at Reisen. Reisen dodged them and fired back at him, so he quickly climbed up the steel door to escape her shots. He made it onto the rooftop and continued trying to shoot her from there.

Reisen flew across the air and managed to avoid Pix's shots. "Disbelief Aspect!" she shouted as she landed onto the rooftop and then jumped into the air to leave behind a clone of herself. She landed and jumped into the air the second to leave behind yet another clone. "What the?" Pix said in surprise. He looked around himself and saw four clones of Reisen surrounding him.

The clones raised pointed their fingers at Pix and fired projectiles at him. The Space Pirate quickly leaped into the air to avoid getting shot, but the real Reisen appeared over him with her finger pointing at his head. "Oh no!" he gasped.

"Mind Explosion!" she shouted, and she fired red energy bullets at him.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Pix fell back to the bottom and was caught in the onslaught of projectiles fired by the Reisen clones. When Reisen landed onto the rooftop, the clones disappeared and Pix was left lying on the floor. "Argh..." the SP groaned as he slowly got back up. "You're actually tougher than I thought..."

"Don't underestimate me!" Reisen said while pointing her finger at her. "I may not be as strong as the likes of Reimu and Marisa, but I can still put up a fight if I get serious!"

"I'll get back at you for this!" Pix said before running for the edge of the building and jumping off it. Reisen looked down the side of the building and saw him going through a normal-sized steel door at the side of the large steel door.

"What's he doing?" she wondered. Suddenly, there was a loud sound of something crashing, so she looked in the direction of the sound. "Oh yeah! Meiling is still fighting that monster! I need to go and help her!" She took off in the direction of the sound when suddenly she heard a different sound that came from nearby. "Uh? What's that sound?" She turned around and saw the steel door slowly sliding up.

When the steel door had fully slid up, a large yellow machine with a pair of pincer-like arms came out. "What is that!" Reisen said in shock.

Pix was seen sitting inside the cage-like cockpit on the left side of the machine. "Meet the RB176 Ferrocrusher!" he said. "This thing is designed for industrial purposes, but it can also be used for causing massive destruction! This thing has gained popularity throughout the galaxy, so popular that even we Space Pirates have one! Heheh! Let's see how you handle this thing!"

**BGM: RB178 Ferrocrusher Battle (Metroid: Other M)**

The machine raised its arms into the air and tried to knock down Reisen, but she flew higher to avoid getting hit. "You can't hit me!" she taunted, but then a laser beam suddenly struck her in the shoulder. "Ah!" She fell down and was hit and knocked by the arm onto the ground.

"Haha! How'd you like that?" Pix said. He looked at the rooftop of a nearby building and saw the Space Pirate who shot Reisen standing there.

"Ow... My shoulder..." Reisen cried as she slowly got back up.

Spikes and buzzsaws came out from the underneath the front part of the Ferrocrusher, and then the buzzsaws spun while the spikes shook and jutted in and out rapidly as the machine moved forward. When she saw the Ferrocrusher approaching her, she quickly leaped to the side to avoid getting run over and then fired at the machine, but her shots simply bounced of its body.

"Your peashooter won't do any good!" Pix said as he turned the machine's body in her direction.

Reisen took aim at Pix and fired. The bullet went in between the vertical bars of the cage-like cockpit and struck Pix just below the neck. "Ack! Why you!" Pix angrily said. "And whose idea was it to not put a windshield on the cockpit anyway?

The Ferrocrusher continued moving towards Reisen, so she quickly leaped aside to avoid getting run over once again. However, the arm swung into her while she was still in the air and knocked her backwards until she tumbled onto the ground. The front part of the machine then fired a laser beam from a light on the right side of its body at her.

Reisen quickly jumped back to avoid the beam, but when the beam struck the ground, an explosion of fire occurred and blasted her backwards.

BANG!

"AH!" Reisen cried as she flew through the air and hit the ground.

"Haha! You're dead meat!" Pix laughed as he moved the machine in her direction. When Reisen was in range, the machine stretched out its right arm and the body spun to the left to swing it at her. Reisen was hit and knocked back before she could get back up.

"Ah!" Reisen cried. "Ow... That hurts..." She looked up and saw the Ferrocrusher charging at her again. "I have to get more serious!"

She leaped to the side when the machine swung its right arm at her. "Psycho Missile!" She quickly fired at the part of the right arm that was connected to the body and blew it off.

BAAAAAAANG!

"What the heck!" Pix said in shock when he saw that the right arm was blown off with ease. "How can the arm be destroyed so easily? This thing isn't that frail, is it? At least I still have another arm!"

The machine moved towards Reisen and swung its left arm at her, but she quickly flew into the air and fired a Psycho Missile at the left arm. Acting fast, Pix turned the front part of the Ferrocrusher's body at the incoming energy missile. The body was durable enough to withstand the hit from the projectile.

"As long as I'm in air, I won't get hit by you so easily!" Reisen said. She then pointed her finger in the direction of a building and fired at the Space Pirate over there. The SP didn't see the projectile coming, so he was shot in the head.

BANG!

"Okay! Now it's your turn!" Reisen said to Pix.

"Don't get so cocky just because you took out the person who shot you down earlier!" Pix said, and then he moved the Ferrocrusher in her direction with the remaining arm raised into the air. Reisen moved out of the arm's swinging range when it was swung at her and fired at the part that was connected to the body. "Psycho Missile!"

BANG!

"Argh! Curses!" Pix cursed. "This thing is pathetic! How can the arms be destroyed so easily when the rest of its body is very durable! I should've given it upgrades!"

"Visionary Tuning!" Reisen shouted as she fired several energy bullets that were arranged in the shape of arrows at the machine. The machine was pelted all over the body, but its metallic body prevented it from taking damage. However, Pix was not entirely safe from getting shot due to the cockpit lacking a windshield.

"Gah! Stop it!" Pix shouted as he used his pincers to shield himself from the projectiles. "Darn it! This thing really needs a windshield!"

"My shots aren't working," Reisen thought. "Asides from its arms, the body is too tough to be destroyed. In the very least, I should be able take out the person controlling it."

She stopped firing and came down to the same level as the cockpit. "Psycho Missile!" And she fired an energy missile at it.

Pix quickly spun the Ferrocrusher's body around and allowed the back of it to get hit. "Didn't hit me!" he said. However, a part of the machine's top opened when it was shot and out came four cylinders. Pix didn't notice it, though.

"What's that?" Reisen wondered. "But since it came out from inside the body, it must be a vital spot. All right, I'll try shooting that part. The body turned to her direction, but Reisen flew around to the back of it and landed in front of the cylinders.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Pix asked.

"Psycho Missile!" Reisen shouted as she shot the cylinders at point blank.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Reisen flew back into the air as the cylinders exploded into pieces, and then smoke and sparks came out from all over the RB178 Ferrocrusher's body. "What happened!" Pix said as he pulled the levers and pushed the buttons. "Don't tell me that she destroyed the batteries! I just remembered that the part she shot earlier is where the batteries are kept! The hatch must've been forced open when she shot that part! Darn it! Darn it! DARN IT!" Now that the industrial machine was out of order, Pix stepped down from it and looked around angrily. "Darn little girl! Show yourself at once and let me kill you! This fight isn't over yet!"

Suddenly, Reisen grabbed his head from behind, forcefully bent his body backwards, and look right into his eyes. "Weak Heart: Demotivation!" And a burst of light that was accompanied by red triangles and yellow squares came out from her eyes.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Pix screamed as the burst of light pushed him onto the ground with such a force that he 'sank' into it slightly.

Reisen let out a sigh and said, "That should keep him down. All right, I better go and help Meiling." And she ran off in a certain direction.

* * *

**BGM: Omega Pirate Battle (Metroid Prime)**

Pork let out a roar as he brought down his arms to hit Meiling. The gatekeeper jumped to the side and then flew at his chest to punch it with a fist full of rainbow energy. She threw another punch and then rose into the air to hit him in the chin with a rainbow-powered uppercut. While she was in the air, the Omega Pirate caught and forcefully threw her onto the ground.

CRASH!

Meiling tumbled backwards a few feet before coming to a stop on her feet. Pork ran towards her and swung his arms at her, but she leaped up and into the air behind him. "Fragrance Wave!" she shouted as she fired a yellow beam from her hands at his back. The OP spun around and roared as he swung his arms at her, but she was out of reach.

Meiling flew to the other side of Pork and used Fragrance Wave again, but the giant Space Pirate spun around and released light from his palm to absorb the beam, and then he ran towards the gatekeeper to try to catch her with his hand.

Meiling quickly moved farther back to avoid getting caught, and then she launched herself at the SP to punch him with a fist full of rainbow energy, but Pork brought up his hand and smacked her into the air.

SMACK!

Meiling spun vertically as shot high into the air, and then she fall back down with one leg sticking out. "Descending Flower Slam!"

Pork quickly stepped aside when Meiling was close to his face, but his right shoulder got hit. The impact from the rainbow-powered foot was so strong that the shoulder pad was smashed into pieces.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Pork roared in pain and took several steps back while Meiling bounced back and landed in a crouched position. "It seems that the yellow parts of his body are his vital spots," Meiling thought. "Destroying them should do the trick!"

"DIE!" Pork shouted at the top of his voice as he slammed his hands onto the ground to create a shockwave. Meiling leaped into the air to avoid getting hit.

"Fragrance Wave!" Meiling fired a yellow beam at the left shoulder pad, but the beam disappeared a few feet in front of it. "Oops... I forgot that Fragrance Wave has a limited range..."

The Omega Pirate ran up to her and threw his fist at her over and over, but she dodged each of the strikes by flying left and right swiftly. When Punk swung his arm horizontally across the air, Meiling quickly dropped to the ground and punched the left knee pad with a rainbow-powered fist. Cracks appeared on the knee pad when she punched it, and then she punched it the second time to shatter it into pieces.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Pork let out a roar as he moved back several steps. Meiling quickly headed for the right knee pad, but the OP countered her by kicking her into the air with the right leg and then fired a pair of missiles at her.

"Colorful Rain!" Meiling quickly performed a spinning attack powered by rainbow energy to deflect the missiles to both sides. They eventually fell onto some random buildings and blew them up.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Two down, two to go!" Meiling said to herself, and then she flew towards Pork.

Pork swung his hand at Meiling, but she blocked it with her arm. Because she mustered all her strength into her arm, she managed to stop the hand from knocking her aside. She pushed the hand away and then delivered a roundhouse kick to Pork's face.

KICK!

Then she brought down a fist full of rainbow energy onto the left shoulder pad with a powerful force.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Pork let out a roar when the left shoulder pad was destroyed. Meiling moved back and landed onto the ground. "Only one more left! Destroying that should either weaken him or kill him."

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Pork shouted at the top of his voice. He ran towards Meiling and brought down his fist, but she ran in between his legs and to the other side. "Red Cannon!" And she fired a red energy ball at him.

However, Pork spun around and punched through the energy ball. Meiling was not expecting this, so she was smashed into the ground by the fist.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ugh..." the gatekeeper groaned as Pork pulled back up his fist.

"DIE!" the Omega Pirate shouted as he smashed Meiling over and over with his hands mercilessly.

SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH!

Reisen showed up at the place and saw Pork slamming his hands against the ground. "Meiling!" she shouted. Her shouting grabbed the Omega Pirate's attention.

"Is... that you... Reisen...?" a flattened and badly bruised Meiling asked.

"Don't worry! I'll help you at once!" Reisen said, and then she fired at the Omega Pirate.

Pork released light from his palm to absorb the shots and approached Reisen at the same, and then he slammed his hands against the ground to create a shockwave. Reisen flew into the air to avoid it and continued to shoot the Omega Pirate from there.

Meanwhile, Meiling slowly got back up and said as she took out a card, "Time to use this..." She stood still and clasped the card in between her hands. Yellow light came out from between her hands, and then with a burst of light, she was covered in a yellow aura. Her hair also stood up and waved around as if the wind was blowing against them.

Pork turned around and looked at her with a curious expression. Meiling suddenly dashed at him with such a speed that it looked like she teleported. She punched Pork in the abdomen so hard that the giant Space Pirate was sent flying backwards until he crashed into a building.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Pork roared at the top of his voice as he stood back up. He angrily eyed Meiling, but the gatekeeper charged at him so fast that he had no time to counterattack. Meiling charged at his right leg and smashed the knee pad with her fist.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

With all four glowing parts of his armor destroyed, Pork let out a painful roar and then fell on his knees and hands. "Looks like it did the trick!" Meiling thought.

While the Omega Pirate was down on his knees, Meiling gave him an uppercut that forced him to stand back up, and then she proceeded to punch and kick him all over the body nonstop.

POW SMASH KICK SMASH POW KICK SMASH!

Eventually, the yellow aura around Meiling disappeared. Pork was in a standing position, but he looked as if he was going to keel over any second. "All right, time to give him the finish blow!" Meiling said as she took out another card. She threw the card into the air and punched it to release make it colorful light that made her fist glow with various colors, and then she flew at the Omega Pirate.

"True Radiant Rainbow Fist!" she shouted, and she punched Pork in the body with a barrage of super fast punches.

POW SMASH WHAM SOCK POW SMAAAAAAAASH SOCK WHAAAAAM POW SMAAAAAAAAASSH KAPOW SMASH!

After the final punch, Pork fell against a building and smashed through the side.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Meiling's fist stopped glowing and the card reappeared in the air, so she put it away. "Phew... I did it... I win..." she said while breathing heavily. "Oh yeah! Reisen! Where'd she go? She was here earlier."

She looked around for the Lunarian rabbit and eventually saw her flattened against the building that Pork was punched into when she punched him after activating Fierce Tiger Chi Release. "Reisen!" she gasped as she ran up to her. "Are you all right? What happened to you?" But the Lunarian rabbit was knocked out with swirly eyes and 'rabbits were running in circles around her ears'.

* * *

**BGM: Crawltank Battle (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption)**

Marisa was flying in circles around Punk and the Pirate Commander was trying to shoot her down. "You cannot hit me-ze!" Marisa taunted.

"Don't get so cocky just yet!" Punk growled with frustration.

Marisa continued to avoid the shots, and then she stood on her broom and pointed one arm at the Space Pirate to fire star-shaped projectiles at him.

Punk leaped out of the projectiles' way, and when Marisa swooped down to hit him, he rolled aside in the nick of time and then tried to shoot her from behind. Marisa avoided the projectiles by flying aside and then took out her hakkero to fire a beam at Punk. "Narrow Spark!"

Punk leaped into the air and disappeared at the peak of his jump. He reappeared in front of Marisa and swung his arm cannon at her, but she dropped altitude and went underneath him. She turned around and fired another Narrow Spark at the Pirate Commander as he was falling down and hit him in the back.

"Ah!" Punk cried as the beam blasted him onto the rooftop. He got back up and faced Marisa as she flew towards him.

She took out a card and placed it on the tip of the broom. "Luminous Strike!" The card glowed with yellow light and then the tip of the broom fired large star-shaped projectiles at Punk. The SP quickly ran aside, but Marisa went after him while firing constantly, so he had to keep on running. "You can't run from me forever!"

Punk quickly leaped into the air and disappeared at the peak of his jump. He reappeared in front of Marisa much to her surprise and knocked her out of the air with his arm cannon.

WHACK!

"Wah!" Marisa cried as she fell through the air and off the side of the building, but she managed to grab onto the edge using one hand while holding her broom in the other hand.

Punk walked up to the edge and stepped on her fingers.

"Ow! That hurts!" she cried.

Punk pointed his arm cannon at her face and said, "And that is why I told you not to get too cocky! This is what happens if you do!"

"Oh really? I'm convinced that the table has been turned the moment I am able to fly again-ze," Marisa said.

"What can you do in a situation like this?"

"Hmmm... I can do this!" Suddenly, Marisa shot into the air and used her broom to deliver an uppercut into Punk's chin. "Miasma Sweep!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUGH!" Punk cried as the unexpected uppercut knocked him high into the air.

Marisa then spun her broom in the air before pointing its tip upwards. "Star Sign: Gravity Beat!" A burst of blue energy came out from the tip and a large star-shaped projectile was shot into the air. Punk was hit from below by the projectile.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Punk was blown even higher into the air, but he eventually fell back down onto the rooftop.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ya see? I told ya that the table has been turned-ze!" Marisa said as she placed her broom against the back of her shoulders.

"Not yet..." Punk said as he slowly got back up. "It's not over yet... I won't lose to a human like you! Never!"

"Oh, c'mon! Just admit defeat already! You already lost! Go look at yourself in the mirror. You're all beaten up-ze!"

"The power enhancement from the X Parasites is starting to disappear. Once I have replenished myself, I will come back to claim your life again! Just you wait!" Then he turned to run, but Marisa flew in front of him on her broom. "Eh?"

"Basically, you're saying that won't admit defeat and that you're even going to come back to fight me again, right?" Marisa asked. "Well, I guess I better get rid of you right here and right now to prevent that from happening. Miasma Sweep!" And she used her broom to hit him with an uppercut again.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Punk was once again knocked into the air, and while he was in the air, Marisa spun her broom and then pointed the tip at him.

"Star Sign: Gravity Beat!"

Punk was hit by the star-shaped projectile that came out from the tip of the broom.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

He fell onto the ground with a powerful crash and Marisa went up to the edge of the building to look at his body. "How does it feel to get hit by the same attacks twice-ze?"

* * *

"Whoa... Lots of strange creatures! They're the same as ones from the cave!" Cirno said as she walked down a passage that had glass walls on both sides, and behind the glass walls were Metroids. Most of the Metroids floated around aimlessly while some of them rammed against the glass when they saw Cirno. It was as if they were trying to break through the glass to attack her.

Cirno eventually came up to a machine with several buttons on it. "I wonder what this button does." And she pressed the red button that had the word '_Feed_' printed above it. When the button was pressed, square holes opened up on the walls behind the glasses on both sides and yellow blobs flew in from them. The Metroids went for the blobs and consumed them within seconds.

Cirno continued to press the buttons. One button made the lights go out, another button increased the room temperature, another lowered the temperature, and another made blue light shine down from the ceiling behind the glasses. Each of the Metroids divided into two when bathed by the blue light.

Cirno eventually pressed a rectangular button that made a large door at the side of the passage slide open. "Hey, a door opened!" she thought. "I wonder what's in there." So she went through it.

The room inside was large and empty, and there was a passage that turned to the left at the far end of the room. "Hello! Is anyone here?" Cirno said out loud. "Hello?"

Suddenly, there was a loud stomp that froze her in her tracks. The ice fairy looked around with awareness and then heard another stomp. She realized that the sound was coming from the passage at the end of the room, so she kept her eyes glued in that direction.

The stomping became louder and louder, and eventually, something appeared from around the corner. Cirno's eyes widened in shock and she took a step back out of fear when it spotted her. "Wha... What... is... that!"

It was a large quadruple creature that was mostly green in color and had a total of eight eyes that came in two groups of four—the Queen Metroid.

The Queen Metroid looked at Cirno for a few seconds, and then she let out a roar that made the ice fairy leap in the air out of shock.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Hopefully, this chapter is long enough to make up for the long wait. I will try my best to get the next chapter out within ten days.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: The Strongest vs. The Queen**

**Trivia:  
**1. Metroids divide asexually when exposed to beta particles, though according to Metroid Wiki, this seems to only happen with Infant and Larval stages of Metroids. Larval Metroids refer to Metroids that resemble jellyfishes, and that form is the most well-known among fans.

2. According to Metroid: Other M, everything seen from the Queen Metroid's POV is normal in the center, but around it is purple and somewhat blurry. Go look for videos of it on Youtube to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

3. The RB178 Ferrocrusher is believed to be a homage of the Power Loader Exoskeleton from the film _Aliens_. Speaking of which, the Metroid series is known to take inspirations from the Alien series.


	60. The Strongest vs The Queen

**SBS Time!  
Patcheresu: **Isn't Marisa very informal?  
**Game2002: **That's more or less how she is in canon. I mean, she like to barge into people's houses to "borrow" books whenever she wants to. Plus, her house is known to be a mess. The term "informal" describes her really well if ask me.

Please note that spoilers from certain games and series will be included in my story, so it's best that you be careful. I always expect my readers to have decent knowledge of the series, so you will have to be prepared for whatever shocking events that are mentioned in this story. However, I would still like to apologize to anyone who has already been spoiled by anything regarding series used in this story so far.

**Chapter 59  
The Strongest vs. The Queen**

**

* * *

**

"Aha! So that's what happened!" a Space Pirate said when he saw the truth behind the pet Hornoad getting frozen. The footage showed Cirno coming into the room and then seeing the Hornoad through the window, so she went into its room through the door next to the window. However, she did not fully open the door, so it closed by itself. As the door could only be opened from the outside, Cirno found herself trapped inside with the recently frozen Hornoad. "She must've hid behind a rock in that room and took her chance to escape when I opened it. She'll pay for what she did! Where is right now, though?"

* * *

Cirno took a step back with an expression of fear as the gigantic Queen Metroid approached her. "A giant... monster!" she said. "I'm... I'm not... afraid... of you! I'm not afraid of you at all! I'm the strongest, so I'm not afraid of you! Take this!" And she fired an ice beam at the queen, but the beam did nothing more than creating a burst of cold air when it hit the queen's snout, and she wasn't fazed by it at all. "Um..."

The Queen Metroid let out a roar and then extended her neck in the ice fairy's direction with a wide open mouth, but Cirno flew into the air to avoid getting swallowed. "Whoa! You can stretch your neck too?" she asked. "But that's not going to be enough to take me down! I'm going to show you that I'm the strongest! Prepare to meet you maker!"

**BGM: Queen Metroid/Phantoon Battle (Metroid: Other M)**

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted as she fired icicles at the QM from above, and she moved in circles around the queen while doing so in order to hit her in all sides.

Due to the low temperature of the icicles, the QM didn't like the feeling of getting hit by them at all. She turned to Cirno's direction and then stretched her neck into the air to bite her, but she flew out of the way.

"Ha! You can't hit me!" Cirno taunted as she continued to fire icicles at her.

The QM let out a cry of pain and then turned to face Cirno and stretched her neck in her direction, but she moved out of the way again.

"Haha! Missed again!"

The queen's body then started shaking, and suddenly, a bulge on the back of her body floated into the air to reveal itself as a Metroid. It flew at Cirno, but she quickly moved aside.

"Hey! It's those creatures again!" Cirno said in surprise. She shot the Metroid with an ice beam when it attempted to charge into her again. The frozen Metroid then fell onto the floor.

There were five more Metroids latched onto the Queen Metroid's back, and they all took off into the air and went after Cirno.

"Whoa!" Cirno flew aside to avoid one of the Metroids, and then to the side again to avoid another one. When the third Metroid flew at her, she quickly fired a beam at it to freeze it.

Suddenly, a Metroid latched onto the back of her head. "Hey! Get off of my head!" The Metroid began absorbing her life force, but when it did, it quickly let go of her and trembled violently. Cirno quickly used this opportunity to shoot and freeze it with an ice beam. "Haha! How'd you like that? You guys don't like the cold, right? Too bad! My body temperature is very low, so you can't get too close to me!" Then she spread out her arms. "C'mon! Come and have a piece of me if you dare!"

The remaining three Metroids latched themselves onto Cirno and covered her up completely, but they quickly let go again due to her body temperature. "Freeze Touch Me!" And she released cold air all around herself to freeze the Metroids.

Suddenly, Cirno was rammed in the back by another Metroid. "Ow! You defrosted already?" she said in surprise. "Oh yeah, Samus said something about shattering them into pieces once they are frozen." The Metroid charged at her again, but she easily froze it with an ice beam. After the Metroid fell onto the floor, she produced a large hammer made of ice and used it to smash the frozen Metroid into pieces.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"All right! One down!" Cirno said. She turned to the other frozen Metroids and saw that were starting to defrost, so she quickly went over to them to smash them into pieces.

SMASH SMASH SMASH!

"Okay, four down!" she said as she placed the hammer by its handle over her shoulder. "Where are the remaining two?" As soon as she had said this, the remaining two Metroids appeared over her head. Cirno realized this, so she swung her hammer at the two Metroids before they charged at her to send them crashing into the wall. She then shot the Metroids with ice beams to freeze them before flying over them to smash them into pieces with her ice hammer.

SMASH SMASH!

"All right! All six are down!" Cirno exclaimed as she raised the hammer over her head. "I'm the strongest!" Suddenly, she heard a roar, so she turned around to see the Queen Metroid looking at her with gritted teeth. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about you! You're the only one left, so get ready!"

The Queen Metroid raised her head into the air and roared at the top of her voice, and when she lowered her head, a row of pinkish-purple crystal-like extension grew from the top of her head. The crystals glowed with a combination of pink and purple light, and then the queen opened her mouth to release a huge stream of fire at the ice fairy.

"Fire!" Cirno said in shock. She managed to move aside in time to avoid getting hit by it. "Hey! I'm weak to fire, so it's cheating if you use such a dangerous thing against me! Whoa!" She quickly flew out of the way again when the QM aimed the fire in her direction.

The queen eventually stopped breathing fire to spit a yellow glob at Cirno. The ice fairy swung the ice hammer at the glob, but the hammer instantly melted when it came in contact with the glob. "Whoa... Scary..." she thought.

The QM then stretched her neck at her. "Eeks!" Out of desperation, Cirno stretched forth her arms and quickly formed a wall of ice. The Queen Metroid's head stopped for a while when it rammed into the ice, so Cirno used this opportunity to move out of the way before the queen's head smashed through it.

"White Rose Cluster!" Cirno shouted as she held out one hand to form a ball of ice, and the ball of ice grew in size until it was almost as large as her, and then she fired it at the queen. The queen managed to catch the ball of ice in her mouth, and with a powerful snap of her jaws, the ball of ice shattered into pieces. "Yikes!"

The queen moved in Cirno's direction, so the ice fairy formed a sword made of ice in her hand to threaten her with it. "Don't come any closer!" she said. "I'm going to cut you in two if you do!"

Suddenly, QM stood up on her hind legs, much to Cirno's surprise. However, the weight of her body caused her to fall back down, but not before swatting Cirno out of the air.

SWAT!

"Ow!" Cirno cried when she hit the floor. "That hurts!" She turned around and saw the queen coming towards her. "Yikes!" The ice fairy quickly crawled in the direction of the exit as fast as she could. "The exit! The exit!"

The QM breathed a stream of fire at Cirno again so she quickly rolled out of the fire's way, and the fire went out of the room and destroyed the controller that Cirno previously messed with.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sound of the explosion grabbed the attention of the Space Pirates in the lab. "What was that?" asked Pirate H.

"It came from over there!" Pirate C said, so they ran in the direction of where the sound came from. On their way there, they spotted the destroyed controller and Cirno running out from the Queen Metroid's room.

"It's that girl! Did she just run out from the Queen Metroid's room?" Pirate G said.

"And the controller is destroyed as well!" added Pirate Z.

Suddenly, the Queen Metroid stepped out of the room and roared at the top of her voice, much to the horror of the Space Pirates. "THE QUEEN HAS ESCAPED!" they all screamed.

* * *

Samus fired tried to shoot down a Space Pirate that was jumping all over the room swiftly. "Haha! This is the power of X Parasites!" the SP said as he jumped around the place. "You'll never be able to hit me!"

Samus ignored him and continued to try to shoot him down. The SP went over her and landed his feet against the wall at the back. Samus quickly spun around to face him, but before she could do anything, the SP pushed his feet against the wall to send himself flying into her body very hard. The SP pinned Samus onto the floor and prepared to slam down his pincers onto his head, but Samus quickly fired at him. With quick reflexes, the SP performed a back flip to get off her body, and the shot went onto the ceiling instead.

Samus used this opportunity to get back up, but the SP tackled her before she could do anything. "Ugh!"

"I won't give you the chance to do anything!" he said. He opened his pincer and fired at her abdomen at point blank.

"Ah!" Samus cried as she moved back several steps before falling on one knee. "Ugh..."

"Haha! You're finished!" the SP said as he ran towards Samus. "You're lucky that the captain wants you alive, so I'm simply going to knock you out!"

Samus quickly pointed her arm cannon at him and fired, but he leaped into the air and landed behind her. The SP performed a roundhouse kick, but she quickly ducked down and then jumped away before firing a missile at him. The SP jumped and latched onto the ceiling, but the missile went after him. "Seeker missiles!" he said in surprise. He quickly leaped away from the ceiling, so the missile hit the ceiling instead. Samus then fired several more seeker missiles at him.

The Space Pirate ran and jumped around the room with swiftly and managed outrun the missiles, and one by one, they crashed into the walls until there was only left. "I'll lure the missile into her!" the SP thought as he ran towards Samus, who had her arm cannon pointing at him.

Samus suddenly pointed her arm cannon diagonally downwards and fired a missile at the floor. When the missile struck the floor, an explosion of frost was created.

BANG!

"What the!" the SP said in shock as he was caught off guard by her move. The explosion of frost covered the front part of his body in a thin layer of ice, and he was hit by the remaining seeker missile immediately afterwards.

BAAAAAANG!

"GAH!" the SP cried as the explosion propelled him forward. Samus leaped out of his way and then fired a plasma beam at his back.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

With one last cry, the Space Pirate fell limp onto the floor. "Phew... That's that..." the bounty huntress said to herself. "The X Parasites really did make them stronger, or maybe it's just because I'm weaker in my Fusion Suit. It can't be helped that my usual power suit is damaged, so I have to switch to this one for the meantime. I better stay out of tough fights unless necessary from now on..." And then she continued on her way.

* * *

CRASH! CLANG!

Metroids were freed when the Queen Metroid rammed her head against the glass walls, so the life force-sucking creatures were on the loose within the lab. The Space Pirates screamed and ran for their lives, but some of them were unable to outrun the Metroids, so they became their prey. Once they were caught by a Metroids, they could do nothing but scream and trash around on the floor until they withered and became lifeless.

While the chaos was happening, Cirno was hiding around a corner. She took a peek at the scene and said, "This place sure is a mess... What am I going to do now?"

Suddenly, a Metroid appeared in front of her and latched onto her body to suck her life force. "Hey!" But then it quickly let go of her and trembled violently, thus giving Cirno the chance to freeze it with an ice beam, and then she kicked it into the wall with such a force that a portion of its body shattered. "You won't be sucking me dry! My body is too cold for the likes of you to touch! Speaking of which, I shouldn't be afraid of them! I should just go out there and freeze them all up! I'm the strongest!" So she jumped out from behind the wall and shouted at the Metroids, "Everyone! Come and get me if you dare! I'm going to encase you all in ice cubes!"

When the Metroids charged at her, she stretched forth her arms and shouted, "Hail Sign: Hailstorm!" And a combination of cold air, snow, and ice was fired at the Metroids from her arms, thus freezing and making them fall onto the floor.

Once the Metroids were frozen, Cirno flew into the air and spread out her arms to the sides. "Icicle Fall!" Icicles formed all around her, and when she swung her arms downwards, the icicles fell onto the frozen Metroids and stabbed them.

Cirno landed and looked around to see the stabbed Metroids and laughed, "Hahahahahaha! How'd you like that? You're all know match for my icy powers!"

The Queen Metroid let out a roar while stomping the floor upon seeing what happened to the Metroids. "All right! It's your turn!" Cirno said to the queen. "You're mostly likely the boss of these guys, so you should be weak to ice as well! You won't defeat me!" And she flew into the air and fired an ice beam right at her face.

The QM reared back her head when it was hit by the ice beam, but it was not frozen, and then she opened her mouth to breathe fire at Cirno. The ice fairy quickly flew to the side and launched a barrage of icicles at the side of her body, but it didn't seem to hurt her at all.

The queen eventually stopped breathing fire and turned to Cirno, and then she pushed her hind legs against the floor to launch herself at the ice fairy. Cirno quickly flew underneath the queen, so the giant Metroid crashed into a glass wall at the back instead, and this allowed the Metroids behind the glass wall to run free.

They immediately headed for Cirno, but she made a short work out of them by firing cold air at them and then stabbing them with icicles afterwards.

The QM turned to face Cirno and spit a yellow glob at her. The ice fairy moved aside to dodge it and then fired a large icicle at the queen before she closed her mouth, and the icicle lodged itself into her throat. However, the queen managed to melt the ice when she breathed fire.

Cirno once again dodged the fire by dropping altitude. She formed a lance made of ice and then charged at the queen to stab her in the translucent part of the body. The queen cried in pain and then trashed around, so Cirno had to get way from her in order to avoid getting hit.

"It seems that the see-through part is her weak spot!" the ice fairy thought. "All right! I'm going to focus my attacks on that part! Icicle Machi..." But before she had the chance to attack, the QM extended her neck and swung it at Cirno from the side to knock her across the air. "WAH!"

SMACK!

The ice fairy crashed into the wall and then fell onto the floor. "Ow..." When she looked up, she saw the queen coming towards very at a fast speed. "Yikes!" She quickly crawled away, but the queen brought down her front feet on top of her to pin her down.

SLAM!

"Let me go!" Cirno cried as she struggled to escape from underneath the Queen Metroid's foot, but the queen pressed her foot against her even harder. "Augh! I'm getting... crushed! Let go... of me!" The queen brought up her foot to slam it back onto her with an even stronger force, but Cirno used this opportunity to slip away before it came back down.

"Ow... My whole body hurts..." Cirno groaned. When she felt her back using her hand, she did not touch her wings at all. "Oh no! My wings got smashed to pieces! But that's not a problem!" Cold air gathered behind her, and then in an instant, six icicle-like wings were formed. "There! My wings are back!"

The QM tried to bring down her foot on top of Cirno, but the ice fairy quickly escaped into the air. "White Rose Cluster!" she shouted as she formed and fired a large ice ball at the queen. The queen extended her neck and easily smashed the ice ball into pieces with her head. Cirno also had to get out of the way to avoid getting hit by her headbutt.

When the queen's neck returned to normal length, Cirno created and fired several icicles at her. "Icicle Fall!"

The queen moved back a bit and endured the hits from the icicles, and then she released a stream of fire that melted the icicles. Even if some of the icicles did not get hit by the fire, they still melted from fire's temperature.

Cirno flew out of the way and then went to the side of the queen to fire icicles at the translucent part of her body, but the queen, still breathing fire, turned her head to Cirno and melted the icicles as well as burning her.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Cirno screamed at the top of her voice as she fell onto the floor and rolled around like crazy to put out the flames. "FIRE! I'M BURNING! I'M BURNING! IT'S HOT! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" The fire was eventually put out after much rolling, and the ice fairy was charred from head to toe with her wings missing. "Waaaaaah..."

The queen stomped the floor as she approached Cirno, and the ice fairy slowly got up again, but then fell on one knee. "Fire... It's so scary... It's really scary..." she quietly said. She looked up and saw the Queen Metroid looking down at her. When the queen opened her mouth and roared, Cirno screamed and jumped out of the way to avoid getting eaten when she lowered her head and closed her mouth. "Freezer Beam!" Cirno fired a three-way beam at the queen, and all three beams struck her in the body, but the queen wasn't fazed by it very much.

When the QM moved in her direction, Cirno quickly ran for her life, but she ended up slipping on a piece of glass and fell onto several glass shards that were scattered onto the floor when the queen smashed down the glass walls, thus getting herself pricked from head to toe. "AAAAAHHHHHHH! IT HURTS!"

Cirno rolled over in pain, only to get her back pricked by more glass shards. As she was crying and trashing around in pain, the QM spit a yellow glob at her.

SPLAT!

"Ugh! What is this?" Cirno asked as she wiped her face. Suddenly, she felt as if her entire body was being burned by the slimy liquid. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! MY BODY IS BURNING AND HURTING AT THE SAME TIME! IT HURTS!"

The Queen Metroid took one step closer to Cirno, and then she stretched her neck in her direction with her mouth wide open. Luckily, Cirno rolled to the side when the queen's head reached her. The ice fairy quickly crawled away as fast as she could despite her body feeling great pain all over. "At this rate..." she said to herself, "I'm going to die! I must either escape from this place... or... try to defeat her somehow!" Then she took out a blue card.

Just as Cirno was preparing to use the spell card, the Queen Metroid stretched her neck at her and swallowed her whole.

GULP!

Within the Queen Metroid's stomach, Cirno found herself curled up in a fetal position, and one could even see her through the translucent sides of the queen's body. While in that position, Cirno shouted, "Freeze Sign: Perfect Freeze!" And the spell card glowed with bluish-white light.

Suddenly, the QM felt a large amount of cold air inside her body, and then she opened her mouth to let a huge amount of snow and cold air out. The queen trashed around the place as she continued to release cold air from her mouth. Gradually, her body froze from the inside out.

The side of the queen's body burst open and Cirno flew out. When she turned around to look at the queen, she saw that Metroid was frozen from head to toe. It was as if she was looking at an ice sculpture. "Phew... That was a close call... I almost got digested by this monster..." the ice fairy said. "This is what you get for trying to eat the strongest in all of Gensokyo! Serves you right!" Then she took out a card and threw it into the air above the frozen Metroid. "Ice Cube: Great Crusher!"

The card flashed with white light, and then a massive ice cube was created. The ice cube fell on top of the Queen Metroid and crushed her.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Cirno held her arm over her face to keep ice shards from getting into her eyes. When she lowered her arms, all she saw was the ice cube and several ice shards shattered on the floor. The Queen Metroid's frozen head was also seen lying on the floor. Cirno raised her arms into the air and shouted, "YES! I DID IT! I WON! I'VE DEFEATED THE MONSTER! I DID IT! I DID IT! I AM INDEED THE STRONGEST! I DID IT! HOORAY!" Suddenly, she dropped onto the floor and fell on her knees and hands. "Phew... I'm tired... I feel like... taking a rest... Yeah, I deserve a rest... for winning this fight..." And then she fell flat on the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Samus stepped into a dark room and pointed her arm cannon around the place. Thanks to her visor, she was able to see in the dark. She slowly walked through the place as not to disturb anything, but suddenly, she heard the sound of metal hitting the floor. "Who's there?" she said as she pointed her arm cannon at a large figure visible at the back of the room.

Suddenly, green lights lit the room up to reveal a gigantic robot with long, clawed limbs adorning its sleek metallic body crouching on the floor. A familiar beaked maw filled with steel teeth growled at Samus. A jetpack replaced the usual bat-like wings that Samus normally associated with the figure.

She immediately recognized the figure, despite the robotic form it took. It was an image forever burned into her memory, and as the robot's inspiration himself said, she would never be rid of it. "Ridley..."

The giant robot tilted its head downwards to look at Samus, the computer within its body registering the bounty huntress as an enemy to be destroyed. The robot then hit the floor with its hand before standing up from its crouched position. Samus couldn't help but take a few steps back, intimidated by the sheer size of the robot.

* * *

Reimu and a beaten up Space Pirate were standing in front of large steel door, and the shrine maiden said to him, "Okay, I want you to open this giant door for me at once. This is where you guys keep all the money, right? I overheard a conversation about a treasure-filled box being kept in here. I have every reason to assume that the treasure-filled box is my donation box."

"So that box is yours...?" the SP asked.

"Yes, and you guys stole it while I was gone."

"Sorry... I don't know the password to this door... The treasurer knows this, and also the captain..."

"Then where can I find either of those two?"

"I don't where the treasurer is at the moment, but you really do not want to meet the captain. No... I sure do want you to meet the captain! There's going to nothing left of you when you meet into him, heheheh!" Then he was smacked across the face by Reimu's gohei. "OOF!"

"I don't care. Take me to either one of them at once," Reimu said to him sternly.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them. "What is going on here?" asked the person casting the shadow.

When the SP heard it, he widened his eyes in surprise and said, "It's the captain!"

Reimu turned around and saw the captain of the Space Pirates, Ridley, standing behind her.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

So yeah, Cirno rocks! She's really cool! Hey, did I see a pun somewhere around here?

**Next chapter: Nightmare of Flesh and Metal**

**Trivia:  
**1. According to the March 2006 issue of Nintendo Power, Weavel was defeated by Samus in Brinstar. The only known instance where Space Pirates got killed in Brinstar prior to Metroid Prime: Hunters is in the official Metroid manga. Samus lured two Space Pirates underneath two Skrees, and then the Skrees dived onto their heads and stabbed them. Weavel is believed to be one of those two Space Pirates.


	61. Nightmare of Flesh and Metal

**SBS Time!  
Patcheresu: **There is no humor in the story. It died when you decided to make some hapless person watch as his pet frog dies each chapter.  
**Game2002: **None of the frogs died. They are in perfect condition after defrosting.

I might as well stop making promises that I will update within ten days... I sincerely apologize for the long wait once again... I have to admit that I got lazy at times. Whenever I think of wanting to work on a chapter, I became unmotivated. Plus, I seem to be getting writer's block more than before. Anyway, let's get started with this chapter!

A new theme has been added to Chapter 58: Predators vs. Preys. It's called Nightmare Unmasked, and it plays during the part where Nightmare loses his mask.

**Chapter 60  
Nightmare of Flesh and Metal**

* * *

There was a bit of silence as Ridley and Reimu stared at each other, and the Space Pirate that the shrine maiden dragged to the place stood up and said to his captain in a desperate manner, "Captain! This girl forced me to come here to open the vault room's door! Do you remember the box containing a large amount of treasure that was brought back some time ago? She's the owner of that box!"

Ridley looked at the vault room's door and then turned to Reimu. "So you're the owner of that box," he asked her. "Also, I remember seeing you fighting alongside Samus out there. Pork sent you flying, did he not?"

"Yeah, he did," Reimu said as she rubbed her right shoulder using her left hand. "I crashed through a window and into this building. The landing was pretty rough, so my shoulder got strained a bit. It's all right now, though."

"You must be very fit in order to survive a punch from him! Indeed, it is very impressive that you're still standing here!"

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks!"

Suddenly and without a single warning, Ridley swung his tail at Reimu from the side, but her reaction was quick, so she managed to block it with her gohei.

"Surprise attack, eh?" Reimu asked him.

Ridley pulled back his tail and said, "You sure have good reaction! However, anyone who stands before me will not be alive for long! You want that box back, right? I can return it to you if you want to, but only the box! Whatever is inside belongs to us Space Pirates!"

"I would appreciate it if you return me the box along with everything inside it; otherwise, I'll take it back by force!"

"Ha! I'd like to see what a scrawny little brat like you can do!" Ridley laughed upon hearing this.

"Oh yeah? This is what I can do!" Reimu said as she whipped out and threw several paper amulets at Ridley. The Space Pirate captain shielded himself with his wing, but the explosion was strong enough to make him take a step back.

"What the heck!" he said in shock. "Weren't those simply pieces of paper?"

As Reimu continued to throw paper amulets at Ridley, the Space Pirate captain churned fire within his mouth, and then he pulled aside his wing to breathe fire at the shrine maiden. Reimu quickly created a blue wall to protect herself from the fire. "Cautionary Border!" And then she pushed the wall to move it in the direction of the Space Pirate captain.

"Huh?" Ridley stopped breathing fire when he saw that the wall was blocking it, and then with a swing of his arm, he smashed the wall into pieces. "Whatever toys you have, you won't beat me!" Then he charged at her.

Reimu quickly leaped out of the the Space Pirate captain's way, and then Ridley extended his tail in her direction to impale her, but she deflected it using her gohei. However, the tail wrapped itself around Reimu afterwards, much to her surprise. "What the!"

Using his tail, Ridley flung Reimu into the wall made of glass, and after retracting his tail, he charged at Reimu and slammed his hand into her neck with such a force that the glass shattered. Both the Space Pirate captain and the shrine maiden fell off the building and towards the ground below while the Space Pirate watched from the shattered portion of the glass.

* * *

**BGM: Ridley Robot Battle (Metroid: Zero Mission)**

The robotic Ridley brought down his hand on Samus, but the bounty huntress leaped out of the way and fired a plasma beam at his body upon landing. The shot bounced off his body, though. "Plasma beam doesn't work!" she said in surprise.

The robot swung his hand at her, but she leaped over it and shot the body again, only to obtain the same result. When the robot slammed down his hand the second time, Samus avoided it and then ran along the top of the arm to get to the head. The robot swung his other arm at her while she was on the way to the top, so she quickly jumped into the air at the side to avoid it. She pointed her arm cannon at the robot's eye and prepared to fire, but the eye suddenly fired a green laser beam at her.

"Ah!" Samus cried as the beam sent her crashing onto the floor. When she looked up, she saw the robot trying to slam down his hand on her, so she quickly hopped back. She continued to fire more shots at the robot, but none of them put a single scratch on his body. "My shots aren't working at all! There must be someway to damage it!" She tapped the side of her helmet go into scanning mode, but while she was scanning the robot, more missiles were fired at her.

Samus cancelled the scanning process, shot down the missiles, and then ran as far as she could from the robot before scanning it again. This time, she was able to get a complete scan. "It would seem that its joints are the weakest parts of its body. All right, I'll aim for the joints!" Then she ran towards the robot.

The robot turned its head slightly to side to fire an eye beam in her direction, but Samus hopped to the side and then fired at the eye. The robot quickly turned its eye away so that the shot hit its beak instead. Samus then aimed and fired a super missile at the right elbow.

BAAAAAAANG!

While the explosion did not tear off the arm, it knocked off the covering around the elbow, thus revealing the circuits inside. The robot looked at its damaged joint and tried to raise his arm, but it fell limp shortly afterwards.

"Looks like it's working!" Samus said. "I'm going to do the same with your other joints!"

* * *

CRASH!

"What was that!" asked a surprised Space Pirate. The Space Pirates ran to the sight of the crashing and saw Ridley pinning Reimu onto the ground.

"Any last words?" Ridley asked her while pointing his tail in her direction.

"No..." Reimu said as she took out a card.

"Either way, you're going to die!" Then Ridley thrust the tail at her.

"Dimensional Rift!" Reimu shouted, and then she disappeared right before the tip of the tail struck the area between her eyes.

"Huh?" Ridley was confused and surprised by her sudden disappearance. Suddenly, Reimu reappeared in the air behind his head and whacked him with her spiritually-enhance gohei. "Ack!"

Reimu quickly moved back upon landing and then threw some paper amulets at Ridley, and they hit him and exploded as he was turning around to face her.

"Why you!" the Space Pirate captain angrily said. "You're getting on my nerves!"

**BGM: Vs. Ridley (Metroid: Other M)**

Ridley took a deep breath and then released a large stream of fire at her. Reimu moved aside and then ran towards him, and when Ridley swung his tail at her, she leaped into the air. She took out a card and fired three energy yin-yang orbs at her. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Ridley got hit in the head by all three orbs, and then Reimu whacked him in the same place using her gohei.

"You!" Ridley shouted, and then he swung his hand at Reimu to send her flying across the place, but the shrine maiden came to a skidding halt on her feet. Falling onto his hands, Ridley ran towards her on all four limbs.

When Ridley swung his hand at Reimu, she performed a back flip to escape the attack, and as she was falling back down in an upright position, she threw a paper amulet at him. However, Ridley caught the paper amulet and let it explode in his grasp, and then he threw a punch at Reimu the moment she landed.

POW!

"Ugh!" The punch sent the shrine maiden flying backwards, but she eventually came to a skidding halt on her feet. When she looked up, she saw Ridley running towards her on all fours again. She quickly threw a yellow card onto the ground, and when Ridley's hand touched it, he was electrocuted as well as being paralyzed from head to toe.

"Gah! What the!" he cried.

"Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire a large energy yin-yang orb at him.

Ridley struggled to break free from his paralyzed state, but the energy orb struck him before he could do so. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the Space Pirate captain screamed as the energy orb slowly engulfed him.

Once the energy orb completely went through him, it continued flying through the air and hit some Space Pirates who happened to be in the way until it hit the wall of the main building.

BANG!

Ridley was charred from head to toe, but was able to move again. He stood upright again and swayed his body left and right slowly. "Ugh..."

"Well, how'd you like that?" Reimu asked as she placed her gohei against her shoulder.

Suddenly, the Space Pirate captain slammed his hands onto the ground really hard and said in a loud voice, "YOU PEST! DIE!" Then he breathed fire at her.

Reimu jumped into the air to avoid it, but then Ridley shot her with fireballs. She quickly crossed her arms in front of her face to protect herself, but the arms were caught on fire as a result. "Whoa! Hot!" she cried when she fell back onto the ground, and then she desperately shook and slapped her arms in an attempt to put out the fire.

Suddenly, Ridley swung his fist at Reimu's head from above to knock her face first onto the ground, and then he sent her flying aside with a swing of his arm. The shrine maiden flew through the air and crashed into a building.

CRASH!

"Ow..." Reimu groaned as she rubbed her head.

Suddenly, Ridley slammed his hand into her and pushed her through the wall. The Space Pirate captain went through the wall as well and all the way out of the other side of the building. He then flew into the air with the shrine maiden in his grasp. After flying about two hundred meters into the air, Ridley flung Reimu downwards. "Enjoy the fall! Haha!"

Reimu looked down as she fell through the air and thought, "I'm going to die for real if I hit the ground from this height! If only I can fly now! C'mon! Come back already, my flight ability! Come back already!"

Reimu fell closer and closer to the ground, but when she was only a few inches away from hitting it, she swooped into the air. "WHAT!" said the Space Pirates who were watching from the sides in shock.

"Yes!" Reimu excitedly said. "Just in time! That sure was close!"

"Huh? What in the world!" Ridley said in shock. "She's flying!"

Reimu threw several paper amulets and needles as she flew towards Ridley, but the Space Pirate captain flew out of the way and then spit a fireball at her. Reimu quickly dodged it, and right after that, Ridley charged at her and swung his arm at her, but she blocked it with her gohei.

Ridley thrust his tail at Reimu afterwards, but she flew higher into the air to dodge it and then used a card to hit him from above using yin-yang orbs. "Bright Pearl Cast into Shade!"

"Ugh!" Ridley cried when he was hit by all three orbs. "Why you!" Then he raised his head and breathed fire at Reimu, but she managed to avoid it. Ridley looked at her and said, "What on earth is this madness! How is it possible that you can fly?"

"Something that most people from my world can do," she replied. "Now that I am able to fly, I will be able to fight you with my full power. Prepare yourself!"

* * *

Samus fired rapidly into the air to shoot down the missiles that were fired at her. When the robotic Ridley reached out his undamaged arm at her, she performed a somersault jump at it while releasing electricity from all over her body. When she collided with the palm, she spun against it like a buzzsaw, thus causing sparks to fly everywhere.

Eventually, the robot pulled back his arm while Samus bounced back into the air and shot the palm with a missile. After landing, Samus fired a super missile at the left knee.

BAAAAAANG!

The covering around the left knee was blown off as a result, thus forcing the robot to fall on the damaged knee. The robot used his remaining leg and arm to crawl towards Samus, but the wires that were coming out from his backpack kept him from going too far as they were attached to the wall behind him.

"It would seem that you are still incomplete," Samus said. "You're just like the robot I faced in the Space Pirates' mothership before. Taking you out shouldn't be so hard after all!" She prepared to shoot the other knee when suddenly the robot opened his mouth to breathe what appeared to be yellow fire at her. "What!" So she quickly jumped out of its way.

The top of the robot's backpack opened to release several missiles in the air. Samus quickly shot down the missiles as they headed for her and then jumped aside to avoid an eye beam. She then aimed and fired a super missile at the right knee, but the robot swatted it into the wall with his hand.

BAAAAAAANG!

"Tsk!" Samus growled. The robot then breathed yellow fire at her, so she quickly ran from it, but the robot turned his head after her while continuing the attack. Samus jumped very high into the air when the yellow fire was about to touch her, and while she was in the air, she fired the Grapple Beam at the damaged arm and then pulled herself onto it. She ran to the shoulder and fired super missile at the eye from there.

BAAAAAAAANG!

The robot leaned his head to the side when his right eye was blown up. Samus almost fell off from the shoulder when the robot's body moved, but she managed to retain her balance. From there, she jumped onto the robot's head and went to the other shoulder, and then she slid down the arm and shot the other eye with another missile on the way down.

BAAAAAAANG!

"That should keep it from seeing me," Samus thought, and then aimed and fired a super missile at the right knee. However, the robot swung his hand at the super missile and caught it, much to Samus's surprise. "What!" The robot then flung the super missile at Samus, so she quickly jumped back to avoid it.

BANG!

"What the! How does it know that the missile was going to hit its right knee? And it even managed to catch the super missile!" Samus said in shock. "Is this thing modeled after the Golden Torizo or what!"

The robot breathed yellow fire at her again, so she jumped out of the way and then fired a missile at his neck, and this caused him to close his mouth and rear back his head at the same time. His chest then opened up to fire several missiles at her, and she managed to avoid them by turning into a ball and then rolling around the place at a fast speed.

Samus rolled to the side of the room and then uncurled herself before firing a missile at the chest, and sparks and pieces of metal were sent flying into the air when the missile collided with the missile launcher inside it. Samus then scanned the robot. "Okay... It would appear that this robot is capable of detecting heat and sound released by its targets, hence the reason it was able to tell where I am despite the loss of its eyes. With such capabilities, I fear to imagine how powerful and terrifying this thing can be if it is completed... I must destroy it while it is in an incomplete state!" Then she ran towards the robot.

The robot fired an eye beam at her, but she jumped into the air to avoid it, and when he tried to grab her while she was still in midair, she shot it with a missile a repel it. When she landed, she aimed and shot the left elbow.

BAAAAAAAAAANG!

With this, the left arm became limp and useless. As the robot could no support itself using only one leg, he fell over on his chest.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Despite the loss of his arms, the robot still struggled to get back up. He used the upper part of his arm to push himself back up, and then he fired missiles from its jetpack. Samus shot down the missiles as they were flying towards her, and then the robot opened his mouth to breathe yellow fire. Samus quickly ran underneath his head before the fire reached her, and then she shot the robot in the chin with a super missile.

BAAAAAAAANG!

The force of the explosion caused the robot to close his mouth, and then Samus quickly got out of the way before he fell over on his chest again. She ran up to his head and pried open his mouth, and then she morphed into a ball to roll inside it. Once inside the mouth, she planted a Power Bomb and then rolled back out.

Bright light came out from within the robot's mouth, and then there was a huge explosion.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

All that left of the robot after the explosion ended was his lower torso, but it was so badly damaged and charred that one wouldn't be able to recognize it as a part of a giant robot's body. Samus held up her fist and smirked. "Target destroyed!"

* * *

Ridley spit several fireballs at Reimu, but the shrine maiden managed to avoid them while moving forward. When Ridley swung his tail at her, she dropped altitude and then flew towards his body to kick him. "Ugh!" the Space Pirate captain grunted in pain because the kick was actually strong enough to make him feel pain.

Reimu kicked him the second time, and then she followed up with a series of continuous kicks. Ridley eventually moved back to avoid getting kicked and said, "Don't be so full of yourself!" Then he breathed a stream of fire at her, but she flew out of its way and all the way behind him.

"Persuasion Needle!" Reimu shouted as she threw several needles at Ridley, but he knocked them away using his tail and then charged at her. When Ridley swung his arm at Reimu, she ascended into the air and then stomped him in the head. She then bounced into the air and threw paper amulets that were glowing with purple light. "Demon Buster!"

Ridley raised his head and breathed fire at the paper amulets to burn them. When the fire approached for Reimu, she quickly created a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!"

The wall managed to block the fire, but when the fire breath ended, Ridley instantly charged at her and slammed his hand into the wall with such a force that cracks appeared on it. Reimu quickly moved out of the way before Ridley smashed through the wall and collided into her, and then the Space Pirate captain swung his tail at her. Reimu quickly blocked it with her gohei. Ridley kept on swinging his tail at Reimu, but every hit was blocked by her gohei. "Tsk! I don't understand how a stick can be so durable!" Ridley said.

"By channeling spiritual energy into my gohei," Reimu explained, "I can make my gohei as hard as steel."

"Whatever the case is, it won't be enough to defeat me! I admit that you are something to be able to put up a fight against me for this long, but you're going down soon!" Ridley said. He then pulled back his tail and spun vertically to bring down his tail on Reimu from above. Reimu managed to block it by holding her gohei over her head, but the impact was so hard that she was pushed downwards.

"Whoa!" she cried. Suddenly, Ridley swooped at her and caught her in his hand. "Hey! Let go of me!"

Ridley then dived at a building and smashed her against the rooftop really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUAH!" Reimu cried. Ridley ascended back into the air and took a deep breath, and then he released a huge blast of fire at her. Seeing the fire approaching, Reimu quickly created a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!"

BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the explosion cleared, there was medium-sized crater on the rooftop, and Reimu was lying in the center of it, charred. "That was close..." she thought. "I really would've been roasted if I didn't use Cautionary Border in time... That attack must be very powerful to be able to break it in a single hit!" Her eyes widened in shock when Ridley fell towards her. Luckily, she got up and jumped out of the way in time before she got crushed by his feet. The Space Pirate captain crashed through the rooftop and into the building.

Reimu ran in front of the hole and looked at it, and Ridley suddenly burst out from behind her. She quickly turned around to see him stretching his tail at her, so she was able to deflect it with her gohei in the nick of time, but she ended up taking a small step backwards and thus fell into the hole. "Whoa!"

Reimu landed inside the building and groaned in pain while standing back up. Suddenly, Ridley's tail shot through the ceiling and went over her left shoulder. Reimu stood back up while placing her hand on her left shoulder because the skin was scraped by the tail earlier, and when the tail started jabbing all over the place, she quickly flew out of the hole and back outside.

Once outside, Reimu scattered four pieces of red and blue paper around herself, and they transformed into miniature yin-yang orbs. When she pointed her gohei at Ridley, the yin-yang orbs fired projectiles at him rapidly, but he took off into the air before he got hit. Reimu went after him and the orbs kept on firing.

Ridley moved left and right as he flew to avoid the projectiles, but he was still shot in a few places. "Argh! Annoying!" he growled while looking back, and then he turned around to breathe fire at Reimu.

Reimu quickly flew out of the fire's way and then threw several paper amulets at him while the orbs continued shooting. Ridley turned his head to her and burned down the paper amulets, but she flew out of the fire's way again. Reimu then threw needles at him, and when Ridley aimed the fire breath at her again, she quickly flew higher to avoid it. The needles were unaffected by the fire, so they went through it and struck Ridley him in the upper part of the mouth's interior. "GAH!"

Reimu went behind Ridley and had the orbs to shoot him rapidly. Ridley quickly dropped altitude after getting pelted for a few seconds, and then he pulled the needles out of his mouth and threw them away. "Why you!" he growled. "I'M ANGRY!" He charged at Reimu and started swinging his arms at her.

Reimu managed to avoid getting hit by moving back, but the yin-yang orbs were within the reach of the arm swinging, so all of them got destroyed. Eventually, Ridley's claws slashed Reimu across the body, and then he breathed fire at her.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reimu screamed as she shot diagonally downwards with her body on fire until she hit the ground.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Space Pirates ran to the site of the crash and saw the shrine maiden rolling around desperately in an attempt to put out the fire while screaming like crazy. One of the Space Pirates looked up and saw Ridley diving towards her. "The captain's coming this way! Get out of here!" And so they moved away from Reimu.

"You're finished!" Ridley said as he pointed his tail at Reimu. "Die!"

Reimu managed to put out some of the fire from her body, and then she quickly took out a card and slapped it onto the ground. ""Divine Arts: Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!" The card glowed with orange light, and then a pillar of light shot out from below her and engulfed Ridley.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the Space Pirate captain screamed as the light burned him all over the body.

The pillar of light eventually disappeared, and Ridley fell down next to Reimu.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Phew... Just in time," Reimu said with a sigh of relief. The fire on her body was also completely put out. Suddenly, she heard Ridley growling, so she quickly moved away from him. "You're still up and at it?"

Ridley got back up and stared at her. "Why you! You're as annoying as that accursed bounty huntress! I'm going to make sure that you die a horrible death!"

"That's not going to happen!" Reimu said as she scattered pieces of paper around herself to summon miniature yin-yang orbs again, and under her command, they shot the Space Pirate captain rapidly.

"Ugh!" Ridley quickly shielded himself with his wings, and then Reimu strengthened the firepower by throwing a plethora of paper amulets and needles at him.

While Reimu attacked Ridley, the Space Pirates ran towards her from all sides.

"We must help the captain!"

"You're not taking out our captain so easily, little girl!"

"We'll take you out with numbers!"

Reimu pointed to the sides to make two of the yin-yang orbs aim in both directions, and as the Space Pirates were being shot, she spun in a circle with her gohei held out to release an array of borders that spread out in all directions. "Expanding Border!" The Space Pirates cried in pain as the borders knocked them away.

"AH!"

"WAAA!"

"GYAH!"

"Enough is enough!" Ridley shouted as he took off into the air. He took a deep breath and then spit a large fireball at Reimu, so she quickly jumped back into the air to avoid the fiery shockwave that was result of the fireball hitting the ground.

BAAAAAAAAAANG!

Reimu moved out of the way when Ridley dived at her, but immediately after that, he turned around and swung his arm at her to knock her backwards, and then he charged at her.

"Cautionary Border!" Reimu quickly created a blue wall. Ridley stopped moving when he crashed into it, but Reimu had to get out of the way before he broke through it. The Space Pirate captain went after her as she flew in the direction of the main building, and when he swung his tail at her, she quickly dropped altitude.

She took out a card and shouted, "Spirit Sign: Fantasy Orb!" The card glowed with various colors and then released five energy balls of various colors into the air, and they flew at Ridley.

"Grrr!" Ridley growled after getting hit by them. He breathed fire at Reimu, but she avoided it and then started flying in circles around him while the miniature orbs shot him rapidly. "Argh! I have enough!" Ridley extended his tail at her, but she quickly moved aside and then grabbed the tail. When Ridley retracted his tail, Reimu was pulled towards him, and then she slammed a card against his chest.

"Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" she shouted, and then the card released a burst of orange light.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Ridley screamed as the powerful burst of light sent him shooting backwards, and because the shrine maiden was still holding on his tail, she was pulled along with him. They both crashed into the side of the main building.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"ARGH! ACCURSED BRAT!" Ridley shouted.

"You want another shot?" Reimu asked him. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" And she used the same attack again.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

This time, Ridley was blown through the wall and into a room that contained several large machines. Reimu let go of Ridley's tail and dropped onto the floor while the Space Pirate captain kept on flying backwards until he hit a large generator.

CRAAAAAAAAASH!

Ridley then opened his eyes and looked around the place. "This is the power supply room..."

"Geez, you sure are hardy!" Reimu said. "Guess you're not the captain for nothing..." She then looked at the generator and said, "By the way... You just said that this is the power supply room, right?"

"Yeah, and what does that have to do with anything?"

"When I visited the Underground Geyser Center, I remember going into a room called the power supply room, and according to Utusho, that room is where they store the power used for keeping the place running or something like that. There was also a huge machine that looks like the thing behind you, and she said that the destruction of that thing would result in..."

"You better not think of doing anything crazy!"

"Why not?" Reimu said as she held up a card. "Wrecking this place should keep you guys from carrying out your evil plans, right?"

"I won't let you! I'm going to kill you right here and right now!" Ridley shouted, and then he charged at Reimu.

"Treasure Tool: Demon God Yin-Yang Orb!" she shouted, and then a large energy yin-yang orb was fired from the card.

Ridley collided into the energy orb and tried to push it back. "Argh! Graaaaaah!"

Reimu then clasped her hands together to charge up spiritual energy. All the while, Ridley was trying to push the energy orb away, but his hands only sank into the orb. He also breathed fire at the energy orb, but the fire disappeared upon touching it. "Dream Sign: Duplex Barrier!" Reimu shouted, and then a double-layered barrier appeared around Ridley, the energy orb, and the generator.

Ridley looked at the barrier while pushing the energy orb and asked, "What is this!"

"I said its name earlier already," Reimu replied. "Anyway, it's Duplex Barrier, one of my more devastating techniques, but it takes a while to activate."

The inner barrier started to glow with bright light, and Ridley became more and more terrified. "What are you doing! What is going to happen!" he said.

"You'll see for yourself soon," Reimu said as she walked away from the outer barrier.

"How dare you! You won't get away with this!" Ridley shouted. By this time, his arms had more or less disappeared completely into the energy orb, so his body was only about a millimeter away from it. "I WON'T BE DEFEATED BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU SO EASILY! NEVER! NEVER!"

Then the inner barrier exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Thanks to the outer barrier, the explosion did not reach Reimu or any other part of the room. The shrine maiden slightly turned around with a serious explosion and watched the outer barrier disappear, thus allowing the smoke inside to spread throughout the place. "So... are you going to return me my donation box?" she asked.

* * *

With a single swipe of the energy swipe, Alice's dolls were cut in half. "Heheh! Not bad! You sure have great dexterity to be able to control such a large number of dolls at once!" the cloaked man said. "Are they robots or are they plain old puppets that people play with in the olden days?"

"They're dolls," Alice said to him with a slightly angered expression, "and I'm controlling them using magical strings."

"Whatever the case it, they're too primitive to put up a fight against me! No way are you going to take down a much more high-tech being like me! Blame yourself for not being high-tech enough to put a fair fight!" The cloaked man then jumped at Alice with his scythe raised high into the air. Suddenly, several purple paper amulets flew into him from the side.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

"Tsk! Annoying girl!" the cloaked man growled as the explosion forced him to fall to the side.

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae shouted as she used a card to fire several snake-like missiles at him.

The cloaked man spun his scythe like a propeller to shield himself from the missiles as well as destroying them, and then he charged at Sanae to attack her. Sanae leaped back into the air when he swung the scythe horizontally at her. The shrine maiden took out a packet and prepared to throw it. "Fortune Slip Bomb!" But the cloaked man knocked it out of her hand before she had the chance to do so. "Wha!"

"Die!" the cloaked man said as he prepared to slash the shocked Sanae with his scythe, but Shanghai flew at him and swung her sword at the scythe with such a force that it flew out of his hand. "What the! Why you!" The man tried to grab Shanghai, but the doll flew out of the way.

Sanae tried to use this opportunity to get away, but the man grabbed her by the shoulder before she had the chance, and then he punched her straight into the face really hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The punch was so strong that Sanae passed out the moment the fist struck her nose. She shot back through the air until she hit the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Sanae!" Alice gasped, and then she glared at the cloaked man. "How dare you hurt her!"

"I'll tear you to shreds first before finishing her off!" the cloaked man said as he picked up and activated his energy scythe.

"Return Animate!" Alice shouted as she hurled a doll that was glowing with blue light at him. The cloaked man slashed the doll when it came near him, but the doll exploded in a huge burst of blue light when it was hit.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Alice watched with silence at the explosion as it died down, and then she saw a figure within the smoke. "Impressive!" the figure said. "I was honestly surprised by the destructive force of that doll! Never would've that a children's plaything can be this dangerous!"

"You're still alive? Who are you?" Alice sternly asked.

"Very well, I will give you the privilege to know who I am," the figure said, and then he stepped out from the smoke to reveal himself in full. He head was bald, had a red jewel on the forehead, and had red markings over both his blue pupil-less eyes. His body was mechanical in appearance. The torso was mostly yellow while the limbs were mostly purple. Lastly, his shoulders had a total of four red claws sticking out of them. "I am Sigma, one of the members of the organization that is trying to create the new world!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Let's give Lazruth a round of applause for getting it right! It's Sigma from the Mega Man X series! I used his X4 form because Mega Man X4 is the first Mega Man X that I own and beat by myself, and in my opinion, his X4 design is the coolest-looking one among all his forms!

I apologize for Samus's rather lackluster fight. I had a hard time trying to make her fight scene against the robotic Ridley good, so the fight ended up rather short and bland. At least that's my opinion...

The robotic Ridley is based off the final boss of Metroid: Zero Mission. Also, the robotic Ridley and Ridley have their respective themes playing during the battle against them. Since those themes are different versions of the same theme, I'd like to imagine one version instantly changing into the other version but continuing from the same part whenever the scene changes. By the way, I referred to the robot using masculine pronouns because he's based off Ridley, who is obviously male.

**Next chapter: Girls Accomplished Their Mission**

**Trivia:  
**1. Yoshio Sakamoto, the chief director of Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission, stated that the Ridley Robot is in incomplete, and in Metroid Prime Trilogy, there is a concept art of a similar-looking robot that may be the complete form he alluded to.


	62. Girls Accomplished Their Mission

**SBS Time!  
Patcheresu: **Everybody knows that you can't beat that boss BY PUNCHING AND KICKING IT. It's made of RADIATION, ergo; his weak spot was always changing. You needed a way to see where the weak spot was in those Phazon sacs.**  
Game2002: **The Omega Pirate in this story is not powered Phazon, but X Parasites. The X Parasites are already dead when they got absorbed into his body, and since they contain no radiation, it is safe to hit the weak spots. Even though I have never played the original Metroid Prime, I watched videos and read from FAQs to learn about the Omega Pirate so that I can work on this fight. I'm very sure that his weak spots are the shoulder pads and the knees pads, and once those parts are destroyed, his chest. In this story, the Omega Metroid didn't use his cloaking ability. Admittedly, I didn't think of making him use it when working on that fight. Let's just say that he never got the chance to use it...

**Chapter 61  
Girls Accomplished Their Mission**

**

* * *

**

"So you're one of the people from that organization?" Alice asked Sigma.

"Yes," the android replied. "The reason that I'm here is to find new recruits. Ridley, the captain of the Space Pirates has been decided by my superior to become part of the organization. I brought him back from the dead and helped him bring the Space Pirates back to glory on this planet. Furthermore, our organization provided him with the technology to clone living organisms from even the simplest traces of DNA. A space station once crashed onto this planet, and DNAs of organisms that were on it could be found in the crash site as a result. Using this, the Space Pirates managed to resurrect several organisms, including the extinct Metroid race. But what do you know? He gave me the answer that he's not going to join us! How ungrateful can he be?"

"That's all the better. It would be troublesome if your organization was to become bigger, though I don't know how much people there are in it currently. I will not allow your organization's evil plan to come true! I will strike you down here!"

"I'd like to see you try to take me down with primitive toys like those!"

"Hourai Dolls! Alice shouted as she summoned several dolls and made them fire red laser beams at Sigma, but villain leaped up high into the air and fell towards Alice with his scythe pointing at her. She quickly jumped back to avoid getting hit, and when Sigma threw his scythe at her, she stepped aside.

The scythe spun threw the air and u-turned like a boomerang, and Alice was cut in the side of the waist when it returned. "Ugh! It came back!"

Sigma charged at her as soon as the scythe returned to his hands, and then with a single swing of it, he took out quite a few dolls. Alice quickly moved back from him as far as she could, and then she fired lasers at him using the remaining dolls, but Sigma blocked them by spinning his scythe like a propeller. When the dolls stopped firing, Sigma slammed his scythe into the floor to spread out a large amount of electricity. The electricity touched Alice's feet.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Alice screamed in agony. When Sigma pulled the scythe out of the floor, she fell on her knees, charred from head to toe. While her body was slowly wobbling around in a semiconscious state, Sigma charged at with his scythe pulled back, ready to swing it at her. Using the last of her strength, Alice moved her fingers to make Shanghai fly in front of Sigma with a shield. Unfortunately, the shield was unable to stand up to the power of the scythe.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Sliced diagonally across the body, the two pieces of Shanghai flew in both directions while a huge gash appeared on Alice's body. The magician's eyes went blank, and then she fell down on her front.

"Heheheheh!" Sigma laughed. "I told you that your primitive toys are no match for me!" Then he raised his scythe over her head. "Now to make sure that you don't get back up!" Suddenly, he noticed Alice moving her hand towards a doll next to his right foot.

When she touched the doll, she said in a weak voice, "Artful... Sacrifice..." Then the doll glowed with orange light before exploding

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Sigma leaped out of the explosion, charred and somewhat damaged by it. "Ugh! I didn't expect that to happen!" he said. "So she still has one last trick up her sleeves!"

When the explosion died down, Alice was revealed to be still on lying on the floor, even more injured than before. All of sudden, the lights went out.

"What the heck! Who put out he lights!"

Then the door across the room opened and light shined in. Sigma looked at the light that was shining at him and saw someone wielding a flashlight out there. "Who's there?" the person asked.

Sigma took a better look at the person and saw that it was Nitori. "You're one of the girls!" he said.

Nitori looked at Sigma and said, "You look like a bad guy. I also heard an explosion just now." She shined her flashlight around the place and saw Alice. "Alice!" Then she looked at Sigma again. "You! You did that to her, right? How dare you beat up my friend like that!"

"And what are you going to do about it? Also, she caused the explosion you heard earlier herself, thus putting herself in a state like this! I can put you into a similar state if you want to!" Sigma said as he held up his scythe, but then his body short-circuited. "Ugh! The explosion earlier... It actually managed to mess me up! Argh! Consider yourself lucky that I'm in no in the condition to kill you! I'm out of here!" But then he realized something. "Argh! Darn it! The remote for summoning the gate! It was in the cloak! It's now destroyed along with it in the explosion earlier! Now I can't go back!"

Suddenly, a door appeared behind him, and it opened to reveal Mr. King. "Then be thankful that I came to pick you up," he said to Sigma.

"Right timing!"

"Look at you! You sure are in a beaten up state!"

"Oh, shut up!" Then Sigma quickly ran into the door. "Let's get out of here! Who cares about Ridley? He's probably not going to join us anymore!"

"He can't join us anymore too. It would appear that he fell to the hands of one of the girls. Plus, the Galactic Federation showed up all of a sudden. The Space Pirates are done for. There is no need for recruiting someone who has already fallen."

"Whatever! Serves him right for turning down our offer!"

"Wait! The both of you aren't going anywhere!" Nitori shouted as she ran towards them.

"We shall meet again, little girl," Mr. King said as the door started to close. "Go and keep on collecting the Light Essences. It doesn't matter whether or not you succeed; we will be the ones laughing in the very end! Fufufufufufufu!" And the door fully closed and disappeared before Nitori could touch it.

"Aw man... They got away..." she grumbled, and then she turned to Alice and ran up to her. "Alice! Are you all right?"

* * *

The sound of the explosion made all the Space Pirates look at the hole on the main building. "That explosion..." a Space Pirate said. "The generator better be all right, or else..." But before he could finish his phrase, the lights that were visible behind the windows of the main building disappeared. "Doh... Just as I feared..."

As the Space Pirates panicked due to the lack of light, one of them noticed something in the air. "Hey, is that a spaceship in the air?" he asked. "It seems to be coming in this direction."

A Space Pirate standing on the rooftop of the main building used a telescope to look at the approaching object, and then he shouted as loud as he could, "IT'S THE GALACTIC FEDERATION'S MOTHERSHIP!"

He shouted so loud that the Space Pirates at the bottom could hear him, and then they panicked even more.

"Galactic Federation!"

"They're here! What do we do!"

"We must fight to defend ourselves!"

"Quick! Ready the turrets and the spaceships! It's time to battle!"

The massive Galactic Federation's mothership was accompanied by several smaller ships, and these ships zoomed towards the base were firing laser beams and missiles rapidly. The Space Pirates screamed as they ran around the place to avoid getting shot, but not all of them were lucky.

Meanwhile, Marisa, Reisen, and Meiling were watching from behind a building at the scene of chaos. "Whoa! What's happening-ze?" Marisa asked in shock.

"Are the ones raining down projectiles on our side or not?" Reisen asked as she looked at the spaceships.

"They are attacking the Space Pirates, so they should be on our side," Meiling said. "But then, they might also be their rival or something. That would put make us their enemies, I think..."

"Marisa! Reisen! Meiling!" Youmu shouted as she ran up to them. "I found you girls you at last!"

"Youmu! What's up-ze?" Marisa asked her.

"I'm quite fine. What's happening here anyway?"

"Dunno. Those flying ships showed up all of a sudden and started raining down destruction all over the place."

"Watch out!" Reisen shouted all of a sudden, and then a missile struck the roof of the building they were standing next to.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Luckily, the girls got away in time.

Meanwhile, Reimu was watching from the scene of chaos from the power supply room. "What's happening?" she wondered with a shocked expression. "It better not be anything bad..."

* * *

"What's all that noise out there?" Remilia said while holding a beaten up Space Pirate by his neck.

"There seems to be lots of explosions out there," Aya said. "Why don't we got out there and take a look?"

"I agree. It's boring if we stay in here all day long," Remilia said as she dropped the Space Pirate, and then the two girls headed for the door.

Meanwhile, Pirate D and Pirate E were standing shocked behind the glass wall. "This is too scary... They defeated all the X Troopers..." Pirate E said.

"The X Troopers did give them a hard time, but still... To be able to beat them all without wearing themselves out..." Pirate D said. "That's insane..."

The door did not open when Remilia approached it, so she held out her hand to create a red energy spear. "Heart Break!" And she threw it into the door at a close range.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The door was blown apart, thus allowing both the girls to go out. "I'm surprised that you still have the energy to use Heart Break despite the rough battle earlier," Aya said to her, and then she looked at her injured arm. "Ouch... I did get hit pretty badly, but at least we still defeated them all!"

"They were nothing at all," Remilia said.

* * *

One of the spaceships landed, and when its hatched opened, several people dressed from head to toe in dark blue armor came running out with futuristic guns in there hands, and they started firing laser beams at the Space Pirates.

"Whoa... It's a war out there-ze..." Marisa commented as she took a peek from around a building's corner.

"What are we going to do now?" Reisen asked. "We don't know who those people are. We don't know how to get in contact with Samus either. This situation is looking really bad..."

"It's best to just hide until everything gets settled by themselves," Youmu suggested.

Suddenly, a trooper appeared in front of them and pointed his gun at them. "Hands up!"

"Yikes!" Reisen cried as she raised her arms into the air, but the other girls got into defensive stances. The trooper then lowered his gun and said, "Wait a minute... I believe that I've seen you girls before."

"Uh, you know us?" Marisa asked.

The man pressed a button next to his visor to flip it up to reveal the face of an African-American. "Remember me?" he asked.

Reisen slowly lowered her arms and said, "I remember you! You were the person that appeared on the screen inside Samus's ship!"

"Yep, that's me! Anthony's the name! Seeing you girls here probably mean that the princess is here as well."

"Princess?" Youmu curiously said.

"Oh, silly me! Of course you won't know who the princess is! That's my nickname for Samus!"

"Okay... She doesn't look like a princess to me at all-ze..." Marisa said. "So... are those people on our side?"

"The princess's friends are all on the same side as the Galactic Federation, or in the very least, on my side! Don't worry! It's all over now!" Anthony told her. "Just leave everything to those troopers while you take a break! You must be dead tired after doing whatever you were doing here! Speaking of which, I wonder how's Samus's doing. Is she all right?"

"We got separated from her," Youmu replied.

"I see... I'm sure that she'll be fine, though. I know her too well, so there's no need to worry about her! Sooner or later, she's going to show up safe and sound!"

* * *

After some time had passed, the chaos finally died down. The Space Pirates were all arrested by the Galactic Federations troopers and led one by one onto large ship. Some troopers also came out with cages containing various life forms from the main building.

Samus walked through the place as the troopers did their job and eventually met up with Anthony. "How's it going, princess?" he asked her.

"Fine," she replied. "You told the federation about this, right? You know that I'm in bad terms with them ever since the Biologic Space Laboratory incident."

"But that doesn't mean friends shouldn't be helping each other. How can I let a beautiful princess like you fight the Space Pirates without any help? Plus, the federation wants to arrest the Space Pirates really badly, so I'm simply doing my job as a member of the Galactic Federation."

"I do have friends," Samus said as she glanced in the direction of the Gensokyo girls.

"Reimu! You're all right-ze!" Marisa said as she patted Reimu in the back.

"Of course I'm all right," the shrine maiden told her. "Did you really think that something would happen to me?"

"Nah, not really... Anyway, it's nice to see that you're safe and sound! You even defeated the Space Pirates' captain! You're awesome as always-ze!"

"It's good to see that you're all fine as well."

"Not exactly..." Reisen said as she looked in the direction of a pair of Galactic Federation troopers carrying a stretcher with Alice on top of it towards the large ship, and Nitori was walking next to her.

Immediately, the girls ran up to them and Marisa said in shock, "Alice! What happened-ze? Whoa! There's a large amount of blood on your body!"

"We need to treat her fast!" one of the troopers said. "She's in a critical condition!"

Reimu asked Nitori, "Nitori! What happened? How did Alice end up like this?"

"I found her lying on the floor when I went into a room shortly after the lights went out, and there was this bald guy standing next to her with a scythe in his hands. I have every reason ot believe that he's the one who injured Alice!"

"Um... Why is nobody caring about me?" asked a voice. The girls turned around to see that it was Sanae, and she had a bandage on her nose.

"Oh, you're here as well," Remilia said.

"Geez... You sound as if you're unimpressed that I'm still alive or something!" said Sanae, sounding rather angry. "You should be happy that I'm safe and sound! I got punched straight in the face by that bald guy, and it hurts a lot!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're happy that you're safe and sound," Reimu said, "but we're more concerned about Alice right now because she got beaten up more than you."

"Yeah, you have a point there..."

"It's good that you aren't badly injured, though," Youmu said to Sanae. "Good for you!"

"Let us through! Another patient in dire need of treatment coming through!" shouted a voice. The girls turned around to see another pair of troopers coming in their direction with a stretcher Cirno lying on it.

"Cirno!" Meiling said in shock.

The two troopers rushed straight into the spaceship, so the girls weren't able to ask them what happened. Another trooper came over to them, so Aya asked him, "Excuse me, what happened to that girl over there?"

"We found her in an underground basement," the trooper replied. "Even though there's no electricity, there is still backup electricity that allows elevators to work, and that's how we got there."

"Will she be all right?" Sanae asked.

"Dunno... You'll have to ask the medical crew about that. By the way, I found this in the underground lab as well." The trooper took out a card and showed it to her. "I thought that it might belong to her, so I took it with me."

"Oh, it's one of Cirno's spell cards," Aya said as she took the card from him. "Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome!"

Samus then walked up to the girls and said to them, "Good job making it through this alive! I was really worried about you girls."

"We've been through stuff like this before, so it's nothing to us-ze!" Marisa said with a smile.

Samus then turned to Reimu and asked her, "You defeated Ridley, right? Are you all right?"

"Thanks for your concern," Reimu replied. "He was pretty tough, but it's nothing that I can't handle in the end."

Then a man dressed in a green military costume came up to Samus and called out her name, to which Samus replied, "Admiral Dane!"

"Good job on your mission here," the admiral said. "We couldn't have done it without your help. Even if the higher-ups of the Galactic Federation aren't too impressed by your actions regarding the Biologic Space Laboratory, they still cannot deny the fact that you are the best person for this job. In fact, I heavily supported the idea of acquiring your help for this mission. Thanks to you, we have managed to capture the Space Pirates! Job well done, Samus!"

"Actually, you should be thanking them," Samus said while looking at the Gensokyo girls. "The girl in red and white... She's the one who defeated Ridley."

"Being humble, aren't you?" Then Admiral Dane turned to the girls, "I don't know who you are, but I would like to thank you all for your support in taking down the Space Pirates!"

"You should thank Samus as well," Reimu said. "Without her, we would never have been here in the first place, I think..."

"And it's not like we wanted to do this in the first place," Marisa added. "We were lost and confused in this world, and it was Samus who gave us something to do-ze!"

"Admiral Dane!" shouted a voice. The admiral turned around to see a trooper coming over to him with a large cart that was carrying various kinds of objects. "These are all taken from the vault room. What do we do with them?"

"Some of them might be looted valuables. We should contact the owners of such things, but as for the ones of unknown origins..." Admiral Dane said, "We'll leave it to the higher-ups to decide what to do with them."

"My donation box!" Reimu shouted as she rushed up to the cart to hug the box. "My beloved donation box! It's so great to have you back!"

"This thing's yours?" the trooper asked her.

"Yes! Those Space Pirates stole it from me! I'm so glad to have it back at last! Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome!"

Marisa went up to Reimu and said, "It's good that you got back your donation box, but we still haven't found the Light Essence yet. Without that thing, we'll never be able to activate the World Light..." As soon as she said that term, sparkles suddenly came out from among the pile of objects. "Eh?"

The two girls looked at the spot where the sparkles came out from, and then they moved aside the objects until they found a blue sphere with a white-colored letter 'S' raising out from its side. "Did this thing just sparkle when I said 'World Light'?" Marisa asked, and the object sparkled when she said that term. "Yep, it's the Light Essence all right!"

* * *

Mr. King positioned his flying podium in front of the table and said to the other members of the organization, "Well, that's another client down the drain. He doesn't seem all that willing to join us, and he even got defeated and taken in custody in the end! I take that you all would agree that he is no longer a viable candidate, right?"

"Why bother letting him join us if he has no interest in the first place?" asked the man with a hat. "We should have people who are willing to cooperate with us in order for things to be a success! Those kinds of people will only hinder us!"

"Right, and with that attitude of his, he will never cooperate with us," added the man with a goatee.

"As if we cooperate with each other in the first place! Geeheeheeheeheehee!" Fawful laughed.

"Aye, such a pity..." said the voice. "He was a valuable comrade back then. However, I can understand why he no longer trusts alliance after experiencing failures in the past. On the bright side, it's not like he's only client left!"

"Are you sure that guy will join us?" said the man with a hat. "He really doesn't strike me as someone ambitious and evil."

"And let's not forget who was sent to invite him," Rez added. "I have a feeling that he's going to screw up more than succeeding."

"I agree," said the bulky person.

"Why don't we give him a chance?" said the voice. "He may be an oddball among us, but he still knows when to get the job done. Don't forget that you are all in debt of him. If it weren't for him, none of you would have been here in the first place! By the way, how is Sigma?"

"He's undergoing repairs," Mr. King replied. "Don't worry; it is nothing that he can't recover from. Sooner or later, he will return to perfect health!"

"Good! In the very least, all eleven of us must stay around until things are ready. The ultimate evil shall once again terrorize the universe! I can see it now! The universe being drowned within the embodiment of evil known as... Darkling! Hahahahahahahaha!"

* * *

Samus's starship landed in front of the Hakurei Shrine, and then all the girls except Alice and Cirno came out from it and walked towards the shrine. Reimu and Marisa carried the donation box together towards the shrine and placed it in its original spot. "There! It looks a lot better in its rightful place!" Reimu said while patting the box. "I'm so glad that nothing inside is missing as well!"

Reisen asked Samus, "How long do we have to wait for Alice and Cirno to recover?"

"According to the medical crew, their injuries aren't as bad as they first thought," Samus told her. "In fact, they're very surprised that they're still alive despite injuries that would normally be fatal to humans!"

"That's because Alice and Cirno and not humans-ze!" Marisa said.

"Anyway, those two are in no critical condition, so I'm sure that they'll return to perfect health in a day or two. If you want to, I can also ask the medical crew to give the permission to let them rest in your shrine so that you do not have to wait to get to the next world."

"That would be a good idea," Youmu said. "This planet really isn't that safe if you ask me, what with all those strange creatures..."

"Yeah, I understand what you're talking about. The Metroids will have to be dealt with. The Space Pirates let them some of them loose into the wilderness whenever they multiply too much in the lab. I now have the mission to eliminate all the Metroids on this planet. You don't have to worry about helping me; I can do this by myself. It's not my first time doing Metroid extermination."

While they were talking, a spaceship landed nearby, and when the hatch opened, some troopers came out along with Alice and Cirno. "Hey everyone!" Cirno shouted in a lively voice while waving at them. "I'm so glad to see you all!"

"Looking very energetic over there, Cirno-ze!" Marisa said to her as she waved back.

When the girls happily reunited with each other, one of the troopers said, "These two recovered at a pretty alarming rate, and they insisted on reuniting with you the moment they felt better. The medical crew agreed to let them come back to you, but they need to remember to rest for a few more days in order to return to perfect health."

"Thank you very much for taking care of our friends!" Reisen said to them while showing her respect by bowing down.

Marisa went up to Alice and said to her, "Yo, Alice! How ya feeling-ze?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I can rest a little more, though."

"I'm feeling better than ever!" Cirno said as she lifted off from the ground. "I'm the strongest, so there's no way that I can feel tired! Hahahahahaha!"

"We're leaving now," the trooper said to them. "The rest is up to you." Then he returned along with the rest of the troopers into the spaceship, and then it took off into the air to join the rest of the spaceships and the mothership.

After watching the Galactic Federation's ships leave, Samus turned to the girls and asked them, "I take that you're going to leave now, right?"

"Yeah, we're planning to leave now," Reimu said.

"Okay. Go on ahead to the next world. I wish you luck on making it to Smash World!"

"It was nice knowing you!" Sanae said to her. "Please be careful accomplishing your mission on this planet!"

"I will. Go on ahead. You don't have to worry about me."

After saying good-bye to Samus, the girls returned into the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu let the Light Essence float into the air, and then the World Light once activated in the same way. Samus raised her hand over her visor as the brightness of the World Light stung her eyes, and when the light died down, the shrine was nowhere in sight.

"There they go... All right, time to hunt down the Metroids!" Samus said, and then she walked towards the same cave that the Gensokyo girls went into when the arrived at this world.

* * *

"So it's true..." Mima said as she watched the place where the Hakurei Shrine used to be. "The Hakurei Shrine really is gone... What a surprise..."

As she looked at the place, Suika came walking over to her while drinking from her gourd and asked, "Hey, never saw you around here before. Who're you?"

"No surprise if you don't know who I am. I am Mima the evil spirit, and I used to live in Hakurei Shrine. I eventually got bored, so I went traveling around for fun. It's been a long time since I left, and when heard that the Hakurei Shrine went missing, I immediately rushed back to see if it was true. Turns out that it's true... I can't believe that something like this happened..."

"Neither could I..." Suika said as she took another gulp of sake. "I thought I was seeing things from being too drunk that day... It's been more than a week since it happened already, and the residents of Gensokyo are worried that the Hakurei Barrier will one day disappear due to the absence of the shrine. Yukari did assure us that the barrier will be able to hold up for at least a month as long as Reimu is still alive, so I'm sure that she's still alive and kicking out there somewhere."

Mima went up to the storehouse and said, "All that's left of the shrine is the storehouse, and it's not like it can help sustain the barrier or anything..."

When she was in front of the door, it suddenly swung open and Kogasa jumped out, shouting loudly, "BOO!" When she opened her eyes, she saw that Mima wasn't scared nor was she impressed at all, and then she pointed a bloody knife right at the karakasa's face. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Kogasa screamed at the top of her voice and then ran away as fast as she could, so fast that she left behind a trail of dust.

Mima lowered the knife and asked, "Who was that?"

"A karakasa who likes to surprise people, nothing more," Suika replied, and then she took a drink from her gourd.

* * *

After paying respect to Hinawa and Claus, Lucas, Flint, and Boney returned to Tazmily Village, and they saw Butch and one of his pigs standing next to the well. As Butch gathered water from the well, the father and son went up to him and Flint asked, "How's it going, Butch?"

"Oh, it's you, Flint and Lucas! Hi!" Butch replied. "Everything's fine! It's been very peaceful ever since those girls left! It's all thanks to them! You too, Lucas!"

"I didn't really do as much as them if you ask me," Lucas said.

"You sure have a well taught and humble son, Flint! You must very proud to have a son like this!"

"Oh, this is nothing! Teaching sons and daughters about ethics and the way of living is something that all parents should do," Flint replied. "That's nothing to boast about."

As the three chatted with each other, a gap suddenly appeared over the well, and Yukari fell out of it and into the well.

SPLASH!

The three quickly looked down the well to see the demon of boundaries in the water below. "Lady! Are you all right down there?" Flint asked.

"I'm all right..." replied Yukari, sounding as if she's in a really bad mood. "Ugh... Great location for opening a gap, Yukari... " And then she created another gap to step into.

"Hey! She disappeared!" Butch said in surprise.

Then a gap appeared in the air above Butch's pig, and Yukari fell onto the pig. The pig was startled by this, so it squealed loudly and then ran across the place as fast as it could with the demon of boundaries riding on top of it. "Whoa! Stop! I said stop!" Yukari cried as she wrapped her arms around the pig's neck. "Stop at once!"

"Hey! My pig! Come back here, my pig!" Butch shouted as he gave the chase.

"Stop! I'm going to make mincemeat out of you if you don't stop!" Yukari shouted to the pig, but it wasn't scared by her verbal threat at all.

Lighter was walking across the place when he saw the pig running in his direction, and he also heard Butch shouting, "Someone stop my pig! Anyone! Please!" So he held his wooden plank like a baseball bat.

"Pig, stop running or else I'll smack you right into the face and then turn you into grilled pork afterwards!" he said.

Scared by his posture and possibly his verbal threat, the pig did a u-turn and ran towards its owner. "My pig! Come back to me!" Butch shouted, but he got knocked aside by it. "Ow!"

The pig ran out of the village and in the direction of the cemetery. "Why aren't you scared of my verbal threat!" Yukari shouted to the pig. "STOP RUNNING AT ONCE OR ELSE I'LL TURN YOU INTO GRILLED PORK!"

The pig ran across the cemetery and towards the ruins of Osohe Castle. "Stop! There's a pile of rocks over there! Stop running already!" Yukari shouted. Seeing that the pig refused to stop running, she stretched forth her arm to create a gap, and they disappeared into it.

Flint, Lucas, and Boney was chasing the pig from behind when they saw this. "Huh? The pig disappeared!" Flint said in shock.

Back in the village, the pig burst out from a house through the door, and then Abbot and Abbey looked out through the door with dumbfounded looks on their faces. "STOP ALREADY!" Yukari screamed.

"Pig! Come back home if you want to have dinner!" Butch shouted. Hearing this, the pig ran towards its owner and stopped right in front of him, so he patted it on the head. "Good boy!"

"Huh... At last..." Yukari said, and then she slipped down the side of the pig.

Flint, Lucas, and Boney ran up to them and Flint said, "You stopped the pig! Great!"

Lucas crouched down next to Yukari and asked her, "Are you all right, lady?"

Yukari looked up and asked tiredly, "I'll... just... go straight... to the point... Have you seen... eleven girls... and a shrine... somewhere... around here...?"

"Eleven girls and a shrine? Hmmm... Do you know their names?"

"Well... one of them... is named Reimu..."

"Reimu! I know her! Yeah, she did come here with her friends, but they left yesterday."

"What! I'm too slow again! Darn it! Why does it always have to be like this? WHY!"

"Um... Are you looking for them?"

"Yeah... for a while already... Anyway... thanks for letting me know... that they used to be here..." Yukari said, and then she disappeared into a gap that appeared underneath her body.

This left the others in silence and wondering what that was all about.

* * *

"Here's your doll, Alice!" Nitori said as she handed over the severed Shanghai back to Alice. "But it's broken..."

"It's all right," Alice said as she accepted the doll. "I can fix it."

"That person must be really strong to be able to do this to you-ze," Marisa said. "It's a good thing that Nitori showed up in time, though."

"Actually, I believe that the blackout also helped," Nitori said. "Who wouldn't be surprised when the lights went out all of a sudden?"

"You know, I'm getting more and more worried about this organization..." Reisen said. "Look at what happened to Aya before and now Alice! Those people must be really powerful to be able to defeat them!"

"Hey, I could've won against that guy named Rez!" Aya told her. "It was only after his assistant activated that electricity-emitting machine did he get the chance to strike me down! You also saw that he wasn't much of a challenge when facing several of us at once."

"Anyway, it's safe to assume that we will run into one of them again in the next world," Reimu said. "We have to be careful if we do run into them. Aya was defeated by one of them before, and now Alice. This shows that they really shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Did you hear what I said earlier...?" Aya said to her.

"If I remember correctly," Sanae said, "didn't Nitori get defeated by one of them as well?"

"Yeah, I did..." Nitori said. "But to be fair, I was ambushed by him. Plus, I was tired after the battle with King P's fat subordinate earlier."

"I'm not afraid of them!" Cirno claimed. "I'm the strongest, so I can easily defeat them if I run into them. You can count on me to get the job done!"

"Says the person who got defeated by a giant monster..." Marisa said.

"Hey, I did win in the end! Don't underestimate me! When I get serious, I can take out anyone with little to no effort!"

"Yeah, yeah, you are the strongest-ze..."

"Oh, you should all check this out!" Nitori said, and then four mechanical arms came out from her backpack. Two of them were the usual ones, but the other two were new ones as they were drills instead than hands. "Tadah!"

"Wow! Where did you get them?" Sanae asked.

"I went into a room where the Space Pirates build machines and gadgets, so I decided to upgrade my backpack there. I had to work fast because someone might come in and spot me. Plus, I don't have enough space in my backpack either. If I had more time, I would've made something bigger and cooler."

"Everyone! I can see the next world!" shouted the voice of Meiling from the front door.

"That was pretty fast-ze!" Marisa said.

"The faster, the better!" Aya said.

"I wonder how the next world is like," Sanae wondered.

"Let's hope that it's a safe place..." Reisen said.

* * *

Blue sky, green pasture, colorful flowers...

These were what the girls saw when they stepped out of the shrine. Sanae looked around with a happy face and said, "Wow! This place looks peaceful!"

"It sure does!" Reisen said with a nod. "This place should be safe! At least when compared to the previous world..."

Unknown to them, a person with a large mass of hair on his head appeared on top of a hill some distance behind the Hakurei Shrine. "Look who we have here! Those annoying little girls are here!" said the person. "They sent me here to find and talk to the client of this place, but finding them is even better! Very well! These goody-goodies shall now meet their ends at the hands of the most powerful magician in the world! Heheheheh! Hahahaha!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Darkling... I'm sure that people who read my older stories should be very familiar with this term. For those of you who don't know, Darkling is the embodiment of evil that served as the main force of evil in the story of the same name. It later played a very minor role in the fifth chapter (not counting the prologue) of the non-canonical story Super Smash Fairy Tales. It also played another role in one of my stories, but since it is a considered a spoiler, it would be unwise to tell you what story it is. Once again, Darkling is playing a major role in this story, so look forward to it!

Also, Nitori's upgraded backpack is inspired by her EX form sprite from the various versions of Touhoumon 1.5.

By the way, there is no official explanation for Mima's disappearance from the series after the fifth game in the series, so the "traveling around for fun" part is made up by me.

**Trivia  
**1. Anthony was popularly known as the Mysterious Black Dude before his name was revealed due to his famous line "Remember Me?" in Metroid: Other M's debut trailer.

* * *

**GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW**  
Things That You Might Want to Know

**Wasn't SR388 destroyed at the end of Metroid Fusion?  
**According to Yoshio Sakamoto, the planet is destroyed. However, I doubt that such a small space station (at least when compared to the planet) could destroy a massive planet. At most, only a huge chunk of the planet would be taken out. By destroyed, Sakamoto may have meant that all life on SR388 are destroyed, which is possible.

**What happened to Ridley?  
**He's taken away by the Galactic Federation.


	63. The Land of Dreams

My favorite themes in the Touhou series mentioned in some of the previous chapters are now mentioned by their full names. It's no big deal; I simply feel like bringing it up.

**Chapter 62  
The Land of Dreams**

* * *

"This place looks very peaceful all right," Reimu said, "but according to our experiences in the previous worlds, we're not going to find the Light Essence so easily, and we'll also get ourselves into situations that do not concern us. You can bet on it."

"I can't agree any better-ze," Marisa said with a nod.

"So... where do we start?" Remilia asked. "There doesn't seem to be anyone around here. Don't tell me that this place is devoid of inhabitants."

"It's possible," Youmu said, "but compared to the previous world, this world looks like it should have civilization of sorts, even if primitive."

"All I can say is that this world doesn't look like it has dangerous creatures like the previous one," Reisen said.

"Oh, I need to do something first," Reimu said as she took out a four paper amulets. She placed two of the amulets on the ground near the corners of the shrine, and then she around to the back to it to place the remaining two near the corners. After that, she returned to the front of the shrine and dusted her hands. "There! That's that!"

"What did you do?" Nitori asked her.

"I set up a barrier that will keep the shrine safe from everyone. I'm the only one who can go into the shrine until the amulets are taken off. This is to prevent people from going into my shrine and stealing anything."

"You mainly did this because you're afraid that your donation box will be stolen again, right?" Marisa asked her.

"Whatever the case is, it's a good idea to make sure that nobody goes into the shrine and mess it up while we're gone," Sanae said.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of electricity as well as someone screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What the!" Reimu said in surprise. "Somebody either touched my shrine or tried to enter it! It probably came from the sides or the back!"

When the electricity died down, Reimu ran around to the back of the shrine and found a man lying on the ground, charred. "Well, the intruder sure came fast..." she thought. The man had a large mass of gray hair and wore a dark blue tuxedo, olive-colored pants, and brown shoes.

The other girls came to the same place and Nitori looked at the charred man and said, "This guy tried to sneak into the shrine from the backdoor, right?"

"Yeah," Reimu replied with a nod.

"Is he still alive?" Sanae asked.

"Don't worry; the amulet's power isn't strong enough to kill anyone. He's simply knocked out."

"Oh..." the man groaned as he sat back up. "What happened...?"

"Oh, you're awake," Reimu said to him. "Are you all right?"

When he saw her, the man leaped back on his feet and pointed at her, saying, "Aha! So we meet at last, annoying girls! How dare you set up a nasty trap! I was planning to sneak into your house and then mess it from the inside!"

"Oh really? Too bad, though. I've just set up a barrier that will prevent anyone asides myself from going..."

"YEOW!" screamed Marisa's voice.

Everyone turned to look at Marisa and saw that her index finger was charred. "Um... What are you doing, Marisa...?" Reimu asked her.

"I just wanted to see if what you said is true-ze..." she replied.

"Annoying girls! I shall strike you all down!" the man said as he raised his arms into the air, and then he fired a cloud of glitter dust at them. "Take that!"

The girls easily dodged the cloud of glitters, and then Reimu said to him, "I would take that you're not friendly, aren't you?"

"Well said!" the man said as he held his hands over his head to form a ball of electricity. "You girls have been an eyesore to our organization, and I don't understand why on earth the others didn't bother get rid of you right away! I'm going to show them that they should've done this earlier! Get ready to be defeated by the most powerful magician in the world, I.M. Meen! Gyahahahahaha!" Then he fired the ball of electricity diagonally downwards in their direction.

The girls moved aside to avoid the ball of electricity, and when it hit the ground, an explosion occurred.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The girls were sent flying back from the force of the explosion, though they did manage to avoid getting hit by it. "Whoa! What power!" Reimu thought.

"Aha!" I.M. Meen shouted as he fired a cloud of glittering dust at Reimu, but she jumped out of the way to avoid it.

Meiling ran into the direction of I.M. Meen and performed a flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!" But I.M. disappeared in a burst of electricity, so she ended up touching the invisible barrier around the shrine.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I.M. Meen reappeared a bit of a distance away from the shrine and said, "Missed me! Hahahahahahaha!"

"Radial Strike!" Marisa shouted as she used the back of her broom to fire star-shaped projectiles at I.M. Meen rapidly, but he jumped aside to avoid it. When Marisa tried to shoot him again, he leaped straight up into the air and disappeared while at the peak of the jump.

"Where'd he go?" Marisa wondered as she looked left and right.

"Behind you!" I.M. Meen said as he reappeared behind Marisa and gave her a kick.

"Ow!"

"Hahahahaha! Gotcha!" I.M. Meen said as laughed with one hand holding his belly and the other hand pointing at her. Suddenly, he whipped out a book and turned to the side in the nick of time to catch Youmu's sword by closing the blade in between its pages. "That sure was close!"

"What! He caught my blade with a book!" Youmu said in shock.

When Youmu tried to pull out her sword, I.M. Meen moved his book around with her to stop her from doing so, and in doing so, they switched positions by moving around in a circle, and immediately after they did, Youmu was stabbed in the back by something. "GAH!"

"YOUMU!" Alice gasped in horror when she saw that her lance-wielding doll had stabbed Youmu instead of I.M. Meen.

Youmu fell on her knees in pain while the villain teleported behind Alice to whack her on the head with his book. "Hahaha! How lucky of me!" I.M. Meen said while laughing at Youmu. "Or maybe it's your friend who has a really bad aim! Hahahahahaha!"

"Why you!" Alice angrily said as she made the doll fly in his direction, but the villain teleported behind Alice and started hitting her in the head with his book.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!

"Take that! Take that! Take that!" I.M. Meen said over and over as he attacked Alice nonstop.

"Stop attacking her at once!" Sanae shouted as she ran towards them both. "Alice! Duck down!"

Alice did as Sanae said, and the shrine maiden swung her spiritually-enhanced gohei at I.M. Meen, but he blocked it with his book. "Sorry! That didn't work!" he said, and then he disappeared in a burst of green smoke that choked the two girls.

He reappeared not too far from them and laughed at them as they coughed. "Hahahahahaha! Look at you! Hahahaha... AAAAAHHHHHH!" He was suddenly slashed in the back by Remilia's claws.

"Don't get too full of yourself," the vampire said. "Just because the others are having a hard time against you doesn't mean that you can defeat us all so easily."

"You little brat!" I.M. Meen shouted as he spun around to fire a cloud of glittering dust at her, but she stepped aside to avoid it. He then threw balls of energy at her over and over, but she managed to avoid them with ease by moving left and right.

After avoiding balls of energy for a while, Remilia threw her parasol into the air and then dashed at I.M. Meen really fast, slashing him across the body when she went by him. The villain spun like a top and then fell flat on his back while the vampire caught her parasol and continued to use it to shield herself from the sun.

"Ugh..." I.M. Meen said as he slowly stood back up. "Miserable child..." Suddenly, a paper amulet thrown by Reimu flew onto his forehead, and then it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" I.M. Meen screamed as the explosion sent him flying backwards until he fell on his back again.

"Since you're part of the organization that is trying to take over the universe, we're going to defeat you here!" Reimu said to him.

I.M. Meen got back up in an instant and angrily said, "Miserable little girls! You better not underestimate me! The others mock me for being the weakest among them, but I'm going to show them that I am not! I'll show you the true power that I possess!" He then took out the same book and flipped through its pages. "This is no special book, I tell you! This is a very special kind of book from a very special kind of guy, and that special kind of guy is me! When I open up this book, special things will happen, such as... Aha! Here it is!" He moved his hand in circles above the left page to make sparkles float out from it and made two bearded, club-wielding trolls materialize out of thin air. "Get them, my minions! Show them what you've got!"

The two trolls raised their clubs and ran towards the girls, but Reimu easily obliterated them by throwing paper amulets onto each of their foreheads.

BANG! BANG!

"WHAT!"

"What part of that was special?" Reimu asked, looking unimpressed.

"Argh! It's not over yet! In that case, I will send out an even more powerful monster! Behold!" This time, I.M. Meen summoned a large blue spider. However, Reimu, Marisa, Nitori, Reisen, and Cirno attacked it simultaneously with projectiles. The spider let out a screech as the projectiles blasted it backwards by the face, and then it exploded in a puff of smoke.

POOF!

"WHAAAAAAAT!"

"Well, that was one weak spider," Marisa said. "Such much for its size-ze... Seriously, Yamame is smaller than that thing, but she knows a lot more about fighting than it!"

"It's not over yet!" I.M. Meen shouted. "I will summon an even more powerful minion! In fact, this minion is so powerful that it's called a guardian. You shall see with your own eyes the power of a guardian! Yahahahaha!" This time, he summoned a Minotaur armed with an axe. "Go and teach those goody-goodies a lesson, Meenotaur!"

Meenotaur shook his axe in the air while mooing fiercely, and then he ran towards the girls. Like with the spider, the girls bombarded Meenotaur nonstop with projectiles. Meenotaur was rapidly struck in the chest, and each shot pushed him back a small step, but unlike the spider, he wasn't taken out instantly. Meenotaur stomped the ground hard to keep his footing and then mooed loudly before charging forward, enduring the shots as he did.

"Watch out!" Reimu shouted, and then the girls jumped to both sides to avoid getting hit. Meenotaur ran into the invisible barrier protecting the shrine and so got electrocuted by it.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Then he fell over on his back. "That was pretty dumb-ze..." Marisa commented, and then she turned to I.M. Meen. "Well, your guardian is down. Now what?"

Suddenly, Meenotaur stood back up while mooing loudly, and then he slammed his axe into the ground so hard that a shockwave was sent forth. Luckily, none of the girls were in the way of the shockwave, but I.M. Meen was. The villain jumped out of the way and then shouted to him, "Hey you! Are you blind? I'm your master! You should be attacking them, not me!"

Meenotaur was about to make a move when suddenly Aya kicked him in the face from the air, and then she moved back into the air to fire wind blades at him. "Gale Fan!"

While Meenotaur was being hit by the wind blades, Reisen fired a pair of eye beams at him. "Illusionary Blast!" And Meenotaur was blown into the barrier once again.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Meenotaur then stepped away from the barrier. The Minotaur was dazed from getting electrocuted, and while his mind was still unclear, Youmu slashed him diagonally across the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Meenotaur mooed loudly and painfully, and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

POOF!

"WHAT! MEENOTAUR! NOOOOOOOO!" I.M. Meen screamed at the top of his voice. "No! It's not over yet! I'll summon even more guardians!"

"Oh no, you don't! Illusionary Blast!" Reisen shouted as she turned around to fire eye beams at him. The beams struck I.M. Meen's book, thus setting it on fire.

I.M. Meen dropped the book onto the ground, and then he started hitting it with his hands over and over. "NO! MY BOOK IS ON FIRE! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!"

"As you wish!" Aya said, and then she swung her fan really hard to blow I.M. Meen and his book away.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I.M. Meen screamed as the wind blew him behind a hill. He eventually crashed back onto the ground, and a single-buttoned remote control fell out from his tuxedo when he landed. The button was pressed when it hit a rock, thus summoning a large door which swung open shortly after appearing out of thin air.

The girl appeared over a hill to look at the villain, and they saw the door as well. "It's that door!" Nitori said.

"Hey! I have a great idea!" Marisa said. "Why don't we go through that door and face the whole organization right now? That way, we can both save the universe and travel through the remaining worlds with no fear of running into them again-ze!"

I.M. Meen slowly got back up and looked at his book to see that the wind had blown out the fire, but it was now charred. "My book!" he said as he picked it up and dusted it. "Phew... It's still in one piece... Thanks goodness!" Then he glared at the girls. "Why you! You'll pay for this, miserable little girls!"

Suddenly, blue light poured out from the door, and a voice coming from the light said, "Enough, I.M. Meen. Come back here at once. We have seen you fight the girls, and we all agree that you cannot beat them."

"Argh! Looked down at again!" I.M. Meen growled.

"You are facing all eleven of them at once, so winning is going to be hard for you. It would be another thing if you were only facing one of them. I will be sending someone else to talk to the client of this world."

"Are you saying that I'm rejected?"

"The others agree that with your attitude, trying to get that client to comply would be hard. We need someone with better persuasion skills to get the job done, and I know someone with such skills."

"Argh! Why is everyone always looking down on me!" I.M. Meen angrily said as he stomped the ground over and over. "I have enough of this already!"

"Don't worry; I believe that you have your own strong points. In fact, I applaud you for actually getting one of them badly injured! All right, come back here at once. For now, take a rest. No matter what the others are saying about you, you are still a valuable member to the organization. I want every single one of us to witness the universe as it gets consumed by evil, so please do not throw away our life so easily."

"Tsk! If you say so..." I.M. Meen said as he turned to the door. When he stepped through the door, he turned around to see the girls one last time and shouted to them, "JUST YOU WAIT, WRETCHED GIRLS! I'M GOING TO GET MY REVENGE ON YOU WHEN I GET THE CHANCE! I.M. MEEN NEVER QUITS!"

With that, the door closed and then disappeared.

"They got away again..." Nitori said.

"Let's not care about that for now!" Sanae said. "We have to help Youmu! She's injured!"

"Don't worry too much about me," Youmu said to her. "I'm all right. This isn't a big deal."

"I'm very sorry..." Alice said to her. "I was going to attack that man from behind, but he unexpectedly turned around..."

"It's not your fault. I underestimated him, which resulted in my injury. It shows that I need to train more..."

"Whatever the case is," Reimu said, "we need to get you treated. To think that we would get into a fight shortly after arriving at this world... I recommend that we all take a rest until we're all back to perfect condition before exploring this world."

"I'm not tired at all," Remilia said.

"I don't care. We should travel as a group. We know nothing about this world, and as peaceful as it looks, it may be filled with unexpected danger."

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"POOOOOOOOOOOYOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Huh? Someone tried to enter my shrine!" Reimu said, and then she quickly rushed to the front of the shrine to see a pink, round creature with red feet lying on the ground, charred. "What's this...?"

* * *

The first thing that the pink creature saw when he opened his eyes was the ceiling. He then sat up and looked left and right to see that he was inside a Japanese-style room. He also saw Reisen sitting not too far away, leaning against the wall and sleeping. The pink creature left the futon that he was lying on and went up to the snoozing lunar rabbit. "Poyo?" the creature said as he looked at her face, and then he gently touched her knee.

This caused Reisen to open one eye, and then she stretched her arms into the air and yawned before rubbing her eyes. "I fell asleep..." she said, and then she saw the pink creature looking straight at her face. "Oh, you're awake!" The pink creature simply stared at her in silence. "Um... Can you talk? Hello...?"

The pink creature then smiled and waved his stubby arm. "Hello!"

"Oh, so you can talk! How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine! Thanks! And you?"

"I'm feeling fine too! Thanks! Please wait a minute, I'll go and call my friends." Then Reisen got up and ran out to the hallway, shouting, "Everyone! That round, pink creature has awakened!"

No sooner afterwards, the others girls came running into the room, and they all sat in a circle around the creature and stared at it. "So... What is this thing?" Marisa asked.

"Hello, everyone!" the pink creature cheerfully said.

"It can talk!" Nitori said.

"It's also very cute!" Sanae commented.

"I'm Kirby! Nice to meet you all!" the pink creature said.

"Hello, Kirby!"

"Nice to meet you," Reimu said to him. "Did you try to enter my shrine earlier?"

"You mean this house?" Kirby asked. "Now that you mentioned it... I saw this house and wanted to come inside, but when I got near it, I got electrocuted. I must've passed out afterwards."

"What are your intentions for coming into my shrine?"

"Pardon?"

"What I mean is... you're not trying to come in here to steal anything, are you?"

"No, I don't plan on stealing anything. I would never do that either!"

"Are you sure?"

"Don't scare him, Reimu," Reisen said to her. "He doesn't look like a thief at all. He simply approached the shrine out of curiosity."

"Looks can be deceiving, though," Alice said.

"Oh, come on! Reisen is right!" Sanae claimed. "He's simply surprised that a shrine appeared in this area all of a sudden."

"Yeah, I was taking stroll when I saw this house," Kirby said. "There's no house around this place, so I was curious why there was a house here all of a sudden. I really do not have any bad intentions when I tried to come in here."

"Fine then, I'll believe you," Reimu said.

"Yay! Thanks for believing me!"

"By the way, are you hungry?" Sanae asked him. "We were preparing a meal just now, so why don't you join us for something to eat?"

"Okay! I'll join you! I'm a bit hungry!"

And so, the girls took Kirby to another room to have a meal. Sanae stacked four cushions on top of each other and placed them in front of the table. "Sit here, Kirby."

"Thanks!" the pink puffball said as he hopped on the top of the cushion stack. He looked at the food with wide open eyes and a drooling mouth. "Looks delicious!"

"Feel free to eat whatever you want! You can ask for more if you want to!"

"Yeah, we stocked up a lot of food in the previous worlds," Reimu said, "so we have no fear of running out of food for a while."

"Okay! Don't mind if I do!" Kirby said, and then he opened his mouth and inhaled a large amount of air to suck in everything on the table inside, including the tablecloth.

The girls were all dumbfounded and lost at were words when they saw what just happened, and Kirby simply munched away happily. He later spit out the tableware and the tablecloth. "That was delicious! I feel like wanting to eat more!" he said. He then noticed that the girls were shocked. "Oh, sorry if I surprised you all... That's my eating habit... Whenever I see a large amount of food at once, I simply can't resist swallowing them all in a single gulp..."

"Why am I reminded of your mistress, Youmu...?" Reimu said to half-phantom.

"I understand why you're reminded of Mistress Yuyuko..." Youmu said.

"Sorry about that... I guess I won't ask for another helping..." Kirby said, sounding guilty.

"It's all right," Sanae said to him. "It's good to hear that you enjoyed the meal!"

"Wait a minute... I was just reminded of something! Today is the day that I have to compete against Dedede in a carrot-eating contest! I have to go now! Thanks for the meal!" Kirby said, and then he hopped down from the stack of cushions and ran out to the hallway.

"He's entering a carrot-eating contest?" Marisa curiously said.

"Okay... Now he's leaving... What do we do next?" Reisen asked.

"He's the first inhabitant that we ran into in this world, so why don't we follow him?" Nitori suggested. "We can learn all that we have to know about this world through him."

"Good idea!" Aya said with a nod. "Then let's go after him before we lost track of him."

* * *

Kirby was running down the field when he suddenly he heard someone calling out to him, "Hey Kirby! Wait up!" He turned around to see Aya coming after him, and behind her were the other girls.

"Hey there! What's up?" Kirby asked.

"We're new around here, so would you mind showing us around the place?" Aya asked him. "You're going to a contest, right? Maybe we can go along with you and learn more about this world at the same time! What do you say?"

"Okay! Feel free to come along! So you're not from this world?"

Kirby was about to ask them more when suddenly he heard someone else calling his name, so he turned around to see a hamster and a black blob-like creature coming over to him. "Rick! Gooey!" Kirby said.

"Kirby! The contest will begin soon!" the hamster named Rick said to him. "Remember what Dedede said: Those who do not make it to the contest on time will be disqualified, and if he wins, you will have to leave him alone and let him do whatever he wants for eternity."

"I know. I'm going the location of the contest now. I cannot let him win, or else Dream Land will no longer be able to live a happy life!"

"So this world is called Dream Land, eh?" Aya said as she jotted down the information on her notebook.

"Who is this Dedede guy?" Reimu asked Kirby.

"He's the self-proclaimed king of this land," Kirby replied. "He's not actually evil. He's more like a big bully. Whenever he plots something nasty, I would always stop him, so that puts the both of us in bad terms. He can be a good ally at times, though."

"So from what I heard just now, the both of you are using this contest to settle things once and for all, right?" Aya asked.

"Yeah, he came to me one day with the promise that he will stop bullying people if I can beat him in this carrot-eating contest, but if he wins, I will have to let him do as he wishes without interference."

"In that case, he should go fast," Sanae said. "It's not a good thing if a bully like him gets to do whatever he wants!"

"I know."

"Who are these people?" Rick asked Kirby.

"Oh, they're new around here!" Kirby told him. "They offered me a meal just now, so they're friendly people!"

Rick waved at the girls and said, "Hello! My name is Rick, one of Kirby's friends!" Then he pointed at the black blob and said, "His name is..."

The blob interrupted him. "Gooey!" Then he stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah, he just said his name... Oh yeah! Kirby, Dedede came to me earlier and gave me this." Rick then took out a lollipop. "He wants me to give it to you as a small treat."

"Oh thanks! He sure can be nice at times!" Kirby said as he took the lollipop from him, and then he licked it. Shortly after licking it, Kirby started to feel drowsy, and then he fell asleep.

"Huh? Kirby? This is no time to be sleeping!" Rick said to him, and then he patted him on the head. "Wake up!"

Reimu bent down next to Kirby and poked his cheek, and then she looked at the lollipop on the grass. "He fell asleep right after licking this lollipop. Does it have something to do with it?"

Rick picked up the lollipop and said, "You mean the lollipop is what made him fell asleep? Are you sure?" Then he licked the lollipop and fell asleep on his back afterwards.

"Okay... Now we have proof that this lollipop is the culprit behind this..."

Gooey then ate the lollipop by grabbing it with his extensible tongue, and then he fell asleep. "Idiot..." Cirno commented.

"You'd probably do the same-ze," Marisa said to her.

"Okay... Now what?" Remilia asked. "How is Kirby going to enter the contest now that he's asleep?"

"Yeah, he won't be able to enter the contest like this!" Sanae said. "Didn't Rick say earlier that whoever fails to show up at the contest in time will be disqualified? Kirby will lose if he doesn't wake up in time!"

"Why don't we just take him to the place of the contest?" Cirno asked. "That way, he won't be late!"

"There's no point if doesn't wake up to participate in the contest, though..." Aya said.

"Something tells me that this Dedede guy is behind this," Alice said. "He gave Rick the lollipop and told him to give it to Kirby, and after licking the lollipop, Kirby fell asleep. This is without doubt his plan to disqualify Kirby from the contest."

"I agree with you," Reimu said with a nod.

"Kirby!" shouted a new voice. The girls looked at the sky and saw a purple owl flying towards them. The owl came down close to the ground and said, "Kirby! This is no time to sleep! The contest is about to begin! You'll be disqualified if you do not make it there in time!"

"Are you a friend of Kirby?" Reimu asked him.

"Yes," the owl replied. "Who are you?"

"Well... You can consider us his friends if you want to, even though we haven't known him for that long yet..."

"Oh... Hello, my name is Coo! If you would excuse me..." Coo landed next to Kirby and touched him with his wings. "Kirby! Wake up! This is no time to be sleeping! Rick! Gooey! Why are the both of you sleeping with him? Wake up!"

"Actually, there's a reason behind this..." Reimu told him. "You see, your hamster friend brought Kirby a lollipop."

"Lollipop? Oh right, Dedede gave one to Rick not too long to ago."

"After licking the lollipop, Kirby fell asleep. Rick licked the lollipop as well, and then Gooey ate it. Guess what happened afterwards... Therefore, we came to the conclusion that the lollipop is what put them fell asleep. This is without doubt Dedede's plan to disqualify Kirby from the contest so that he can win by default."

"Oh man... Why haven't I thought of that? I should've known that he was up to something when he suddenly told us to give this lollipop to Kirby... Rick and Gooey are asleep too... They both can eat as much as him, so they make viable replacements for Kirby in case he cannot enter for whatever reason..."

"Wait a minute... Carrots... Carrots are rabbits' favorite food, right?" Marisa asked, and then she turned to look at Reisen. "Right, Reisen?"

"What? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Reisen asked. "Yeah, I cannot deny that. I also cannot deny that the fact that carrots are my favorite food."

Marisa then narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Okay... I may have found a solution to this."

"Um... What are you planning to do...?"

* * *

At the location of the contest, a large crowd was gathered around a rectangular table that had two large plates of carrots placed on top, and a fat penguin-like creature dressed in a red royal robe was sitting in front of one of the plates. "How much time left, judge?" the penguin asked a small orange creature with a light brown face.

The creature looked at a clock and said, "Only three more minutes before Kirby gets disqualified from the contest. In that case, you will be the winner by default."

The penguin then smirked and thought, "Dyeheheh! I'm going to win by default for sure! The sleeping potion that I put into the lollipop is strong enough to make people sleep for twenty-four hours! There's no way Kirby can wake up in time for this contest! Once I win, I will be able to do whatever I want in Dream Land without fear of his interference forever!"

"Wait! Someone here will take Kirby's place!" shouted the voice of Coo. Everyone turned to the owl and saw him approaching with the Gensokyo girls. Also, Sanae and Nitori were carrying Kirby and Gooey respectively in their arms while Meiling was carrying Rick on her back. "Dedede, you may have succeeded in putting Kirby to sleep so that he cannot enter the contest, but that doesn't stop someone from taking his place in competing against you!"

When Coo said this, the crowd started talking among each other about this. "What are you talking about?" the penguin-like creature, Dedede, asked, trying to sounding innocent. "Why would I attempt to put Kirby to sleep? I promised him that this will be a fair contest with no foul plays of any kind. Are you trying to ruin my kingly image in front of everyone?"

"As if you even have a kingly image to begin with! Anyway, you're not going to win this contest by default! We have someone here who will take Kirby's place! I present to you..." Coo then pointed her wings at Reisen. "Reisen Udongein Inaba!"

When everyone turned to look at Reisen, she waved her arms and nervously said, "Uh... Hello... Everyone...!"

"Who is she?" Dedede asked. "While one of the rules of the contest did say that someone can take Kirby's place if he cannot enter it for whatever reason, it has to be a friend of his. I don't know that girl, and what makes you think you can convince me that she's his friend?"

"While it's true that I have only just met her, Kirby has already become friends with her. These girls are visitors to this place, and Kirby is the first inhabitant of this place that they came across, and they even treated Kirby to a meal. That makes them his friends already, doesn't it? Making friends isn't a lengthy process as long as one knows how to do it!"

"Humph! You sure talk a lot, Mr. Owl! You friends of Kirby just cannot bear the fact to see me winning by default!" Dedede said, and then he asked the judge. "Is it all right is she takes Kirby's place?"

"Well, since the owl went through all the trouble of explaining everything, I don't see why not. Treating people to meals is a good way for making friend if you ask me. Okay, that girl can take Kirby's place in this carrot-eating contest!"

Marisa patted Reisen on the shoulder and said to her, "Relax-ze! You like carrots, right? How often is it that you get to eat carrots back in Eientei? This is your chance to eat lots of carrots at once!"

"Um... Yeah..." Reisen said with a nod, and then she took her seat in front of the table. When she saw the towering pile of carrots that was about three meters tall, she said in horror, "Oh my god..."

"Well, girl with rabbits ears," Dedede said to her. "Got what it takes to beat me? Dyeheheheheh!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And thus began the Kirby arc! Also, SL the Pyro got the mysterious villain's identity right! It's true that he did not say the villain's name, but I can tell that he has the correct person in mind. Yes, it's I.M. Meen from the educational game of the same name!

Yeah, I made I.M. Meen more powerful in this story. Well, I have to make him more powerful, otherwise it would be no fun if he gets beaten up by the girls with ease. Okay, he didn't pose that big of a threat to them in the end, but I'd imagine that with his current powers, he would be able to defeat the bookworm (main character of I.M. Meen) with little effort, haha!

**Next chapter: Royal Invitation**


	64. Royal Invitation

**SBS Time!  
Patcheresu: **KIRBY CAN'T TALK.**  
Game2002: **I asked about this on the Kirby's Epic Yarn board on GameFaqs, and someone with the username HylianAngel told me that Kirby is capable of normal speech canonically. According to him, Kirby talked in Kirby's Adventure's instruction manual. He also talked in Kirby's Avalanche and Kirby's Star Stacker, though the former game isn't canon.

**Chapter 63  
Royal Invitation**

**

* * *

**

"There is one rule in this contest that you have to remember," the Waddle Dee judge said. "You cannot spit out whatever goes into your mouth. Doing so will result in instant disqualification. Is everything clear?"

"Yes," Dedede said. "Go on and start the contest! By the way, I would like to let the girl have a head start. I'll start eating the carrots after five minutes. She doesn't look like someone who can eat as fast Kirby, so as the king, I need to be fair by giving her an advantage!"

"If the king says so," the judge said with a nod. "Okay, Kirby's substitute will be allowed to have a head start. We will now begin the contest! Go!"

Immediately, the crowd started cheering for Reisen, but the lunar rabbit simply stared at the pile of carrots. "Don't just sit there, Reisen!" Marisa said to her. "Start eating-ze!"

"Are you sure she's going to win...?" Reimu asked. "The amount of carrot is too much for her..."

"Even I wouldn't be able to eat that many cucumbers..." Nitori said.

"If that gluttonous ghost is here, then this contest would be over before you know it," Remilia said.

"Please refrain from calling my mistress a gluttonous ghost," Youmu said to her, "even though she really does have a huge appetite..."

"I'll just eat until I can't anymore!" Reisen thought, and then she grabbed a carrot and started munching it as fast as she could. It took her about forty seconds to finish eating one, and then she immediately grabbed another one.

"Oh no... She's nowhere as good as Kirby..." someone from the crowd said. "She's going to lose for sure..."

"We're all screwed... Dedede is going to rule Dream Land for sure... It's all over for us..." said another one.

"Geez! You're so slow, Reisen!" Marisa said to her. "Can't you eat any faster than that?"

"I am eating my fastest already!" Reisen said in her head while munching as fast as she could.

After five minutes, the Waddle Dee said to Dedede, "You may now start eating."

"Okay," Dedede said. He looked at Reisen's pile of carrots and saw that it looked pretty much no different from before she started eating. "You're too slow, girl! I gave you a head start in hope that you will have a chance at beating me, but it seems that you still have no chance of beating me. This is how you're supposed to eat, so watch and learn!" Dedede opened his mouth really wide and then inhaled a large amount of air to suck all the carrots inside in a second.

The Gensokyo girls were shocked at how Dedede ate the carrots while the crowd groaned and touched their faces with their palms in disappointment. Reisen was also so shocked that she stopped eating.

Dedede munched a little bit and then swallowed the carrots, but suddenly, he choked on a piece of carrot. "Ack! Ugh! Gah!" the self-proclaimed king cried. He pounded his chest as hard as he could until he coughed out the piece of carrot that was lodged in his throat. The judge looked at the piece of carrot and then raised his arms, saying, "King Dedede spit out a piece of carrot, so he is disqualified from the contest! As a result, the winner of this contest is Kirby's substitute!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd raised their arms into the air and exclaimed, "YAAAAAAAAAAAY! HOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAY!"

Reisen was dumbfounded at what happened. "What...? I won...?"

"Whoa... Talk about a fluke..." Reimu said in disbelief.

"This wasn't what I had in mind when I believed that Reisen could win the contest-ze..." Marisa said.

"Wow! It's a miracle!" Sanae exclaimed.

"Guess the self-proclaimed king isn't fated to win after all," Remilia said with a grin.

The crowd rushed over to Reisen to pick her up and throw her into the air over and over. "HOORAY FOR KIRBY'S SUBSTITUTE! HIP, HIP, HOORAY! WE WILL NO LONGER FEAR DEDEDE AGAIN! HOORAY! HOORAY FOR KIRBY'S SUBSTITUTE!"

* * *

Soon afterwards, the Gensokyo girls and a bunch of animals were gathered around in front of a dome-shaped house. "Congratulations on winning the contest, Reisen!" Coo said to the lunar rabbit.

"I can't say that I won using my own strength..." Reisen said. "He simply... choked and coughed out a piece of carrot, thus I won as a result..."

"That's not a problem!" said a pink blob with a red ribbon on her head—Chuchu. "The good thing is that Dedede will have to keep his promise of stop bullying the inhabitants of Dream Land from now on! I can't wait to tell this to Kirby when he wakes up!"

"So you girls come from another world, right?" Coo asked them. "Would you mind telling us more?"

"Well, if are you willing to believe our story," Reimu said. "It may sound bizarre, but since the inhabitants of the previous worlds don't find it strange, you probably won't find it strange either. So... have you heard of something called a World Light?"

"Meow? World Light? I believe I've heard that name before," said a cat—Nago.

"Isn't that the name of the huge column of light that took us all to a place called Smash World?" asked a green bird—Pitch.

"Indeed, that is the very light that Master Hand used for coming to this world as well as transporting us all to Smash World," Coo said.

"Well, it seems that you all have been to Smash World before-ze!" Marisa said. "This should make explanations a lot easier!"

"So you came here using the World Light?" Coo asked. "I take that you must have already met Master Hand."

"On the contrary," Reimu told him, "we didn't meet him at all. According to a certain person that we met in the first world that we first arrived at, the World Light is broken, hence the reason it didn't bring us to Smash World. As a result, we are now traveling throughout different worlds to search for eleven objects called Light Essences in order to repair the World Light. That way, we can go to Smash World. We currently have seven of the eleven Light Essences."

"Meow! You must've been through a lot!" Nago exclaimed.

"We sure did!" Marisa said. "Telling you guys everything will definitely take whole day-ze! And since you guys were also invited to Smash World, I take that one of you here also participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament, right?"

"Kirby was a participant of the tournament," Coo replied. "The tournament was held a total of three times, and he participated in all three of them."

"That pink blob is one of the participants in the tournament?" Remilia asked. "He doesn't strike me as someone who is a capable fighter."

"You shouldn't underestimate Kirby," Chuchu said. "He's easily the most skilled fighter in this world! Quite a few people underestimated him because of his appearance, but they usually ended up receiving a beating of their lifetimes from him! Kirby is very strong!"

"Oh really? This makes me curious about what he can do."

"For starters," Coo said, "he is most well known for being able to suck a large amount of things into his mouth at once. After that, he can either spit out the objects or swallow them to obtain their powers."

"So if he swallowed all those carrots from the contest, he'll receive the power of carrots, right?" Cirno asked.

"Not everything will give him power, though. For example: He swallows a rock, then he can transform into a rock. If he swallows an ice cube, he will be able to use ice-based powers."

"Like me!" Cirno said as she formed a sculpture of the number nine surrounded by a circle on her palm.

"Wow! How did you do that?" Pitch asked. "Cool!"

"All of us here have special powers," Reimu told him. "In fact, most living things from our world have special powers and can fly. Unfortunately, we will lose the ability to fly for a while when we arrive at a world due to the World Light being broken."

"Kirby can also fly!" Chuchu said. "All he has to do is to suck in a large amount of air, and then he'll float into the air like a balloon!"

"Heh! He sounds like an interesting fellow-ze!" Marisa commented.

"Oh yeah, Kirby isn't the only representative from our world," Nago said. "Dedede also participated in the tournament."

"That self-proclaimed king was also in the tournament?" Reisen asked.

"Only in the third one, though," Coo said. "He merely served as an audience in the first two tournaments."

"There's also another guy named Meta Knight," Pitch said.

"Oh yeah, he participated in the third tournament," Nago said. "I don't know much about him, though. He's a quite an enigmatic fellow if you ask me."

"I agree... He gives me the creeps..."

Unknown to them, a one-eyed creature, Waddle Doo, was watching them from behind a tree a bit of a distance away. After listening to their conversation using a longhorn, he quickly ran in the direction of a castle visible far in the distance.

* * *

"So... what have you found out?" Dedede asked the Waddle Doo while reclining on his throne. "Who are those girls and why are they with Kirby?"

"I have found out quite a bit, Your Majesty," the Waddle Doo told him. "To start off, those girls are from another world. They came here using the World Light."

"World Light? Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Your Majesty, it's that column of light that the giant hand entity known as Master Hand used for coming to this world and bringing us to a place called Smash World. You once participated in a tournament held in that world, do you remember?"

Dedede placed hand underneath his chin and thought for a while, and then said, "Oh yeah! I remember now! Boy! That sure brings back memories! I remember the time when I got smashed Kirby right in the face with my hammer! I had a great time in that tournament! Never had I experienced such pleasure from beating up that puffball!"

"However, the record of your losses against him is far greater than your winnings against him."

"Don't bring that up! You want me to bonk you in the head with my hammer?"

"Sorry... Anyway... according to those girls, the World Light is broken, so they never got to go to Smash World. They are currently looking for eleven objects called Light Essences in order to fix the World Light so that they can go to Smash World. They have found seven of those objects. Also, beings from their world have special powers, one of them being flight. However, due to the malfunctioned World Light, they are unable to fly for some time whenever they arrive at a world. That pretty much sums up everything about them. The rest of the conversation was simply Kirby's friends telling them about this world. I went there too late to hear their names, though."

"That should be enough," Dedede said as he stepped down from his throne. He walked up to a window and looked at the scenery outside. "Since they're new around here, I might as well show them the rules that they have to abide to in this place. I lost the contest all right, but the fact that I lost to someone who is a newcomer here and cannot eat as fast as me makes me furious! That girl with rabbit ears! I'm going to show her the consequences of making me her enemy!"

"But you promised that..."

"Did I say I was going to cause trouble to the inhabitants of Dream Land? I only said I would cause trouble to that girl! On the second thought, I might as well cause trouble to those girls, dyeheheheheh!"

* * *

"So... what are we going to do until Kirby wakes up?" Reimu asked as she stood back up.

"We can walk around the place to learn more about it," Sanae said. "Since this place is called Dream Land, there must be lots of stuff around here that you can only find in your dreams. Heheh! I feel excited for some reason!"

"The reason this place is called Dream Land," Coo said, "is because anyone who falls asleep here will without doubt have dreams. If one were to have no dreams or have nightmares instead, then that means something is wrong with the Fountain of Dreams, the source of all the dreams here."

"Fountain of Dreams?" Aya curiously said.

"That is the most important place here for the reason previously mentioned. We can take you there if you want to. Just be careful not to do anything to it, though."

"Meow, about Kirby..." Nago said. "There is a way to instantly wake him up. That would require the aroma of food. As long as the aroma is good enough, he'll instantly wake up."

"It works all the time!" Pitch said.

"Aroma of food, eh?" Reimu said. "Where can we get something like that?"

"Well, none of us here are what you would call good cooks..." Coo said. "Chef Kawasaki can whip up a cuisine, but he's not exactly on good terms with Kirby."

"Why's that?" Reisen asked.

"They fought each other before," Nago said.

"I have a better idea," Sanae said. "We can whip up something delicious in the shrine and then use it to wake Kirby up! What do you say?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Remilia said.

"It wouldn't hurt," Reimu said. "Since Kirby participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament, he might know something about the Light Essence, so waking him up early is definitely a good idea. Okay, let's go back to the shrine and see if we can whip up something that is delicious enough to wake him up."

* * *

Some time later, the girls finally returned. Sanae was carrying a pot, Meiling was carrying a container containing eating utensils, and Nitori was carrying a bucket containing rice. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" Sanae said. "Let's have some curry!"

"Let's hope that it's good enough to wake him up," Reimu said.

They went into the dome-shaped house, which is Kirby's house, and Sanae brought the pot near the bed Kirby was sleeping on. The aroma of the curry drifted all the way to his nose. Suddenly, Kirby started sniffing in his sleep, and a few seconds later, he opened his eyes and then jumped on his feet, exclaiming, "What a great smell!" Gooey also jumped over from a chair he was sleeping on to drool over the curry.

* * *

Kirby placed his plate onto the ground and said, "Phew! I think I may enough for now! That was a great meal!"

"Wow... Such an appetite...!" Youmu said in disbelief. "He's really like Mistress Yuyuko! I wonder what she will think if she sees this?"

"They're gonna have a contest to see who can eat more, I believe," Marisa said as she took a bite out of her serving. "In that case, an entire country will starve because of this-ze..."

"None of here has even finished eating our first servings yet, and he alone already ate six servings..." Reimu said. "He really does remind me of Yuyuko..."

"There's no more left..." Sanae said while looking at the bucket of rice and the pot of curry.

"Thanks a lot for the meal!" Kirby said to the girls. Suddenly, he eyes widened in horror. "Wait a minute! I'm supposed to be heading for the contest! Oh no! I'm going to be late for sure!"

"Don't worry about that," Chuchu told him. "You have already won the contest!"

"I did? But I thought I fell asleep."

Chuchu pointed to Reisen. "She entered the contest for you and won."

Kirby looked Reisen and said, "Really? Thanks a lot! So you're also a big eater?"

"Actually... I didn't eat all the carrots..." Reisen said. "Dedede accidentally choked on a piece of carrot and had to cough it out. As a result, he lost the contest because of one of the rules stating that you cannot spit out anything."

"Oh, I see. Whatever the case is, I have to thank you for entering the contest for me! Dedede will now have to keep his words of refraining from causing trouble to the inhabitants of Dream Land for eternity! Thank you very much!"

"Heheh... I never thought that I would be such a big help, even though I had no faith in winning at all when I saw that much carrot in front of my eyes..."

"These girls came here using the World Light," Coo told Kirby. "I'm sure you know what the World Light is."

"World Light? Hmmm... Um... Mind filling me in? I can't remember what that is..."

"Does the Smash Brothers Tournament ring a bell?"

"Oh, that tournament... That's it! I remember now! It's that large beam of light that Master Hand used for coming here and bringing us to the Smash World! Boy, it sure brings back memories!"

"Apparently, something is wrong with the World Light, hence the reason the girls coming to this place."

"Oh? What happened to it?"

"Guess we'll have to tell you the whole story..." Reimu said. "We should've waited for you to wake up first so that we don't have to say the whole thing again..."

Just as Reimu was going to tell Kirby about everything, a Waddle Doo and several Waddle Dees came over to them, and the Waddle Doo said, "Greetings, ladies!"

"It's Dedede's servants," Pitch said. "What are they doing here?"

"Our king would like to invite you to his castle for lunch," the Waddle Doo.

"Really?" Sanae curiously said.

"Well... While we do appreciate your invitation, we just had a meal, so we're no longer hungry," Reimu told the Waddle Doo.

"In the very least, please visit the king's castle. He especially wants the girl with rabbit ears to visit his castle as a reward for beating him in the contest."

"Who me?" Reisen asked, pointing to herself.

"Yes, you. You should feel proud for being invited by the king himself! Entering the king's castle is not something commoners get to do everyday!"

"I go to his castle once in a while, though," Kirby said.

"That's a different case for you... Anyway, will you accept our invitation?"

The girls then discussed with each other about this matter. "What do you say?" Reimu asked.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea if you ask me," Aya said. "This is a good opportunity to find out more about this world."

"Even if he's a self-proclaimed king, his castle must be very big and rich in order for him to make up such a claim. I simply can't imagine someone poor claiming to be a king."

"I'm with my mistress," Meiling said.

"I wanna go!" Cirno said.

"Maybe we should ask Kirby first," Reisen suggested, and then she turned around to face Kirby. "What's your idea?"

"I'm not against this, though I'm going with you if you really want to go to his castle. I've been there before, so I know a lot about that place. It's also best that I keep an eye on whatever Dedede's doing. Even though he shouldn't be causing trouble now that he lost the contest, I still have an unsafe feeling for some reason..."

And so, the girls and Kirby decided to follow the Waddle Doo and the army of Waddle Dees to the castle. On their way there, they walked by a lake, and a sunfish emerged from the water surface. "Hey there, Kirby," the sunfish said.

"Hi, Kine!" Kirby said to him. "What's up?"

"I'm fine," Kine replied. "I heard that you're going to enter a contest, right? Is it over already?"

"Yeah, it's over. I didn't enter the contest, though." Then Kirby pointed to Reisen. "This girl over here entered the contest for me and won."

"Hello!" Kine said to her. "So you entered the contest for Kirby and won? Wow! You must be a better eater than King Dedede!"

"It's not what you think..." Reisen told him.

Kirby then said to the girls, "This is one of my friends, Kine. He may be a fish, but he's not confined to the water. He can breathe air and even move around on land!"

"Well, that's a first..." Reimu said.

"I prefer the water, though," Kine said.

"I remember meeting a catfish that is capable of breathing air and moving on land," Meiling said.

"That was only in your dream," Remilia reminded her.

After saying good-bye to Kine, Kirby and the others continued on their way. Kine then swam to the side and saw a frozen frog bobbing up and down on the water. "Wart? What are you doing in a block of ice?" Kine asked.

Nitori noticed Cirno running up to them from behind, so she asked her, "What were you doing just now?"

"Freezing a frog," she replied.

"Okay..."

"The castle is over there," the Waddle Doo said while pointing to a castle built in front of a cliff.

"Looks pretty nice," Remilia commented.

After several minutes of walking, they eventually arrived in front of the castle. "Open the door! We brought back the guests!" the Waddle Doo loudly said, and then the massive front door slowly slid upwards, thus allowing them to enter.

They were all greeted with a pair of golden Dedede statues placed at the sides of the door when they stepped inside. A red carpet led all the way to the end of the hallway, and several marble statues of the self-proclaimed king were lined alongside it. Also, several portraits of himself were hung on the walls. "Well, he sure is a narcissistic person..." Aya commented.

"Welcome!" said the voice of King Dedede. Four Waddle Dees walked down the hallway, carrying on their heads a throne that sat the self-proclaimed king. "I've been waiting for you!"

"Hi!" Kirby said, waving his stubby arms.

"Hey! Who invited you? Furthermore, why are you awake? You're supposed to be asleep for at least twenty-four hours!"

"So you did put him to sleep using the lollipop after all," Reimu said.

Dedede quickly closed his hands over his mouth and thought to himself, "Doh... Busted!"

"He still lost, though," Marisa said.

"Um... So... lunch will be prepared soon," Dedede said to them. "In the meantime, I'll show you around my beautiful castle."

"We just ate," Reimu told him. "If possible, we prefer staying for dinner."

"Oh, I see. Okay, I'll tell my chefs to prepare dinner instead," Dedede said, and then he jumped down from his throne and walked up to Reisen. "First, I would like to congratulate you for beating me! This is the first time ever that someone else besides Kirby beat me in an eating contest! Congratulations!" And he shook her hand.

"Um... Yeah..." Reisen said.

"As a reward, I would like to make you all feel like VIPs! Feel free to treat this place like your house! First, take a look at the beautiful portraits on the walls!" He pointed to one of the portraits on the left wall. "See the leftmost one? That is me at my simplest! Look at the smile and the eyes! You cannot find a better facial appearance than that! The one next to it may look exactly like the first one, but it is in fact very different! I'm sorry if you can't tell the difference. Only people who can truly appreciate art can tell the difference!"

"Are you sure there's a difference between those two...?" Marisa asked.

"I do appreciate art to some extent, but I still can't tell the difference between those two," Remilia said. "Whatever, let's just pretend that there is something different between those two."

"The next picture shows me at my most handsome look! With a face like that, all the women in the world will fall in love with me, don't you think so?" Dedede said as he pointed to a portrait of himself with bishounen-style eyes.

"Looks creepy..." Cirno commented.

"Heheh... People have their own opinions..." Dedede said, looking a bit offended when he heard that comment, and then he pointed to a portrait of himself with large muscles. "And that is what I believe I will look like if I undergo intense bodybuilding. Don't you think those muscles make me look manly? Kirby will be no match for me if I do look like that!"

"Yeah, whatever you say..." Kirby said underneath his breath.

"That's even creepier!" Cirno commented.

"Um... Yeah... People have their own opinions..." Dedede said with a slightly annoyed face. "Okay, let's look on the other side." Then he turned to the portraits on the right wall. "As you can see, all these portraits look identical, but only to the untrained eyes. Those with a sense of art will be unable to believe the amount of differences that each of these portraits have! For example, the shading of the rightmost portrait is lighter compared to the one next to it while the third one to the right has the darkest shading among all of them. Also, careful observation will tell you that the lip of the fourth portrait to the right is slightly more orange compared to the others! The next portrait..."

"This is boring," Kirby said. "Can't we go and look at something else?"

"Excuse me? You weren't invited here in the first place, so you have no right to say anything!" Dedede said to him with an angry face. "Now keep your mouth shut and let my guests enjoy viewing these portraits!"

"Actually, we would appreciate it if we can move on to something else..." Reimu said.

"Oh, if my guests say so!" Dedede said while rubbing his hands together, and then he led them down the hallway.

"This guy really is a narcissist..." Aya said.

"Can you tell the differences between those portraits?" Youmu asked her. "With the exception of the one with an orange lip, I can't..."

"Me too..."

Dedede led them into a large room. "Here we are at the living room!" he said. "The sofa is so comfortable that you can easily fall asleep just by lying on it! You can also look outside the window while drinking tea! The sight is without a doubt a sight to behold! But compared to that bust of myself placed at the far end of the room, the scenery outside is child's play!"

"Wow! There are lots of books!" Marisa said while looking at the bookcase.

"You're thinking of stealing them, right?" Remilia asked her.

"How many times must I tell you this? I borrow them for a lifetime, not steal them!"

"Oh, by the way... I heard that you plan to go to Smash World, right?" Dedede asked the girls.

"Yeah, we are," Reimu said with a nod, but then she twitched an eyebrow. "Wait a minute... How did you know we are going to the Smash World? We never told you about this!"

"Cripes!" Dedede said in his head.

"One of your men spied on us, right?" Aya asked. "When we were talking to Kirby's friends, I heard footsteps coming in the direction of a tree a bit of a distance from us, and I also saw someone hiding behind it."

"You did?" Sanae asked her. "Oh yeah, your eyesight and hearing are several times better than any of us."

"So... you were spying on us," Remilia said. "Are you up to something?"

"Well, um... I can't deny that..." Dedede said while sweating nervously. "You see... I just wanted to know who you girls are, so I sent someone to gather information on you... Don't worry; I'm not planning to do anything evil by inviting you all to this place... I just want to show you around the place. You are visitors to this world, so it makes sense that I, the king, show you around the place!"

"Really?"

"Really! Anyway, what I wanted to say... is that... I am also a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament!"

"Yeah, one of Kirby's friend us about it," Reimu said.

"I have proof of it as well! Look at the portrait over there!" Dedede pointed to a portrait that showed him with limbs sprawled out, and behind was Kirby with crossed-shaped eyes lying on his back. "See? That is a picture of me after my victory against Kirby! It was a great battle! Kirby and I had an epic fight, but I emerged as the victor! It was a very close match! I was sure that I was going to lose, but I struggled until I finally won!"

"Hey, I know that pose!" Kirby said. "Isn't that you when you got catapulted away by the catapult in the pirate ship stage? You must've doctored that pic to make it look like that!"

"Well, it can't be helped that this is the only clear pic of me during the tourna... Wait a minute... What are you talking about? That clearly is a pic of me defeating you! It's true! That really did happen during the tournament! I'm sure of it! Go and get your brain checked if you can't remember!"

"Then why is your expression shocked? You should be smiling if you really did defeat me."

"Um... That's because... I can't believe that I defeated you, so I'm very shocked! Yeah, that's why! That's the reason! I'm serious!"

"It's not like you only won against me once during that tournament..."

"Well, you see... That's the first time I won against you!"

"Haha! Your expression is hilarious!" Cirno commented. "Kirby's expression is just as funny!"

"Ahem... Now that you know that I was an awesome fighter in the Smash Brothers Tournament," Dedede said after clearing his throat, "would you like to have my autograph?" Then a Waddle Dee with a blue bandana handed a marker over to him. "Don't be shy! I know you want one!" Dedede then went to Reimu and grabbed her left sleeve. "Here, I'll sign it on your sleeve!"

"Hey! Stop that!" Reimu said as she pulled away from him, so the signature was incomplete.

"Aw, come on! Autographs are more awesome when on something other than paper! You get to boast to other people about your clothes being signed by someone famous before!" Dedede said, and then he went to Marisa and signed it on her apron. "Here you go!"

"Hey! I didn't give you the permission to do so!" Marisa said, but she didn't try to stop him. "Oh, forget it... It won't hurt anyone anyway-ze..."

Dedede then went over to Youmu and signed Myon. "Here! I'll sign it on your balloon!"

"Hey! My face!" Youmu cried because her face felt ticklish when Dedede wrote on her phantom half.

"I won't mind if you sign it on my notebook," Aya said as she opened her notebook, so Dedede signed on one of its pages.

Dedede then went over to Reisen. "I think I'll sign on your forehead."

"Um... No thanks..." Reisen said while waving her hands at him.

"Oh, come on! You will be able to boast to people about your forehead being signed by a famous person! This is something to be proud of! C'mon, let me sign on your forehead!" Dedede grabbed Reisen's shoulder and tried to write on her forehead, but the lunar rabbit tried to push him back.

"No! I really don't want one! Get away from me!" Reisen cried as she struggled with the self-proclaimed king. During the midst of the struggling, she released a burst of light from her eyes.

"Gah!" Dedede cried as the burst of light blinded him. "MY EYES!" He took several steps backs with his hands placed over his eyes, and then he bumped into the bust of himself, thus causing it to fall off from the pedestal it was on.

CRAAAAAASH!

When Dedede was able to see again shortly afterwards, he stared at the shattered bust with a wide open mouth. "Um... I'm sorry..." Reisen nervously said. "I didn't mean to... I'm really sorry..."

Dedede gritted his teeth as she slowly turned his head to the girls, and then he 'exploded'. "GET OUT OF MY CASTLE AT ONCE!"

* * *

"Well... He sure got really mad..." Reimu said as she walked down the path leading away from the castle along with the others.

"You're gonna pass out from boredom sooner or later if you keep on staying there," Kirby told her, "so it's better that we leave that place early."

"I really did make him angry, though..." Reisen said, sounding guilty.

"Nah, don't think too much about it. I break his stuff quite often, so he's quite used to it. He'll get over it sooner or later."

Dedede watched the girls and Kirby walk farther and farther away from the castle from a window and said to himself, "Tsk! I was hoping to find out more about them! Snake said that knowing your enemy is the quickest path to victory, so I was hoping to learn more about each of them before coming up with a way to get back at them, especially that girl with rabbit ears! That rabbit girl... It seems that she can release light from her eyes. I'll just wear sunglasses to get around that!"

The Waddle Dee with a blue bandana walked up to him and asked, "What do you plan to do next, Your Majesty?"

"Well, time to hatch up a new plan," the self-proclaimed king said with a smirk. "Dyeheheheheheh!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The Waddle Dee with a blue bandana is the same one seen in Revenge of the King, one of the sub-games Kirby Superstar Ultra.

**Next chapter: The Kingly Plan**


	65. The Kingly Plan

**Chapter 64  
The Kingly Plan**

* * *

Dedede and the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana entered a large and dark room. Dedede felt around the part of the wall next to the door until he pressed a switch that lit up the room. "Well? Shall we use this?" he asked as he looked at a gigantic robot that was mostly white. Its head was black and cone-shaped and had a single yellow eye. "Dyeheh! HR-H, the famed robot from Shiver Star! Honestly speaking, I was pretty impressed by that giant robot when I first saw it, and as a result, I worked day and night on creating a replica of it some time after returning to my castle. After several days of hard work, it is finally finished! Too bad I never got the chance to use, though..."

"All you did was telling us what to do," the Waddle Dee told him. "You even had someone draw the blueprint for you."

"But could any of you make something like this if I never told you in the place?" Dedede asked as he approached the robot. "It doesn't matter what you say; I'm the person who conceived this replica! Dyeheh! This thing will surely teach those girls a lesson! I'm going to release HR-H to rain down destruction all over Dream Land!"

"But didn't you promise that you wouldn't be messing with the lives of the inhabitants after losing the carrot-eating contest?" the Waddle Dee asked him. "Breaking promises isn't good, and even if you never made the promise, wouldn't the robot cause too much destruction? There's no point in ruling over a land that has been wasted, and people will hate you for this."

Hearing this, Dedede placed his hand underneath his chin and thought for a while. "You have a point there..." he said. "Yeah, it's probably overkill to release HR-H just to teach those girls a lesson."

* * *

"So... why was the contest about eating carrots?" Reimu asked Kirby as they all walked towards the Hakurei Shrine.

"Dedede made me throw a dart at a spinning wheel," Kirby replied, "and it hit the picture of a carrot."

"Okay..."

As they got closer and closer to the shrine, they saw three figures moving around at the front door. "Hey! Who's there?" Reimu said, and then she quickly ran towards there. When she got there, she saw three colorful the birds about the size of a bicycle jumping around the donation box. "Hey! What are these birds!" Then she ran towards them while waving and shaking her gohei. "Shoo! Go away! Get out of my shrine!"

Scared by the shrine maiden, the birds quickly took off into the air and flew into the distance. "They better not have mess up the inside!" Reimu thought, and then she went inside the shrine.

"Those are some pretty large birds," Aya commented as she watched themfly away, "and colorful too!"

"Those are Dyna Blade's children," Kirby replied. "Dyna Blade is a giant bird that lives on top of a mountain. She used to cause trouble to the crops, though that's only because she wanted to find food for her children. I once beat her up before finding out the reason..."

"If the children are that big," Sanae said, "then the mother must be even bigger, right?"

"Yes, she's very big. I dare say that she is about the size of this house! Okay, not that big, but you get the idea."

"Wow! She's that big!" Aya said in surprise. "I would really love to see her with my own eyes!"

"Darn it! They made a mess in here!" shouted Reimu's voice all of a sudden.

* * *

"Hmmm... A change of plans would be needed..." Dedede said as he walked onto a balcony. "Using HR-H is indeed overkill... It's too dangerous to let loose a giant robot that is capable of laying waste to Dream Land... What's the point of being a king if his kingdom is destroyed?"

As he was trying to come up with a plan, a large shadow suddenly loomed over him, so he looked up to see a large colorful bird flying over his castle. "That's Dyna Blade!" Then a smirk appeared on his face. "Dyeheh! I have an idea now!"

* * *

Some time later, Dedede and several Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos were traveling up a mountain path, carrying with them a large wheeled cage and a sack. "Are you sure that this will work?" the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana asked Dedede.

"Yes, I believe that it's going to work for sure," the self-proclaimed king replied. "We will capture Dyna Blade's kids and then place them in front of those girls' house. The mother will then track down her children by listening to their cries, and when she sees them in front of the house, she will proceed to attack the girls, thinking that they the ones who kidnapped them. I only hope that the mother isn't at the nest at the moment..."

When they finally reached the top of the mountain, they saw a large nest with the three young birds in it. The birds were doing nothing but looking around and waiting for their mother to return. "Good! Luck is on my side!" Dedede said. "Quick! Create a trail of birdfeed leading into the cage! Close it the moment they go inside!"

"Roger that, Your Majesty!" a Waddle Doo said. He and another Waddle Doo ran towards the nest with a sack, and after tearing the sack, they let the birdfeed pour out. The birds watched as the duo walked back all the way into the cage, and then they jumped out from their nest to gobble up the trail of birdfeed.

The two Waddle Doos came out of the cage after the sack was empty, and when the three birds ate their way into the cage, two Waddle Dees standing on top of the cage dropped the door to trap them inside.

"All done!" one of the Waddle Dees on top of the cage said to Dedede.

"Good!" Dedede said. "Quick! Let's get out of here before the mother returns!"

* * *

"Well, that's that!" Sanae said as she got up from cleaning the floor with a ragged cloth.

"Geez! I forgot to set up a barrier around the shrine, thus resulting in this!" Reimu grumbled while wiping the table. "I'm going to teach those overgrown chickens a lesson if I ever see them again!"

"They're just animals, so it's obvious that they would come in and out of places as they wish. Plus, they're still children. Just forget about it, okay?"

Kirby came into the room with a broom in his hand and asked, "Is this room cleaned yet?"

"It's clean already," Sanae replied. "Thanks a lot for helping!"

"You don't really have to thank me. Helping friends is what people should do!"

"Oh yeah, I'm just reminded of something..." Reimu said. "We never told you our story yet, did we?"

"You're right. You were about to tell me while we were having a meal, but then Dedede's men came to invite to the castle. I'm willing to hear it now!"

* * *

"So that's their house?" Dedede asked the Waddle Doo who previously spied on the girls.

"I would assume that it is there house," the Waddle Doo replied. "That house wasn't there originally, so..."

"I get what you mean. Okay, let's get the cage over there before the mother shows up! Something tells me that she's going to come here sooner or later!"

"Well, the children are crying a lot at the moment..."

"All right! Get to it quick!" Dedede said to his minions, and then they quickly pushed the cage as fast as they could in the direction of the shrine. Once they got the cage in front of the shrine, they rushed back to Dedede.

"We're done, Your Majesty!" one of the Waddle Dees told him.

"Yes, I can see that," Dedede said. "Good job! Now let's get out of here and watch from a distance! It's going to be a great show for sure! Dyeheheh!"

* * *

"That's basically everything in a nutshell," Reimu said to Kirby.

"I see... You girls really went through a lot!" Kirby said. "So you're looking for things called Light Essences, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry... I have never heard of anything called that..."

"Don't feel bad about it," Sanae said to him. "We'll look for it some other way."

"Hmmm... Perhaps we can ask Meta Knight. He's a pretty smart fellow, so he should know something about it."

"You mean the other representative of this world aside from you and Dedede?" Reimu asked.

"Yeah," Kirby replied with a nod. "Unfortunately, I don't know where he is at the moment. In fact, it seems impossible to find him if he doesn't want to people to know where he is. He usually shows up if there is something going on, though."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of birds crying. "Did you hear that?" Sanae asked.

"Doubt anyone can miss that," Reimu said. "It's coming from outside."

The three of them went outside and saw the others girls and the cage containing the three young birds, and the birds were crying loudly and ramming against the cage. "What in the world...?" Reimu said.

"No idea how they got here..." Marisa told her.

"Aren't these the same birds that broke into the shrine earlier?" Remilia asked.

"Why are Dyna Blade's children locked up in a cage?" Kirby wondered. "We better get them out fast. Dyna Blade can tell where her children are by listening to their cries, and if she sees them here like this..."

"Is that Dyna Blade?" Aya asked, pointing into the air. They all looked at the air and saw a large colorful bird flapping her wings to stay airborne.

"Um... Yes..."

The girls and Kirby watched in silence as the giant bird came down to the cage. Grabbing it with her talons, she lifted into the air and then flew away a bit of a distance to place the cage on the grass. "Phew... It seems that she doesn't want to pick a fight with us..." Kirby said. "That's for the good..."

Suddenly, Dyna Blade let out a loud cry and then charged at them.

**BGM: Dyna Blade Event (Kirby's Air Ride)**

"SHE'S COMING TOWARDS US!" Reisen screamed.

"Run!" Kirby cried.

"But she'll crash into the shrine!" Reimu said. "I won't allow my shrine to be destroyed!"

Dyna Blade was about to ram into the shrine when suddenly Aya swung her fan at her to release a huge blast of wind that pushed her back, and then the tengu charged at her and shoulder bashed her chest. The giant bird flew back through the air a bit of a distance before coming to a stop, and then she flapped her wings to ascend into the air, where she let out a loud cry.

"Ow... My shoulder hurts..." Aya said while rubbing her left shoulder. "It's as if I rammed into a metal wall!"

"Dyna Blade's body is covered in armor!" Kirby told her. "Her head is the most vulnerable spot! Beware of her wings as well! They're made of blades!"

"Now that's some strange bird! Thanks for the info!" Aya said, and then she took off into the air. "Hey you! We're both birds! I'm sure you can understand what I'm saying, right? We didn't kidnap your children!"

But Dyna Blade ignored her; she took a deep breath and then shot out blasts of air at her. Aya quickly moved out of the way and said, "So you won't listen to me, eh? Looks like I'll have to get you to believe me by force! Gale Fan!" Then she swung her fan to fire wind blades, but they bounced off Dyna Blade's body.

The giant bird then charged at Aya, but she quickly dropped altitude to avoid getting hit, and then she turned around to attack her with Gale Fan. Dyna turned around and used her wings to block the projectiles, and then she fired her own projectiles at her. Aya flew higher into the air and then dived at her head. "Her head is the most vulnerable spot!" she thought as she pointed her leg at her head.

Dyna swung her wing at Aya when she was near. Luckily, the tengu swooped up just before she got hit, but she still received a cut across the skin of her leg. "Ow! It hurts!"

"Aya! Watch out!" shouted Sanae's voice.

Before Aya could react, she was sent flying back through the air in an arc by a headbutt from Dyna Blade. "YAAAAAAAA!"

Suddenly, several icicles were fired at Dyna Blade's head from the side, but the bird saw it coming, so she used her wings to block them. She turned to the source of the attacker and saw Cirno. "I can fly as well, so I'll be your opponent this time!" the ice fairy said. "Icicle Machine Gun!"

Dyna Blade flew into the air to avoid getting hit and then swooped down at Cirno. Cirno quickly created an ice shield to protect herself, but the talons smashed through it and knocked her out of the air. "YAAAAAAAA!"

"Domination Dash!" Aya shouted as she charged at Dyna Blade really fast, ramming her in the head.

The bird was knocked silly from the powerful impact, and immediately after that, Aya stomped her on the head as hard as she could. "Tengu Drum!" She then flipped behind Dyna Blade and fired wind blades at the back of her head. "Gale Fan!"

Dyna Blade angrily turned around to shoot bursts of air at Aya, but she dodged them with ease. "Tengu's Downburst!" She then hit her in the head with a descending kick.

KICK!

The powerful kick sent the giant bird shooting diagonally downwards until she hit the ground with a crash.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Wow! Aya's strong!" Kirby said in awe.

"I can do more impressive stuff than her if it weren't for the sun," Remilia claimed.

"Even if Aya is faring well against that bird," Youmu said, "the point of this fight isn't to defeat her. She mistook us for the kidnappers of her children, so we must convince her that we are innocent!"

"How do we do that?" Reisen asked.

Youmu looked at the cage in the distance and said, "We'll have to free the children. They should know who kidnapped them, so only they can tell their mother the truth. I'll go and free them!" Then she ran in the direction of the cage.

Dyna Blad got back up in time to see Youmu running towards the cage, and she was under the assumption that she was going to do harm to her children, so she flew towards Youmu while crying loudly.

Seeing the giant bird approaching, Youmu quickly unsheathed and swung the Roukanken at her.

CLANG!

Pieces of metal flew into the air as a portion of Dyna Blade's left wing shattered into pieces. "I hit you with the back of my blade," Youmu said, "but I'm sorry if you got hurt you too much. Don't worry; I'm not doing harm to your children. I'm going to free them!" Then she continued running towards the cage.

Dyna Blade was going to go after Youmu again, but Kirby ran in front of her and said, "Dyna Blade! It's me, Kirby! Listen to me! We didn't kidnap your children! Youmu is going to go and free them! Please believe me!"

But Dyna Blade slammed down her beak to hit Kirby. "Whoa!" Kirby cried as he jumped aside. "Believe me! I'm telling you the truth! Please have a bit of patience!"

Suddenly, a large block of ice fell down on top of her head.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Kirby jumped back as the giant bird fell over with the ice cube still on her head, and then he looked up to see Cirno in the air. "I appreciate your help, though you probably hit her a bit too hard..." Kirby said.

"That's what she gets for knocking me out of the air earlier!" Cirno said.

Youmu ran in front of the cage and then swung her sword at it twice to cut down the bars, thus allowing the young birds to come out. They ran up to their mother and chirped at her over and over, but she was unconscious. Youmu walked over to Kirby and asked, "Okay, I freed the kids, but..."

"Guess we'll have to wait for her to wake up..." Kirby said.

Meanwhile, Dedede and his minions were watching in shock from a hill in a distance. "What the heck!" Dedede said. "They defeated Dyna Blade! What power they possess! I can't believe it!"

"What do we do now?" the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana asked.

"Back to the castle for now... We better get out of here before they spot us..."

* * *

That night, the girls, Kirby, and the young birds were all gathered around Dyna Blade, and Sanae was using Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars to light up the place. "There, your wing should be better by tomorrow," Reisen said as she finished bandaging Dyna Blade's left wing.

"Now you know that we did not kidnap your children," Kirby said to Dyna Blade, who replied by nodding her head.

"According to her children, a fat penguin and his army of orange creatures lured them into the cage using food," Aya explained. "The fat penguin must be referring to Dedede."

"So he's the one who kidnapped the children," Reimu said. "I thought he promised not to cause anymore trouble."

"Yeah, but I had the feeling that he's not going to keep his words. Looks like I was right after all... That guy will never learn his lesson..." Kirby said.

"So what are you going to do about him?" Remilia asked him. "Wanna go and teach him a lesson now? It's nighttime, so I can fight at full power."

"Never mind; just let him be. It's not like this is the first time either. He may not be the nicest person in the world, but he's not the nastiest person in the world either. He will never go too far when bullying people."

"Okay, so about the Light Essence..." Reimu said. "Is there no other way to find it asides from asking Meta Knight?"

"Well, that's the only method I know... Too bad I don't know where he is at the moment nor do I know how to contact him. We'll probably have to wait for him to show up by himself."

"You said that he usually only shows up when something is happening," Sanae said. "What do you mean by that?"

"When something threatens Dream Land or something like that. It doesn't necessary have to be a grand-scaled threat for him to show up. I once almost opened a chest containing a sealed evil, thinking that my stolen cake is inside, but he showed up in the nick of time to stop me. I later beat him up without bothering to ask why he did that first... Come to think of it, opening that crate would've caused a grand-scaled incident to occur, so his appearance was understandable."

"You never think before you do things, do you?" Marisa asked.

"Here you are, Kirby," said a voice, and everyone looked into the air to see Coo. The owl landed and said, "I heard that you got into a fight with Dyna Blade, but it seems that you managed to settle things."

"I didn't do anything other than trying to convince Dyna Blade that we didn't kidnap her children, though," Kirby said. "Oh yeah, do you know where Meta Knight is at the moment? We plan to ask him about the Light Essence. He may something about the one hidden in this world."

"Even though I consider myself to be wise, I still do not know where he is at the moment. That fellow is very elusive. If he does not want people to find him, then no one will be able to find him at all."

"Yeah, that's just how he is..."

"If this Meta Knight fellow is very elusive, then how did Master Hand find him?" Reisen asked.

"No idea either. When my friends and I went to the World Light to be transported to Smash World, he was already there before us. Due to his ambition of wanting to fight strong people, it's no surprise that he wanted to join the tournament."

Cirno let out a yawn and said, "I'm sleepy..."

"It's pretty late already," Alice said. "Why don't we call it a night for now? We can think of what to do tomorrow."

"Right, the mother bird must rest in order to heal," Reisen said, "so let's not disturb her and her children."

"Okay, I'm going back to my house," Kirby said. "Let's meet again tomorrow! Good night!" Then he got up and left with Coo, waving good-bye to the girls as he did.

"All right, let's return to the shrine to turn in for the night," Reimu said as she stood up.

* * *

The next morning, Reisen came out to the porch while yawning, and Meiling was asleep in a sitting position next to the donation box. When she finished yawning, she saw Dyna Blade back on her feet with her children jumping around her. The lunar rabbit went up to the bird and looked at her bandaged wing. "It should be healed by now," she said, "but it's best that you keep the bandage on for a little longer. Can you fly already?"

The giant bird flapped her wings and eventually lifted off into the air.

"Wow! You can fly already! Either you recovered first or Eirin's medicine works like wonder! Anyway, congratulations!"

With a loud cry, Dyna Blade took off into the air with her children in tow, and Reisen waved good-bye to them. "Take care! Good-bye!"

* * *

Dedede was snoring loudly on his bed and dreaming about using Kirby as a footstool. Suddenly, a panicking Waddle Doo ran into his room and said to him, "Your Majesty! Wake up quick! We're in trouble!"

"Dyeh? What? I thought I already told all of you not to wake me up in the morning! I'll sleep until I feel like waking up!" Dedede grumbled as he got up and rubbed his eyes.

"We're in serious trouble! Dyna Blade and her children are heading towards our castle! She must've found out the truth behind the kidnapping of her children! You can see them from your room's balcony!"

"What!" Dedede said in shock, and then he quickly rushed to balcony to see the giant bird and his children flying towards his castle.

The king watched in silence with wide open eyes as they got closer and closer to him.

And then...

"DYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...

This chapter was completed yesterday, but I wanted to try to complete another chapter so that I can update with two chapters at once. However, I am going on a 4-day church retreat on Friday morning, and I'm also short on ideas for the next chapter. Fearing that I won't be able to complete the next chapter before I go to the church retreat, I decided to upload this chapter anyway. I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit short compared to the previous ones...

**Next chapter: The Darkness that Once Terrorized Dreams**

**Trivia:  
**1. Dyna Blade's theme was originally Castle Lololo's theme in the original Kirby's Dream Land.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

I'm going to share with you some more of my favorite Touhou themes again!

**Broken Moon: **Suika's second theme (originally the theme that plays before you fight her in Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power) has really grown onto me the more I listen to it! The credits version, Oriental Memory of Foregathering Dreams, is equally good!

**Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of Sumizome ~ Border of Life: **The only thing that can be said about Yuyuko's theme is that it's the... BEST FINAL BOSS THEME IN THE ENTIRE SERIES!

**Dark Side of Fate: **Hina's theme may be short and somewhat repetitive, but it manages to be very good one! Spin, spin, spin, spin Hina spin!


	66. The Darkness that Once Terrorized Dreams

I sincerely apologize for the long wait. I had a serious writer's block, so it took me a while to come up with this chapter. I also spent too much time surfing the Internet and playing games that I became lazy...

On the side note, the sound effect for Dyna Blade's defeat in the previous chapter has been lengthened in order to keep with the tradition of my writing style, and it's pronounced with a long O sound, not a short O sound.

**Chapter 65  
The Darkness that Once Terrorized Dreams**

**

* * *

**

The staff-wielding man was standing on top of a hill, looking at the beautiful scenery of Dream Land that was before his eyes. "Such a beautiful place," he said, "but it's such a pity that it will soon no longer be as beautiful." He then pressed a tiny communication device that was hidden next to his left ear and said, "How goes everything there?"

"Very good!" said the voice on the other side of the communication device. "However, due to its massive size, it may take a while to be resurrected. After all, it's not just one being that is being resurrected, but a whole lot of them! It's going to be worth it in the end! Imagine Popstar getting taken over by the same evil that once terrorized it in the past! I can't wait to see the horrified look of the citizens when they see this same evil again! Heeheeheeheehee!"

"We are in no rush at all, so it doesn't matter how long it takes. In the meantime, I will go and greet our client. He should be expecting me since I sent him a letter noticing him of my visit yesterday. It's not a wise idea to keep people waiting, so I shall go to him at once." With that, the staff-wielding man walked down the hill and in the direction of the Dedede's castle in the distance.

* * *

"So... what are we going to do today?" Marisa asked as she kicked her legs against the air while sitting on the balcony outside the living room.

"No idea..." Reimu, who was sitting her, said, and then she took a sip from her tea.

"I can take you on a tour around this place if you want to," Kirby told them, and then he took a rice cracker from a bowl next to Reimu and ate it. Behind him, Gooey grabbed a rice cracker using his tongue and then ate it.

"Okay. That sounds like a good method to kill time. We might even run into Meta Knight if we're lucky."

"Yeah, and if Tewi was here, we will have a really good chance of running into Meta Knight," Marisa said.

"Is Tewi a friend of yours?" Kirby asked.

"She's a rabbit demon that lives with Reisen, and she can grant good luck to people. With her around, the chances of running into Meta Knight if we are looking for him is sure to increase!"

"Sounds cool!"

"At least we have Sanae... Her power to cause miracles to happen is also a useful."

Reisen came into the room and said to them, "Sanae just whipped up lunch. Come and eat!"

"Yay! Lunch!" Kirby said while Gooey jumped up with his tongue stuck out.

Sanae then came into the room and said, "Um... I just noticed that the shrimp I used for making tempura is no longer fresh... Looks like we can't eat those anymore..."

Hearing this, Reisen became shock. "What! And I ate three of them because you told me to test them!"

"I only told you to eat one, but you ate three because you thought they are delicious!"

"Well, the fried batter around it is delicious, so I didn't really notice the shrimps tasting strange..." Suddenly, Reisen started to feel pain in her stomach.

* * *

After lunch was over, Kirby, Gooey, and all the girls except Reisen went outside the shrine. Youmu stayed at the front door, though.

"So you're going to stay behind and take care of Reisen?" Reimu asked Youmu.

"Yes," the half-phantom replied with a nod. "She's not feeling well, so she needs someone to take care of her."

"Then I don't need to set up a barrier around the shrine. I'll trust you take care of it, especially the donation box, okay?"

"Don't worry; I will."

And then Kirby and the girls left while Youmu waved good-bye to them. After they were gone, Youmu went into the living room to see Reisen, who was lying on a mattress. "How are you feeling?" she asked the lunar rabbit.

"My stomach still hurts..." she cried.

* * *

"This is Green Greens," Kirby said as he led the way. "As you can see, the grass here is green, and grass is pretty much all over the place here, hence the name Green Greens!"

"And we even have someone with green hair here-ze!" Maria said.

"Haha! That's funny!" Sanae laughed, knowing very well who she was referring to.

Cirno noticed a large tree with apples growing from it, so she left the others to go over to it. "Wow! These apples are pretty big!" she thought. "Do they usually grow this big?" She grabbed one of the apples using both hands and pulled it off its branch. After doing so, the tree shook, much to her surprise. She backed off from it and was surprised to see the tree turning around using the help of its roots, and she was even more surprised when she saw that it had a face on its trunk!

"Who dares to take my apple without permission!" the tree asked, obviously sounding angry.

Cirno stared at the tree in silence for a short while, and then she cried out lout, "THIS TREE HAS A FACE AND CAN TURN AROUND AND TALK!"

Her shouting grabbed the attention of the others, so they came running over to see what happened. "What was that shouting for?" Reimu asked, and then she saw the tree. "What!"

"Whoa! This tree has a face!" Marisa said.

"What's wrong with a tree having a face?" the tree asked her in a rude tone.

"Wow! It even talked!"

"I'm not all that surprised since we also encountered strange stuff in the previous worlds," Remilia said.

"This is Whispy Woods," Kirby told the girls. "He usually lives around here. He's a pretty grumpy fellow, so it's best not to disturb him. You'll have to ask him if you want to eat his apples."

"Usually?" Aya curiously said.

"Yes, he can uproot himself and walk."

"Return my apples at once!" the tree, Whispy Woods, demanded. "That little girl took it without asking! I won't allow anyone to take my apples without permission!"

"Calm down," Kirby told him. "They're new around here, so please be nice to them. It's not a bad thing to share, you know."

"You have your stuff stolen before, so you should understand how it feels to have something taken from you without permission! Stealing and taking things without permission are basically the same thing!"

"Um, right... But even if you do want her to return it to you, the apple is already off the branch. How can it be returned to you?"

"I don't care! You're picking a fight with me if you don't return it at once, and I mean it!"

"Oh really? What can a tree do?" Marisa asked, undaunted by his verbal threat.

"Underestimate me, will you?" Whispy said, and then he stuck one of his roots out of the ground and towards Marisa, but it stopped right in front of her throat.

"Whoa!"

"Scared now?"

"Hey! Stop it! Don't you dare lay a hand on one of my friends!" Kirby said to the tree. "All right, I'll give the apple back to you! Are you happy?"

"That's more like it!" Whispy said as his root returned into the ground.

Kirby turned to Cirno and said to her, "Give the apple back to him. I'll show you somewhere else that has apples. With a crabby attitude that he has, the apples are probably all crabapples."

"I don't want to eat crabapples," Cirno said as she gave the apple to Kirby.

"Hey! What did you just say about my apples!" Whispy angrily said.

"Here! You can have your apple back!" Kirby said, and then he put the apple in his mouth.

"Hey! You ate it!"

And then Kirby spit out a star at his face, thus resulting in an explosion of stars.

BANG!

"Ugh..." Whispy cried with swirly eyes.

"Let's just leave him alone," Kirby said as he left the place, and the girls followed him.

"Cool move you pulled off just now-ze!" Marisa commented.

* * *

"Boy... That was insane..." Dedede, covered from head to toe in bandages, said as he walked to his throne. "That mad bird and her children finally left... Who came up with the plan to kidnap Dyna Blade's children and then frame those girls for it in the first place?"

"You," the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana replied.

"You? Ah, yes! That guy named You thought up of it! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind for coming up with such a stupid plan! Just look at the disastrous result when it backfired! Hey, wait a minute..."

"By the way, Your Majesty, there is a guest coming to visit you today. Do you remember the letter that you received yesterday?"

"Yeah, I remember that letter. Almost forgot about that guy coming to visit me today... What time is it now?"

"Almost noon."

"Then he should be here any minute. All right, let's clean up this place in order to make him feel like a V.I.P.!"

Then a Waddle Doo ran up to him. "Your Majesty!" he said. "Someone is approaching the castle!"

"Who is it?" Dedede asked him.

"It is a blond man wearing golden armor."

"Maybe he's the guy who sent me the letter. Quick! Go and open the gate to let him in! In the very least, we must clean up the part of the floor leading all the way to my throne! Tell everyone to get to work at once!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the Waddle Doo said, and then he rushed off to get things done.

* * *

The staff-wielding man saw the castle's door opening, and by the time he was in front of the castle, it had fully opened. Several Waddle Doos and Waddle Dees came out and lined up according to species on both sides. "Welcome to King Dedede's castle!" they all said at the same time.

"I assume that your king is ready to meet me," the man said with a smile.

"He is ready to meet you," said one of the Waddle Doos. "We will lead you to him!" And then he led the man down the hallway and into the throne room where Dedede is. The self-proclaimed king had already removed his bandages.

"Welcome to my castle!" Dedede said when he saw the man. "I've been waiting for you!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, King Dedede," the man said. "My name is Emperor Mateus, but you can simply refer to me as The Emperor."

"Emperor? I take that you are a ruler of an empire. That would put the both of us in the same position!"

"Indeed, I am a ruler of an empire. To be precise, I was a ruler of an empire. However, I will eventually become the ruler of the entire universe."

"Well, that's something to hear about! Becoming the emperor of the whole universe! So tell me: What brings you here?"

"Let me ask you one thing first if you do not mind."

"Go ahead!"

"Are you satisfied with ruling your land at the moment?"

"Ruling Dream Land? Yeah, I am satisfied with ruling my land. Actually, I would be more satisfied if my archnemesis would stop bothering me. Why do you ask?"

"Because I am here to offer you the opportunity to become one of the rulers of the universe."

"Say that again?"

"You see, I come from an organization that is planning to rule the entire universe. As our leader does not want to it with so little people, he is looking for people who are capable enough of ruling the universe with him. He knows very well about you and wishes that you will join his organization. Once we have succeeded, the entire universe is ours to rule as we wish. I know that you are actually a self-proclaimed king and that very few people in this land acknowledge you as one, but if you become one of us, you will eventually become a real king. You will finally earn the respect that you deserve!"

"Hmmm... That sounds interesting."

"Are you interested? What do you say? Are you willing to accept my offer?"

"May I ask you something?"

"Yes. What is it?"

"You said your leader knows a lot about me. How is that possible? Do I know him?"

"I figured that you would ask this. Unfortunately, the leader wishes that his identity be kept a secret until you meet him, so I cannot tell you anything about him. However, I can assure you that he is someone you know."

"I know him? Hmmm... Who can that be? By the way, how is your organization going to take over the universe? I can tell that it is not going to be an easy task."

"It may sound like a hard task, but it is actually much easier than you think. The only thing that is required is time. It may take quite a while for things to go as planned. I will share with you the details now."

After listening to The Emperor, Dedede said, "Sorry, I can't say that I am willing accept your offer anymore."

"I see..." The Emperor said. "And why is that?"

"First, that method of taking over the universe just isn't my style. I may be a bad egg, but I'm not downright rotten. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I can tell that your organization is composed of villainous people. I have my own limits even when bullying people, and I do not wish to rule a universe where nothing but evil exists."

"Such a pity... Well, I guess this is to be expected. Our leader knew that you may turn down the offer, but he was still willing to give you a chance. Very well, I will convince you no further. I will take my leave." With that, The Emperor turned around and left.

"Taking over the universe by unleashing a sealed evil?" Dedede said. "Bah! I wouldn't want to get my hands into that kind of stuff! I'm happy with everything at the moment! I prefer a peaceful universe where everyone is happy."

"I can't agree any better, Your Majesty," the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana said. "After all, you did aid Kirby in his quests before, so I can tell that you are actually a good person deep down in your heart! This is kind of the king that I like!"

"Why! Thank you very much! No wonder you're my favorite right-hand man! By the way, I wonder how the troops that I sent to get back on those girls are doing."

* * *

As The Emperor walked away from the castle, he looked back and said with an evil smile, "Not like it makes a difference. In the end, this land will soon fall into darkness. Fufufufufufu!"

* * *

"There's the house!" a Waddle Doo that was leading an army of spear-wielding Waddle Dees said. "Now charge inside and take those girls prisoners! Take anything valuable that you see as well!" Then the Waddle Dees let out high-pitched cries while charging towards the shrine with their spears pointing in its direction.

They ran past the donation box and into the shrine, but shortly afterwards, they flew back out.

"Hey! What happened?" the Waddle Doo said in surprise.

Youmu stepped outside with both swords held to her side and said, "I will not allow anyone to come near here! I promised Reimu that I would take good care of this place while she and the others are gone!"

"There's only one person there, so get to it!" the Waddle Doo said. "She can't be that tough to handle, can she?"

The Waddle Dees immediately got back up and ran towards Youmu. "Strange Half-Body!" she shouted as she raised her arm underneath Myon, and then it glowed with purplish-pink light and fired energy bullets to blast them back.

"Get back up, men! Huddle together! There is more power when traveling as a pack!"

The Waddle Dees huddled close to each other to form a square formation, and then they marched towards Youmu, only to be blown back by the same attack.

"No matter what you do," she said, "you will not get past me! Leave now before I go serious on you!"

"The king's order is important, so we will not back off until we accomplished our mission!" the Waddle Dee said. "Men, get back up at..." But he was shot in the face before he finished talking. "Doh!"

"This is your last chance," Youmu said with a serious expression, and the Waddle Dees trembled at the look that she was giving them.

"Darn it! Looks like it's time to use the trump card! The king told me to use this if things are too tough to handle!" the Waddle Dee said as he took out a gold medallion. "Come out, Tedhaun!" It released a large amount of light and then floated into the air, and then the medallion transformed into a grayish-purple one-eyed ghost wearing a purple wizard's hat that was decorated with a dark purple star in the middle.

Youmu widened her eyes upon seeing the ghost, and then she started trembling. "A GHOST! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed at the top of her voice, and then she rushed back into the shrine.

"Wha...? That really worked! A lot better than I expected, though..." the Waddle Doo thought. "Okay, men! Search inside for the others!"

The Waddle Dees went into the shrine, but one of them jumped onto the top of the donation box to examine it. "Captain! There's treasure inside!" he said.

"What!" the Waddle Doo said, and then he ran over to the donation box and jumped onto it to look at whatever the Waddle Dee was looking at. "You're right! The king will surely be pleased to see this!"

"Hey! Where are you taking me!" shouted the voice of Reisen. The two turned to see the Waddle Dees coming back out with a bounded Reisen carried over there heads. "Let go of me at once!"

"Captain, she's the only person we found inside," one of the Waddle Dees said. "The other girl is nowhere to be found."

"She's the girl who defeated the king in the carrot-eating contest!" the Waddle Doo said. "The king will definitely be pleased to see that we brought her back, even if she's the only one! All right, we'll bring her and this box back! Get to it, men! We must get out of here before the someone finds us!"

Four Waddle Dees picked up the donation box by its corners and then left with the others, and all the while, Reisen was crying for help.

* * *

"We sure brought back lots of apples!" said Sanae, who was carrying a basket of apples. "I have an idea! Why don't we use these apples to make an apple pie?"

"Good idea!" Kirby said. "I totally agree with that idea!"

"Sounds good!" Reimu said. "You know how to make apple pies?"

"I do," Sanae replied with a nod.

"Hey, there seems to be something different about your shrine," Aya said. "Something's missing."

"What?" Reimu curiously said, and then she looked at the shrine in the distance. Immediately, she noticed that something was missing, so she rushed over to it before everyone else. "MY DONATION BOX IS MISSING AGAIN!"

"Uh oh... Things just got serious-ze..." Marisa said.

Everyone quickly rushed over to the shrine to see Reimu fuming like mad while looking at the spot where the donation box originally was. "Calm down, Reimu..." Nitori said to her. "I know that you really love your donation box, but getting angry like that won't get you anywhere. Let's go inside and find Youmu and Reisen first. They should know what happened."

"I thought I told her to look after the shrine, especially the donation box!" Reimu said. "Why did it still went missing! I'm going to have a word with her!" Then she rushed into the shrine. "YOUMU! GET OUT OF HERE AT ONCE!"

"She's really angry, isn't she?" Kirby asked.

"She's extra serious when it comes to business involving her donation box," Marisa said. "It was stolen before, and she was really pissed off."

"Is it really that important to her?"

"Well, there is valuable stuff inside..."

Inside, Reimu looked around the place for the half-phantom, but didn't find her at all. "Youmu, get out of here at once!" she shouted. "I demand an explanation about my donation box! How on earth did it get stolen with you around the place!"

She opened the cabinet and found Youmu curled up in the corner, trembling in fear.

"Aha! Here you are!" Reimu said, and then she pulled her out by the collar and shook her violently. "Explain to me at once! Why didn't you take good care of the donation box! Where did it go!"

"I don't know!" the frightened half-phantom replied. "I was so scared by a ghost that I ran to hide in here! They must've taken it afterwards!"

"Who?"

"Small, round creatures! If I remember correctly, they are Dedede's men! They came to attack the shrine, but I repelled them. However, one of them summoned a ghost, and..."

"You're a ghost yourself! How can you be afraid of ghosts?"

"To be precise, she's only half ghost," Marisa said as she entered the room with Remilia and Meiling. "Calm down now, Reimu. At least we know what happened to your donation box."

Remilia looked around the room and asked, "Where's Reisen?"

"Reisen's not here?" Reimu asked, and then she let go of Youmu. "You're right... She's not here."

"Now that I think of it," Youmu said, "I remember hearing Reisen crying for help while I was hiding in cabinet. Don't tell me that..."

"She's been kidnapped?"

"That's what I think..."

"Okay... We have the case of a stolen donation box and a kidnapped lunar rabbit..." Marisa said. "This looks bad... Whatever the case it, we know who the culprit is already, so why don't we..."

"DEDEDE!" Reimu screamed at the top of her voice all of a sudden, and then she rushed out of the room as fast as she could.

Kirby was walking down the hallway when she ran out of the room, thus kicking him into the air.

"Whoa!" the puffball cried, and when he fell back down after hitting the ceiling, he landed on top of the enraged shrine maiden's head. The other girls watched as the two of them disappeared into the distance.

"She's really mad, isn't she?" Alice asked.

"Can't you tell?" Marisa said. "It's obvious that she doesn't take something like this lightly. Dedede is dead meat..."

"I heard you saying that Reisen is kidnapped, right?" Aya asked.

"Yeah, that's the case."

"How terrible!" Sanae said in shock. "I hope she's all right, though..."

"Don't worry; Reimu will rescue her for sure!" Nitori assured her.

* * *

"Something is approaching the castle really fast!" a Waddle Doo standing on the highest part of the castle shouted into his walkie-talkie after something through his binoculars.

Another Waddle Doo received this message through his walkie-talkie inside the castle, so he quickly went to Dedede to report it to him. "What did you say!" the self-proclaimed king said in shock after hearing the report.

"It's one of those girls!" the Waddle Doo said. "She must've come to reclaim the box that we stole from her as well as rescuing the girl with rabbit ears! Kirby is with her too!"

"I don't know what that girl is capable of, but I can imagine Kirby being troublesome to deal with..."

"What do we do?"

"Prepare the trapdoor! It's time to use what we prepared for Kirby a long time ago, but never used it for some reason!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Then the Waddle Doo went out of the throne room to get the work done.

"I'll simply make them get lost in the dungeon," Dedede thought an evil expression. "They will never find their way out of there! At least not for a while..."

* * *

"DEDEDE!" Reimu shouted at the top of her voice as she got closer and closer the castle, and then she saw the door opening.

"It must be a trap!" Kirby, still holding onto her head, said. "There's no way Dedede would the door for us to enter so easily!"

"I DON'T CARE! I'M GOING TO CHARGE INSIDE AND WRECK THE WHOLE PLACE!"

The shrine maiden rushed inside the castle, and the moment she did, she fell into a square-shaped hole on the floor. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Dedede and some of his men came over to the hole and looked into it. "Well, they both fell in really easily!" he said. "That should keep them busy until I come up with a plan on what to do about them if they manage to come back out! Dyeheheh!"

* * *

"Are you sure that Reimu and Kirby will be all right?" Meiling asked Remilia. "Maybe we should go and help them."

"For how long have you known Reimu?" the vampire asked her. "You know very well how strong she is, so there is no point in us going over to help her. I doubt she'll be defeated to that penguin so easily. Plus, Kirby is with her. I don't know exactly how strong Kirby is, but if he is capable of giving him trouble in the past, then Reimu needs even lesser concern from us. Just sit back and wait for them to return with the donation box and Reisen."

"You're right... Reimu really is strong, even stronger than you!"

Remilia glared at her upon hearing that statement. "What did you say?"

"Um... She's very strong, but a tad bit weaker than you...! Heheh!"

"Hey, what are those black things up in the sky?" Aya asked.

"What black things?" Marisa asked, and then she looked at the sky. "I don't see anything up there."

"There are lots of one-eyed black things descending from the sky. They're very high up, so none of you probably can see it."

Nitori looked at the sky and narrowed her eyes. "I'm starting to see something," she said. "They are colored black."

"They're spreading out and moving in different directions," Aya said. "None of them are heading here, though. Wait a minute... One of them is heading towards that talking tree. It's getting closer and closer to him... Hey, it just went into his body! The tree... He looks all right, though... No, he doesn't all right anymore. He looks angry... Wait, he just uprooted himself! He's looking in our direction! He's running towards us!"

"Yes, I can see it," Marisa said.

Sure enough, Whispy Woods, with an angry face and opening and closing his mouth over and over, ran in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine as fast as he could. With the exception of Remilia, who stood under the shade, all the girls got into fighting stance. "I don't know what's up with him, but since he seems to be picking a fight with us, we'll gladly take on him-ze!" Marisa said.

"Fighting a tree is definitely going to be a new experience for me!" Aya thought.

Meanwhile, The Emperor watched from the top of the hill at the black things that descended from the air. They went into the body of the beings of Dream Land, and as a result, the beings started acting violently.

"Dark Matter, the evil that once terrorized this world, has once again awakened!" The Emperor said. "It pleasures me to see the inhabitants of this world getting possessed! It would be more fitting to call this place Nightmare World from now on! Fufufufufu!"

"The resurrection went faster than expected," said a voice that came from behind The Emperor. He turned around and saw a small purple creature wearing a red and blue polka-dotted jester hat, and he was bouncing up and down on top of a multi-colored ball. "It would seem that the evilness that resides within 02 if far greater than we imagined, so the power of the Darkling was able to resurrect him in a short amount of time, though there's always the size issue."

"Well done, Marx!" The Emperor said. "I assume that 02 is currently within Dark Star, watching this place getting terrorized by the Dark Matters from there, right?"

"He's definitely watching! After all, he cannot tolerate happiness, so the destruction of the happiness in this world satisfies him like no other! It is only a matter of time before Dream Land falls into complete darkness! Not even those girls will be able to do anything about is! I'd like to see Kirby try his worst as well! Heheheheheh!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Two more villains from the organization have been revealed! The Emperor from Final Fantasy II and Marx from Kirby Superstar and its remake, Kirby Superstar Ultra!

I apologize if this chapter is a bit short. The next chapter should definitely be longer than this, not to mention more exciting. After all, the fights are coming up next! Hopefully, I will be able to update faster.

**Next chapter: Unthinkable Dark Possession**


	67. Unthinkable Dark Possession

**SBS Time!  
Kaynato: **W-wait... isn't Reimu supposed to be calm and collected, and when seriously mad, go on a silent rampage?  
**Game2002: **In fanon, she is usually depicted as being obsessed with money due to lack of donations, thus making her poor. Admittedly, I adapted such a portrayal for her in this story, and seeing how there are lots of valuable things inside the donation box, it's obvious that she would get pissed off when it got stolen.

**Patcheresu: **Dude. Wispy's a mom. Technically as a tree, she's a hermaphrodite, but she produces apples, which are APPLE TREE BABIES.**  
Game2002: **Whispy Woods has always been referred to using masculine pronouns, so I'm referring to him as a male in this story.

**Chapter 66  
Unthinkable Dark Possession**

**

* * *

**

Kirby and Reimu hit the floor hard after falling down from quite a height. "Ow!" they both cried.

"That was quite a fall..." Kirby said, and then he looked around the place. "What is this place? I don't remember Dedede having a place like this in his castle. This place looks like a dungeon..."

"At least this place isn't an empty room," Reimu said. "There's a way in front of us, so we should be able to get out of here if we go down it."

"Right, there's no point in staying here, so let's go and look for the way."

So they started traveling through the dungeon.

* * *

Reisen was bounded and locked within a cell, and the only person guarding the cell was a Waddle Dee armed with a spear. "My stomach's feeling better, but how am I going to get out of here...?" she thought. "Guess I'll have to wait until someone comes and finds me... I wonder how long that'll take, though..."

She looked at the Waddle Dee for a few seconds and then walked up to him and asked, "Excuse me, can you please let me out?"

"The king ordered me to keep an eye on you and not to let you out no matter what," he said. "I've read a book about all the tricks ever used my mankind in the world, so don't bother trying."

"Okay..." Reisen then sat down and pondered about what to do, and then something came to her head. "Hey, can you please turn around for a second? There seems to something in my eyes, and it itches..."

"I told you already that you can't fool me. It's not going to work!"

"At least take a look, okay? Just clarify it for me. My hands are bounded, so I can't do anything, you know."

"Nope, I'm not going to fall for that. Try harder! Better yet, don't try at all! It's not going to work no matter how hard you try! Hahaha!"

Reisen grumbled with frustration, but then another plan came to her. She went close to the Waddle Dee and gave him a kick to the back.

KICK!

The Waddle Dee hit the floor face first, and then he got back up and looked at Reisen with an angry face. "Ow! What did you do that for!"

At once, Reisen's eyes glowed with red light, and after looking into her eyes for a few seconds, the Waddle Doo's vision started to become distorted. "Wha... What the...? What happened...?" Slowly, his view of Reisen started to change until... "Your Majesty! What are you doing bounded inside the cell? I'll let you out at once!"

Immediately, the Waddle Dee unlocked the cell and then went inside the untie Reisen. "There, Your Majesty! It seems that you're all right!"

"It actually worked!" Reisen thought. "I wasn't sure about what he would see after messing with his vision, and I was worried that he would end up running away because he saw me as a monster or something. Thanks for untying me! I'm out of here!" Then she ran out of the cell.

"Take care, Your Majesty!" the Waddle Dee said while waving at her.

* * *

**BGM: Boss Theme (Kirby's Dream Land 3)**

Whispy Woods opened and closed his mouth constantly as he ran towards the Hakurei Shrine. "Here he comes-ze!" Marisa said.

The tree suddenly spit out a carrot at them, but Youmu easily sliced it into pieces. "Did he just spit out a carrot?" she said in surprise.

Whispy Woods stopped moving in place and spit out several kinds of fruits and vegetables at them, all of which are rotten. "Geez! This guy is playing with food!" Marisa said as she used her broom to smack away anything that flew towards her.

"Tell me about it!" Alice said as she used her dolls to block the incoming foods with shields.

Meiling punched the foods into pieces as they flew towards her, and then she ran towards Whispy Woods while moving left and right to avoid getting hit by more foods, and then she attacked him in the face with a flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

The powerful kick caused the tree to take some steps back, and then he blew air at Meiling, and the force of the air was so strong that she actually had a hard time trying to stand still. "Whoa!" she cried.

"You think your wind is strong? I'll show you mine, then!" Aya said, and then she swung her fan to unleash a powerful gale that almost made Whispy fall backwards, and while he did not fall back onto the ground, his leaves were blown off. Only a few were left remaining on the branches.

"What have you done to my leaves!" Whispy cried.

"Gave you a new haircut, but I think I might have gone too far, heheh..."

Meiling then ran up to Whispy to unleash a barrage of rainbow-powered punches using one arm. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!"

POW SMASH WHAM BAM SMASH WHAM POW BAM!

"OOF! DOH! OW! DOOF!" cried the tree as the fist met with his face countless number of times in a few seconds.

"Spiral Light Step!" Meiling then delivered a single rainbow-powered punch as the finishing blow.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Whispy was sent flying back through the air by the punch, which was quite a feat considering his size, but he didn't fly very far.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Duh..." Whispy groaned while lying on his back, and then the Dark Matter that was possessing him came out from his face and flew into the air in a swirling path, and then it burst into black particles and was no more.

"Looks like he's down for the count," Marisa said. "I didn't even get to land a hit on him, but I did smash some vegetables and fruits, heheh..."

"What was that black thing just now?" Nitori asked.

"Well, I saw that black thing entering his body," Aya said, "and then he charged at us afterwards."

"Maybe he got possessed by that black thing?" Sanae said. "That's the best explanation I can think of."

Meiling noticed that Gooey was trembling violently. "What's wrong, Gooey?" she asked him, but he didn't say anything.

"He's probably freaked out by the sight over there, and I have to agree that I don't like the look of things either..." Aya said, pointing to the Dark Matters that were seen flying around in the distance, and every once in a while, one of them would fly down to possess a random person.

"We have to do something!" Sanae said. "We can't just let those black things possess those poor people!"

"Well, it doesn't look safe for us to be standing around here either," Marisa said. "Some of them might come over and get us, just like with that tree, so it's better off that we go over there and get them first, but who's going to look after the shrine?"

"I'll look after the shrine," Youmu said. "I failed my duty to protect the shrine the first time, so I'm going to make up for it."

"I don't feel like going out there because of the sun," Remilia said, "so I'm staying behind. Meiling can go in my place."

"You want me to go and support them?" Meiling asked her mistress.

"Youmu and I will look after this place, so you go ahead and give those black things your best shot."

"Okay, if Mistress Remilia says so. I'll go and give those black things my best shot!"

"All right, let's go-ze!" Marisa said, and then the girls rushed towards the scene of chaos. Gooey stayed behind at first, but then he stopped trembling and followed them.

"Where are you going?" Youmu asked him, but he gave her no reply.

"He probably felt like pulling himself together," Remilia said. "He's Kirby's sidekick right? He may he's actually stronger than we think. And by the way... are we simply going to leave this tree here?"

* * *

The other girls arrived at the scene of chaos and saw Kirby's animal friends running from the possessed beings. "Where's Kirby when we need him! Meow!" Nago shouted while running from an armored creature with spiked balls as its shoulder pads and red spheres for its hands.

"I don't know!" Pitch cried while being chased through the air by a black ball with spikes sticking out around it.

"Help me!" Chuchu cried while being chased by a large stag beetle. She quickly climbed up a tree to escape it, but the stag beetle rammed into the tree so hard that it instantly fell over. "YAAAAAAAAAA!"

As the pink blob tried to crawl away, the stag beetle approached her from behind and was about to grab her with his pincers when suddenly a mechanical arm grabbed one of his pincers, and then he was flung away into the air by it.

SLAM!

Nitori retracted her mechanical arm as she ran up to Chuchu to ask her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm a bit hurt form the fall..." she replied. "But thanks anyway!"

Meanwhile, the other girls attacked the possessed creatures in order to protect the animal friends. After being rescued, the animal friends quickly gathered together behind the girls for safety. "Thanks a lot for saving us!" Rick said. "It's not that we can't do anything against them. It's just that we aren't very used to fighting without Kirby by our side."

"Then you should get used to it," Marisa said to them. "Your friend is at Dedede's castle at the moment. Anyway, we'll help you deal with these freaks. What's up with them anyway?"

"Those black things that possessed them are Dark Matters," Coo explained. "I can't believe my eyes when I saw them. I was very sure that they are all destroyed by Kirby!"

"Guess this isn't too surprising," Alice said. "We also encountered cases of resurrected villains in the previous worlds, and there is no doubt that those people are also the ones behind the resurrection of these Dark Matters."

As the girls got into fighting stance, the possessed creatures slowly closed in on them from the front. "Hey, Kogasa's even got a relative here-ze!" Marisa said when she saw a one-eyed umbrella with a leg for its handle.

* * *

Youmu was sitting on the Hakurei Shrine's front porch with her eyes closed while Remilia was sitting just inside the entrance. Suddenly, the half-phantom opened her eyes and then quickly unsheathed both her swords and held them up in a cross to block a large spike ball. The spike ball then returned to its owner, a purple knight with a cylinder-shaped body, via a chain.

She stood up and said to him, "Who are you? I won't allow you to lay a hand on the shrine, especially not after I disappointed Reimu!"

The knight—Masher—said nothing. He simply swung his spike ball in circles above his head a few times before throwing it at her again, but she once again blocked it and then ran towards him, dashing across him and slashing his waist in the process. A streak was left behind on the side of Masher's body, but he didn't seem to feel pain. He then turned around to swing his spike ball at her. Due to Myon looking backwards, Youmu was able to tell that the spike ball was coming, so she jumped into the air and turned around in midair to fire a pair of crescent-shaped sword beams at Masher. "Lotus Stance Cut!" However, the knight was unharmed by the attack.

When Youmu landed, Myon saw something approaching from behind, so Youmu quickly spun around to block the swing of an axe. After moving to a safer distance, she saw that it was a knight that was entirely cylinder in shape, and it had a skull for the face and was wielding an axe—Butch.

Butch charged at her and swung his axe at her constantly, but she was able to block every single one of the hits. She quickly moved aside when Butch brought down his axe, and then she slashed him in the face multiple times using both swords. For the final blow, she swung the Roukanken with such a force that a streak of green light was left behind in the air, and then Butch was sent flying backwards until he hit the ground.

Masher swung his spike ball at Youmu afterwards, but she jumped into the air, landed on the chain, and ran towards him. She slashed Masher in the head, but due to the knight's tough armor, he fell back onto the ground in one piece.

Youmu landed and looked at the two fallen foes. "Is that all?" she asked. "That was no challenge at all!"

"I agree," Remilia said with a nod.

Youmu turned to her and said, "You didn't do anything at all!"

"I wouldn't want to waste my strength on weak foes unless I have no choice," she said, "and by the way, there's another one behind you."

"Uh?" Youmu turned around to see another cylinder-shaped knight. This one had a slit on its body that allowed it to see, wielded a sword, and had a spike on top of its head—Blade.

Without making a single sound, Blade charged at Youmu really fast and swung his sword at her, but she managed to block it using the Roukanken. They pushed their blades against each other for a while before letting go, but they immediately clashed blades again.

After clashing blades several times, Blade swung down his sword to unleash a short-ranged sword beam, but Youmu rolled aside in time to avoid it. She immediately swung her sword at him, but Blade blocked it with his sword in an instant. Youmu then hopped back and used both her swords to fire a pair of sword beams. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

Blade swung his sword at the incoming sword blades, and in doing so, he deflected them back to her.

"What!" Youmu said in shock, and then she quickly rolled out of the homecoming projectiles' way. Blade charged at her with his sword pointing at her, so Youmu quickly jumped out of the way. The moment she landed, she knew that a spike ball was coming at her from behind due to Myon surveying her back, so she turned around to block it with both her blades, but even though she managed to block it, the force of the spike ball's impact caused her to be pushed back.

A shadow then appeared over her, so she looked up to see Butch falling towards her to hit her with his axe. She quickly rolled aside to avoid getting hit, but the moment she did so, Blade took a swing at her. Youmu managed to block it in time, but then Masher swung his spike ball at her from the side. Youmu blocked it with the Hakurouken, but it wasn't strong enough to block the impact entirely, so she was still knocked onto the ground. "Ugh!"

Taking advantage of this, Butch jumped at her and readied to axe her when suddenly something got in between them and blocked the axe, and then Butch was pushed back onto the ground. Youmu sat back at the same time the thing landed, and she saw that it was a round creature with a blue cape, and it was wielding a golden sword that had spikes on its sides.

"Thanks for the help," she said to him, "but who are you?"

"We can leave the introduction for another time," the figure said in a deep voice. "Now is the time to concentrate on fighting the enemies."

"You're right," Youmu said as she stood back up with her swords firmly gripped in both hands.

Remilia, still sitting inside the entrance, said with a smirk, "Well, looks like this will be quite a show to watch!"

* * *

A Dark Matter flew into Dedede's castle through one of its open windows, looking for something to possess. It stayed near the ceiling to avoid being seen by anyone so that it can possess its victim with ease. It then noticed two Waddle Dees walking down the hallway. As it got ready to possess one of them, it heard them talking to each other about an interesting subject.

"Do you know about that big robot in the basement?" one Waddle Dee asked the other one.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "Everyone in this castle should know about its existence. I even helped build it!"

"I've been wondering... How is something the size of that going to leave the castle?"

"The wall of the basement has been remodeled into a massive door that can be controlled from the controller in the room, and it leads out to the sea."

"The sea?"

"Yeah, the basement is behind the cliff wall, and the entire cliff wall will slide downwards. It's really cool! You really should've been there to see it when we were testing the door!"

"If I remember correctly, I was sick in bed that day."

"Let's hope that we get a chance to do that again!"

Their conversation sparked the Dark Matter's interest, so it left them to search for the basement, and it didn't take too long for it to find the staircase leading into it.

* * *

"What are those black thingamajigs flying around in the air?" Dedede asked while looking out the window.

"I don't know," the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana replied.

"Hmmm... They look very familiar... Too familiar... In fact, bad memories are coming back to head when I see them. I wonder why."

"Your Majesty!" a Waddle Doo shouted as he came running into the room. "That girl with rabbit ears has escaped from her cell!"

"What!" Dedede said in shock.

"And she's heading this way!"

Suddenly, Reisen entered the room. "Um... Where's the exit to this castle?" she asked. "I'm kind of lost..."

"You!" Dedede said to her. "How did you get out of the cell?"

"Well, I do have powers that you don't know about. Not that it's the kind that can help me escape from places, mind you..."

"Tsk! And I thought I finally got back on you for humiliating me at the carrot-eating contest!"

"It was you who choked on the carrots yourself! You can't blame me!"

"Silence! You are a foreigner to this world, and yet you dare humiliate the king of Dream Land in front of hundreds of people? I will not accept such a thing! Now that you're out of prison, I'm going to clobber you with my hammer! Give it to me!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the Waddle Dee said, and then he went away. A few seconds later, he returned, dragging with him a large hammer. "Here's... your... hammer...!"

Dedede took the hammer from him and said to Reisen, "Get ready, rabbit girl! This is the very same hammer that I used in the Smash Brothers Tournament. Obviously, many poor souls were hammered to death by it, though not literally... Do you still want to fight me after knowing this fact?"

"Um... I never asked for a fight," Reisen said.

"I know very well why you came into this room. You came here in order to get revenge on me for imprisoning you! I will now give you the fight that you are looking for!"

"I told you already you that I'm not here to pick a fight with you! I simply can't find the exit!"

Suddenly, Dedede jumped into the air and fell towards Reisen with his hammer facing her, so she quickly jumped away to avoid getting smashed by it.

"Whoa!" Reisen cried as she landed from her jump. When Dedede swung his hammer horizontally at her, she jumped back into the air. "Stop it! I already told you that I'm not here to pick a fight!" The self-proclaimed king kept on swinging his hammer at her, but she was able to avoid every single one of the swings.

"Argh! Stay still!" Dedede growled with frustration.

Reisen leaped back as far as she could when Dedede slammed down his hammer. "All right! All right!" Reisen said, starting to sound annoyed. "You really want to fight me, right? Fine, then! I'll fight you!"

* * *

After receiving a slam from Meiling's leg to the head, the hammer-wielding gorilla fell back onto the ground. The Dark Matter possessing him then left his body and burst into black particles shortly after moving up into the air in a swirly path.

"That's the last of them," Meiling said.

"They weren't too tough," Alice said as she called her dolls together around her.

"That's probably because we're fighting together," Sanae said. "It's the power of teamwork that made us prevail!"

"You were fighting the most aggressively among us," Marisa told her, "and you look as if you forgot that you have people fighting alongside you. You were totally like... Die, you demon! Take that! Haha! How'd ya like that? You will be destroyed by the wind priestess that is me, Sanae Kochiya! Hahahaha!"

"Heheh... I get a bit too carried off whenever I'm extermination demons..."

"Wow! You girls are strong!" Rick exclaimed. "The last time I saw such intense fighting was during the Smash Brothers Tournament!"

"Even Kirby didn't fight like you girls! Meow!" Nago said.

"Bravo!" Chuchu said while clapping her hands made from her blob-like body.

"You totally knocked them all out with little effort! Amazing!" Pitch exclaimed.

"Indeed! You girls are really amazing!" Coo exclaimed.

"Thanks for the compliment, though there are more people from our world who can fight better than us," Nitori said to them, and then she noticed something in the sky. "Hey, what's that?"

Everyone looked at the sky and saw something white approaching them, and as it came closer, they were able to get a better look at it. "What's that?" Rick asked. "I've never seen anything like that before."

"Me neither, meow," Nago said.

"Hey... That thing..." Nitori said. "Would that happen to be a...?"

But Sanae interrupted her by shouting in an excited voice, "IT'S A GIANT ROBOT!" Her eyes even sparkled brightly with enthusiasm.

"A giant robot?" Marisa asked. "You mean like Hisoutensoku?"

* * *

"Hey! Who opened the wall! HR-H is gone as well!" a shocked Waddle Dee said after entering the basement.

Indeed, the entire wall at the other end of the room was missing, and the giant robot was no longer in its original location either.

He noticed another Waddle Dee passed out in front of the controller, so he went up to him and shook him until he woke up. "What happened?" he asked him. "Where did HR-H go? Don't tell me that it went outside!"

The other Waddle Dee replied, "The last thing I saw was a black one-eyed thing charging at me, and then... No idea about what happened afterwards..."

* * *

**BGM: Boss Theme (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards)**

The robot's single eye glowed with yellow light, and then it fired an eye beam at the girls, Gooey, and the animal friends down below.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" the animal friends screamed as they ran from the way of the eye beam.

"Whoa! That thing doesn't look friendly at all!" Marisa said.

"Yeah, it definitely seems like it," Aya said with a nod.

HR-H then positioned itself upright and descended until its four engines were close to the ground.

"Seems that it plans to attack us," Alice said as she got her dolls ready.

The robot pulled its hand to the side and then swung it at them, but the girls leaped back to avoid getting hit. "Yep, you're right," Marisa said to Alice.

The sides of the HR-H's jet engines opened to fire missiles into the air, and each of the missiles, four of them in total, fell towards the girls.

The girls managed to avoid the missiles when they fell back down. Three of them exploded upon touching the ground, but one of them was embedded into the ground. "That one's a dud, it seems," Nitori said.

The robot then grabbed picked up the dud using both arms and then went towards Nitori before slamming it onto her, but she got out of the way. The missile exploded upon being slammed against ground.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAA!" Nitori cried as the explosion propelled her backwards, and after tumbling onto the ground, HR-H fired an eye beam at her. The kappa cried in pain as the beam burned her body.

"Nitori!" Aya said in shock, and then she quickly flew over to her. "Nitori! Are you all right?"

"At least I'm still alive..." she weakly replied.

"Thanks goodness!"

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae shouted as she used a card to fire snake-like missiles at the robot.

"Shanghai Doll!" Alice said as she used the newly fixed Shanghai to fire a pink beam.

"Narrow Spark!" Marisa shouted as she used her Hakkero to fire a blue beam.

All three attacks struck HR-H's body, and the robot was pushed back through the air slightly as a result. However, it easily recovered from the attack and then launched missiles at them. As the missiles fell towards the ground, Marisa used a card to fire several green beams at once. "Green Spread!" The beams managed to destroy the missiles.

After the missiles were destroyed, HR-H went towards Marisa and attempted to crush her in between its hands, but she jumped back into the air and remained hovering there. "Didn't catch me!" she said.

"Whoa! She's floating in air! People from their world really can fly, and without using wings!" Pitch said in shock.

"How about experiencing the big one?" Marisa said as she placed a card in front of her Hakkero. "I'm sure you'll love it!"

HR-H went up to her and swung its arm at her, but she got out of the way in time. Immediately after that, missiles were fired from its jet engines, and one of them was about to hit Marisa from below when suddenly Aya went to the missile and grabbed it. She flew in front of HR-H's face and said to the giant robot, "Eat this!" Then she hurled it at its face

BAAAAAAAAANG!

The robot's body tilted back slightly from the blast to the face. Meanwhile, the remaining three missiles fell onto the ground, and only one remained unexploded. Gooey grabbed the dud with his tongue and stored it in his mouth, and then he spit it at HR-H. Now in the form of a star, the dud struck HR-H's body, but it didn't do anything at all. Gooey then stuck out his tongue and showed a goofy expression as if to mock his own uselessness.

Aya constantly fired wind blades at HR-H, and while the blades were sharp, they didn't leave behind any marks on the robot's body. HR-H then closed his hands with Aya in between them, but the tengu, with her superhuman strength, managed to prevent herself from being crushed by stopping them with her hands. "Nice try, but your strength is still a long way off compared to mines!" she told the robot.

She then flew towards its chest and hit it with a kick that was actually strong enough to push the robot backwards slightly. "Get out of the way, Aya!" Marisa shouted to her. "I'm going to finish off this giant tin can with my Master Spark!"

Aya flew into the air just as Marisa's Hakkero and card started to release blue light. "Love Sign: Master S..." she said, but before she could finishing talking, HR-H fired an eye beam at her. "PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Charred from head to toe, Marisa fell off from her broom, but Aya managed to catch her and the broom. Her Hakkero and spell card fell to the bottom, but Alice caught them. "Marisa! Are you all right?" she called out.

"She seems to be unconscious," Aya replied.

"Says who?" Marisa suddenly said.

Meiling flew towards HR-H and moved aside to avoid an eye beam fired at her. She made her way to the eye and punched it as hard as she could. The robot moved back while flailing its arms after getting hit, and then it swung its arm at Meiling to knock her out of the air, but she easily stopped it using only one hand. HR-H then fired another eye beam at her, so Meiling quickly moved back before forming a colorful vortex using both hands. "Water Taichi Fist!" The vortex absorbed the beam, and then a projectile was fired from the vortex at the robot's head.

"Spy Sign: Seeker Dolls!" Alice said, and then her dolls went above HR-H and fired laser beams that crisscrossed each other to form a cage that kept the robot trapped inside.

The robot tried to move forward regardless, and as a result, sparks were sent flying into the air when its body came in contact with the beams. While the robot was within the laser cage, Alice threw three dolls at it. "Return Animate!" The dolls exploded in a huge burst of blue light upon touching the robot.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The dolls that were forming the laser cage in the air put down their hands to make the cage disappear, and when the smoke cleared, HR-H was revealed to have several burnt marks on its body. "This thing looks pretty durable," Alice commented.

The robot remained still in the air, but then it flew higher into the air and its body started to change form. "Hey! What's happening to it?" Aya asked.

The robot rearranged itself until it took the form similar to that of a spaceship with a pair of scissors for arms—HR-E. The transformed robot came down close to the ground and zoomed towards the girls.

"It's coming this way!" Sanae shouted. The girls quickly got out of the way to avoid getting hit by the robot. It turned around and tried to use its scissor arms to cut the girls in two, but they all flew into the air to escape getting cut.

From the air, Nitori fired a plethora of missiles from her backpack. "Kappa Missile!"

The missiles struck all over HR-E's body, but then it fired its own missiles from the sides of its jet engines. Aya swung her fan to unleash a powerful gale that blew the missiles back to it, though.

HR-E then ascended into air to get to same level as the girls, and then it charged at them. They got out of its way, and when the robot-turned-spaceship u-turned, it fired a large missile at them while moving towards them.

"Nine Stabs Syllable!" Sanae said as she used her gohei to draw a colorful grid in the air. Once she was done drawing the grid, she moved her gohei behind the grid in a cross formation to make the grid grow in size until it was larger than HR-E. The missile flew into the grid, but it was unable to break through it no matter how hard it pushed against it.

HR-E flew into the grid afterwards, thus colliding into the back of the missile and making it explode. Sanae quickly flew behind the spaceship and then held out her gohei to make the four corners of the grid come together to its tip. HR-E was now caught in a net that was held together by Sanae's gohei, and sparks were flying everywhere due to the spaceship touching the net made of energy.

"Aya! Nitori! I need someone with strong arm power to hurl this thing away! Either one of you will do!" Sanae shouted.

"Will do!" Aya said as she flew over to the shrine maiden.

"Here! Hurl as you wish!" Sanae said as she handed over her gohei to the tengu.

"Don't mind if I do!" Aya said, and then using all her strength, she spun the spaceship around in circles, and Sanae had to drop altitude in order to avoid getting hit by it. After spinning enough times, Aya hurled the laser grid downwards. "Hiya!" The spaceship crashed onto the ground really hard.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

"Phew! That was pretty heavy!" Aya said while shaking her hands, and then Sanae came over to get her gohei back.

"Why'd you throw it onto the ground?" the shrine maiden asked her.

"It's more damaging that way, don't you agree?"

"You have a point."

"All right! Now is the time for the finale!" Marisa said as she pointed her Hakkero and spell card at the fallen spaceship that had its underside facing upwards. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" And huge laser beam was fired at its underside. This caused HR-E to short-circuit and explode.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A Dark Matter shot out from the explosion and burst into black particles after reaching a certain height in the air.

"Hey! Did you see that?" Pitch asked.

"Yeah, I saw it," Nago said. "It seems that the robot was possessed by a Dark Matter. I have to admit that it's pretty funny seeing it shooting out from the explosion!"

"But I never saw that robot before," Rick said.

When the explosion cleared, only a large crater was seen on the ground, and pieces of the robot were scattered all over the place by the explosion. "And that's what I call going out with a bang!" Marisa said while adjusting her hat because the force of the beam dislocated it slightly.

The animal friends clapped their hands and cheered loudly at what they saw. "Bravo! You destroyed that giant robot!" Rick said.

"Wow! You're amazing!" Chuchu said.

"Meow! That's the most amazing I've ever seen in my life!" Nago said.

"That was simply way too awesome!" Pitch said. "That finishing move reminded me of one of the participants in the Smash Brother Tournament's move!"

"I believe you're referring to Samu's Final Smash, Zero Laser," Coo said, "but from the angle fired, I would say that it reminds me more of Lucario's Final Smash, Aura Storm. Either way, the finishing move is indeed a spectacular one!"

The girls came descended to the ground and went up to the animal friends. "Phew... I feel a bit hungry after all those," Marisa said. "I would love to have something to sink my teeth into right now-ze!"

"Want a cucumber?" Nitori asked Marisa while showing her one. "I stored a few of them in my backpack in case I get hungry."

"Well... Better than nothing... Thanks!" Then Marisa took the cucumber from her and took a bite out of it.

Nitori got out another cucumber and started eating it. "Such a pity that a giant robot went to waste like that," she said with a mouthful. "I really wanted to pry open it to see what it looks like inside."

"Honestly saying," Sanae said, "that robot looks rather simple compared to the ones found in animes and mangas. In fact, Hisoutensoku looks better than it!"

"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that."

"You know," Aya said, "I should've taken a picture during the battle. Maybe we can convince Kanako to start up a project of building a replica of it!"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea! But alas, it's too late..."

"Well, I've seen some pretty amazing stuff just now!" said a voice all of a sudden. The girls, Gooey, and the animal friends looked around for the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" Sanae asked.

"Over there!" Aya said, pointing to a young girl standing next to an easel.

The girl wore a green shirt, a gray skirt, and a red artist's hat. "I am Adeline the painter," she said, "and I have seen you fight that giant robot just now. I must say... You really are very powerful people! I wonder how you will fare if you are pitted against people who are equal to you in terms of power!"

"Ado!" Rick said.

"No, she's not Ado," Coo said. "That's Adeline."

"So... what do you want us to do?" Marisa asked Adeline. "You want us to fight someone equal to us in terms of power? Well, that would definitely be interesting! Who do you want us to fight?"

Adeline snickered and then started to draw on her easel. "You'll see for yourself soon enough," she replied. "Soon enough..."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

More fights are coming up next! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter!

The armored creature with spike balls for shoulder pads and red spheres for hands is Iron Mam, the black ball with spikes sticking out around it is Captain Stitch, the large stag beetle is Bugzzy, the one-eyed umbrella with a leg for its pole is Jumpershoot, and the hammer-wielding gorilla is Bonkers.

BTW, Microsoft Word claims that it should be "a one-eyed umbrella" and not "an one-eyed umbrella". Which is the correct one? If any of you know the answer, please let me know. Thanks!

**Next chapter: Paintings of Liveliness**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Touhou 12.3's subtitle, Unthinkable Natural Law.

2. Adeline is not to be confused with Ado, the painter from Kirby's Dream Land 3; they are different people. Speaking of which, Ado's gender is ambiguous, though he seems to be commonly referred to as a boy. However, there is a Kirby manga that refers to him as a girl.


	68. Paintings of Liveliness

The chapter title has been altered a little bit because it makes more sense and sounds better than the old one.

**Chapter 67  
Paintings of Liveliness**

* * *

"Whoa!" Reimu cried as she hopped back to avoid a piece of the ceiling that fell down. "That was close!"

"You could've been as flat as a pancake had you not jump back in time," Kirby said. "Yum... Pancake!"

"Save the food talk for some other time. We should be more careful. This place isn't safe at all... We ran into a seemingly endless pit, spears that came out from the wall, cute flying creatures that become ugly one-eyed monsters when you go near them, walking bombs that blow themselves up by walking off high places, and..."

"Missiles would be a better term for those walking bombs," Kirby said, "and in case you're curious, they're called Bombers. Also, those cute creatures that turn into ugly one-eyed monsters when we went near them are called Scarfy. They're also some of the creatures in this world that I cannot suck into my mouth for some reason."

"Whatever... Let's just get out of here already..." Reimu said as she continued on her way.

The duo eventually came into a large room, and the door behind them got sealed off by iron bars shortly afterwards. "Something tells me that we won't be able to backtrack," Kirby said.

"Not like we need to anyway," Reimu said. "Seeing something like this makes me think that we are..."

Suddenly, the bars of the door on the other side of the room slid up, and then a large clock with limbs and a face came running in.

"Oh, it's just Mr. Tick-Tock," Kirby said. "He's not much of a threat, though he's really noisy."

The walking clock ran to the center of the room and then started vibrating his whole body to make a loud ringing sound that made the both of them close their ears in irritation. "Tell me about it!" Reimu said.

"What did you say?" Kirby asked in a loud voice. "I can't hear you over this loud ringing!"

"Never mind... Just do something about this! My eardrums are about to burst!"

As Mr. Tick-Tock made the ringing sound, musical notes came out from him and flew all over the place, and one of them flew towards Reimu, so she quickly swatted it away with her gohei. Another flew towards Kirby, but he caught it in his mouth and then spit it back at Mr. Tick-Tock to knock him out of the attack.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Reimu threw several paper amulets at the clock, and they exploded shortly after sticking onto his face

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion sent Mr. Tick-Tock flying into the air, and then he fell onto the floor on his back. Kirby went up to him and poked him. "He's out cold," he said, and then he opened his mouth as wide as he could to suck the clock into his mouth.

"Figured that you're hungry when you mentioned pancakes earlier..." Reimu said as she watched Kirby swallow Mr. Tick-Tock. "I find it hard to believe that you're able to swallow something the size of that, though..."

Suddenly, the door opened again, and this time a lion with a burning mane came out. "That's Fire Lion," Kirby said, not daunted by the lion's intimidating appearance at all.

The lion roared loudly when he saw the duo, and then another lion came into the room.

"Oh, there are two of them."

"You're pretty calm, aren't you?" Reimu asked him.

"I've faced these guys before, so..."

"Okay, I get the point..."

The two Fire Lions charged at the duo, but then Kirby whipped out a megaphone and screamed into it as loud as he could. His scream produced a powerful blast of sound wave that sent the lions flying backwards until they hit the wall.

CRASH!

"Ugh! You could've warned me before you do something like that!" Reimu said with her hands covering her ears. "It's as bad as what the clock did!"

"Sorry about that," Kirby said. "You better continue keeping your ears closed because I'm going to use it two more times."

The Fire Lions slowly came back to their senses, but Kirby took out a cordless microphone and screamed into it to produce the same result. The lions cried in agony as the sound wave brought pain to their ears, and then they passed out again. When Kirby saw that one of the lions was twitching his nose, he immediately took out a stand mike to scream into.

The lions' fiery manes stood up when they heard the scream for the third time, and then they passed out again. "That should keep them down for good," Kirby said.

"Hopefully... I don't wanna hear you scream again..." Reimu said.

"I can't do it again either. I can only use the Mike ability three times."

However, one of the lions stood up and growled at them, and then it charged in their direction. Kirby and Reimu quickly stepped aside, and the lion kept on running until it crashed into the wall.

CRASH!

The lion passed out, and Kirby said, "Guess the sound must've messed up his sense of movement. Poor guy... I must've gone too harsh on him..."

Just then, the door opened again, and this time, a large wheel with the center serving as its eyes charged into the room really fast. It went straight for Reimu, who barely had time to get out of the way. She was knocked to the side and tumbled onto the floor roughly. "Ow!"

"Grand Wheelie!" Kirby said in shock when the large wheel went towards him. He quickly turned around and swallowed the lion whole. When he swallowed the lion, a flaming tiara appeared on his head while his hands started burning. He immediately turned around to charge at Grand Wheelie, setting his whole body on fire when he did so.

Grand Wheelie was sent flying into the air when Kirby crashed into it, but when it fell back down, it charged at Kirby again. Kirby came to a stop from charging through the air with his body on fire, and then he was hit from behind by Grand Wheelie. "Ow!" The pink puffball was flattened against the floor with tire marks running over his body as a result.

Grand Wheelie turned its glance to Reimu and then went towards her. The shrine maiden slapped a yellow card onto the floor, and when the living wheel touched it, it became unable to move.

While Grand Wheelie was struggling to move, Reimu walked up it, and after surging spiritual energy into her gohei, she thrust it at the wheel. Like a spear, the tip of the gohei went into the wheel's outer layer. Air started coming out from Grand Wheelie, and when the air was completely gone, the wheel had shrunken quite a bit, and then it fell over on its side with a cross on its eyes.

Kirby got back up and then walked up to Reimu. "Ow... My whole body is in pain... Thanks goodness that I don't have bones, though." Kirby said, and then he looked at Grand Wheelie. "It seems that you took care of it yourself. By the way, I didn't know this guy ran on air. Guess he should be called Grand Tire and not Grand Wheelie, haha!"

The door opened for the fourth time, and this time, and an elephant came in. This elephant was different from normal elephants in the way that it consisted of only a head with a pair of legs. "Now what...? Is this ever going to end...?" Reimu grumbled.

"That's Phan Phan," Kirby said. "Watch out; I dare say that this one is tougher than the previous foes. Wandering too close to her will result in getting caught and then flung through the air by her."

"Okay... Just don't get close to him, and you'll be fine, right?"

Phan Phan curled up and rolled at them, but they leaped out of her way. The elephant uncurled himself after hitting the wall and bouncing off it, and then she produced an apple out of nowhere throw at them. Kirby sucked up the apple and then spit it back at him.

Phan Phan fell back a bit when she got hit in the face, and then she jumped at them. They jumped out of the way when Phan Phan landed, and then Reimu threw some paper amulets at him, but the elephant swung her trunk in a circle to knock them away, much to Reimu's surprise. Phan Phan then charged at her and grabbed her with her trunk, and then she swung her in circles before hurling her at the wall.

Reimu planted her feet against the wall when she reached it, and then she kicked off it and towards the elephant. Quick as a flash, she grabbed the elephant's trunk, planted her feet against the floor, spun around, and threw Phan Phan over her shoulder to slam her head against the floor.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

With that, the elephant was knocked out with swirly eyes. "Wow! That was amazing!" Kirby said while clapping his hands.

"While I prefer fighting with projectiles, I still know a thing or two when it comes to close-range combat," Reimu said. "While not the level of a black belt, I do consider myself to be skilled in karate, judo, and some other forms of martial arts."

After that, the door opened for the fifth time, but nothing came out this time. "Seems that we passed the test," Kirby said.

"Test? This was a test?" Reimu asked. "Well, I'll just pretend that it is... Whatever, let's get out of here."

* * *

"Well... Um... What should I say...?" Marisa said. "I mean... I appreciate that fact that you tried to draw us, but... isn't this... like... totally different from the actual people...?"

"Well, I can't blame her for the fact that there are no humans in this world," Alice said.

"Speaking of which, she's the only human that we came across in this world," Aya said.

"They're so cute!" Sanae said.

"But she didn't draw us at all," Meiling said. "She drew Kirby dressed up as us!"

Sure enough, standing in front of the girls were six copies of Kirby, each of them in the appearance of each of the girls present.

Meiling Kirby was wearing Meiling's hat, Marisa Kirby was wearing Marisa's hat, Nitori Kirby was wearing Nitori's hat, Alice Kirby had Alice's hair and hair band, Sanae Kirby had Sanae's hair, complete with the snake and frog accessories, Aya Kirby was wearing Aya's hat and even sported her wings, and Cirno Kirby had wore a blue bowtie and sported icicles wings on his back.

"When Kirby obtains a certain power," Coo told them, "he will also don an appearance that is related to the power. Be careful! The fact that Adeline drew them with your appearances means that they will fight like you! They will be able to use most, or even all, of your abilities!"

"So... basically... we are fighting ourselves," Marisa said," except we're not fighting clones of ourselves. I get it. Okay, let's see what my clone is capable of! Show me what you've got-ze!"

Marisa Kirby took out a Hakkero and shouted, "Narrow Spark!" Then it fired a beam at Marisa.

Marisa quickly rolled out of beam's way and said, "Whoa! I didn't expect you to have a Hakkero of your own!"

Alice Kirby took out a card and used it to summon several Kirby dolls, and when he pointed his stubby arm at them, the dolls, armed with swords and lances, charged at them. Seeing this, Alice quickly summoned her own dolls and had them charge forward to clash with the other dolls.

"Wow! He's just as skilled in controlling dolls!" Sanae commented.

Aya Kirby flew into the air and took out a fan to create a gale by flapping it, and the wind was so strong that Alice's dolls were blown back to her. The girls were also having a hard time trying to retain their footing.

The wind eventually died down, and Aya said, "You think that was a strong wind? I'll show you what a strong wind is!" And she swung down her fan to create an even stronger gale.

The Kirby clones were sent rolling backwards due to the powerful wind. As Marisa Kirby was being blown back, he took out a card and placed it in front of the Hakkero. "Love Sign: Master Spaak!" he shouted, and then a huge laser beam was fired at Aya.

"Yikes!" Aya said in shock, and then she quickly flew into the air to get out of the laser's way. Everyone else did the same.

"Man! He totally stole my Master Spark! That thief!" Marisa said.

"If I remember correctly, didn't you steal that move from Yuuka first?" Alice asked her.

Each of the Kirby clones flew into the air without puffing themselves up and went for their original counterparts. "Hey, how are they able to fly without puffing up?" Nago asked.

"It would appear that taking the appearance of those girls also granted them the ability to fly through the air freely like them as well," Coo said.

"Well, I have no ideas about the abilities of those girls," Adeline said. "I simply gave the paintings appearances similar to them, and whatever abilities those girls have, those Kirby paintings will also have. That's the wonder of my paintings! I'm even surprised with what my paintings are capable of at times too!"

Meiling Kirby threw a fist full of rainbow energy at Meiling, and the gatekeeper did the same thing as well. "Spiral Light Step!" they both shouted, and their fists struck each other to create a burst of rainbow-colored light.

Meiling then performed a roundhouse kick, but Meiling Kirby managed to block it with his stubby leg. "He's got a lot of power in his foot despite its size!" Meiling thought. She then pulled back her leg and threw a punch at Meiling Kirby, but he flew over her and tried to hit her from behind. Meiling managed to turn block his punch using her hand, though.

Before Kirby could pull back his hand, Meiling gripped his hand tightly to prevent him from doing so, and then she punched him rapidly using her other hand. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!"

POW WHAM SOCK POW BAM SOCK WHAM BAM!

When Meiling stopped punching, Meiling Kirby had bruises all over his body, and then he fell down, exploding into bits of stars just before touching the ground.

"Meiling took down one!" Rick exclaimed.

* * *

Marisa flew through the air on her broom to avoid the star-shaped projectiles fired at her by Marisa Kirby. "You can't hit me! The real person is superior to the clone, that's why-ze!" Marisa said. "Take this, Meteoric Shower!" Then she stretched out her hand to fire star-shaped projectiles at Marisa Kirby.

Marisa Kirby dodged the projectiles and then flew at Marisa, and when he was close to her, he took out a broom to swing at her. Marisa managed to back off from it in time. "Whoa! You wanna resort to close-range combat? I'll gladly take on you!" she said, and then she got off her broom to pick it up using both hands.

They both swung the broom at each other as if they were swords a few times, and when Kirby swung it at Marisa horizontally, she quickly moved up to avoid the blow. She went behind Marisa Kirby, and before the clone could turn around, she smacked him over the head as hard as she could to send him shooting downwards until he hit the ground.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Marisa Kirby was knocked out with swirly eyes, stars circling over his face, and a large bump on his head, and then he exploded into bits of stars. Seeing this, Marisa placed her broom on her shoulder and said, "See? Told ya that the real thing is more superior to the clone-ze!"

* * *

Nitori looked at Nitori Kirby and asked, "So... what can you do? I specialize in manipulating water, but that power can only be use when there is water around the place. You don't even have a backpack." As soon as she said this, Nitori Kirby took out a backpack. "Oh? You do have one. Where'd you get that from anyway?"

"Kappa Misso!" Nitori Kirby said, and then missiles shot out from openings that appeared on the sides of the missile, and they all went towards Nitori.

"Whoa!" Nitori quickly avoided the missiles, but they went after her. "Kappa Missiles!" She quickly fired her own missiles, and they exploded when they collided with each other. "All right, I know what you can do now. It's time for me to fight back! Monster Cucumber!" And she fired laser beams from her backpack.

Nitori Kirby flew out of the laser beams' way and then the top of his backpack opened to reveal a pair of turrets that fired laser beams at her. "Monster Cucumber!"

Nitori dodged the lasers while moving closer and closer to Nitori Kirby, and then she released a mechanical arm to grab him in the face. She released another mechanical arm and pulled it as far back as she could, and then punched Nitori Kirby in the face with it. "Kappa Iron Fist!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The punch sent Nitori Kirby shooting through the air, and he eventually exploded into bits of stars.

* * *

"As cute as you may be, you are a creation of an evil person, so that makes you are evil," Sanae said to Sanae Kirby, "therefore, I will destroy you! Sky Serpent!" She used a card to fire snake-like missiles at him.

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae Kirby said as she used the same method to fire snake-like missiles, and most of the missiles collided with each other. One missile from each side was not destroyed, so they managed to reach their targets, only to be destroyed by them using their goheis.

"Hey, you have a gohei as well?" Sanae asked Sanae Kirby. "I didn't see you carrying one earlier."

Sanae Kirby used a gohei to craw a rainbow-colored grid, and then he sent it flying at her. "Nine Syllable Stab!"

Sanae was able to avoid it with ease, and then she drew a star using he gohei. "Gray Thaumaturgy!" The star exploded shortly after it was drawn and released energy projectiles in Sanae Kirby's direction when it did.

Sanae Kirby managed to avoid them, and then he used the same attack. "Gray Thaumaturgy!" Sanae flew aside to avoid the projectiles while drawing more stars, and they exploded one by one, thus resulting in several projectiles being fired at Sanae Kirby. Sanae Kirby managed to avoid some of them, but since Sanae was drawing stars one after another, the amount of projectiles flying at him increased, so he was having a harder and harder time avoiding them. As a result, he was hit in the face by one of the projectiles and then the following ones.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Dazed, Sanae Kirby fell through the air and exploded into bits of stars shortly after hitting the ground.

* * *

Alice sent her dolls at the Alice Kirby's army of dolls, and the dolls of both sides swung their weapons at each other. Alice moved her arms and fingers with dexterity to keep any of Kirby's dolls from coming close, and she thought, "He sure is skilled to control so many dolls at once despite not having fingers! How does he do that?"

One of the Kirby dolls managed to slice his opponent in half, and then he flew towards Alice, ready to hit her with his sword. Alice quickly pulled one of her dolls over to her face to protect herself. The doll then disarmed the Kirby doll by hitting his sword with her sword before slicing him in half.

Alice then pulled back all her dolls and took out a card to summon another set of dolls, an action that made Alice Kirby curious. "Artful Sacrifice!" Alice shouted, and then the newly summoned dolls flew at the Kirby dolls and exploded when they collide into them.

KABOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOOM! KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Smoke was everywhere when each of the dolls exploded, and Alice Kirby shielded his nose and mouth to avoid breathing it. Suddenly, a doll came out from the smoke and latched itself onto his face, and then she exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion cleared, Alice Kirby was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Aya and Aya Kirby dashed into each other several times using Domination Dash, and then Aya fired wind blades at him. "Gale Fan!"

"Gale Fan!" Aya Kirby shouted as he used his fan to fire wind blades. The wind blades went past each other, but Aya and Aya Kirby managed to avoid them.

Aya then rushed at Aya Kirby at a really fast speed, swinging her leg at him when at range. Aya Kirby blocked it with his stubby feet, and then he swung his fan at Aya's face, but she managed to bend her body backwards in time to avoid getting hit, and then she quickly backed off from Aya Kirby before using Gale Fan again.

Aya Kirby managed to eliminate the projectiles by hitting them with his fan, and then he charged at Aya. When their fans clashed, they pushed against each other. Suddenly, Aya kicked Kirby from below to send him flying high into the air. As Kirby was flying upwards, Aya flew higher than him and then stomped him from above. "Tengu's Downburst!"

STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMP!

The powerful stomp sent Kirby shooting downwards until he hit the ground with such a force that he instantly exploded into bits of stars.

* * *

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted as she fired icicles from her hands at Cirno Kirby.

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno Kirby shouted as he did the same thing, and the icicles shattered into pieces when they collided with each other.

"Let's see you how you like this!" Cirno said as she formed a sword out of ice in her hand. "Icicle Sword!"

"Icicle Sword!" Cirno Kirby shouted as he did the same. They both charged at each other and clashed swords, but the ice swords shattered into pieces when they struck each other.

"What the! Take this, then!" Cirno said, and then she released cold air from all over body."Freeze Touch Me!" Cirno Kirby was exposed to the cold air, but when the cold air died down, he was revealed to be perfectly unharmed. "What! How come nothing happened to you at all? You're supposed to be frozen by it!"

"Freeze Touch Me!" Cirno Kirby said, and then he released cold air from all over his body as well. Cirno placed her arms over her face when she got exposed to the cold air. When Cirno Kirby stopped producing cold air, she saw that she was all right.

"Hey! I'm all right! Ha! This proves that a clone like you is a weakling! Your attacks are no match for me! Here, I'll give a good knocking to the head to make you realize that you can never be as strong as me! Little Iceberg!" She formed a miniature iceberg in her hand and then smashed it over his head.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

A large bump grew out of Cirno Kirby's head, and then with swirly eyes, he fell to the bottom and exploded into bits of stars a few centimeters above the ground.

Seeing that all the Kirby clones were destroyed, Adeline said in shock, "What! They destroyed all my Kirby paintings! Impossible!"

The girls came down to the ground and Aya said to her, "This shows that copies are no match for the real things!"

"Now that we have defeated all your clones," Marisa said to Adeline, "what are you going to do next?"

"You may have defeated the Kirby paintings, but that's not the end of me!" Adeline angrily said. "I will paint some monsters to get rid of you!" Then she painted on her easel as fast as she could. She finished painting a brown angler fish, and then it came out from the easel and bounced towards the girls. "Sweet Stuff!" Next, she painted a cloud with a single eye and spikes coming out from all around it, and like the angler fish, it came out from the easel, but it flew into the air rather than bouncing on the ground. "Kracko!" Adeline painted on her easel for the third time, and this time, she painted was a chubby teal dinosaur with a white belly and blue plates lined along its back, and when she was done, it came out of the easel and ran towards the girls. "Ice Dragon! Go and destroy them all! Destroy them all"

The girls got into fighting stances to get ready to take on the incoming living paintings.

* * *

The masked knight clashed blades with Blade, and as they were pushing their blades against each other, Youmu jumped at Blade from behind and delivered a horizontal slash using the Roukanken.

SLASH!

The slash left behind a gash that ran from the top of his head to the bottom of his back, and while Blade was unable to stand properly due to the intense pain, the masked knight slashed his body rapidly.

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

Several slash marks were left behind on Blade's body, and then the knight fell over on his back. "That's one down," the masked knight said. "Thank you for your help."

"We can save the thanks for later," Youmu said as she looked at Butch and Masher running towards them.

Masher threw his spike ball at them, but they jumped out of its way, and then the masked knight cut the chain with no effort. After that, Youmu dashed at Masher to attack him, but Butch appeared in front of her to protect his comrade. She jumped into the air between and above the two when Butch swung his axe at her, and then she spun horizontally with her sword stuck out, and when she spun, a red aura appeared around her. "Rolling Slash!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Butch got cut in the back of the head while Masher got cut in the forehead. "Out of the way!" the masked knight shouted to Youmu as he flew towards Butch with his wings spread out. "Drill Dash!" Then with his sword pointing forward, he spun like a drill.

Youmu jumped away from behind Masher, and then the masked knight rammed Butch in the stomach and drilled against it as well as pushing him into Masher. The evil knights were pushed back by the masked knight, and then the masked knight started flying upwards, still spinning like a drill.

When he stopped spinning, the two evil knights were sent flying into the air, and as they were falling back down, the masked knight slashed upwards several times.

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

With slash marks all over their bodies, the evil knights each fell down to the sides of the masked knight, and then Dark Matters came out from each of their bodies and exploded into black particles shortly spiraling into the air. "Figured as much," the masked knight said. "They were possessed by Dark Matter after all."

Youmu walked up to the masked knight and said to him, "You're very strong! Thanks a lot for the help!"

"You're welcome," the masked knight said to her. "You are very skilled with the sword yourself too."

"I'm Youmu Konpaku."

"I'm Meta Knight."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Meta... Wait a minute... Meta Knight!"

Suddenly, the masked knight turned around to block an incoming blow from Blade's sword. "You're still up," the masked knight said to him. The masked knight then disarmed him by knocking his sword aside, and then he dashed past his body, slashing him in the waist in the process.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Immediately after that, Youmu dashed past Blade, slashing him in the waist as well.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

With that, Blade fell over, and then the Dark Matter possessing him came out of his body and exploded into black particles. "Finally..." Youmu said. "He'll stay down for real now, hopefully..."

"He'll be down for a while, and when he wakes up, he will no longer be a threat," the masked knight told her. "You seem surprised upon hearing my name. It would appear that you have heard of me. I know very well about my reputation among people here, so perhaps you are surprised to be able to meet someone like me. I do admit that I do not show myself to the public very often."

"Yeah, Kirby told us about you. My friends and I are actually looking for you."

"So you know Kirby. It's not a surprise; he saved the world several times already, so his name should be known throughout Popstar."

"Well, it seems like the person that we're looking for came right to our front door," Remilia said as she came over to them with a parasol in her hand.

"You've finally decided to drag yourself out of the shrine... and you sure know when to pick a time to come out..." Youmu said to her.

"I told you already that I don't want to waste my strength on weak foes, and those three are obviously very weak. You and Meta Knight proved it to me already."

"So you were looking for me, right?" Meta Knight asked them. "May I ask you the reason for doing so? I am willing to listen to you."

* * *

"NO! THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!" Adeline screamed when she saw that her three paintings were also destroyed by the girls.

"They came from paper, so I guess that explains their flimsiness," Marisa said.

"So... what are you doing to do next?" Aya asked the painter. "Draw more monsters?"

"You bet I will!" Adeline replied, and then she got ready to draw on her easel again when suddenly an icicle was fired at the easel and thus tearing a hole on it. "Hey!"

"Oh no you don't!" Cirno said.

"Why you!" Adeline angrily said. "I'LL GET YOU! YAAAAAAAA!" Then she started flailing her paintbrush like crazy while running towards the girls.

"Whoa... It seems that she lost it-ze..." Marisa said.

The enraged painter came closer and closer to them, but suddenly, a star was spit at her head, thus knocking her out.

CONK!

"Ugh..." Adeline groaned as she fell over on her side.

The girls turned to the side to see that it was Gooey who did it. "Gooey ate and spit a rock at her," Rick explained to them.

"Well, thanks a bunch-ze!" Marisa said to the black blob.

Everyone looked at the passed out Adeline, and then a Dark Matter came out from her body and exploded into black particles. "It's just as I thought!" Coo said. "She was possessed by Dark Matter after all!"

"Geez! This black thing sure is driving people crazy-ze!" Marisa commented. "Just how many more of these things are there?"

Adeline slowly opened her eyes, and then she sat up and shook her head. "Ow... What happened...?" she asked.

"You're awake!" Chuchu said to her. "You were possessed by a Dark Matter, but Gooey saved you."

"Really...? I remember seeing a black thing charging at me, and then I don't remember anything else after that... This isn't the first time I got possessed by Dark Matter, so I have an idea on what happened... Thanks for saving me..."

Suddenly, everyone heard the sound of thunder. Aya looked up and said, "Funny... There are no thunderclouds, and yet there is thunder." As soon as she said this, a lightning bolt fell from the sky and the struck the part of the ground next to them all.

BAAAAANG!

"Whoa! That was close!" Sanae said.

"Uh oh... It's that monster..." Rick nervously said. "It's him for sure..."

"Yes, it's definitely him..." Coo said. "Don't tell me that he's also..."

They heard the sound of thunder again, and when they looked at the sky the second time, they saw a large cloud with a single eye and spikes coming out from its sides descending from the clouds.

"Kracko!" the animal friends shouted simultaneously.

"Hey! That thing looks exactly the same as one of Adeline's paintings!" Nitori said.

"That isn't one of your paintings, is it?" Marisa asked Adeline.

"No, it has nothing to do with me!" Adeline said. "Kracko really is a monster that exists in the clouds! I didn't make him up!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Kirby with the abilities of the Touhou girls! What will Kirby look like with Reimu, Youmu, Remilia, and Reisen's ability? Well, go ahead and imagine them yourselves! Okay, if you really want me to tell you...

Reimu Kirby will have Reimu's ribbon, Youmu Kirby will have Youmu's hair and hair band (at least I think that's a hair band), Remilia Kirby will have her hat and wings, and Reisen Kirby will have Reisen's rabbit ears.

**Next chapter: Royal Match**


	69. Royal Match

**SBS Time!  
themetalbeamkatana1.0: **Still so easy, despite the Kirby clones being just slightly weaker. When will it get difficult for them?  
**Game2002: **Things will eventually become difficult for the girls. Please have patience, my friend.

**Patcheresu: **...Kirby thinks he's singing. It is canon fact that he doesn't know his singing is that terrible. You made it look like he's screaming on purpose.  
**Game2002: **Feel free to imagine that he's singing terribly if you want to.

Sorry for the wait... I got lazy... Okay, here's the next chapter!

**Chapter 68  
Royal Match**

* * *

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You won't believe this!" a Waddle Dee shouted as he ran to find King Dedede. He went into a room and saw Dedede swinging his hammer at Reisen, but she jumped back into the air to avoid it.

"Argh! You sure like to jump around!" Dedede said.

"That's what rabbits do best," Reisen said.

"And that's the only thing you can do, right?" Dedede said as he raised his hammer and ran towards her. "You won't be getting anywhere in this fight if that is the case!"

"Then I'll show you what I'm capable of!" Reisen said, and then she fired an energy bullet at Dedede's forehead.

The self-proclaimed king was blown back onto the floor while his hammer flew off his hand. He sat up back up and glared at the lunar rabbit angrily. "How dare you lay a hand on the king!" he said. "This is treason!"

"You're not a real king, so I doubt this is considered treason."

"You're going to pay for it! I'm going to give you capital punishment for laying a hand on the king! You will regret it! PREPARE TO GET CLOBBERED!" Dedede ran to the hammer to pick it up and then ran towards Reisen like a madman. "DYAAAAAAAAAH!"

**BGM: King Dedede's Theme (Kirby Superstar)**

"Illusionary Blast!" Reisen shouted as she fired a pair of eye beams from her eyes, but Dedede leaped over the eye beam and towards her to smash her head with his hammer.

Reisen leaped back when the king was about to hit her, and when he slammed his hammer onto the floor, she leaped into the air and fired at his head. Dedede quickly raised his hammer to block to projectiles, and then he shouted at the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana, "Come here!"

"You called me, Your Majesty?" the Waddle Dee said as he went over to the self-proclaimed king. Dedede suddenly grabbed him by the head and then hurled him at Reisen. "WAAAAAH!"

Instead of jumping out of the way, Reisen caught the Waddle Dee. "Hey! How can you throw your servant like that?" she angrily said. "That's cruel!"

"I'm the king, so I can whatever I want!" Dedede said as he ran towards. Reisen quickly jumped out of the way again when Dedede swung down his hammer at her.

She landed and placed the Waddle Dee onto the floor. "Get out of here! I don't want other people to get caught in this!" she told him.

"Thanks for catching me!" he said.

"Go and get me the Gordos!" Dedede shouted to the Waddle Dee.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" he said, and then he left the room.

The other Waddle Dee then said to the self-proclaimed king, "Your Majesty! I have big news!"

"What are you standing there for?" Dedede said to him. "Go and help him! It's going to take like an hour if he drags that thing here all by himself!"

"But..."

"GO BEFORE I CLOBBER YOU!"

"Yes, Your Majesty..." the Waddle Dee said in fear, and then he left.

"You're so mean to your servants. Back in my world, we treat our rabbit demons with kindness," Reisen said to him. "Because of that, they return us the favor by whatever we tell them to do. Okay, there was one instant where they went on strike... But anyway, you should treat your servants with more respect."

"I'm the king, so you have no right to order me around! You're not even my right-hand man for crying out loud!" Dedede said to her.

Hearing this, Reisen's face became serious and angrier-looking. "It seems that there is no point in talking to you. I'll have to use force to bring some senses into you after all!"

"Try and do it if you can!" Dedede shouted as he ran towards her.

"Lunatic Gaze: Illusion Seeker!" Reisen shouted as she fired multiple energy bullets from her fingers, and at the same time, her eyes released red light.

Dedede stopped running and held up his hammer to block the incoming bullets, but suddenly, they stopped moving and slowly moved sideways instead. "What in the world?" he said, looking confused.

The bullets traveled forward again, so he held up his hammer the second time, but then they stopped moving to move sideways again.

"What's with these!"

The bullets once again forward, but they stopped in front of him once again to move sideways. Dedede touched one of the bullets while it is moving sideways, but his hand went through it. "Dyeh? I can't touch it. What's with these bullets?"

Suddenly, the bullets moved forward and hit him. The king was pelted by some of the bullets and then fell over, and the remaining bullets flew over him in the same manner. When all the bullets went over him, he sat up and said, "What in the world are with those bullets!"

"I disrupted the wavelength in order to make you see an illusion of the bullets moving sideways, but in reality, they never moved at all. They simply stopped in place for a while before moving forward."

"Hmph! It doesn't matter what you use against me! It won't be of any use, and I'm going to prove it to you! Behold my Dedede Hammer that I mechanized for the Smash Brothers Tournament! Even after the tournament was over, I still continue to upgrade it! You shall see for yourself how powerful my hammer is!" The backside of the hammer opened to reveal a jet engine. "Hammer Boomerang!" And he threw the hammer at her.

Reisen ducked underneath the hammer as it spun through the air while the jet engine released fire. She turned around to look at the hammer as it u-turned, and she ducked down again to avoid getting hit by it the second time. Dedede caught the hammer by its handle and said, "Well? What do you think? Amazing, eh?"

"I do admit that it's quite a hammer..." she replied.

"Only a king like me is suited to use something like this! Now enough talk! I'm going to clobber you with this trusty hammer of mines! Prepare yourself!"

"Your Majesty! The Gordos are here!" the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana said as he came into the room, carrying with him a box full of spike balls with eyes. The other Waddle Dee was help carrying the box from behind.

"Good!" Dedede said as they placed it next to him. "With these, the battle will be a lot more fun! I remember flinging this thing right into that guy named Captain Falcon's face right when he was about to Falcon Punch me! Boy! That was such a close call!"

"But you were caught off guard by a backhand smash from that Ganon-something guy from behind almost immediately afterwards," the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana reminded him.

"Must you bring up unnecessary stuff like that! Now get out of here before I throw one into your face!"

"Yes, Your Majesty..." the Waddle Dee said, and then he left.

"Um... Your Majesty... I need to tell you something," the other Waddle Dee said to him.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Dedede shouted as he flung one of the spike balls into his face to knock him away, and then he turned to Reisen. "All right, time to give you some pain!" He picked up the same spike ball that he threw at the Waddle Dee and said, "These are called Gordos, and they are one of the most durable things in this world! There are no known methods for destroying them, so they make perfect defenses! As you can see, the spikes also make them perfect weapons!"

"So you're going to throw them at me?" Reisen asked. "It won't do any good as long as I can dodge them!"

"I have trained myself to use them in various ways, so run and jump as you like, you won't be escaping them so easily as long as I'm using them... like this!" Dedede dropped the Gordo onto the floor and immediately hit his with hammer to send it flying towards Reisen really fast.

Reisen quickly stepped aside to avoid the Gordo, but Dedede sent another Gordo flying towards her again. She managed to dodge it by ducking down, but the third one sent flying at her struck her in the face.

SMACK!

"YA!" Reisen cried as she fell back onto the floor. She sat back up and said in pain, "Ugh... It hurts... Ow... My face is bleeding..."

Another Gordo was sent flying towards her, so she quickly rolled aside and then got on her knee to fire bullets at Dedede. The self-proclaimed king used another Gordo to block the bullets, and then he whacked it at her.

The Gordo plowed through the bullets, but Reisen ducked to avoid it, though her ears still got hit. "Ow! That hurt a bit... Thanks goodness my ears aren't stiff..." she said.

"Let's see how you like it when it goes flying into your face again!" Dedede said as he whacked another Gordo at her, but she jumped into the air to avoid it, and the king was surprised to see her floating in midair. "What the!"

"Surprised, I bet?" she said. "Let's see how you take on me while I'm in air!" And she fired at him using both hands.

Dedede once again used a Gordo to block the shots, and then he whacked it at her. Reisen flew to the side to avoid the Gordo, and then she flew as fast as could in a square formation above the king and left behind a clone of herself at three of the corners. "What in the world! How are you doing that?" Dedede said in shock.

The real Reisen and the three clones started pelting the self-proclaimed king with bullets, and since they were coming from four directions, he had a hard time trying to avoid getting shot.

"Ow! Cut it out! Stop it at once! Stop it! STOP IT!"

Dedede ducked down at one side of the box containing the Gordos and held up his hammer in front of his face to try to protect himself from being shot. "Psycho Missile!" Reisen shouted, and all 'four Reisen' fired a large energy missile at the box.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Gordos were sent flying into the air as well as the self-proclaimed king. He fell onto the floor with a thud, and then a Gordo fell on top of his head with such a force that he fell over on his belly, and then he was hit in the back by three more Gordos, and the last one remained stuck onto his back.

The clones disappeared, and Reisen came down onto the floor and approached the unconscious Dedede. "Um... Are you all right?" she asked. "Sorry if I went too rough on you..."

She got close to Dedede and slowly reached out her hand to his head when suddenly the self-proclaimed king got up and swung his hammer at the side of her body.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YA!" Reisen cried as she tumbled onto the floor, and when she sat back up, she took a Gordo to the face. "GAH!" She fell back onto the floor with a blurry vision due to the impact, but she was able to make out the self-proclaimed king falling onto her from above.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Reisen cried when Dedede landed onto her body really hard.

Dedede looked at the lunar rabbit's suffering face and said to her, "You're too naive, rabbit girl. When in a fight, you shouldn't show sympathy to your enemy! That is the reason why I am now sitting on top of you!"

"Illusionary Blast!" Reisen shouted as she fired a pair of eye beams from her eyes. The self-proclaimed king took the blast to his face and fell off her body as a result.

"DYEH!"

Reisen quickly stood back up and fired rapidly at the self-proclaimed king when he stood back. Dedede took a step back from each shot, but then he raised his hammer to block the shots while moving forward. When he removed the hammer from the front of his face, Reisen was nowhere in sight. "Where'd she go? DYEH!" He was shot from behind.

"Not looking at your front isn't very wise, you know," Reisen told him. "In my world, projectiles are constantly coming towards you from the front during danmaku battles, so you need to focus on your opponents at all times in order to avoid getting hit by their projectiles."

Reisen moved away from Dedede before he sat back up, and when he did, he angrily said, "That does it! You've really done it! I'm going to show you that I'm no laughing matter when I'm serious! You better be afraid that I'm going to go really serious on you this time! In fact, you should feel honored to see me go serious! Kirby is the only one who has seen me gone serious before, and I don't do that often, dyeheh!"

"I could care less for that. I'll gladly take on you until you to give up!"

"Okay, you're asking for it! It so happens that we're standing at the right place!" Dedede said, and then he placed his hand in his mouth partially and whistled loudly.

Immediately, the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana ran into the room and felt around the part of the wall next to the door until he found a hidden switch. When the switch was pressed, the part of the ceiling above Dedede and Reisen opened, and a barbed cage fell down, thus they found themselves inside it.

"What the!" Reisen said. "What's this cage for?"

"Dyeheh! This is no ordinary cage! This is an electric cage! Try touching it if you don't believe me!" Dedede told her.

"Why would I? So you want to keep me from escaping from the fight, right? Don't worry; I have no plans of escaping from the fight! I'm not going to come in contact with the sides of the cage either!"

"Don't be so sure of your latter statement just yet!" Dedede said as he bent down to slide open a part of the floor to reveal a hidden compartment, and then he took out a metallic mask from it to put onto his face. After that, he placed his hammer into the compartment and then took out a brand new metallic hammer. "Now face the wrath of... Masked Dedede!"

Reisen got into a defensive stance and thought, "Let's see... He's got a new hammer, and since it's made of metal, it should be more destructive than the wooden one, and the mask should provide him with better defense. His eyes aren't protected, so I can aim for his eyes. Going for his back is also a good idea."

**BGM: Masked Dedede Battle (Kirby Superstar Ultra)**

"Get a load of this! Dedede Missile!" Dedede said as the front part of his hammer opened to fire missiles.

"What the!" Reisen said in shock. She flew into the air to avoid the missiles, but she carelessly flew to high and thus touched the top of the cage.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen screamed as the electricity traveled throughout her body, and then she fell back down, charred. "Ugh... I forgot... about the electricity..." When she looked up, she saw the self-proclaimed king running towards her, and before she had the chance to run away, he swung his hammer at her to send her flying into the side of the cage.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen was once again electrocuted by high-voltage electricity, and then she fell on her knees. Dedede wasted no time in running towards her to give her another blow, this time planning to smash her over the head. Reisen managed to get back to her sense in time, so she was able to jump aside to avoid getting hit.

Dedede then stuck out his hammer and spun in Reisen's direction. "Super Dedede Tornado!" She quickly took off into the air to avoid getting hit, but this time, she was careful enough to avoid touching the top of the cage. Below her, Dedede continued to spin around the place uncontrollably, and when he finally stopped spinning, he became dizzy. "Duuuuuh..."

Using this as an opportunity, Reisen flew behind Dedede and shot him in the back rapidly.

"Ow! Why you!" Dedede angrily growled. He jumped at Reisen to try to hit her, but she flew back to avoid the swing from his hammer and then moved to his back to shoot him from there. "Argh! Eat this!" The front of his hammer opened to fire missiles at her.

Reisen drop onto the floor to avoid them, and then she fired a silver missile at him. "Psycho Missile!"

Dedede swung his hammer at the missile, and as a result, the missile exploded right in his face. Dedede was blown back by the smoke and stopped just short of the side of the cage. When he sat back up, he witnessed several bullets whizzing out of the smoke left behind by the explosion. "DYEH!" He desperately used his hammer as a shield to block them.

When the onslaught of bullets stopped, four Reisen ran out from the smoke and towards him. "Argh! You won't be getting me with clones like that! I'll just hit every single one of them and try to score a hit on the real one!"

One of the Reisen jumped and fired at him rapidly, but Dedede blocked it with his hammer and then ran towards her to hit her just before she landed. The Reisen faded away upon being hit. "Nope, not this one," Dedede said as he looked around for the others. Another Reisen was knelt down across him and firing at him, so he quickly stepped out of the bullets' way. The third Reisen fired at him from another side of the place, and he was hit in the side of the body.

Dedede growled angrily and then ran to that Reisen to hit her, but she jumped and flew away when his hammer came down on her. "That one avoided my attack, so she must be the real one!" Dedede thought.

Dedede went after the 'real' Reisen, but the other two Reisen got in front of him and fired rapidly. "Super Dedede Tornado!" Dedede shouted as he spun in their direction. One of the Reisen jumped out of the way while the other one got hit and thus disappeared. Dedede immediately stopped spinning to avoid becoming dizzy, and he watched as the last two Reisen got together side by side. "The both of you avoided my attack... One of you has got to be the real one! I'll just attack the both of you at once! Behold the Flamethrower Attack!" Then the front end of the hammer opened and released a large stream of fire in their direction.

Both the Reisen leaped to the sides to avoid the fire, and then Dedede ended the attack and went for the one that jumped to his right. He managed to hit her right when she landed onto the floor, and the Reisen disappeared when hit. "Aha! That means the remaining one left is the real one!" Then he turned around to look at the real Reisen. "You're finished!"

"Not just yet!" Reisen said, and then she fired several large red energy balls at him. "Mind Bending!"

Dedede got quickly swung his hammer at the incoming energy balls, and he was able to destroy the ones that were heading for him. Immediately after that, Reisen rushed in front of his face, and then a burst of light came out from her eyes. "Undersense Break!"

"DYEEEEEEH! MY EYES! MY EYES!" Dedede cried as he placed his hands over his eyes while taking several steps backwards, and he kept on moving back until he touched the side of the fence.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"DYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" the self-proclaimed screamed at the top of his voice as the high-voltage electricity zapped him. He eventually escaped the electrocution by taking a step forward, but he was already charred from head to toe, and his senses didn't seem to working properly anymore. "Dyeeeeeeh..."

"Mind Bending!" Reisen said as she fired several red energy balls again, and all of them hit the self-proclaimed king.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed king, the attack pushed him into the side of the fence.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"DYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

Dedede eventually stepped away from the side of the fence again and walked to the center of the cage in an awkward manner, and then he fell on his stomach.

THUD!

Reisen looked at the unconscious king for a few a seconds, and then she sighed with relief. "Phew... That's that... I won..." Then she looked around the cage for a way out, but when she saw none, she shouted to the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana outside, "Hey! Where's the exit to this cage?"

"The only way to leave this cage is to pull it back up to the ceiling by pressing the same button that brought it down," the Waddle Dee replied. "After losing to Kirby inside this cage once, His Majesty wanted to fight Kirby again inside this cage, and the door was removed in order to assure that Kirby won't run away during the middle of the fight. However, it was pointless since Kirby never forfeits a battle with His Majesty. Furthermore, we never got another chance to use this door-less cage."

"Then can you please go and press that button again? I want to get out of here. Your king has lost the fight, so it makes sense for a winner like me to go out."

"You have a point. I'll go and press the button now. Um... On the second thought... I guess I'll press the button after the fight has really ended..."

"What do you mean?" Reisen asked, oblivious of the fact that Dedede, with red eyes of pure rage, was standing behind her with his hammer raised over his head, and then he brought it down on top of her.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAH!" Reisen was forced onto her knees from the powerful smash to the head, and her ears also touched the side of the fence when she did so.

ZAP!

"YA!" Reisen hopped back a bit from the shock, and then Dedede swung his hammer like a golf club to send her flying through the air and into another side of the fence.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen screamed at the top of her voice, and then she fell onto the floor.

"DIE!" Dedede shouted as he ran up to her and mercilessly hammered her over and over.

SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH!

Such a sight was so brutal that the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana shuddered and even placed his hands over his eyes so that he doesn't see anything.

* * *

**BGM: Boss Battle Theme (Kirby Superstar)**

"Meteoric Shower" Marisa shouted as she fired star-shaped projectiles from her hand at Kracko while flying towards him on her broom, but the projectiles went through his cloud-like body.

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted as she fired icicles, but they also went through his body. "It's not working? In that case... Icicle Sword!" Cirno created a sword of ice and then flew at him.

She got close to Kracko and was about to hit him with her sword when suddenly the one-eyed cloud monster released electricity from all over his body to zap her.

BZAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAA!" Cirno screamed, and then she fell towards the ground, but Marisa managed to catch her in time.

"Geez, you shouldn't be so reckless!" Marisa told her. "We've seen what that thing is capable of earlier, so it's obvious that trying to attack it at close range is dangerous!" Suddenly, a shadow loomed over the both of them, and when Marisa looked up, she saw Kracko directly above them. "Uh oh..."

The cloud monster released rain drop from below his body, but Marisa managed to get away in time with Cirno still in her arms.

"Gale Fan!" Aya shouted as she fired wind blades at Kracko. The projectiles went through his body, but one of them struck him in the eye. This caused the cloud monster to spin his eye around like crazy as if in pain. The tengu then attempted to hit the eye with the heel of her shoe, but he released electricity to both zap and repel her. "Yeow!"

Kracko then fired a single lightning bolt at her.

ZAAAAAAP!

"KYAAAAAA!" Aya screamed, but she remained flying in air when the attack ended. "That stung me quite a bit, but it's not enough to bring me down. When Kracko fired another lightning bolt at her, she dodged it by flying upwards.

"Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as she fired several missiles from her backpack.

Kracko fired several lightning bolts at the incoming missiles to destroy them, and the lightning bolts continued heading for Nitori. The mechanical arms quickly came out from her backpack and used their palms to block the lightning bolts. "My mechanical arms not only release electricity, they also absorb electricity," Nitori explained. "In doing so, their punches will become a lot more powerful! Let me show you!" Then one of the mechanical arms folded in a fist and started winding up. "Kappa Thunder Punch!" When done winding up, the mechanical arm extended toward Kracko's eye.

Kracko quickly flew out of the way to avoid the punch, and then it flew towards Nitori with a fast speed.

"Uh oh... Missed..."

Several snake-like missiles crashed into Kracko from the side as he was flying towards Nitori, and when the cloud monster turned to look at his attacker, Sanae, he was struck in the back by bullets. He turned around and saw that it was Alice's dolls that shot him.

While Kracko's attention was focused on Alice and her dolls, Sanae quickly drew a rainbow-colored grid using her gohei. "Nine Stabs Syllable!" When she was done drawing it, she enlarged it and then sent it flying towards Kracko. The rainbow-colored net caught Kracko from behind and covered him whole.

While the cloud monster was caught inside the net and constantly zapped by it, Alice order her dolls to shoot him with their rifles. After his body of cloud was shot several times, it disintegrated, thus leaving behind only the eye. Fortunately for Kracko, the openings of the rainbow-colored net were bigger than his eye, so it was able to slip through out.

"It got away!" Alice said. "And it can live as a single eye!"

Kracko's eye flew higher into the air, and then cloud particles appeared around it until a new body was formed.

The cloud monster then went above Alice and rained down drops of water onto her, but she had her dolls equipped with shields and positioned them over her head in time. The raindrops were like hailstones, so the shields shook when the raindrops struck them.

Kracko suddenly swooped down to the side and launched a lightning bolt at Alice. Alice had no time to avoid the lightning bolt, and just as she was about to get hit by it, a mechanical arm came in front of her from the side and absorbed it with its palm. Alice looked at Nitori and said, "Thanks!"

"No problem!" Nitori said while giving a thumb up. "All right, have a taste of your own medicine!" Nitori then moved the mechanical arm in Kracko's direction and slammed the electrically-charged hand into his eye.

After that, Meiling flew towards him with her arm pulled back to get ready to punch his eye, and seeing her approaching, the cloud monster released miniature versions of himself, Co-Krackos, from his body. The Co-Krackos charged at Meiling, but she punched them all down. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!"

After that, she flew at Kracko to attack him, but the cloud monster released electricity from all over his body to zap her.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"Ugh!" Meiling cried, but she endured the shock and then punched him straight in the eye.

POW!

Aya then charged at Kracko to kick him in the eye, but the cloud monster recovered in time and launched a lightning bolt at her. She swiftly dodged the attack and then went through the part of the body next to his eye and emerged on the other side, and from there, she unleashed a tornado using her fan. "Whirl Sign: Maple Leaf Fan!"

The tornado blew away Kracko's body of cloud, and the eye was left in a dizzy state due to the spinning afterwards.

"Illusionary Dominance!" Aya shouted as she dashed left and right really fast to hit the eye. Kracko was knocked around in the air several times by the tengu, and she ended the attack with a shoulder bash that sent him shooting through the air.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Kracko's eye shot through the air like a bullet, and suddenly, something fell on top of him and pushed him all the way to the ground.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"What was that just now?" Marisa asked.

Down below, the animal friends ran up to where Kracko fell, and they were surprised to see what it was that fell on Kracko. "Meow! It's King Dedede!" Nago said. "What's he doing here?"

Suddenly, a Dark Matter came out from Kracko and disintegrated into black particles.

* * *

Not more than five minutes ago, Dedede had just finished brutally hammering Reisen.

"Phew... That really tired me out..." Dedede said as he took off his mask while keeping his eyes fixed on the badly beaten up Reisen.

The Waddle Dee with a blue bandana clapped his hands and said, "Bravo! Your Majest won the fight! You did it! You're great!"

"Yeah! That was no challenge at all! Even Kirby was tougher than her! Dyeheheh!"

"So you finally admit that Kirby is too much for you to handle, huh?"

"What the! I never said anything like that! Kirby is a pushover himself as well! I can beat him if I'm in top condition!"

"But how come I never..."

"Go and raise the cage to let me out!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Waddle Dee said, but then the other Waddle Dee came running up to the cage.

"Your Majesty! I really have to tell you this!" he said.

"All right, all right... What do you want to tell me? Go ahead and spit it out," Dedede said, sounding annoyed.

"HR-H is gone! It's no longer in the basement!"

"Someone probably just let it out for a walk. Don't worry; that thing can be controlled, so it's not like it's a dog that doesn't know when to come home by it... WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

Suddenly, he heard the sound of heavy breathing, and when he looked down, he saw Reisen slowly pushing herself back up with her arms. "What the! You can still get up!"

Reisen didn't say anything asides from trying to stand back up, but when she did, she fell on her back due to the immense pain in her body. "Ugh..."

"Haha! It looks like you're in no condition to do anything anymore!"

"Don't... laugh... so... early... just... yet..." she weakly said. "If... my... friends... learn... about... my de... feat... they... will... surely... come... and... avenge... for... me... You... will... surely... lose... to... them..." While saying this, Reisen slowly reached into her shirt pocket to take out a card.

"Save yourself the trouble of saying pointless things to me! I'll just clobber your friends if they come here!"

"You... will... regret... it... You... can... not... beat... them... Do... not... under... esti... mate... them..."

"Geez! Are you looking down on me or what? Can't you see how I easily defeated you? Do you want me to smash you until you can no longer talk or open your eyes? I'll gladly grant you your wish if you're really asking for it!" Then Dedede jumped towards her with his hammer raised over his head.

"I'm done for if I don't pull this off quick!" Reisen thought as she raised her arm as fast she could in her current state, and then she closed her eyes and placed the card in between her them. When she opened her eyes, a large amount of red light came out and she shouted, "Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon!"

"You're finished!" Dedede was about to bring down his hammer on top of her when suddenly her eyes released a pair of eye beams that merged together as soon as they came out to form a huge laser beam. The self-proclaimed king was engulfed in the beam of light and pushed into the air by it.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN G!

"DYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH !" Dedede screamed as the beam pushed him through the top of the barbed cage and the ceiling. The beam traveled all the way into the sky, and eventually, it ended. The self-proclaimed king continued to fly diagonally upwards through the air, but he eventually fell down far in the distance.

The Waddle Dee with a blue bandana watched with wide open eyes and said, "His Majesty lost! Um... Well, not much a surprise, I think... His record of losses is pretty high to begin with...

"He didn't win very often in the Smash Brothers Tournament either," the other Waddle Dee said.

"I'm... saved..." Reisen said.

"Okay, since you won, I'll go ahead and let you out," the Waddle Dee said, and then he went to press the button. When pressed, the ceiling opened, and a large mechanical claw came down to pick up the cage and carry it back inside. The ceiling closed again afterwards.

"So... will you... do any... thing... to treat... the winner...?" Reisen asked.

* * *

An explosion suddenly burst out from a cliff wall behind some bushes, and when the smoke cleared, Reimu and Kirby stepped out from the hole created on the cliff wall. "Yay! We're out at last!" Kirby said.

"So we passed the trial," Reimu said. "You know, I was expecting a bigger challenge than trying to blast through the wall to get out of the place. Eh, Whatever..."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Not the longest chapter, but I hope that it's a good one. I had a bit trouble doing Kracko's fight, but things still turned out well in the end!

Masked Dedede rocks! You'll really want to pity the self-proclaimed king for his loss in Revenge of the King. Who knows? Maybe we'll all pity villains more if there we see scenes of them suffering and lamenting from their defeat. And on the side note, it took me a while to beat The True Arena in Kirby Superstar Ultra.

**Next Chapter: Zero Amount of Happiness**

**Trivia:  
**1. Masked Dedede's theme sounds very similar to the version of Dedede's theme in the Super Nintendo version of Kirby's Star Stackers.


	70. Zero Amount of Happiness

Praise the Lord! He has granted me the power to finish this chapter in a short amount of time! Yeah, finishing it within seven days is faster than ten days, and I will continue to pray to God that he will help me improve! Anyway, enjoy this lengthy chapter!

**Chapter 69  
Zero Amount of Happiness**

**

* * *

**

Everyone was gathered around the fallen Dedede and Kracko and curiously looking at them. "What's he doing here?" Marisa asked.

"A better question would be why he fell down from the sky," Sanae said.

"Maybe he's trying to learn how to fly," Aya said, "but penguins can't fly. Plus, with a body weight like that, he's probably never going to learn how to fly by flapping his arms. Or wings... or flippers... Eh, whatever..."

"Well, thanks to him, we managed to defeat this cloud monster," Alice said.

Aya then looked around the place and said, "So... what's next? There doesn't seem to be any more of those black things."

"We can go back to the shrine and wait for Reimu and Kirby to come back with the donation box and Reisen."

"Do we just leave King Dedede here like this?" Rick asked.

"His men will come and pick him up later, I'm sure," Chuchu said. "Even though he acts like a bully, his men still respect him."

"It's best that we tend to them," Coo said.

"Them? You mean Kracko as well?" Pitch asked. "Why? He's a big meanie! Even Dedede is nicer compared to him!"

"That may be the case, but Kracko was possessed by a Dark Matter, so he had no control over his actions earlier. We cannot be heartless; we have to show love to other people. With love, we can even turn even the worst enemies into friends."

"That's a very good philosophical statement-ze!" Marisa said.

* * *

Youmu, Remilia, and Meta Knight were sitting at the shrine's entrance, chatting with each other. "Oh, look whose back?" Remilia said all of a sudden, and Youmu and Meta Knight turned to see the girls, Gooey, and the animal friends coming towards the shrine. Meiling and Nitori were carrying Dedede together while Aya carried Kracko's eye.

"Hi! How's everything after we left?" Marisa asked.

"We were attacked by enemies," Youmu said, "but we've managed to fend them off. They were possessed by the same black things that possessed the tree, so we tended to them after freeing them."

"Oh, I see. We also brought back two victims. It was the owl's decision to tend to them and not leave them behind."

"Hey! It's Meta Knight!" Rick said in surprise when he noticed the knight.

"Why! It's a surprise to see you here!" Coo said to him.

"It's nice to meet you, friends of Kirby," Meta Knight said.

"So this guy's Meta Knight?" Marisa asked. "How'd you come across him?"

"He came to help me fight the enemies," Youmu said.

"You must be the friends that Remilia and Youmu talked about," Meta Knight said to the girls. "I am Meta Knight, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I have heard from them about your story already."

"That's good!" Aya said. "Saves the time for us to explain things!"

"Much as I wish to talk to you about the Light Essence, I fear that this is not the time at the moment. Please take a look at the sky."

Everyone turned to look at the sky and saw a large mass of darkness far in the distance. "Whoa! What is that!" Pitch said in shock.

"Meow! How come we didn't notice it at all!" Nago said.

"That is the Dark Star, the source of the Dark Matters," Meta Knight explained. "It would appear that it is coming closer and closer to Popstar, and if that happens, Popstar will be covered in darkness. We must stop it before it's too late!"

"How do we do that?" Sanae asked. "You said that it's a star, right? Then it must be gigantic!"

"Actually, it's not very big compared to Popstar, but it's still big enough to be considered a dwarf planet. The only way to destroy it is to destroy the mastermind behind it all, and I have every reason to believe that he currently resides inside the Dark Star."

"You mean Zero?" Coo asked.

"Zero, or 02. I believe that such a task would be better left for Kirby. Honestly saying, I had no involvement at all during the times when the Dark Matters were a threat to the universe, so I do not know them as much as Kirby. Where is Kirby by the way?"

"He last went to King Dedede's castle with one of our friends," Marisa replied. "They never came back, though."

* * *

"What is that?" Reimu asked while looking at the Dark Star.

"Looks familiar," Kirby said, "and I have a bad feeling about it as well..."

"Whatever... Let's head back to the castle to get things done with."

As they headed for the castle, they suddenly heard a roar coming from behind, and when they turned around, they saw a bear with a red bandana running towards them. "It's a Grizzo!" Kirby said in shock.

They jumped out of the way when the bear ran towards them, and then Kirby turned around the suck the bear into his mouth. The pink puffball let out a burp after swallowing the bear.

"You ate a bear just like that...?" Reimu said, looking a bit disgusted.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Never mind..."

Suddenly, Kirby felt something strange going on inside his stomach, and when he opened his mouth, a Dark Matter came out. The Dark Matter then charged at Kirby in an attempt to possess him, but he stepped aside to dodge it. The Dark Matter then turned around and attempted to go for Reimu this time, but the shrine maiden smacked it away with her gohei and then threw a paper amulet let at it.

KABOOM!

The Dark Matter was nowhere in sight after the paper amulet exploded. "What was that?" Reimu said. "And are you all right?"

"I'm fine... My stomach was feeling ticklish earlier... It must've been that thing..." Kirby replied. "That thing looks familiar as well... I'm sure that I've seen it before somewhere... Hmmm..." He then looked at the Dark Star in the sky. "Wait a minute... That black thing earlier and the one in the sky... Black thing... Black thing in the sky... THAT'S IT!"

"What?"

"That black thing in the sky is the Dark Star! And that black thing earlier is a Dark Matter! Wait a minute... Dark Star is already destroyed! So that thing in the sky must be something else, but that black thing earlier clearly is a Dark Matter... Okay, things are getting a bit confusing here..."

"Hey! Found the both of you!" said a voice, and when the duo looked at the sky, they saw Aya flying towards them. She landed and said to them, "Weren't the both of you supposed to be at the castle? What are you doing out here?"

"We went through a lot," Reimu said, "and I don't feel like telling you everything."

"Whatever the case is, I'm glad to report to you that we've found Meta Knight!"

"You found him? That's great!" Kirby said. "Have you told him about the Light Essence yet?"

"He said there's no time for that. Have you noticed that black thing in the sky yet?"

Reimu looked at the Dark Star and said, "You mean that one, right? Yeah, we noticed it a while ago."

"Meta Knight said that Kirby is the best person to deal with that thing. Apparently, some guy named 02 is coming to this planet to take over it."

"02! But he's already dead!" Kirby said in shock. "A killed him a long time ago!"

"It's quite obvious how he came back to life, but we'll talk about that some other time. The both of you better come back to the shrine for now. Also, that penguin is at our shrine."

"Penguin? You mean Dedede?" Reimu asked. "What's he doing there?"

"He fell from the sky for some reason, and now we're tending to him. Just come back to the shrine first, okay?"

* * *

Not to long afterwards, Aya, Reimu, and Kirby got back to the Hakurei Shrine. "Wow! You sure came back fast!" Marisa said. "We were wondering what could've happened to the two of you since Dedede isn't in his castle for anymore."

"We weren't at the castle as well," Reimu said, "and I don't feel like going into details. Okay, what's the story here?"

Kirby looked at Meta Knight and said, "Hi, Meta Knight! Nice to see you!"

"There is no time for a friendly conversation, Kirby," Meta Knight said to him. "As you can see, the Dark Matters have been resurrected. Popstar is in danger of getting taken over by them again."

"Yeah, and I am very surprised to find out that they're back again."

"The Dark Star is closing in on Popstar even as we speak, so we need to make haste. Kirby, you have been to the Dark Star and fought 02 before, so you should know best when it comes to fighting him."

"Yeah, I faced that guy twice, so I know a lot about him. The first time I fought him, I used the Love-Love Stick, and I used the Power Crystal from Ripple Star during our second battle. I don't know what to use on him this time... I would need something that is as powerful as those two."

"There is something that is as powerful as those two. Does the source of dreams ring a bell?"

"Aha! The Star Rod!"

"Indeed! The power of the Star Rod is as powerful as those two, and I'm sure that the inhabitants of Dream Land won't mind if you borrow it from the Fountain of Dreams for a while."

"Okay! I'm off to the Fountain of Dreams!" Kirby said, and then he ran off as fast as he could.

"I'll go with you!" Meta Knight said, and so he followed him.

"Well, it seems like we have found a solution to this," Coo said, and then he looked at the sky to see that the Dark Star was coming closer and closer. "Let's hope that there is still time...

"Hey, what say we head over to the Fountain of Dreams and take a look as well?" Aya suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Reimu said. "We're used to getting involved in other worlds' affairs already, so we might as well lend a hand in saving this world." So the girls went after Kirby and Meta Knight.

* * *

Kirby and Meta Knight arrived at the Fountain of Dreams, and the pink puffball immediately flew onto the top of the fountain and grabbed the Star Rod. "Got it!" he said. "Now to use the Warp Star to go to the Dark Star!"

He took out a cell phone and pressed a button on it, and a few seconds after doing so, a large yellow star flew to him from the distance. It stopped in front of the fountain, and then Kirby jumped onto it. "I'm off, Meta Knight!" he said to the puffball knight. "Take care of everything here while I'm gone!"

"Good luck, Kirby," Meta Knight said to him.

"Wait a minute!" shouted the voice of Reimu. The duo turned to see the other girls, Gooey, and the animal friends running towards them.

"I'm in hurry," Kirby said to them. "We can talk again after I return. Wish me luck!"

"Actually, Reimu wants to go with you," Marisa said to him.

"If you don't mind, that is," Reimu said.

"You want to come with me?" Kirby asked. "But it's dangerous."

"Not like I've never faced danger before."

"I would recommend it," Remilia said. "Reimu's one of the best fighters in our world, so I would recommend that she accompany you in the fight against that guy named 02."

Gooey then jumped onto the Warp Star. "You want to come along too, Gooey?" Kirby asked him, and the black blob nodded as a response. "Okay! And Reimu, you can tag along too if you want to. I've seen you fight when we were in Dedede's dungeon, so I know for sure that you will be of great help!"

"Okay," Reimu said.

"Come aboard the Warp Star! It'll take us to the Dark Star in a jiffy!"

"Is there enough space for the three of us?"

"Oh yeah... Wait a minute," Kirby said. Both he and Gooey got off it, and then Kirby placed the star upright. "There! Hold onto it tightly!"

"Um... Hold onto it?"

"Don't worry! It's perfectly safe! You won't fall as long as you don't loose your grip, and it's not like the Warp Star is hard to grip onto! Here's how!" And he jumped at the star and grabbed onto the sides of the point at the top while Gooey grabbed onto the 'right arm' using his mouth.

"Okay... If you say so..." Reimu said as she held onto the side opposite of Kirby in the same manner. "You're sure that it'll be safe, right?"

"Trust me! It is safe! As long as you grip firmly, that is."

"You don't make it sound safe at all..."

"Good luck, Reimu! We're all counting on you-ze!" Marisa said to her.

"Do your best!" Sanae said.

"Thanks for the encouragement," Reimu said to them.

"All right! Let's get going! To the Dark Star!" Kirby loudly said, and then the Warp Star took off into the sky with a really fast speed, and everyone kept his or her eyes focused on it until it disappeared in the direction of the Dark Star.

"There they go," Meta Knight said. "It's all up to them now. Meanwhile, we should take care of the remaining Dark Matters in Popstar. 02's defeat will instantly end the lives of all the Dark Matters, but we should make sure that minimal harm is done to the inhabitants of Popstar before Kirby, Gooey, and that girl named Reimu succeed."

"I wonder how much harm you can suppress before they win," said a voice. Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice and saw The Emperor and Marx, who was bouncing on a ball, approaching.

"Who are you guys?" Marisa asked them.

Coo saw Marx and said in a surprised tone, "You! Impossible! You're supposed to be..."

"Dead," Marx said, finishing the phrase for him. "Heheh! Surprised, eh? I knew you would!"

"Kirby destroyed you a long time ago!" Rick said. "How are you still alive?"

"Maybe he's actually a relative of Marx?" Pitch said.

"Oh, you better believe it! I'm still alive and well!" Marx said. "To be precise, I have been brought back to life! Boy! It sure feels good to come back to life! Heheheh!"

Meta Knight pointed his sword at Marx and said, "I have heard of your evil exploits. I won't ask you how you came back to life, but I will ask you whether or not you still have intentions to take over Popstar, and who is this man with you?"

"I am Emperor Mateus, but you can simply refer to me as The Emperor," The Emperor replied. "We are here under the order of a certain person to persuade King Dedede to join our organization, but he turned down our offer. Whatever the case is, that's no longer important. We have actually convinced someone else to join us, and that person is currently on his way to Popstar. It would appear that your friends are one their way to fight him."

"You mean 02? You resurrected him, didn't you?"

"And what would you do if I say yes?"

"You people wouldn't happen to be from the same organization that is trying to take over the universe, right?" Aya asked The Emperor.

"You cannot be any more correct than that, young girl from another world. It would appear that the other members of the organization had problems with you girls. I'm surprised that you're all able to make it this far without losing anyone! I could've sworn that Sigma said he killed one of you, but it seems that all of you are still alive and well."

"That would be me," Alice said. "You can go back and tell him that I have a score to settle with him the next time we meet!"

"On the other hand, I prefer telling him that I have finished up what he failed to finish."

"Hmmm... From the sound of it, you're planning to fight us," Marisa said. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

"I wonder how far you girls will go if I let you live. However, I wonder how well you will fare against us as well."

"Heheheh! A fight is going to begin! A fight is going to begin!" Marx said. "It's going to be fun to watch! Heheheh!"

The girls and Meta Knight immediately got into fighting stances while the animal friends quickly moved away from the place. "I will not allow you to disturb the peace of Dream Land as well as laying a hand on them!" Meta Knight said to the two villains. "I have heard from them about your exploits as well, so I will not allow you villains to do as you want! This day shall mark the end of your lives!"

* * *

The Warp Star exited Popstar's atmosphere and headed for the mass of darkness not too far away. "We're entering the Dark Star!" Kirby said. "Hang on tight!"

"This is wasn't what I expected when you said that it'll take us there in a jiffy!" Reimu said, holding onto the Warp Star for dear life. Though he was using only his mouth, Gooey had no problem holding on to the Warp Star. Reimu then noticed several eerie things on various parts of the Dark Star. "What the! Why are there eyes all over the star?"

"Those are Dark Matters," Kirby explained. "Dark Star is composed of several Dark Matters. It's basically a living star."

The Warp Star went inside the Dark Star, and they were immediately greeted with the sight of a red background and translucent hexagons scattered throughout the place. "At least the inside looks relatively normal," Reimu commented.

Gooey then let go of the warp star's right arm, but he remained floating in air. His body started to tremble, and then orange spheres appeared around him.

"Hey, what happened to him?"

"It seems that Gooey has transformed due to being in his homeland," Kirby replied.

"Homeland? He comes from this place?"

"Gooey is actually a Dark Matter, but unlike the other Dark Matters, he's a nice guy. Because he has severed all ties with his own kind, he is still able to exist even if 02 is defeated. Still, it seems that being in the place where he was born gave him the energy to obtain that form. He last transformed when we fought Zero, 02's original form."

"Who... goes... there...?" said a loud, echoing voice all of a sudden.

"That's 02's voice!" Kirby said.

Reimu let go of the Warp Star and flew by herself, and then Kirby flipped it horizontally in order to stand on it. They all looked around for the source of the voice, and suddenly, a large white sphere with wings that was drenched in red liquid appeared. The white thing also had a yellow halo floating above its head, a pair of dots for the eyes, and a large mouth that had blood trickling down its left side.

"You..." said the white sphere in an echoing voice. "Kirby... Also, you... Traitor..." Gooey cowered in fear behind Kirby when he heard this.

"02! You won't take over Popstar again! I won't be letting me! My friends and I will defeat you here!" Kirby said to the white sphere loudly.

"Friends... I do not have friends..." the white sphere known as 02 said. "Such a word has no meaning to me... Friendship... Happiness... I cannot feel happiness... Happiness... I can never feel it... Why should other people feel happiness if I cannot...? Happiness... It makes me angry... Other people can feel it... but I cannot... It really makes me sad... It makes me jealous..."

"This guy reminds me of Parsee..." Reimu said.

"None... I cannot feel happiness... None at all... I do not have friends... None at all..." 02 continued. "Why should other people have friends... if I cannot have friends...? Nobody shall feel happiness if I cannot feel it... Everyone shall feel only hatred and anger... because those are the only things I feel... I shall make everyone feel the same things as me... Your world is full of happiness... I cannot allow that... Your world... must feel anger, hatred, and sadness... I will not tolerate happiness in your world... Never... Never... NEVER!"

**BGM: vs. 02 (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards)**

Immediately after saying all those, 02's eyes disappeared at the same time he opened his mouth, and it actually turned out to be his eye. "What the heck!" Reimu said in shock.

"Happiness... Friendship... Joy... They must all... DISAPPEAR!" 02 said loudly in a voice full of anger.

"This is it!" Kirby said as he got his Star Rod ready. "He's getting serious! Be careful, Reimu! It's time to do battle!"

The three of them quickly flew out of the when 02 fired a several white sparks at them, and the sparkles exploded in burst of red and yellow light.

Kirby swung the Star Rod multiple times to fire stars at 02, and then red diamond-shaped projectiles shot out from various parts of 02's body and towards him, but he steered the Warp Star out of their way.

Gooey took a deep breath and then spit out stars at 02, rapidly shooting him in another part of the body, and then the villain fired red diamond-shaped, but he managed to avoid them.

Reimu threw several paper amulets at 02. The villain turned his attention to Reimu after the amulet tags exploded, and he fired red projectiles at her. Reimu dodged them and asked, "Are those drops of blood that he just fired?"

02's eyes started to release white light, and then he fired a huge white spark at them. They quickly got out of its way, but the white spark exploded with such a force that they were blown through the air by it.

Kirby was still spinning through the air from the force of the explosion when 02 fired red projectiles at him. When he finally got the Warp Star to stop moving, he was struck in the face by the projectiles with such a force that he was pushed off the Warp Star. "Wah!"

"Kirby!" Reimu shouted, and then she flew towards Kirby as fast as she could to grab him. When she was about to reach him, she was suddenly struck in the side by more of 02's projectiles. "YAH!" Despite the projectiles being made of liquid, getting struck by it was as painful as getting hit by stones. The shrine maiden was pushed through the air a bit and then fell along with Kirby.

Gooey quickly flew towards Kirby and lashed out his tongue to grab him by his foot. As for Reimu, she came back to her sense pretty fast, so she was able to fly again. Reimu looked at the blood that was splattered all over her clothes and skin and said, "This is going to cause some major misunderstandings when we get back to the others..." And then she looked at Gooey and Kirby. "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right," Kirby replied. Gooey flew to the Warp Star and then let go of Kirby's foot to let him get back onto it. "Thanks, Gooey!"

"Friends... I have none... Why should you have friends... when I have none...?" 02 said in a sad tone. "It makes me angry... It makes me really angry... Really... really... angry!" As the volume of his voice increased, he cried tears of blood from both corners of his eye, and then it glowed with white light before firing a large white spark.

"Not that move again!" Reimu thought, and then she quickly held out a blue card. "Cautionary Border!"

The white spark exploded in a huge burst red and yellow, but the three of them were safe behind the blue wall the shrine maiden set up. Once the explosion was cleared, Reimu said to Kirby, "Attack the Cautionary Border from behind with that rod of yours!"

"If you say so!" Kirby said, and then he fired a star at the wall to push it in the direction of 02.

The wall, along with the star, struck 02 in the eye, and the villain tilted his entire body downwards slightly while shaking violently as the result of getting hit, and then Kirby and Gooey fired at the halo constantly. The halo started off yellow, but with each shot, it slowly turned green, then blue, and then red. A few more shots later, the halo disappeared completely, and this caused a green thorny tail to grow out from underneath 02's body.

"That's the weak spot! Reimu! Gooey! Aim for that spot!"

Kirby, Gooey, and Reimu concentrated their attacks on the thorny tail, but when the tail was shot, drops of green liquid were released in their direction, so they had to move around while shooting in order to avoid getting hit.

02 eventually pulled his tail back into his body, and then the halo reappeared over his head. When he fired diamond-shaped projectiles at them again, Gooey flew out of the way, but Reimu and Kirby courageously flew towards 02 while dodging the projectiles. Reimu went above 02 and used a card to fire energy yin-yang orbs. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" All three orbs went through the halo and smashed him in the head.

Meanwhile, Kirby went up close 02's eye and shot the pupil at point blank. The villain shook around violently while moving backwards, and as he did, blood trickled down from his eye and the top of his head. Reimu flew to Kirby and said to him, "I saw a bandage on his head."

"Oh, that's the spot where his eye used to be," Kirby replied. "During our first battle, his eye separated itself from the body when he was about to be defeated. Admittedly, I was freaked out by the sight of that, and it still makes me shudder when think of it..."

"Yeah, it sounds scary all right... I wouldn't want to see something like that..."

02 stopped shaking and said in a loud voice, "Pain... I shall bring pain and suffering to everyone! All those who are happy must die!" Then he flapped his wings to fire red crescent-shaped projectiles from his wings.

Reimu and Kirby dodged the projectiles and then the white sparks that were fired afterwards. Reimu flew towards 02 and got out a card. "Bright Orb Cast into..." But before she could use it, 02 swung his wing at her to knock her away. "Yah!"

"Reimu!" Kirby gasped.

Reimu looked at Kirby as she fell and shouted, "Look out in front of you!"

Kirby looked up front in time to see a crescent-shaped projectile flying towards him, so he quickly dropped altitude to avoid it. Reimu flew back up and said to him, "Thanks for the concern, though you don't really have to worry about me. I can just fly back up as long as I still have the energy to do so."

"That's good to hear," Kirby said. "We better be careful. 02 is getting serious."

02 came down to the same level as them and fired diamond-shaped projectiles, but they avoided them. Reimu then flew towards 02 while avoiding the projectiles fired at her, and when she was close the villain, he swung his wing at her, but this time, Reimu swung her spiritually-enhanced gohei at it, and some of the blood-dyed feathers on it were destroyed as a result.

After that, Reimu threw two blue papers and two red papers around herself to create four miniature yin-yang orbs, and then the orbs fired at 02 rapidly while the shrine maiden threw a barrage of paper amulets.

02 was blasted all over the body, and the villain growled in anger as he moved back through the air while firing diamond-shaped projectiles from his body at Reimu, but she blocked it with a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!"

Meanwhile, Kirby swung the Star Rod as fast as he could to fire several stars at the halo. When the halo disappeared from getting hit too many times, 02's tail appeared underneath his body. Seeing that the tail had appeared, Reimu focuses all her attacks on it.

Gooey flew towards the tail and helped Reimu by spitting stars at it, but he got hit in the face by a drop of green liquid. The black blob was unable to see due to having liquid on his face, so Kirby quickly flew to him and wiped it off using his hand. "Are you all right?" Kirby asked him, and he replied with a couple of nods. "Good to hear! Be careful. Even though he's your master, you still have the right to do what you think is right. Prove to him that you made the right decision in choosing to be a good guy!" Gooey nodded again, and then the both of them turned to the tail and fired at it, but the tail disappeared into the body before it got hit.

"Absurd!" 02 said. "Friendship, happiness, everything that is good... All of them must not exist! I will make them disappear! Nobody shall experience those things if I cannot experience them!"

"That's not a good reason for taking over the world!" Reimu said to him. "I know a certain bridge princess who is constantly jealous of the things, be it tangible or intangible, that other people have but she doesn't try to take over the world or ruin people's happiness just because of that! Okay, she may do the latter, but even so, it's not anything major. You should learn a lesson or two from her!"

"You will never understand me! I can never feel happiness! What is it like to be happy? How does it feel to have friends? How to laugh? How to enjoy the good things of the world? I cannot experience any of them! I am incapable of experiencing those things! As long as I cannot experience those, nobody can!"

"It's useless talking to him, Reimu!" Kirby told the shrine maiden. "I tried to convince him before as well, but he's too stubborn to listen to my words."

"I guess you're right," Reimu said. "Sometimes it would be good to resolve a conflict without getting into a fight, but it seems that this is one of those conflicts that require a fight in order to resolve. His tail is his weak spot, right?"

"Yeah, the last time I fought him, he was defeated when I destroyed his tail."

"All right, let's get him to show his tail again, and then we'll destroy it!"

"Right on!" Kirby said, and then he and Gooey flew towards the halo.

"You will not win this time!" 02 said as he tilted upwards and flapped his wings to fire crescent-shaped projectiles at them.

Kirby and Gooey dodged the projectiles and then fired at the halo, but to 02's positioning, most of their shots missed the halo. They either flew over it or went underneath it. "We need to shoot it from a better position!" Kirby thought. He and Gooey tried flying above 02, but the villain kept on turning his eye in their direction to prevent them from getting into a good shooting position.

Reimu pointed her gohei at 02 to make the miniature yin-yang orbs shoot him rapidly. The villain turned his attention to Reimu, but the shrine maiden quickly flew around to his side while the yin-yang orbs continued shooting him. The villain tried to focus his eye on her, but the shrine maiden managed to stay out of his sight. This gave Kirby and Gooey a good look at the halo, so they attacked it.

02 growled in frustration from getting attacked constantly. He shook his entire body and flapped his wings desperately to repel his attackers, and then he moved as far as back as he could. "Do not get so full of yourself!" he said, and then his eye released red light.

"Now what?" Reimu asked.

"Dunno," Kirby replied. "I never saw him do anything like this."

Suddenly, a huge red beam shot out from 02's eye, but the three of them managed to fly aside in time. "Whoa!" Kirby cried. "He has a move like that!"

02 moved the laser around to try to hit them with it, but they flew around to avoid it. Reimu then flew a 02, and the villain moved the laser towards her, but the shrine maiden flew out of its way while continuing to head in his direction. While still firing the laser beam, 02 fired diamond-shaped projectiles from his body. Reimu managed to dodge them as well, and then she quickly took out a card and smashed it against 02's body. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" A burst of energy came out from the card and blasted the villain backwards.

02 stopped the laser attack as a result, and when he looked at Reimu, he saw the shrine maiden throwing several paper amulets at him. As he had no time to do anything, he got blasted by them all. "Grrr!" 02 growled. "Dark Matters, aid me!" Then three Dark Matters flew into the scene and towards Reimu.

"So you're admitting that you can't take on us alone, right?" Reimu asked, and then she dodged the Dark Matters when they attempted to ram her. Two of the Dark Matters went for Kirby and Gooey while the third one turned around to go after her again.

Kirby and Gooey dodged the Dark Matters when they tried to ram them, and when they turned around to face the Dark Matters, they saw the evil entities growing orange spheres around their bodies. "I believe you can handle one of them by yourself, right?" Kirby asked Gooey, who responded by nodding. "Good luck by yourself!"

One of the Dark Matters fired a black lightning bolt from his eye at Gooey, but he dodged it. Kirby fired a star at the other Dark Matter, and then he quickly flew away in order to lure him away from the two. Once he was a bit of a distance from Gooey and the other Dark Matter, he turned around to shoot the Dark Matter following him with stars. The Dark Matter quickly moved aside to avoid the star, and then he fired the orange spheres around his body at him. Kirby managed to avoid them as well, and then he shot the Dark Matter while new spheres were growing out from his body.

The Dark Matter then charged at Kirby angrily, but the puffball got out of the way and fired stars at him from behind. The Dark Matter quickly turned around to fire a lightning bolt that penetrated the stars, and Kirby was hit by it. "Ow!" he cried. When he opened his eye, he saw the Dark Matter charging at him. Acting quick, Kirby swung the Star Rod at his face to knock him away. Kirby then fired several stars at the Dark Matter while his eye was in pain, and then he charged at the evil entity and dashed past him, striking him with the Star Rod in the process.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Dark Matter was made to spin in place from getting hit, and then he exploded into black particles. "That's that!" Kirby said, and then he looked at Gooey to see him still fighting the Dark Matter.

Gooey was having a hard time trying to take down the Dark Matter. The evil entity avoided his shots while getting close to him, and then he fired a black lightning at him at close range.

"Gooey!" Kirby gasped. He quickly flew over to Gooey to catch him. "Are you all right?" The black blob stuck out his tongue to show that he was still breathing. When Kirby looked up front, he saw the Dark Matter firing his orange spheres at them, so he quickly flew out of the way.

Kirby let go of Gooey to let him fly by himself, and then he flew towards the Dark Matter while firing stars at him. The Dark Matter managed to dodge them, but when Kirby flew up close to him and shot him at a close range, he was hit. While the Dark Matter was still recovering from the hit, Gooey fired the orange spheres around his body at him.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

The Dark Matter fell through the air after getting blasted by the orange spheres, and then it exploded into black particles.

"Great job, Gooey!" Kirby said to Gooey. "Oh yeah, how's Reimu doing?" He turned to the shrine maiden and saw that she was fighting a sword-wielding caped being with spiky hairstyle. "Uh oh... That's the Dark Matter's swordsman form!"

Reimu clashed her spiritually-enhanced gohei with the transformed Dark Matter's sword. They pushed their weapons against each other for a while, and then they swung them at each other several times. Eventually, Reimu backed off from him to throw paper amulets. Dark Matter also backed off, and then raised his sword into the air to form a ball of dark energy on the tip of the sword, and once the size of the energy ball was slightly larger than a basketball, he fired it at the incoming paper amulets. The energy ball hit one of the amulets, but the explosion that came afterwards took out of the other amulets as well.

Reimu threw more paper amulets at the Dark Matter, but he sliced them in two with his sword and then fired another dark energy ball at her. Reimu dodged the energy ball and then commanded her yin-yang orbs to fire at him. The Dark Matter flew out of the way and fired another energy ball at her, but Reimu managed to avoid it.

She flew at the Dark Matter and brought down her gohei onto him, but he blocked it with his sword. Reimu immediately pulled back afterwards to throw a paper amulet at his face, and because it came so suddenly, the Dark Matter had no time to do anything. It exploded in his face.

KABOOOOM!

Reimu flew behind the Dark Matter and readied to throw more paper amulets at him when suddenly she was shot in the back. "AH!" When she turned around, she saw 02, and after touching her back, she saw that her hand was covered in blood. "What! Oh wait, this isn't..."

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"UGH!" Reimu cried when the Dark Matter dashed past her, slashing her in the waist in the process. The shrine maiden put her hand on her waist and groaned in pain while looking at the Dark Matter as he turned around to charge up an energy ball using his sword.

Suddenly, he saw a star flying in his direction, so he threw the premature energy ball at it to counter it. Kirby then flew over on his Warp Star and clashed the Star Rod against his sword. "Are you all right, Reimu?" Kirby asked the shrine maiden while holding up against the Dark Matter's sword.

"I'm fine..." she said. "I can still hold up..."

Kirby pushed the Star Rod against the Dark Matter for a while, and then he quickly moved back to fire stars at him. The Dark Matter managed to block every single shot with his sword, and then he noticed Gooey firing orange balls at him from the side, so he quickly flew out of the way.

He then saw Reimu throwing several paper amulets at him while the miniature yin-yang orbs fired constantly, so he quickly pulled his cape in front of himself to block the shots. Kirby and Gooey attempted to attack him from behind, but he pulled off a spinning attack that released a black shockwave from his sword to knock them both away. Reimu used this opportunity to fly over to him to clash her gohei against his sword, and then the shrine maiden pulled off an unexpected move of bringing up her leg to kick the Dark Matter's sword out of his hand.

Reimu then struck the Dark Matter hard over his head with her gohei, and then she moved back and used a card to fire a large energy yin-yang orb. "Treasure Tool: Demon God Yin-Yang Orb!"

The massive energy ball collided into the Dark Matter and pushed him across the place, and it eventually swallowed the evil entity. Inside the energy ball, the Dark Matter disintegrated.

"Yeah! You did it!" Kirby said. "And that move looks cool as well!"

"Okay, he's all alone again," Reimu said as she turned to look at 02, but she saw the villain's eye glowing. "Uh oh... OUT OF THE WAY!" Then a huge red beam was fired from his eye.

The three of them managed to avoid the attack in the nick of time, but 02 moved the beam around in an attempt to hit them. Luckily, all three of them were fast at moving around, so they managed to avoid getting hit. As they approached 02, diamond-shaped projectiles shot out from various parts of his body and towards them.

Kirby fired stars at the projectiles to get rid of them, and then Reimu went past Kirby and threw a pair of amulets that were glowed with orange light. "Hakurei Amulet!" The amulets struck the halo and exploded.

Once again, the halo was destroyed, and so the tail appeared underneath 02's body. "Now for the tail!" Reimu thought as she took out a card. She quickly flew to the same level as the tail and held up the card. "Divine Spirit: Fantasy..." But a drop of green liquid hit her, thus causing her attack to be interrupted."Ugh!"

The card fell off from her hand, so Kirby flew to it as fast as he could. "Don't worry! I'll get it for you!" he said, and then he opened his mouth to suck in the card. The card was sucked right into his mouth; however, he accidentally swallowed it instead of keeping it in his mouth. "Oops..."

Reimu flew over to him and said, "You swallowed my card, didn't you? Spit it out at once!"

"Sorry about that..." Kirby said. "However, in doing so, I felt some sort of energy within my body. It's as if I've obtained a new ability!" He then looked at 02 and saw that the villain still had his tail out. "There's no time! I'll use this ability right away!" Then he flew towards the villain.

"You can use it?" Reimu asked.

Kirby took out a card as he approached 02 and shouted, "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!" Energy balls of various colors appeared around his body, and then they all flew towards the tail.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Green liquid and thorns flew all over the place as the tail was blown into pieces. 02 shook uncontrollably while cracks started to appear all over his body. "Nooooo!" he shouted. "How dare you! This can't be... happening...! GAAAAAAAAAAH! CURSE YOU ALL!"

"It's over for you, 02!" Kirby said to the suffering villain. "Like last time, you have lost! This is the power of friendship! My friends and I joined force to defeat you! You only have henchmen to accompany you, and that is not true friendship!"

"I will not... accept... this! I will not... accept... this...! Curse you all!"

Reimu, Kirby, and Gooey watched as 02 shook around in pain. Blood oozed out from the cracks on his body, his wings slowly crumbled into pieces, and green liquid continued to leak out from where the tail used to be.

"I... will... not... die... I will... destroy... all... HAPPINESS!" 02 shouted. Several cracks appeared around his eye, and suddenly, his eye tore itself out from the body.

"What the!" Reimu said, horrified by the gruesome sight.

"It's exactly the same as that time!" Kirby said in shock.

"DIE!" shouted the eye as it flew towards them. However, Kirby managed to counter it with ease by hitting it with the Star Rod. It was like hitting a baseball with a baseball bat. "GAH!"

Reimu then flew towards it and threw some paper amulets at it. The amulets stuck themselves onto the eye, and Reimu said, "This is the end of you! Good-bye!"

As the amulets began to glow, 02 shouted, "IT'S NOT OVER YET! IT'S NOT OVER YET! AS LONG AS DARKNESS, SORROW, AND PAIN EXIST IN THE WORLD, I WILL BE BACK! I WILL BE BACK!"

Reimu looked at 02 in silence for a while, and then said, "You know? Your last words are really clichéd."

Then the amulets exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm sorry if the battle with 02 is a bit easy. 02 is a giant sphere, so I had a hard time trying to make him move around freely, if you know what I mean... I also came up with new moves for him in order to make the fight more interesting.

By the way, the Dark Matter's swordsman form was originally intended to fight Youmu and Meta Knight, but I totally forgot about him when doing the chapter where they fought the possessed knights... Therefore, I made up for it by putting him in this chapter.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Happiness in Dream Land**


	71. Happiness in Dream Land

**SBS Time!  
doomknight1337: **Can you do an Earthbound arc? I want them to meet Ness and see how they fare against Giygas**.  
Game2002: **Sorry, I cannot answer any questions related to arcs. Reisen and Sanae have already fought Giygas, though not the real one. At least they did fight him in some form, right?

Sorry for the long wait... Once again, laziness got the best of me... Anyway, here's the next chapter!

**Chapter 70  
Happiness in Dream Land**

**

* * *

**

"Vampire Claw!" Remilia shouted as she swung her claws at The Emperor.

"Protect," the villain said, and then a yellow oval made of energy appeared around him to protect him from the claw attack.

Remilia slashed against the energy oval over and over, but she wasn't able to break through it no matter what. "If that's the case, then..." she said as she moved back several steps, and then she formed a red spear in her hand. "Heart Break!"

She threw the red spear at The Emperor, who said, "Shell." This time, a hexagon made of energy appeared around him to protect him from the spear. "It doesn't matter what you use. My magic is far more superior to what you can do!"

"I have to admit that you have some skills," Remilia, who had wounds all over her body, said while panting heavily. "To think that someone as powerful as I would have a problem dealing with you... Hey, what's that smell?" She looked around for the source of the smell that smelled like something burning, and then she noticed her wings burning. "EEKS! OH NO!" Quick as a flash, she rushed over her to her parasol that was lying on the ground and used it to shade herself from the sunlight. "Phew... That was close... I almost forgot that I can't be exposed to sunlight for too long..."

"Not a very good time for you to be fighting, am I right?"

"You mind your own business!"

"Love Sign: Master Spark!" shouted the voice of Marisa. The Emperor turned to her to see her using her Hakkero to fire a huge laser beam at him.

"Shell!" The Emperor quickly surrounded himself within an energy hexagon, and it was able to protect him from the laser. However, the hexagon started to flicker, indicating that it was on the verge of breaking apart. "Such power!" So he quickly hopped aside before the hexagon was completely destroyed. He turned to look at Marisa, who was as badly injured as Remilia. "I'm surprised that you're still able to stand even after being badly hurt by Marx's black hole attack. Something really should be said about you girls. It's no surprise that you are able to make it this far after all!"

"Thanks for the compliment-ze...!" Marisa said while panting heavily. "I have something to say to you as well... You spent most of your time doing nothing but standing there, and most of the fighting was left to your friend..."

Behind Marisa, one could see the other girls and Meta Knight collapsed all over the place, and they were all badly charred and injured. The animal friends were watching from afar and shuddering in fright. "This is terrible..." Rick said. "All of them got defeated so easily by Marx..."

"He is no joking matter..." Coo said. "Ever since he got his wish from the N.O.V.A. to take over Popstar, he has become a monster..."

Flying above The Emperor was Marx, but this time, he had a pair of wings that looked like colorful scales hanging down from a pair of golden branches with cloverleaf-shaped tips.

"Heheheh! It sure is fun fighting you!" Marx said. "I can play with you more if you want to! Want to witness that same attack again? It was so fun watching the lot of you struggling to escape from the black hole, only to get sucked inside one by one, and then... BANG! All of you went flying all over the place! Heheheheh!"

"You better not laugh too early just yet..." Marisa said to him. "This fight hasn't finished yet... In the very least, we must hold on until Reimu, Kirby, and Gooey come back... If we cannot take you down, they can..."

"I doubt your friend will be coming up," The Emperor said "at least not in a while." He then looked at the Dark Star. Suddenly, the Dark Star disappeared completely. "What!"

"Heh! It would seem that they did it-ze!" Marisa said.

"No surprise," Remilia commented.

They continued to look at the sky and saw that something was approaching them at a very fast speed, and as it came closer and closer, it turned out to be the Warp Star, and Kirby, Gooey, and Reimu were all holding onto it. "We're landing!" Kirby said. "Hold on tight!"

"Like anyone wouldn't hold on tight when this thing is traveling with a speed like this!" Reimu shouted.

The Warp Star crashed onto the ground and made dust shoot up into the air, and Kirby, Gooey, and Reimu were sent flying into the air a few feet before falling back onto the ground. "Ow... Talk about a rough landing..." Reimu said while dusting herself.

"Good to see you back," Remilia said to her. Reimu turned to her and was surprised to see her injured.

"Remilia! What happened to you!"

"Why don't you try looking behind you?"

Reimu, Kirby, and Gooey turned around and were shocked to see their friends badly injured and unconscious on the ground, except for Marisa. "It's great to you have back, Reimu!" Marisa said while panting tiredly, and then she fell on one knee. "I'll leave the rest... to you..."

"Marisa! What happened here!" Reimu said in shock. "Why is everyone injured and unconscious?" She then looked at The Emperor and Marx. "It's the both of you, right? Who are you?"

When Kirby saw Marx, he was shocked. "MARX!"

"Long time no see, Kirby!" Marx said. "Surprised, eh?"

"But you're already dead! I destroyed you back then! How are you still alive!"

That was when Reimu realized the answer to her question. "I get it now... The both of you are from that organization, right? You badly injured my friends while we were gone, right?"

"It is as you said," The Emperor said, "and I can see that the three of you managed to defeat 02, right? Such a pity... He was looking forward to work with us... Oh well, what has happened has happened. It can't be helped."

Reimu pointed her gohei at him and said, "I won't let you get away with this! You'll pay for hurting my friends!"

"Aren't you tired from your battle against 02? Seeing how you are not tired, I can conclude that you defeated 02 with little effort. It would seem that he is not as powerful as I thought. Perhaps such a loss would not be an issue for us after all."

"You wanna fight?" Marx asked Reimu and Kirby. "I'll gladly use the very same move that knocked out your friends! Heheheh! It's going to be very fun to see you struggle like them!" All of a sudden, he was hit in the side of the face by a ball of ice. "OOF!"

"Hmm?" The Emperor turned to look at Marx's attacker and saw that it was Cirno.

"I'm the strongest..." she said. "I will not... be defeated so easily... like this...!"

Marx turned to her and said, "Why you! You little brat! I'll teach you a lesson for hitting my face!" The scales on his wings glowed with golden light, and then spikes were fired at her.

"Watch out!" Kirby shouted to Cirno.

Cirno quickly formed a shield out of ice. However, the spikes penetrated the ice shield and hit her. "KYAH!" And she fell onto the ground.

"Ha! How'd you like that? Eat this!" Marx said, and then he took a deep breath.

"Oh no! That move! Cirno's in danger!" Kirby gasped, and then he ran towards the fallen ice fairy as fast as he could while Reimu threw paper amulets at Marx.

The paper amulets hit Marx and exploded, but this didn't stop the villain from using his attack, a giant laser beam that was fired from the mouth. The explosion did cause him to misaim, however.

The laser ended up going in the direction of Kirby. "Oh no!" The puffball had no time to do anything, so he got blasted by the beam. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Oh no! Kirby!" Reimu gasped. "What have I done!"

"Thunder," said The Emperor, and then he raised his hand into the air to fire a lightning bolt upwards. The lightning bolt then fell towards Reimu, but she managed to dodge it in the nick of time.

Marx then swooped towards her, but she managed to avoid him by rolling aside. The villain then u-turned to go after her again, and he said, "You will pay for throwing explosives at me!"

"So you don't want to have explosives thrown at you, right?" Reimu asked, and then she stuck a paper amulet onto the back of her right hand. When Marx was about to fly into her, she punched him square in the face. "Exploding Shrine Maiden Punch!" The paper amulet glowed with bright blue light when her fist came in contact with Marx's face, and then it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Marx screamed as the explosion propelled him back through the air until he hit the ground, charred.

"So how do you like the exploding punch? Reimu asked.

"That's quite a move you pulled off," Remilia said to her. "I never saw you do something like that before. Won't that hurt you hand, though?"

"I surged spiritual energy into the amulet to trigger the explosion, so the explosion is spiritual in nature, and since my body has spiritual energy running through it, it won't hurt me."

"It would appear that Marx was a bit careless," The Emperor said. "Unlike the rest of the members in the organization, I always plan ahead and use strategies to overcome my opponents rather than taking on them head-on. I will definitely be more careful with you, so don't think that the same trick will work on me."

"Then why don't you prove it?" Reimu asked him. "Simply standing there and talking won't get you anywhere."

"If you insist," The Emperor said as he took a step forward, but then he noticed something being thrown at him from the side, so he quickly formed a yellow oval around himself. "Protect!" It was a pot that was thrown at him, and it shattered into pieces when it hit the oval-shaped barrier. He saw that it was Marisa who threw it at him. "What's this? Resorting to throwing potteries at me now that you no longer have the strength to cast magic or attack me directly?"

"You can say that..." Marisa said while holding up another pot. "At least it's better than not trying at all, don't you think so-ze?" And she threw the second pot at him.

The Emperor caught the pot in his hand with no effort and smirked. "Heheh! Using such toys against me is useless. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Suddenly, the pot exploded in a huge burst of blue light.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Ugh!" The Emperor cried as he jumped back from within the explosion. "What the! It was a bomb!" Then he noticed Reimu throwing paper amulets at him, so he quickly formed the yellow oval again. "Protect!"

The oval protected him from the explosion of the paper amulets, and then he quickly moved back and raised his hand into the air to make to make bluish-white sparkles appear around himself. "Cure!" This caused injuries that he received from the explosion to disappear. "I admit that you took me by surprise."

"So what are you going to do now?" Reimu asked as she held up more paper amulets. "Have you got any plans on how to take on us all?"

"Hmmm... Perhaps we should make a tactical retreat for now. After all, we have already done what we came here for." Then he looked at Marx and made sparkles fly in his direction. "Curaga!" When the sparkles touched Marx, his wounds got healed.

"What the...? What happened?" the villain said as he got back up.

"We are leaving, Marx," he said to him as he got out a single-buttoned remote control, and a large door appeared behind him when he pressed it.

"But they haven't been defeated yet! I wanna keep on fighting them! I'm going to teach them a lesson for hurting me! They shall pay for it!"

"Save your energy, Marx. It is wiser to retreat from a fight at times. Now that we no longer have a reason to be here, we should take our leave. Come, let us go."

"Grrrr... Okay, okay..." Marx grumbled, and then his wings disappeared.

As the two villains went through the door, The Emperor turned to Reimu and said, "You girls should feel glad to be able to survive. Perhaps you will be able to get to Smash World after all. However, good things will not last forever. Eventually, Darkling shall come to rise and take over the universe once again. Try to survive until then if you wish to witness the world drowning into darkness and evil. Fufufufufufu!"

"Darkling?" Reimu curiously said.

"You will find out what that is soon enough!" The Emperor said before going through the door. Once both villains disappeared into the door, it disappeared.

"Well, there they go," Remilia said. "You didn't think of stopping them, did you?"

"It's best that they leave if you ask me," Reimu replied. "The others are hurt, so we should be tending to them rather than fighting."

The animal friends then ran up to them, and Rick asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. We better get the others back to the shrine and heal their wounds."

As they went up to the fallen girls, they saw Meta Knight getting up. "Meta Knight! You're all right!" Chuchu said to him.

"I actually heard everything just now, but I was too injured to get up and fight..." the blue puffball knight said. "I'm sorry for not being able to support you..."

"It's all right," Reimu said to him. "It's not a good idea to push yourself if you're in no condition to fight."

Suddenly, a crack appeared on Meta Knight's mask, and then the mask broke into two to reveal his face, a face that looked exactly the same as Kirby's, but his eyes were white rather than black. Reimu, Remilia, and Marisa were taken by surprise. Never would they think that someone with such a deep voice would have cute face! "That is... what you really look like?" Reimu said.

"Heheh! You look pretty cute! As cute as Kirby-ze!" Marisa commented.

Meta Knight quickly covered his hands over his face, and then he wrapped his cape around himself. "Um... If you would excuse you for a while..." he said. "We'll talk about the Light Essence when I come back..." And then with a spin, he disappeared into thin air.

"Wow... When I first heard this voice, I thought that he would look a bit... more matured behind that mask..." Reimu said. "Quite a surprise..."

"Physical appearance may not always be an indication of age," Remilia said. "Perhaps only his voice aged, but not his outward appearance. Judging by his voice, he might be somewhere between 30 and 40 years old."

"I'm surprised that you don't have the voice of a five hundred years old woman," Marisa said to her.

Hearing this, Remilia became offended. "Who are you calling an old woman!"

"Hey, don't blame me. You're the one who brought up the voice and age issue first."

* * *

The Emperor and Marx returned to the other members of the organization and took their seats in front of their table. "Well, things got messed up thanks to those girls, right?" the man wearing a hat asked.

"I cannot deny that," The Emperor said. "Dedede may have declined the invitation, but 02 accepted the invitation. Unfortunately, he met his demise for the third time in the hands of that shrine maiden, Kirby, and his friend."

"Well, that shows how weak 02 is," Sigma said. "It's not worth it recruiting someone like him!"

"By the way, Sigma, I'm sure you'll be surprised..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you want to tell me already. That girl is still alive. She did say that she isn't human, so maybe that helped her survive her injuries. She's free to come and get back at me whenever she feels like it, and I'll make sure she regrets it!"

"We really should be taking on those girls first!" I.M. Meen said. "They're obviously a threat to us! Things will not go as planned as long as they are alive!"

"So you are admitting that you're afraid of them, am I right in saying so?" the man with a goatee asked him.

"I never said anything about that! What made you think of that! How about you? You haven't been doing anything at all! Am I right in saying that you're actually the one who's afraid of them?"

All of sudden, the man with a goatee disappeared from his seat and reappeared behind I.M. Meen in an instant. He wrapped his arms around the self-proclaimed most powerful magician in the world's waist and placed his head near his neck. "You know?" he asked the frightened magician. "It's very impolite to call someone a coward without any proof. I'm already tired of putting up with your immature antics. I'm sure that everyone here thinks the same."

"Hey! You better not lay a hand on me!" I.M. Meen cried. "I'm the one responsible for bringing all of you back to life! You should be thanking me instead!"

"Yeah, and that doesn't mean you are our boss," the man wearing a hat said. "I wouldn't care if something happens to you right now. In fact, your death surely won't affect our organization at all."

"Yeah, you're better of dead," Sigma said. "You are without doubt the most annoying human I've ever met in my life."

"Hey! Are guys going to help me or not!" I.M. Meen cried. "I'm part of the organization, so I deserve respect! You guys won't get away with it if you lay a hand on me!"

"Enough is enough!" said the voice loudly all of sudden. "How many times have I said that there should be no internal conflicts?"

The man with a goatee let go of I.M. Meen and returned his seat. "Consider yourself lucky," he said.

"I.M. Meen," the voice said. "I would appreciate it if you act a bit more matured."

"I have to agree with I.M. Meen about one thing, though," the bulky one said. "Are we seriously going to leave those girls alone? It is best to get rid of pests before they annoy you too much. We cannot simply think of trying to accomplish our goal without care of the obstacles."

"You do bring up a good point. Much as I wish to see how they progress, I have to admit that they are starting to become troublesome. Perhaps taking out one or two of them wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Then please give me the privilege to do so. I will gladly strike them down with my sword."

"I have a good idea. Do not worry; you will have a part in it. I.M. Meen, this is also a good chance for you to get back at them. I'm sure that you are willing to participate in this plan, right?"

"Yes! I'll do anything to get back at them for humiliating me!" I.M. Meen said.

"Very well! This is my plan, so listen carefully."

* * *

Everyone was back at the shrine, and all the girls were back on their feet, albeit weak due to their injuries.

"Ow! That hurts! Can't you be gentler?" Aya cried when Reimu wrapped a bandage around her right leg.

"You should be thankful that you can still feel pain," Reimu said to her. "It proves that your leg still has its nerves intact. Plus, you're a tengu, and like all other kinds of demons, your wounds will heal by itself in a short amount of time."

"Reimu, am I supposed to apply this one first or this one?" Marisa asked Reimu while holding up a yellow bottle and a clear bottle.

"Just read the instructions on those bottles!"

"There are no instructions."

"Um... Just apply whichever you want first!"

"But what if I end up making my wounds worse due to using them carelessly?"

"Argh! I don't know! Go ask Reisen! She knows a lot about these!"

"But she's not here. She got kidnapped by Dedede, remember?"

That was when Reimu remembered something. "Oh yeah! I was supposed to go and reclaim my donation box from that guy!"

"And rescue Reisen too."

"Where is that guy? He's here, right? I'm going to go and have a word with him about this right now!"

"He's still unconscious," Youmu said. "It seems that he took a really bad beating."

"I don't care! I'll just pour water on him to wake him up, and if he doesn't, I'll knock him in the head until he wakes up!"

"On the contrary, that'll keep him from waking up, I think..." Aya said.

"Hello! Is anybody home?" shouted a voice.

"There's someone shouting out there," Marisa said.

"Well, then go and see who is it," Reimu told her.

"I can't. I'm still applying medicine onto myself."

"Then someone go get it! Is everyone here so badly injured that she cannot walk at all or what?"

"There are boys here too," Nago, who poked his head out from behind the sliding door all of a sudden, said. "I'll go get it, meow." And he went to the front door. Once there, he saw a lone Waddle Dee. "Oh hi! Are you here to see the master of this house? She's busy, but I'll go and ask her to see if she will let you in."

"That would be good, but you can pass on my message to her if you want to," the Waddle Dee said.

"Okay! What do you want me to tell her?"

"Please tell her that her friend, the girl with rabbit ears, is currently at our castle. If possible, please go and see her. That is her request."

"Oh, Reisen? Okay, I'll go tell her!" And Nago went back into the shrine, only to come back out a second later. "Meow! I forgot to tell you this! Your king is here."

"His Majesty is in there? Wow! What a coincidence! We were looking all over the place for him after he got blown out of the castle by that girl with rabbit ears!"

"Oh, Reisen sent him flying out of the castle? Cool! She must be really strong to do that!"

* * *

Reisen was resting on a large bed in a beautifully decorated room. "Ah! I have never slept on such a comfortable bed!" she said. "So this is what it's like to live as a king! In my case, a queen!"

"Would you like anything else?" a Waddle Dee asked her.

Reisen reached for a cup placed on the table next to her bed and said, "Can you please get me more carrot juice?"

"As you wish, madam!"

"Thanks!"

The Waddle Dee was about to leave through the door when it suddenly opened. Another Waddle Dee came in and said to Reisen, "Miss Reisen, your friends are here to see you."

"Reimu and the others are here?" she curiously said. "Let them in!"

"Okay!" The Waddle Dee then let the girls in. Kirby and his friends also came along.

"Hey there, Reisen!" Marisa said to her. "It seems that you're living like a queen!"

"You can say that again!" Reisen said to her.

The girls went up to her, and Sanae asked her, "Is it true that you defeated King Dedede and sent him flying out of his castle?"

"I can't deny that."

"Wow! I didn't know you're that strong!"

"Actually, it's not what you think... if what I think you're thinking is correct..."

"Whatever the case is, it's good to see that you're alive and well," Reimu said to her. "You had us worried."

"Thanks for your concern!"

"Eirin would be disappointed if her white rat is dead after all."

"Um... Yeah, that's true... Heheh..."

Then another Waddle Dee came into the room and stood at the doorway. "Sir Meta Knight is here," he said. "He wishes to meet you girls."

"Oh, he must be here to talk about the Light Essence," Aya said.

The Waddle Dee let Meta Knight into the room, and he said to the girls, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's all right," Sanae said to him. "It's good to see that you're back in good health!"

"You wish to know where the Light Essence is, right? I happen to know where it is and even what it looks like."

"Wow! That's great!" Nitori commented.

"First, let us go and see King Dedede."

"What does he have to do with this?" Reimu asked.

"If you want to find the Light Essence, then you will have to come. You will know once we meet him."

"Okay, if you say so..."

So a Waddle Dee led Meta Knight, all the girls except Reisen, and Kirby and his friends over to Dedede's room, and the self-proclaimed king, covered from head to toe in bandages, was lying on his bed. "Your Majesty," the Waddle Dee said, "these people wish to see you."

"What do they want?" Dedede asked. "Can't they see that I'm trying to take a rest?"

Meta Knight went up to him and asked him, "How are your injuries?"

"You think these bandages are for look? That girl with rabbit ears should be glad that I can't get up and clobber her for what she did to me!" Then he looked at the girls. "Now that you're here, hurry up and get her out of my castle! I don't want to see you girls either! Get out of my sight at once!"

"Before that, they must acquire something from you. I am very sure that you have it with you."

"What do they want from me? And no! They can't take my anything from me!"

"What they want to find is an object called a Light Essence. Without that, they cannot use the World Light to leave this world."

Nitori then noticed something on the table next to Dedede's bed. "Hey! Did you see that? That thing just sparkled when Meta Knight said 'World Light'!" she said. What she saw was a model of a star on a pedestal. The pedestal was made of gold, and the center of star was colored black while four of its points were pink, and the fifth point at the top was white.

"I saw it too!" Reimus said. "So that's the Light Essence? To think that it was in this castle all along!"

Dedede looked at the Light Essence and said, "No! You cannot have that! That's a souvenir Master Hand gave me! It is to acknowledge me as a great fighter in the Smash Brothers Tournament! It is my pride!"

"Are you sure?" Meta Knight asked him. "I remember that he only said it was a souvenir for joining that tournament. He never said anything about giving it to you because you're a strong fighter. In fact, you didn't even rank top ten."

"I don't care! Whatever belongs to me stays in my castle! Nobody takes anything from me!"

"Do you wish for them to leave your castle? They will never leave your castle and even this world if they do not get their hands on that. Plus, the universe is currently in danger, and without that, they cannot save the universe. If the universe cannot be saved, our world will also be in danger, and it goes without saying that your castle and your life will also be in danger."

"Let's just give that thing to them," the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana said to Dedede. "That way, you do not have to see the girls again."

Dedede thought for a while, and then said, "All right... Go ahead and take it... It's not like I don't have any other valuables here anyway..."

"There's also one more thing I have to take back with me," Reimu said. "My donation box! Your minions stole it from my shrine while I was gone!"

"Oh, that wooden box with treasure inside? Fine, take it back with you... as long as you will leave me alone after doing so..."

"Thank you very much!"

* * *

After obtaining the Light Essence and reclaiming the donation box, the girls returned to their shrine. Kirby and his friends were also there to see them off. "Well, that's that," Reimu said. "We're ready to leave now."

"Good-bye!" Kirby said. "Good luck in the other worlds!" Gooey simply stuck out his tongue.

"The fate of the universe lies in your hands," Meta Knight said. "I wish you luck in saving the universe."

"It's been nice knowing you!" Rick said. "Take care!"

"Meow! You girls are awesome! I hope to you see you again!" Nago said.

"Me too!" Pitch said.

"Come and visit us whenever you can!" Chuchu said.

"Take care, valiant warriors!" Coo said.

"Heheh! Being called a warrior makes me feel good-ze!" Marisa commented.

"Well, you can say that we are indeed warriors," Youmu said.

After saying good-bye their friends, the girls went into the shrine while Reimu let the Light Essence float into the air. The usual stuff happened, and then the Hakurei Shrine was engulfed in a beam of light that blinded Kirby and his friends.

When the light died down, the shrine was nowhere in sight. "There they go," Meta Knight said. "Let us hope that everything will go smoothly for them."

"I'm sure they will be able to handle everything with no problem," Kirby said. "Reimu is very strong!" Suddenly, his stomach growled. "I'm hungry..."

* * *

Evening was approaching, and Mystia was preparing to start doing business. After lighting up the coals for her grill, she placed skewered lampreys onto the grill to cook them. "Okay, everything's ready!" she said. "I wonder how business will be today." Then she started humming her theme song.

All of a sudden, Yuyuko appeared in front of her with a drooling mouth.

Mystia's eyes widened in horror, and she screamed, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! IT'S THE HUNGRY GHOST!" And she rushed out from her lamprey stand and into the woods until she was no longer in sight.

Yuyuko looked at the direction where the demon night sparrow ran off. "Don't mind if I help myself to these!" she said, and then she started eating the lampreys. After finishing them all, she sat down on the bench in front of the stand and patted her belly. "Well! That was good! It's not enough to fill my stomach, but having something to eat is better than nothing! I haven't been able to eat properly ever since Youmu disappeared, and I don't know how to cook... Youmu, please come back quick... I miss you..."

Her stomach growled again, so she got up and looked for anything edible she could find in the lamprey stand. After eating them all, she placed some coins on the front part of the stand, the part where the customers dine, and then left. "Hmmm... Maybe I should go and eat at the Yakumo's house until Youmu comes back," she thought. "I hope they won't mind."

* * *

Samus was looking at the sight of futuristic buildings through a large window. Anthony then came up to her and asked, "What's up, princess?"

"Nothing," the bounty huntress replied. "Just watching the scenery, that's all."

"You must be very bored, am I right?"

"Well, you can say that. Ridley is in prison, the Space Pirates aren't that much of a threat without their captain, and I have already exterminated all the Metroids on SR388. There's really nothing else to do. Since bounty hunting is my work, it sure gets boring when there's no work."

"Don't worry; I'm sure work will eventually come. Sooner or later, you'll receive words from the higher-ups."

"Maybe."

Suddenly, a gap appeared next to them, and Yukari fell out of it and onto the floor. "Whoa! What in the world!" Anthony said in shock.

Samus bent down next to Yukari and asked her, "What happened to you? Are you all right?"

"Food... I'm... starving... to... death..." Yukari cried, and then she looked up. "I'm... so... hungry... that... I... could... eat... you... up... right... now..." Then her face fell flat on the floor again.

Samus and Anthony immediately carried Yukari by her arms and took her to the food court to get her something to eat. The demon of boundaries wasted no time in eating up everything edible placed on the table. After a few minutes, she reclined on her chair and patted her stomach. "Ah! That was great! I feel so much better now! I really owe you one! Thanks a bunch!"

"Um... You're welcome..." Samus said. "So... how did you show up in this place all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, I didn't actually see how you appear," Anthony said. "Did you use teleportation?"

"Well, you can compare it to teleportation if you want to," Yukari replied while wiping her mouth. "Anyway, I have to get going now. I'm in a hurry."

"Where are you going?" Samus asked. "I can take you back to where you live if you want to."

"Oh, you don't have to. There's no way you can possibly take me back to where I live. Only I can take myself back to where I live, and I'm not going back just yet. I'm looking for a group of people. Normally, I would detect the energy of a certain person to track down their location, but because I was so hungry earlier, I couldn't detect that person's spiritual energy, so I popped out at a random place in hope of finding something to eat."

"Who are looking for?"

"I'm not sure if telling you will be any help. Anyway, I'm looking for a group of eleven girls and a shrine."

"Eleven girls and a shrine? I'm very sure that I know them, not to mention the shrine."

Hearing this, Yukari slammed her hands onto the table and said, "What! You know them? Were they here? Tell me! Are they still here?"

"Nope, I met them on a different planet, and they already left for another world."

"Why am I not surprised to hear this...? Does one of them happen to be named Reimu? She's a black-haired girl dressed in a red and white outfit."

"Yes, one of them is her."

"Oh well... Thanks for the information. I need to get going. Thanks for the food!"

"You're welcome! You don't have to worry about paying. I'll pay for you!"

"Thanks! You're such a nice person! See ya!" Yukari stretched out her arm to make a gap appear, and then she went into it. The gap disappeared afterwards.

"Well, that's some method of making an exit!" Anthony commented.

* * *

"Why are you cleaning that spell card?" Marisa asked Reimu.

"Kirby swallowed it during the battle with 02," she replied while wiping her spell card with a piece of cloth. "However, he was able to pull off Fantasy Seal because of it. He later told me that certain abilities has a limited number of use, and once they are all used up, the item that he swallowed for obtaining that ability will be digested. Hearing this, I smacked the back of his body until he coughed out the card. Now I'm wiping off the saliva and gastric juice. It's giving off a weird smell as well..."

"Okay..."

"By the way, how are your injuries?"

"Better than before now, though the others have more or less completely healed, except for Sanae."

"By the way, were those two villains really that tough? You girls got beaten up really badly by them. Even Remilia was badly injured, though she was still standing."

"To be honest, it was only one attack that took us out, and what a deadly attack that was! The guy calling himself The Emperor didn't do much at all. He simply created barriers to protect himself, but would sometimes hurl a couple of elemental spells at us. Most of the attacks came from that crazy guy with wings somewhat similar to Flandre's. He wasn't actually very tough, but then he suddenly split his body in half to create a black hole that sucked us all in. The next thing we knew, we were engulfed in an explosion. Yeah, that's what knocked us all out."

"You wouldn't want to run into that guy again, would you? At least not that attack."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to run into that attack... If we run into him again, we'll beat him up before he can use that move or even grow Flandre-like wings. It seems that anything even remotely similar to her is dangerous..."

"Nah, that guy is definitely no match for Flandre," Remilia said. "She'll blast him into pieces in a second, I tell you."

"Yeah, I have to agree with you... In fact, this whole trip throughout the worlds will be a whole lot easier if she was here. But then, it would also be boring if we breeze through everything with ease."

"There, it looks nice and clean now!" Reimu said, holding up her spell card, which was sparkling brightly. "Even the smell is gone!"

Cirno then ran into the room and excitedly said, "The next world is in view!"

"Well, that was pretty fast-ze!" Marisa said. "We barely had time to rest."

"It wouldn't hurt for us to take a rest first when we arrive at the world," Remilia said.

"Let's take a look at what the next world looks like first," Reimu suggested.

With a burst of light, the Hakurei Shrine appeared on a meadow. The girls stepped out of the shrine and took a look at the sight before them. Asides from seeing an endless span of grass, they also saw houses in the distance, not to mention a castle even farther in the distance. "Wow! Another peaceful place!" Sanae commented.

"Reminds me of Dream Land," Reimu commented.

* * *

"Look! There are horses running in the distance!" Aya said. "There are people riding on top of them as well! This proves that there are people living here!"

"As if those houses aren't a good enough proof..." Reisen said.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" said a deep voice all of a sudden. The girls turned to the source of the voice and saw a muscular, bald man with an eyepatch, and he was wielding a large axe. He was also accompanied by several other people, all of whom were wielding weapons such as axes and swords. "Lots of hot girls we have here! Not to mention a house! All right, hand over your loots if you value your life! You don't want to mess with us bandits!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And that's the end of the Kirby arc! Can you guess what the next arc is? I think it should be obvious for some people.

In case you're curious, Mystia's theme song is called Deaf to all but the Song.

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.


	72. From Heroines to Convicts

**Random Pointless Rambling: **Touhou 13: Ten Desires is announced! Hooray! Okay, this rambling isn't really pointless for Touhou fans who are unaware of this news...

I'm sorry for the long wait once again... Procrastination really is a scary thing to have, I tell you... I really need to ask God for help regarding this...

All right, let us begin a new arc!

**Chapter 71  
From Heroines to Convicts**

* * *

The girls looked at the group of bandits that showed up all of a sudden to threaten them with undaunted looks, except for Reisen and Sanae. "So you're gonna rob us, right?" Reimu asked.

"Shouldn't the answer to that question be obvious?" the leader with an eye patch said. "You better not mess with Big Boy, the leader of the Big Boy Bandits!"

"Wow... How creative can you get when you name your group after your own name-ze?" Marisa commented.

"I'm the leader of the group, so it's no brainer that I name the group after myself! All right, enough talk! You girls better hand over your goods! We can be nice people and let you go if you cooperate with us, but if you don't, then don't blame us for showing no mercy on you! We're not the kind of people who show mercy on women! In fact, we have no qualms slaying woman! I can give you an example right now if you don't believe me!" And he threw his axe at the nearest person, Youmu.

Quick as a flash, Youmu pulled out the Roukanken to knock it away.

"Huh?"

Youmu then dashed at him and slashed him across the stomach.

SLASH!

"GAH!" Big Boy cried as he fell back. "I'M HURT! SHE CUT MY STOMACH! I'M BLEEDING! HELP ME! I'M GOING TO DIE! WAAAAAAAAAA! I'M GONNA DIE! HELP ME!"

"He sure is a big crybaby," Remilia commented.

"I have to agree. Big Crybaby sounds like a more fitting name for him-ze," Marisa said.

"How dare you hurt our leader!" one of the bandits angrily said. "You'll pay!" Then all the bandits charged a the girls.

"Hey! Somebody help me!" Big Boy cried. "I'm hurt! Can't any of you see!" But none of his men heard him or listened to him.

"I'll handle this," Youmu said as she crouched down slightly with one hand on the hilt of the Roukanken. "Human Sign: Slash of Present!" Then she dashed across the incoming bandits.

"What happened?" one of the bandits asked. All the bandits looked around to see what just happened. Behind them, Youmu sheathed her sword, and a second after she did, gashes appeared on all the bandits' body.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they all screamed, and then they all fell onto the ground.

"Well, that was fast," Reimu commented.

"What the!" Big Boy said in shock as he got back up. "All my boys are down in an instant! What did you do to them!"

"Slashed them, that's all," Youmu replied.

"You'll pay for this!" Big Boy got up and quickly picked up his axe. "I'm going to kill you! DIE!" Then Big Boy ran towards her with his axe raised over his head.

"Halt! Drop your weapon at once!" shouted a voice all of a sudden. Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw man with green hair dressed in green armor running towards Big Boy on a horse.

"Darn it! It's a Lycian knight!" Big Boy angrily said when he saw the way the man was dressed. "Argh! I'm out of here!" So he quickly ran for this life, leaving behind his injured comrades.

"Oh no you don't!" Aya said as she flew to him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey! Let go of me!"

"As you wish!" Then Aya picked him up using one hand, turned around, and slammed him onto the ground hard.

SLAAAAAAAAM!

The man on the horse came running over to the knocked out Big Boy and Aya and said, "Thanks for stopping him! The Big Boy Bandits has been causing trouble for some time, not to mention evading capture. Looks like they've finally met their end!"

"You should thank Youmu for the most part!" Aya said to him. "She took out everyone else all by herself!"

"Well, they are pretty weak," Youmu said.

"Are you any of you girls all right?" the man asked.

"No, we're all right," Sanae said. "Thanks for the concern!"

"That's good to hear! You should be careful when traveling out in the field; there are bandits loose all over the place. For safety, you should go to the town. It's very safe over there. By the way, you girls must be foreigners. Your clothes are dead giveaways."

"Yeah, you can say that..." Reimu said.

And then he turned to Aya. "Oh yeah, about you... When you were going after Big Boy, I'm very sure that I saw wings on your back..."

"Wings?" Aya said. She was going to tell him the truth, but then hesitated. "Well... Um... That's just an accessory that can be... retracted and brought out at will..."

"Okay, I assume that it's something that you foreigners brought with you from your country. By the way, my name is Lance, and I am a knight from the Lycian Royal Army."

"Royal? You mean like having relations with monarchs?" Sanae asked.

"Indeed, I serve under the king of Lycia, Roy . Do you see that castle in the distance? That castle belongs to him.."

"Wow! I can't believe that we're talking to something of such a high status!"

"Not like it's first time," Reimu told her. "There was also Peach, Zelda, and Dedede. Okay, the latter isn't a true monarch..."

"My men and I will lead you into town," Lance said to them. "It's much safer to travel in a large group."

"If you want to, although we can get there by ourselves without a problem, I think..."

And so, Lance and his men who came shortly afterwards led the way for the girls towards the town.

After several minutes of walking, the group finally arrived at the entrance of the town. "Okay, we'll part ways here," Lance said to the girls. "Feel free to go anywhere in this town. I hope we meet again! Enjoy your stay! All right, men, back to the castle!" Then he left with his men down the road.

"That man named Lance really is a nice person!" Sanae said.

"Yeah, he's definitely nice enough to lead us here," Reimu said. "Okay, what do we do now? Should we look around?"

"Why not?" Aya asked. "There's no better method than to look around to gather information. We should try to find the Smash Brothers Tournament's participants of this place."

"That won't be easy," Nitori said. "There are a lot of people here! It makes me nervous having to walk through such a large crowd..."

"I thought you're no longer shy being around humans."

"Yeah, that's true. I've gotten used to being with humans, but... it still makes me nervous when there are too many of them..."

"Let's just stick together," Reimu suggested. "It's much safer that way, even though there's obviously no danger around here. This place reminds me of the Human Village."

"I can't agree any better than you," Marisa said with a nod. "Yeah, this place definitely looks safe. They have a king, right? Places with monarchs should always be safe, unless the monarchs are tyrants..."

And so, the girls traveled together as a group down the road.

"This must be some medieval European country," Sanae said. "All these houses look more or less the same as the ones in history books from my school back in the outside world!"

"They also look a lot like the houses I've seen in the past," Remilia said. "Several hundred years ago, that is."

"Oh yeah, you're five hundred years old, and you used to live in Europe before you moved to Gensokyo."

"It sure brings back nostalgic feelings."

"Come to think of it, Mistress Remilia," Meiling said. "I really don't know much about your past."

Marisa suddenly spotted a building that had a picture of a cup of beer drawn on a sign next to its entrance. "Hey, this place seems to be a bar," she said. "Maybe we can get some information here. Bartenders are usually the best people you can get information from, you know."

"You don't think the same thing that happened back in Mute City will happen again, will you?"

"Michael Chain doesn't live here, so it should be all right. Plus, this place is safe. Lance said so! All right, I'm going in first!" Then Marisa went into the bar.

"Well? What do you think?" Reimu asked the other girls.

"As long I can get some shade from this sunlight," Remilia said, "then I'm fine with it." So they all went into the bar.

Unknown to them, someone with a large build was watching them when they went inside from between two buildings. "It's time to begin the plan," he said, and then he went further back into the alley.

* * *

The inside of the bar looked more civilized than the girls thought, at least when compared to the one in Mute City. While there were people dancing, singing, and drinking from barrels of beer, they were all dressed properly. Not a single one of them looked suspicious or evil.

"Well, we can really be sure that we won't run into anyone related to Michael Chain here," Marisa said.

"Let's hope..." Reimu said.

The bartender saw them, so he motioned for them to come over. The girls went over and Reimu, Marisa, and Remilia took the three empty seats in front of the counter. "Welcome, ladies!" the bartender said to them. "What can I do for you?"

"Well... Um... We're new around here, so we wish to... get some information as well as becoming familiar with this place..."

"Then you've come to the right place! They say bartenders are the best people for getting information from, and things cannot be anymore correct! Welcome to Lycia, ladies! Ask me anything! It's free of charge!"

"If you don't mind!" Aya said as she got out her notebook and pencil. "I'll be blunt, okay? Let me ask you something first. Have you ever heard of the Smash Brothers Tournament?"

"Smash Brothers Tournament? Ah, yes! I've heard of that before! Actually, I do't know the details, but I do know that it is a fighting tournament held many years ago in another world, and someone from that world came and invited our king to join that tournament."

"The king of this place was a participant of that tournament!" Marisa said in surprise.

"Actually, he was still a prince when he entered the tournament."

"Wow! I can't believe that we found out who the participant of the tournament is so fast! Thanks a lot, Mister Bartender!" Aya happily said.

"You're welcome! I'm glad to be of help! Ask me more if you want!"

"I have a question!" Cirno asked, raising her arm. "Are there any frogs around here?"

"You're not planning to do that again, right?" Reisen asked her.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar coming from the outside, and it was followed by the sound of things getting broken and screams. "What was that?" Youmu said in shock.

Everyone in the bar quickly rushed outside to see what was going on, and they were all shocked when they saw the sight of a large brown-skinned monster with four horns and four legs. "WHAT IS THAT!" someone screamed.

The monster stomped through the place while swinging his arms at the buildings to tear them down, and then he opened his mouth to fire an orange beam that incinerated whatever it touched.

The townsfolk ran for their lives from the monster, but the Gensokyo girls approached the monster instead. Reimu shouted to the monster, "Hey you! Stop all this at once!"

The monster turned his attention to the girls and stared at them for a few seconds, and then he roared before firing the orange beam at them. "Watch out!" Marisa shouted, and then they all jumped aside to avoid it.

"Looks like it's no use trying to communicate with this thing," Aya said. "We'll have to take it down by force!"

"I'll handle it!" Youmu said as she rushed towards the monster and slashed him across the body with the Roukanken. The monster roared in pain and then turned to her to fire an orange beam. "Netherworld Reflection Slash!" She crossed both her swords together to form a reflector that bounced back the beam.

The monster roared in pain when he was hit in the chest by his own beam, and then he was blasted in the side by a laser fired by Marisa. "Narrow Spark!"

"Demon Buster!" Reimu shouted as she threw three pink amulets at the other side of the monster.

"Argh! Accursed little girls!" the monster roared. "Snowstorm!" Then he took a deep breath.

"Hey! He can talk!" Aya said in surprise.

When the monster opened his mouth, a huge burst of snow and ice came out and spread throughout the place. The attack caused the girls to be blown back, but Cirno stood back up and walked against the attack. "You think something like this will scare me?" Cirno asked. "I specialize in using ice, so an attack like this is nothing to me! Icicle Machine Gun!" The icicles went through the bits of snow and ice and into the monster's mouth.

"Ack!" The monster choked on the icicles as a result, and while he was suffering, Cirno flew at him and slammed a miniature iceberg onto his head. "Little Iceberg!"

SMASH!

"You brat!" the monster shouted. The mini iceberg shattered into pieces, and then the monster swung his arm at Cirno to knock her out of the air and into a crate of oranges.

"Ow!" the ice fairy cried.

"Die! Atomic Ray!" the monster shouted, and then orange light came out from his mouth.

"Cirno! Watch out!" Aya shouted as she flew towards Cirno to carry her out of the attack's way.

"Sky Dragon Kick!" Meiling shouted as she attacked the monster in the side of the head with a rainbow-powered flying kick.

"Argh! Why you!" The monster turned to her and swung his arm at her, but she easily blocked it with her arms.

Meiling landed a few feet away from the monster, and then she fired a yellow beam at him. "Fragrance Wave!" The blast from the beam caused the monster to be stunned a bit, and then she ran towards him with her arm pulled back. "Spiral Light Step!" And she punched him in the side of the body really hard with a rainbow-powered fist.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"UGH!" the monster cried as the punch sent him flying to the side, but due to his size and weight, he did not fly very far; he came to a stop after hitting a house.

CRASH!

"Ugh... To think that you can send my massive body flying..." the monster said as he turned to Meiling. "How can a human be that strong...?"

"I'm not a human, I'm a demon!" Meiling replied.

"Oh yeah? You don't look like one! Perhaps you'll look like one once I burn you to crisp! Atomic Ray!" And he fired the orange beam at her.

Meiling jumped out of the beam's way while Aya flew towards the monster from the air and hit him in the face with the heel of her shoe. She then moved back into the air and used her fan to fire wind blades at him. "Gale Fan!"

The monster was hit all over the body by the wind blades, and then he took a deep breath before blowing a blast of air at her. Thinking that it was plain air, Aya simply held her arm over her face, but she was surprised when cuts appeared on her skin. "What the! Wind blades!" So she quickly flew out of the way.

"Atomic Ray!" The monster shouted, and then he fired the orange beam and swept it across the place to blast down the buildings.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The girls were sent flying by the explosion, and when they turned around, they saw the buildings on fire, and the fire was slowly moving in the direction of the buildings that were not caught in the blast.

Meanwhile, the townsfolk ran from the fire in panic, but some of them got buckets of water to try to put out of the fire.

"We need to stop the fire from spreading!"

"Quick! Get more water!"

"We don't have that much water here!"

"Do something! Somebody please save my house!"

"Oh no! We need to put out the fire!" Nitori said. "If only we have a large amount of water..."

"Count on me if need water!" Sanae said. "Create Waves!" Then she slammed the back end of her gohei onto the ground to form a blue circle on the part of the ground around herself, and water shot out from the sides of the circle in a large quantity.

"Hey! At least make sure that we aren't in the range of the attack first!" Reimu cried when she saw a wave heading towards her, and then she quickly ran for her life.

"Water!" the monster said in shock. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" But he was unable to run from the incoming wave, so it crashed down on top of him.

The water rushed through the town and doused out the fire. In just a few seconds, all the flames were put out, but everyone, including the townsfolk, wer5e wet as a result. The townsfolk didn't care, however; they were happy that their town was saved from being burned down.

"Wow! Did you see that?"

"Yeah! That girl made water appear!"

"She must be a mage, and a powerful one at that!"

"All of them must be mages! They are performing attacks that only magic users are capable of!"

"Yes! I did it! The town is saved!" Sanae happily said.

"Yeah, and you nearly drowned us all..." said a dripping wet Reisen.

"GRAAAAAAAH! WATER! GET IT OFF ME!" the monster screamed while shaking his whole body. "I HATE WATER!"

"What's with that guy...?" Marisa asked.

"It would appear that he is weak to water," Nitori said. "Why else would he be trying to shake himself dry? Wait a minute..." Then she turned to Sanae. "Sanae, use Create Waves again! I'll use the water against him!"

"Good idea! All right, here goes!" Sanae said.

"Wait! Let us get away first!" Reimu shouted.

"Create Waves!" Sanae shouted as she slammed the back of her gohei onto the ground to make water appear from the ground around herself.

All the other girls except for Nitori ran from the incoming wave. The kappa stretched forth her arms and stopped the wave from moving when it touched her palms. Using all her strength, she flung the water high into the air. "Hiya!"

"Whoa! Cool!" Marisa commented while looking at the large blob of water in the air.

"Aya! Throw me into the water!" Nitori told the tengu.

"As you wish!" Aya said as she picked up Nitori and carried her into the air, and then she threw her towards the blob of water. "There you go!"

Nitori went into the center of the blob of water, but because she was unable to fly at the moment, the whole thing started to fall down. She quickly 'swam' in the direction of the monster to cause the whole thing to move towards him. "Water Meteorite!"

The monster looked at the incoming ball of water with a horrified face. "NO! NOT THAT MUCH WATER! STOP! DON'T! TIDAL WAVE!" And he opened his mouth to release a huge blast of water.

Obviously, water being used against water didn't do any good; his attack only merged with Nitori's massive ball of water to make it increase in size. The monster tried to run for his life, but the ball of water crashed on top of him before he could get far.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Water rushed throughout the place when the ball of water burst upon hitting the ground, and the girls once again found themselves on the run from the water. "Now you know what we went through when you used that attack!" Reimu cried.

"I know now!" Sanae said.

When the water settled down, the town's road was a bit flooded. Nitori was seen standing at where the monster used to be, and as for the monster himself, he was nowhere in sight. "That was quite a splash!" said Nitori, looking at how wet the whole place was due to the attack. "Hey, where'd that monster go?"

The other girls came up to her and Youmu looked around the place. "The monster... He's gone..."

"It seems that the monster got washed away," Marisa said, "but with a size like that, it should be easy to find him."

"There's no sight of him, though," Aya said. "It seems that the water melted him or something like that."

Cirno looked at the ground and said, "I don't see anything that resembles the monster's melted body."

"Wait a minute... Did that monster shot water from his mouth a moment ago?" Reisen asked. "But he's weak to water! How does he have a water-based attack when he's weak to water?"

"Well, common sense can't be applied in Gensokyo," Sanae said, "so I wouldn't be surprised if the same applies for this world."

"Whatever the case is, it would appear that the monster is gotten rid of," Reimu said. "Good job, Nitori!"

"I didn't really expect that it would be this effective..." Nitori said. "Still, it's great that we defeated it!"

The townsfolk then came over to them and clapped their hands.

"Hooray for the heroines who defeated the monster and saved our town!"

"Wow! You girls are amazing!"

"You saved us all!"

"You girls are awesome!"

"That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

"Way to go on defeating that monster!"

"Heheh... It's make me embarrassed getting praised by so many humans at once..." Nitori said with a blushing face.

"Now that we saved the town," Marisa said, "I have every reason to believe that the king will come to see us himself!"

"He was a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament, right?" Sanae asked. "Getting to know him will make our quest to find the Light Essence of this world a lot easier! I thought it was going to be tough trying to meet him due to his status, but things have become really simple for us! This is without doubt a miracle!"

"Yeah, we can always rely on Sanae, the bringer of miracles, to make miracles happen!"

"So I'm gonna be on the newspaper, right?" Aya asked. "Come to think of it, I never had a picture of myself on the newspaper before. This may be my chance to get on one!" Then she noticed Meiling carrying an unconscious Remilia on her back using one hand while using her other hand to hold the vampire's parasol. "What's wrong with her?"

"Remilia fainted when she came in contact with the water," the gatekeeper replied. "Vampires are weak to running water."

"Oh yeah, I heard that vampires are also weak to such a thing."

"We better take her to a place where she can rest," Reimu said.

As the townsfolk continued to clap their hands, the sound of galloping could be heard, so they parted ways to allow some soldiers riding on horses to come through. "It's the royal soldiers from the castle!" one of the townsfolk said.

The soldier in lead, a man with white hair wearing a helmet that partially covered his eyes, said to the girls, "What happened here? I heard that some monster showed up and attacked this place. Where is the monster?"

"We took care of the monster!" Aya said.

"Oh really? Do you have proof?"

"The monster disappeared after he received the finishing blow," Reimu explained. "Because it disappeared, we assume that he must have died."

"Okay... Then where did the monster came from? A giant monster can't pop out from thin air, can it? Does anyone here know where the monster came from?"

The townsfolk looked at each other, but nobody said a thing.

"C'mon, can't I get an answer from anyone here? Nobody saw where the monster came from at all? There has to be eyewitnesses!"

"I saw it! I saw where the monster came from!" shouted a voice. Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw a short and obese man with white hair and a long beard. "I saw it with my own eyes where the monster came from! You won't believe it! The monster... The monster..." And he pointed at the Gensokyo girls. "Those girls summoned the monster! They used black magic to summon the monster!"

"Hey! What are you talking about?" Reisen asked. "We don't have anything to do with that monster at all!"

"Yeah! Even if I'm the strongest, I still cannot summon a monster as ugly as that!" Cirno said. "You're lying, Mister Shorty!"

"Don't listen to them!" the short man said. "Do you see the rabbit ears on that girl's head? That white spirit-like thing hovering around the white-haired girl? Those pair of bat wings on the back of the girl being carried by that red-haired girl? It's obvious that they're not normal humans! They're demons, demons that want to take over the human civilization!"

"I won't deny that," Aya said. "Some of us here are demons."

"Don't you realize that your confession makes it sound like we really do want to take over the human civilization?" Alice asked her.

"They want us to gain their trust, so they summoned the monster so that they can fight it in order to do so! It's all lies, I tell you! Lies!" the short man shouted. "After gaining our trust, they will either kill us or make us their slaves! Everyone, don't believe whatever they say! They are vile demons who want to take over the world!"

The townsfolk started talking among each other about this.

"Is he telling the truth?"

"Well, some of those girls did perform magic."

"But mages can do that as well."

"But that girl wearing white shirt said that some of them are demons!"

"What is that white thing hovering around the white-haired girl? It looks like some sort of a ghost!"

"Some of the girls really don't look normal! They might actually be the ones who summoned that monster!"

"Um... Things are getting out of control here..." Reimu said. "We're being framed for something we didn't do..."

Aya went up to the short man and picked him up by the collar. "All right, mister! You better have a good explanation for accusing us of something we did not do!"

"Help! She's trying to kill me!" the short man cried. "Somebody help me!"

"All right! You girls are under arrest!" the leader of the soldiers said. "You're all coming with me! I'm sure the king will be more than happy to have you all executed for summoning a monster to destroy this town!"

"Uh oh... We're in big trouble..." Marisa said in a nervous tone.

"Arrest them all, men!"

Under the command their leader, the soldiers rushed forward on their horses to arrest the girls.

The girls got ready to run, but Sanae said, "Wait! We shouldn't run! If we run, we are proving that we are indeed guilty of summoning that monster! We should just allow ourselves to be arrested so that we can have a fair trial later on!"

"You have a point," Alice said. "Running will only raise their suspicion, so it's best that we allow ourselves to be arrested for now."

"Good idea," Reimu said with a nod. "Things will only get more complicated if we run, so..." Then she noticed that some of them were missing. "Hey, Marisa? Where'd she go?"

"They ran away!" Meiling said, looking in the direction of a fleeing Marisa, Aya, Nitori, and Cirno.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to spend my time in a prison cell!" Marisa said.

"Me too! Birds are supposed to be able to fly around freely in the air, not trapped in a cage!" Aya said.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Nitori said with a face full of tears. "I'm innocent! I don't wanna go to jail!"

"Nobody captures the strongest!" Cirno said. "I will not let anyone capture me! Try to catch me if you can!"

"Hey! Don't run!" Reimu shouted to them. "You'll only get yourselves into trouble!" But before she could do anything, one of the soldiers grabbed her arm.

"You're coming with us, young lady," he said. "The fact that your friends ran away proves that you are all guilty of summoning a monster."

"After them!" the leader of the soldiers shouted. "Justice must be enforced! Anyone who tries to take over the great country of Lycia must be arrested! Capture them! You are free to kill them if you have to!"

The soldiers ran after the four fleeing girls on their horses while the remaining ones took Reimu, Sanae, Youmu, Reisen, Alice, Meiling, and a still unconscious Remilia away.

After the soldiers left, the townsfolk talked among themselves about what happened while setting off to clean up and rebuild the town. The short and obese man ran into an alleyway and met up with the large and bulky person. "Everything went as planned, right?" the bulky person said.

"Yes," the short man said. "Master I.M. Meen will be proud!"

Suddenly, the leader of the soldiers came running into the alleyway and took off his helmet to reveal himself as I.M. Meen. "Heehee! It was a success! The townsfolk sure fell for it! You did well, troll!"

"I'm glad to be of help, master!" the short man, who turned out to be a troll, said.

"The girls will eventually face execution," the bulky man said, "but as the king of this country was a participant of the Smasher Brothers Tournament, chances are likely that he'll listen to their story and set them free. When that happens, I'll have to do my job."

"Heeheeheeheehee! That's what you get for messing with I.M. Meen" I.M. Meen said, "and not to mention our organization! You girls are screwed! This world will be your last destination! Too bad you'll never be able to go to Smash World or return even your own world! Hyahahahahahaha!"

* * *

Within the castle, a soldier went up to a man with balding blue hair and a moustache. "Sir Merlinus," the soldier said. "The soldier who went to the town to find out the truth about the report on the monster attack are on their way back, and they have brought back seven people of the eleven people who are believed to be the one behind the chaos."

"Six of the eleven?" the man named Merlinus curiously said. "How did eleven people causing chaos in the town turn out to be a monster attacking the town? Geez! That report is way too exaggerating!"

"The king and queen are out on a trip. What do we do with the culprits?"

"Just put them in jail for the meantime. In fact, I don't the king would be interested in a bunch of people causing a ruckus at the town. Things like that should be left for the law to deal with."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

**Next chapter: Girls are Wanted**

Yes, it is indeed the Fire Emblem arc! Let's give Lazruth and SL the Pyro a round of applause for getting it right!

Roy? As in the Roy from Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade? But Roy isn't in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so he can't be in this story! I never said that this story is solely based on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so that doesn't rule out the inclusion of characters exclusive to Super Smash Bros. Melee in this story. Roy may not be in Brawl, but he is still a character in the Super Smash Bros. series, so he has every right to be in this story.

The reason I chose the world of Fire Emblem 6 and 7 is because the FE games on the GBA are the only ones I've beaten, so I am more familiar with them than any other FE games. Since Roy is the only playable representative from among those three games, I had to choose the continent of Elibe as the setting for the Fire Emblem arc.

I sincerely apologize to those who were expecting either Marth or Ike's world. I simply do not know enough about their games to base the arc on their worlds.

As for the monster that attacked the town... It's possible that you'll know who the person with a bulky body is if you know who that monster is. Yes, I refrained from calling the monster by his name for the reason of hiding the bulky person's identity. I even left out the BGM for the fight for the same reason, though I did put it down at one point while working on this chapter. Happy guessing!

**Trivia:  
**1. The bandit attack and the part where Lance shows up is inspired by chapter nine of the manga Fire Emblem: Hasha no Tsurugi, which roughly translates into "Fire Emblem: Sword of Champions". It is a manga based on Fire Emblem 6, but the main character is an original character named Al. While it does follow the basic plot of the game, there are still several twists and changes that incorporate Al and some other original characters.

2. Big Boy is named after a minor recurring character of the same name in my Super Smash Bros. series.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If Mokou was in the final version of the story...**

"I'm the leader of the group, so it's no brainer that I name the group after myself! All right, enough talk! You girls better hand over your goods! We can be nice people and let you go if you cooperate with us, but if you don't, then don't blame us for showing no mercy on you! We're not the kind of people who show mercy on women! In fact, we have no qualms slaying woman! I can give you an example right now if you don't believe me!" And he threw his axe at the nearest person, Mokou.

The axe struck Mokou's head, right in between her eyes. This caused the immortal girl to cry with intense pain as she fell over with her hands gripping onto the axe's handle.

"MOKOU!" Sanae gasped.

"Haha! That's what happens if you defy us!" Big Boy said. "Now hand over your valuables if you do not want to suffer the same fate as your friend!" The bandit leader continued to laugh, but then he stopped laughing when he saw Mokou standing back up. "Huh?"

She pulled the axe off her head and threw it at Big Boy, who quickly ducked down to avoid the axe. His men also dodged the axe.

"What the? How are you still alive?" Big Boy said in shock. He looked at Mokou's head and was even more shocked to see that it wasn't split apart, though there was blood trickling down the center.

"THAT HURTS A LOT, YOU BIG UGLY GORILLA!" Mokou shouted as she ran towards Big Boy with her fist pulled back, and then she punched him in the face with a fist full of fire.

POW!

The fiery punch sent Big Boy flying backwards until he hit the ground, and then he cried with both hands placed over his nose, "WAAAAAAAAA! MY NOSE IS BROKEN! MY NOSE! MY NOSE! WAAAAAAAAAAA! MY BEAUTIFUL NOSE IS BROKEN! IT'S BROKEN! IT'S BROKEN! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


	73. Girls are Wanted

**SBS Time!  
MG-1: **What happened to Alice? You wrote that four of the girls (Aya, Cirno, Nitori, and Marisa) ran away while everyone else except Alice got captured. Did the soldiers somehow mistook Alice for one of the townspeople and left her alone?  
**Game2002: **I left her out by mistake... It's been fixed now. Thanks for telling me about this!

**Important notice:** A Game2002 Extra Show has been added to the previous chapter since it involves a scene from that chapter. You should go and check it out.

Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm having a hard time trying to come up with contents for this chapter, and I must admit that procrastination really is terrible thing for a fan fiction writer to have...

Also, people who have read Specter24's One Piece: A Smash Adventure should be able to tell that the previous chapter is based off the 100th chapter of the Star Fox arc in his story. I'm talking about the part where the girls are framed for summoning the monster.

**Chapter 72  
Girls are Wanted**

**

* * *

**

"You girls will be staying here for the meantime," the warden said to the Gensokyo girls. "The king will come back from his trip tomorrow, but I doubt there's a need for him to see you."

"On the contrary," Reimu said to him, "we have every reason to see the king."

"Right! We want a fair trial, and the king should be present!" Sanae said. "It's not fair that you deem us as the ones responsible for summoning that monster! That person doesn't have proof in what he said at all!"

"Okay, I'll go and tell the king about it," the warden said, and then he smiled, "if I feel like it. Hahaha! All right, get inside! Prisoners have no right to ask anything from me!"

After the girls went into the prison cell, the warden shut the door and locked it. "Well, at least this place isn't very cramped," Reimu said.

"It could use a bit of cleaning if you ask me," Alice said as she bent down to touch the dusty floor with her finger.

"What do we do now?" Meiling asked as she dusted a spot on the floor before putting down Remilia and leaning her against the wall.

"Ask Sanae," Reimu replied. "She's the one who suggested us to comply with the soldiers."

"All we can do now is to wait for the king to return," Sanae said. "Well, this is assuming that the warden really will tell the king, or anyone in the castle for that matters..."

"So you're saying that you got us all in here without being sure that everything will go as planned?" Reisen asked.

"Um... Don't worry; I'm sure a miracle will happen! Have faith in miracles!"

"You're not sounding reliable, you know..."

"Miracles have proven to happen before whenever Sanae is around, right?" Youmu said as she sat down. "We'll just wait until something happens."

"What about those four? Are we simply going to leave them out there?"

"Not like we can do anything about it," Reimu said. "They just had to run away like that. At least they'll be joining us in here if they captured."

Remilia slowly opened her eyes and looked around the place, "Where are we? Why is it so dark here?"

"Mistress Remilia! You're awake!" Meiling said with joy.

"Oh, you're up," Reimu said to the vampire. "We're in prison."

"What!" Remilia said as she stood up in shock. "Why are we in prison? What did you girls do to get us all in here?"

"First, we were accused of a crime that we not do, and second, not all of us are in here. Marisa, Aya, Cirno, and Nitori ran away before they got captured."

"Someone accused us of summoning that monster," Alice explained, "so we ended up here. The fact that those four ran due to not wanting to be throwing into prison only made them suspect us more."

"I see..." Remilia said, placing her hand underneath her chin. "So... what are we going to do? Bust out of here and prove to everyone that we're innocent?"

"Sanae suggested that we wait until the king comes to see us," Reimu replied. "The king was a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament, so he is most likely the only person who will believe what we tell him. However, there's no guarantee that he'll come see us. The soldiers and warden seem to think that we're not important enough for him to pay us a visit."

"So it's all up to fate, eh? You don't have to worry about that. You know who here is the manipulator of fate, don't you?"

"Hey! You girls over there! We meet again!" shouted a voice. The girls looked out their cell and saw Big Boy and some of his men in the cell on the other side of the place. "Ha! Look at you! You got us into this place, and now you're in here yourselves! You girls deserve it! Hahahaha!"

"Ugh... This is going to be a long day..." Reimu grumbled.

* * *

A soldier stuck a poster showing the portraits of Marisa, Aya, Cirno, and Nitori onto a building wall and then left, and several people immediately gathered in front of the poster to look at it as well as talking with each other about those four girls.

The soldier went on to stick more wanted posters around the town. After he stuck a poster onto a wall next to an alley and then left, a hand reached out from within the alley and snatched the poster.

Marisa ran as fast as she could through the alley until she was in the place where there were nobody else asides from her friends. She looked at the poster and said, "This drawing is way off! I don't look that old! I look like a thirty years old woman here!"

Aya took the poster from her and looked at it. "I look too old as well! I'm supposed to look younger than this!" she complained.

"But you're over one thousand years old, so it's fitting that they draw you like that."

"I resemble an attractive seventeen years old girl, okay?"

"This is no time to be arguing about drawings," Nitori said with a worried look. "What do we do now? The people out in town want to capture us, and I don't to go to jail! We should also try to rescue our friends! They'll surely be executed if we don't do something!

"You're worrying too much, Nitori," Aya told her. "I'm sure they can convince the king to listen to them. He's a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament, remember? He'll definitely believe what they say, trust me."

"Busting them out of prison wouldn't be a good idea either," Marisa said. "It will only make things worse. We'll just let them stay there until things get resolved by themselves, but if nothing goes right, we may have to rescue them ourselves."

"Also, the poster... Shouldn't you put it back onto the wall?" Nitori asked Marisa. "What if the person who stuck it there came back and saw it missing? He'll surely suspect something!"

"Nah, I wouldn't worry too much about that either," Aya said. "He may simply think that someone else took it away as a souvenir or because he or she wants to take a better look at the poster in private."

"Still, I think it's better to put it back," Marisa said. "Nitori may have a point. It's better to be safe than sorry." So she went back to where she got the poster to stick it back onto the wall, only to encounter the same soldier who went around posting posters standing there. The soldier looked at the portrait of Marisa on one of the posters on his hand and then looked at the actual person. Marisa grinned sheepishly for a few seconds, and then she pointed at the air and shouted, "Oh look! There's a penguin in a pirate costume flying in the sky!"

"Where?" the soldier said, looking at the sky for the penguin in a pirate costume. "There's nothing at all! Wait a minute..." By the time he realized that he was trick, Marisa had already disappeared into the alley. "At least I know where they are!"

Marisa rushed back to where the others were and said to them, "Bad news! They know where we are now!"

"So much for wanting to put the poster back where it belongs..." Aya grumbled, placing her palm on her forehead.

"Sorry..." Nitori cried.

"All right! I'll go fight them!" Cirno said.

"We better run instead," Marisa said. "It's best to stay out of fights unless we..."

"They have to be in there!" shouted a voice.

When the girls turned to look at the source of the voice, they saw several soldiers running towards them. "There they are! After them!" the same soldier from before shouted.

"Uh oh... Let's get out of here!" Marisa said, and then they ran.

Cirno, however, stayed behind with her arms crossed. "I'm not afraid of you guys! Take this! Ice Ground!" And she slammed her hands onto the ground to freeze it, thus causing the soldiers to slip and fall. "Haha! How'd you like that? Next, I'll..." But before she could do anything else, Marisa grabbed and pulled her away by the collar.

"Darn it! How dare they pull off something like that!" one of the soldiers said as he tried to stand back up, only to slip again. "Whoa!"

The four girls ran out of the alley, and then Nitori reached for some crates that were placed next to the exit of the alley and placed them in front of it to block the soldiers' way. "Smart thinking, Nitori!" Marisa said to her.

The soldiers came to the dead end created by the crates, so they tried to push it down, only to find that it was rather heavy. While the soldiers were trying to bust their way out of the alley, the four girls ran down the road, but then they saw several more soldiers coming at them from the front. "Cripes! Danger up ahead!" Aya said, and then they ran the other way.

"I'll stop them!" Cirno said. "Midsummer Snowman!" And she formed a large ice ball and pushed in their direction to knock them down like bowling pins.

The four girls ran as fast as they could in the other direction, but then a bunch of muscular men ran in from the sides. "Gotcha!" one of them shouted when he caught Aya by her arm.

"Get your hairy hands off me!" Aya shouted. She pulled away the man's hands with ease and then flung him into a vender stand that was selling apples.

CRASH!

Two men grabbed Nitori by her arms and shoulders. "Gotcha, little girl!" one of them said.

"There's a reward for catching you," the other one said, "so we're not gonna miss this opportunity to earn some big bucks!"

"Get away from me!" Nitori cried, and then she lifted both the men by their hands into the air with ease, much to their surprise as well as the bystanders, and then she flung them away.

"Geez! Even the townsfolk are after us!" Marisa said. "Things are much worse than we thought! Uh oh..."

More soldiers came running towards them from the front. "After them! Don't let them get away!"

"Oh no! What do we do!" Nitori asked. "There are people all around us who want to catch us as well! We're surrounded!"

"Hey, I just thought of something," Aya said, "and how silly of us to not think of this in the first place!"

"Just spill it! We need to get out of this situation right away!" Marisa said.

"We can fly to escape!"

"Good idea! Only for you and Cirno at the moment, that is!"

"Don't forget that we can carry you, so here we go!" Aya then grabbed Marisa by her shoulders and took off into the air.

Cirno grabbed Nitori's shoulders and tried to take flight, but the ice fairy did not have superhuman strength like Aya, so she could barely lift Nitori's feet off the ground. "Ugh... You're too heavy! Go on a diet!"

"I haven't been eating that many cucumbers lately!" Nitori said, sounding offended.

Aya then came back down and picked up Nitori using her other hand, so they were all able to escape.

"They flew into the air!" the soldier in lead said.

"Ha! Surprised, eh?" Marisa asked. "Try to catch us if you can!"

"Grab onto my hands tightly," Aya said to Marisa and Nitori. "We're getting out of here at full speed!" As the tengu got ready to take flight, an arrow suddenly struck her just below the chest. "ACK!"

"AYA!" Marisa, Nitori, and Cirno gasped. Cirno looked down and saw that it was a young man with light green hair who shot her.

"You meanie!" Cirno angrily shouted. "How dare you hurt my friend! You'll pay for this! Icicle Machine Gun!" And she fired a rapid burst of icicles at him.

The young man rolled out of the way before firing another arrow from his bow at the ice fairy, but she managed to avoid it.

"Ha! You missed!"

"Aya! Are you all right?" Marisa asked the tengu. "I'll pull the arrow out for you!"

But when she tried to yank out the arrow, Aya cried in pain. "YA! It hurts a lot! Don't pull it out! It hurts more when you try to do so! It's all right; I can still get you all out of here! We're off!" Ignoring the intense pain of her wound, she flew through the air as fast as she could.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Cirno shouted, and then she went after them.

"After them!" the soldier in lead shouted, and then all the soldiers ran in the direction those girls took off in.

One of the soldiers went up to the young archer and said to him, "Good job, Wolt! That should make them easier to capture."

"I did what I could to help," the archer named Wolt replied. "I hope I didn't hurt her too much, though... Didn't you want them all captured alive?"

"Well, the commander told us to kill them if we have to, so I don't think that's a problem. Speaking of which, I thought the commander's voice sounded a bit different today, and he usually doesn't jump to conclusions that fast. Usually, he would listen to what the accused has to say first before ordering for them to be capture. Also, I haven't seen him at all after he gave the order to capture those girls..."

* * *

Despite her injury, Aya still managed to fly far. The girls got away from the town as far as they could, and when they saw that the soldiers were no longer following them, they descended in front of a tree. Aya sat down and cried in pain. "Ugh... It hurts a lot..." She tried to yank out the arrow, only to worsen the pain. "Yah!"

Nitori looked at her back to see that the other end of the arrow was sticking out from there. "It looks really painful..." she said.

"Thank you very much, Miss Obvious..."

"Oh, you're also called Miss Obvious?" Cirno asked the kappa.

"We can't just leave the arrow there," Marisa said to Aya. "We need to pull it out and treat your wounds as fast as possible. It's true that wounds like these are not that fatal for demons when compared to humans, but untended wounds can still be dangerous."

"I know..." Aya replied. "But it really hurts when I try to pull it out..."

"Well, you'll just have to endure the pain," Marisa said as she grabbed the back end of the arrow. "All right... Here goes!"

Just as she was about to pull it out, Cirno shouted, "There's something approaching over there!"

"Oh no! They've caught up with us!" Nitori cried.

Marisa looked at what Cirno saw and said, "I don't think so. Those people are coming from the opposite direction of the town."

What Cirno saw were several soldiers riding on horses, and there was also a well-decorated carriage being pulled by beautiful white horses among them. "Maybe we can ask them for help," Aya said. "Let's hope they have a doctor with them."

"Good idea!" Cirno said. "I'll go stop them!" Then she ran towards the incoming group of people and horses.

"Wait! We don't know if they are friend or foe yet!" Marisa called out to her.

The soldiers riding the horses pointed their spears at Cirno when she came close. "Halt!" one of them said. "Who are you and what are your intentions? The king and queen of Lycia are inside the carriage, and nobody can get close to them without permission!"

"Listen, mister!" Cirno said to them. "My friend over there is badly injured, and she needs help right away! If you have a doctor among you, then tell him or her to come heal her right away!"

"That is none of our business! Please do not trouble the king and queen! They are on their way back to their castle after a week long trip in Etruria! Please clear the way at once!"

"Who is out there?" asked a voice that came from within the carriage.

Another soldier went up to the side of the carriage and spoke through its window, "There's a little girl in the way, Your Majesty. She's telling us to help her wounded friend."

The king then stuck his head out from the window to look at Cirno. He was a young man with red hair. "That little girl?" he asked, and then he looked at Marisa, Nitori, and Aya in the distance. "Well, then let's do something about it."

"But Your Majesty..."

"As the king of this country, I have the responsibility to make sure that its citizens are in good condition. What king am I if I simply walk past an injured person?"

"You have a point, Your Majesty."

"All right; send our doctors over to help at once."

"Right away, Your Majesty!"

* * *

"I'm... alive...? How can this be...? I'm supposed to have been killed! I clearly felt intense pain in my body when Eliwood stabbed me with the Durandal! I can't believe this!"

"An evil energy that is capable of resurrecting people with dark hearts... You have been resurrected by that very same energy."

The first man who spoke looked up and saw a caped person with a goatee standing in front of him. The man himself wore a dark blue cape over clothing of the same color and a turban that covered his right eye. His hair and beard were both green in color. "Who are you? Are you the one who resurrected me?" he asked.

"Your name is Nergal, am I right?" the person with a goatee asked. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I once went by the name Mathias Cronqvist, but then I changed it to Vlad Tepes. You may simply refer to me as... Count Dracula."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I know... This chapter is very short. I could make it a bit longer, but I'm also a bit short on ideas for the next chapter, so I decided to save some parts for the next chapter instead in order to drag it out. Once again, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter...

On the bright side, another one of the organization's villain's identity is revealed! It's Dracula from the Castlevania series! I have a feeling that all of you are hoping for a certain person to come face to face with him. Yes, that person is exactly who you're thinking!

**Next chapter: Justice for the Girls**

**Trivia:  
**1. The penguin in a pirate costume flying in the sky is running gag from my Super Smash Bros. series. The same penguin is actually Penguinophsky III, a recurring boss from the Parodius series.

**

* * *

**

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

I'm going to share with you more of my favorite Touhou soundtracks!

**Vanishing Dream ~ Lost Dream: **Along with Bad Apple, this is one of the best soundtracks from the PC-98 Touhou games! It sounds quite sad because Kana is... abandoned by the person who created her. Being a poltergeist, she can become good friends with the Prismriver Sisters!

**Faith is for the Transient People: **Sanae is a good girl, and good girls usually have with good theme songs! Nah, good is an understatement for this theme. AWESOME is the perfect word for this theme!

**Cosmic Mind ~ Emotional Skyscraper: **I wasn't a big fan of this theme originally, but the more I listen to it, the more I love it! For a final boss theme, you'd expect something more intense, but seeing how Byakuren is in no way a villain; a serene theme is more fitting for her. It's not really as serene as you think it would be, however; some parts of it are still really epic.


	74. Justice for the Girls

**SBS Time!  
Shadus Trifolk of the Fifteen: **Who are the villains so far?  
**Game2002: **Fawful, Mr. King, Rez, Sigma, I.M. Meen, The Emperor, Marx, and Dracula. I think I spoiled Dracula to you before you got to the chapter where he got revealed. If I really did so, then I'm very sorry for spoiling things for you...  
-**  
Shadus Trifolk of the Fifteen: **What about Chen and Ran?  
**Game2002: **I'm not a fan of either of them, so I had no plans from the start make them one of the eleven main characters.  
-**  
A random guy: **SHADUS! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO REVIEW EVERY CHAPTER!**  
Game2002: **Everyone reading this story has the right to review whatever way he or she wants to. Please respect their way of doing things. Thank you! God bless you!

**Ancestor's Dragon: **Are you going to add in the characters from the manga?  
**Game2002: **No, characters from Fire Emblem: Hasha no Tsurugi will not appear in this story at all.

Due to the website not allowing to edit stories for some time, I was unable to upload this chapter even after it was finished. Admittedly, I didn't finish this chapter very fast either...

**Chapter 73  
Justice for the Girls**

**

* * *

**

Roy and his men stopped to help the girls, and a tent was set up for the doctor to treat Aya inside. While this was going on, Marisa and Cirno were looking excited in front of Roy.

"Wow! So you really are the king?" Marisa said to Roy in surprise.

"Please mind your way of speaking when in front of the king!" one of the soldiers said to her.

"It's all right," Roy said to the soldier. "Yes, I am the king of Lycia. You must be very excited since it's not everyday that you get to talk to a king, let alone being near one!"

"Well, not exactly... We've talked with a princess before and even lived in one's castle."

"Really? Which princess?"

"You should know her, and I bet you will be very surprised to her hear name as well! The name of princess whose castle we lived in is called..."

"Peach!" Cirno said, interrupting her.

"Hey! I was going to say that!"

"Oh, the princess of Mushroom Kingdom," Roy said, not sounding surprised. "Wait a minute... You mean... Princess Peach Toadstool?"

"I don't know about the Toadstool part, but yeah, her name is Peach, and would you believe it that we came to this world through the World Light?"

"World Light? I see... So you come from another world."

"Now admit it: You participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament, right? Do I get a prize for getting it right?"

"You're being too casual in front of the king!" the same soldier said to her in an angry tone. "You should show more respect! Youngsters nowadays really are..."

"Never mind, it's all right," Roy said to him. "So yes, I was a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament. The fact that you know all this... You must've been to Smash World, right? I didn't see you in the tournament at all. Perhaps you participated in the third tournament?"

"Actually, we didn't participate in any of the tournaments at all," Marisa replied. "In fact, we've never been to Smash World. It's a long story, but I can easily sum it up for you. To put it simple, we were in our own world when suddenly the World Light warped us to Mushroom Kingdom, and then from there, we traveled throughout different worlds until we came here. We are on a quest to fix the World Light because it is broken, which is the reason we didn't end up in the Smash World when we first got transported by the World Light."

"I see... It seems that you've been through quite a lot. Even though I've only participated in one of the three tournaments, I will still try my best to help you."

"Thanks a bunch, Mister King!"

"That is not how you should address the king!" the same soldier snapped at her.

"Okay... Maybe I should call you King Roy or Your Majesty..."

"It's all right," Roy said to her. "By the way, I would like to introduce to you my wife, Lilina!" And he presented to them a girl with long blue hair dressed in red.

"Hello! It's nice to meet you!" she said.

"So that would make you the queen, am I right?" Marisa said, rubbing her chin.

"It's as you said!"

Nitori then came to them and said, "The doctor said that Aya is all right now! She'll recover very soon, and much faster than any of us will expect if you know what she is!"

"It's good to hear that your friend is all right!" Roy said. "By the way, who shot her? Did you run into bandits?"

"Oh yeah! You just reminded me of something!" Marisa said, lightly hitting the side of her head. "Your Majesty, we need your help! Only you can save the rest of our friends!"

"Sure, I'll do anything to help. Go ahead and tell me what happened to your friends."

* * *

Nergal and Dracula walked through what appeared to be the interior of a temple while talking to each other. "Are you sure that all those happened after my death?" Nergal asked the vampire.

"Yes, we have looked up on this country's information," Dracula replied. "We gathered everything that we need to know about that man before determining whether or not he is worthy of being brought back to life. We have now decided that he is worthy of coming back to the land of the living and even joining our organization. However, it is unsure whether or not he will actually join us."

"Heheh! To think that there was actually someone who tried to bring back dragons into this world! Such a daring action, I would say!"

"Indeed, humans are nothing but a miserable pile of secrets. Ridding of the world of humans in order to let more superior beings exist is something that should be done. It was such a pity that he failed.

"So the person who crushed his ambitions is the son of Eliwood, right? He must be as good as his father to be able to do something like that!"

"As I have a weakness towards sunlight, I cannot go to that man's grave during daytime. Instead, someone from my organization will go along with you in my place. Even as we speak, he is currently over at his grave. If you want to, I can help you get there in an instant."

"I would be very interested to see that man coming back to life with my own eyes right now! While I can simply using magic to teleport there in a second, I am curious to see what your method of bringing me there is."

* * *

In a graveyard somewhere, a bulky person was standing in front of a particular tombstone. He held out a black square-shaped device and let it float above the ground in front of the tombstone. The device then let out purple lightning bolts that zapped the ground.

A few seconds later, the ground burst open.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Just then, a large door appeared out of thin air behind the bulky person, and Nergal came out from it. "Interesting! I'm here in an instant already!" he said. "And what do we have here?"

Without turning around, the bulky person said, "I assume you're the person Dracula revived, right?"

"It is as you said! You must be one of Dracula's comrades, right?"

"I don't recall ever having comrades. The others are simply people who happen to be in the same organization as me, nothing else."

"So you don't get along too well with them, eh? You sure remind me of myself! After all, friendship and trust leads to betrayal and creating more enemies! Indeed, you should only trust yourself and not see anyone as friends!"

The explosion in front of the bulky person started to dissipate, and one could make out the silhouette of a rather large person within it.

"He must be that man, am I right?" Nergal asked.

"Who else did you think I was reviving?" the bulky person replied.

* * *

"It sure is boring in here..." Reimu said, looking out the cell.

"Well, we're in prison," Youmu told her. "What do you expect? The only thing I'm really disappointed about is that they confiscated both my swords. If I have them here, I would be honing my skills rather than sitting down and doing nothing."

"They just had to confiscate Shanghai as well..." Alice grumbled. "At least we still have our spell cards. They didn't find out about it."

"Yeah, but I doubt any of them would come in handy now..." Reisen said. "Sure, we can try to break down the bars with our spell cards, fighting skills, and natural abilities, but that would only get us into trouble. The reason we're here is to prove that we are innocent, and we need to wait for the king to come and see us in order to do so."

"I wonder what's taking the king so long," Remilia said. "Shouldn't he have learned about us already?"

"Who knows? Maybe they simply didn't think the king is worthy enough of coming to see us, so they're planning to either execute us without a fair trial or leave us here to rot and die," Reimu said.

"You sound like Lunasa just now, you know..." Youmu commented.

* * *

"The king and queen have returned!" shouted the voice of a guard in front of the castle gate.

His voice reached some of the soldiers inside the castle, so they quickly spread the word to everyone else. Once the news of the king and queen returning reached everyone's ears, the soldiers and servants immediately lined up along the sides of the red carpet rolled out in front of the massive entrance.

"All right!" Merlinus said to them. "Be sure to give the king and queen a big welcome! It's been about a week since they left, so make sure not to mess up anything! You heard that?"

"Yes, Sir Merlinus!" they all said.

"The king and queen cometh!" said a voice from outside the gate. Immediately after that, the castle gate slowly came down, and once it was fully down, one could see Roy and Lilina standing outside, accompanied by several guards.

The king and queen came in first, and all the soldiers and servants lined along the side of the red carpet bowed down and said, "Welcome back, Your Majesties! King Roy and Queen Lilina!"

"Welcome back, my lord!" Merlinus said, walking towards Roy and Lilina.

"It's good to be back!" Roy said to him. "How's everything while I was gone? And is my father all right"

"All is fine! Your father is all right! Nothing bad has happened to the castle at all! As for the town... Well... It's nothing big that you should be concerned about. The soldiers have dealt with everything themselves."

"That's what I wish to believe, but unfortunately, I need to get busy right away."

"Is something the matter, my lord?"

* * *

Reimu and the others heard the sound of footsteps. They looked out their prison cell and saw Roy approaching them. "Who's here?" Reisen asked.

"Judging from the way he's dressed," Remilia said, "he's probably the king. Plus, there are familiar people with him."

"Everyone!" Marisa shouted as she ran up to the prison bars. "It's great to see you all!"

"Marisa! Cirno! Nitori! Aya! You're all right!" Sanae happily said

"Knew you would be all right," Reimu said.

"Well, we ran into quite a bit of trouble, but it's all right now!" Nitori said.

"So you are their friends, right?" Roy asked the girls inside the prison cell. "I am the king of Lycia, and I have already heard from your friends everything."

"Wow! It's the king!" Sanae exclaimed. "All right! My plan worked! It's a miracle!"

"You make it sound as if you're scheming something..." Youmu said to her.

"Don't worry; I will make it so that you all get the justice you deserve," Roy said to the girls. "Being a former participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament, I believe what you say. However, I still need to follow the laws of this country, so I cannot simply tell everyone that you are innocent and let you free. We will have to hold a trial for this."

"At least we know we won't be staying in here forever," Reimu said. "When will the trial begin?"

"Tomorrow."

"What? Why not today?"

"Sorry... I just came back from my trip, and there are some other things I need to take care of first. Plus, you cannot simply hold a trial whenever you want. One needs to make preparations first. Don't worry; I'll make sure that you get treated with respect in the meantime. You can count on me!"

"Okay! We'll gladly wait for the trial!" Sanae said. "Thank you very much, Your Majesty!" And she bowed down to show her respect.

* * *

Later, Roy and Lilina were walking down a hallway and towards their room. Merlinus was with them, and he asked the king, "My lord, why are you concerned about those girls? Have you not heard that they were responsible for summoning a monster to attack the town?"

"We have no proof that they did it," Roy replied. "Just because a random citizen claimed that he saw it doesn't prove anything. They also come from another world using the same thing that brought me to Smash World, so I believe them. As the king of this country, I need to make sure that everyone gets fair treatment, including foreigners who come here."

"Perhaps you are right. Indeed, everyone should be treated fairly."

"Can you please go and make a reservation for tomorrow's trial, Merlinus? I want to go and see my father now."

"As you wish, my lord!" Then Merlinus immediately set off to do his job.

* * *

The next day, the Gensokyo girls were in a courtroom filled with people. The judge pounded the bench with a mallet and said, "Order in the court! We shall now begin the trial! Our case for today involves these girls! They are accused of summoning of monster to devastate the town, but then they defeated the monster themselves in order to gain the trust of the townsfolk because they are in fact demons who want to terrorize the world. As bizarre as this may sound, we must still settle this case."

"What is this all about?" Cirno asked. "Who's that guy with a funny hairdo?

"This is a trial," Sanae replied. "Here, we will be determined whether or not we are guilty."

"This is unnecessary if you ask me..." Reimu grumbled. "We really are innocent..."

"May we have the witness stand up and speak?" the judge said to I.M. Meen's troll henchman.

The troll stood up and said, "While I was strolling down the street, I witness these girls going into the alleyway. Curious, I went over to see why would someone like them go into the alley, and when I peeked into the alley, I saw them performing a ritual of sorts. With a bright flash, a large monster appeared, and then it went and started destroying everything!"

"Lies! We never went into the alleyway at all!" Marisa angrily shouted.

"We did, remember?" Cirno reminded her.

"That was because we got chased by the guards, and that's after the monster was destroyed!"

"Silence!" the judge said to Marisa while slamming his mallet against the bench. "Are there no other eyewitnesses of these girls summoning the monster? What proof do you have that you really did see them? It's easy to say with your mouth, but you will need to show evidence as well. Can you please prove what you saw is true?"

"I may not have the evidence," the troll replied, "but I can prove to you that those girls aren't human. Ask them yourself; they'll surely tell you the truth."

The girls looked at each other, and then Aya said, "Well, I guess there's really no point in hiding the truth." And she revealed her wings.

"As if my wings aren't obvious enough," Remilia said.

"I'm an ice fairy!" Cirno loudly said.

"You see! They're not human! They're demons!" the troll said.

"For your record, I'm a vampire," Remilia corrected him.

Hearing this, many people in the courtroom gasped, and some of them even screamed, "A VAMPIRE!"

"Silence!" the judge said, pounding his mallet against the bench. "So it would appear that these girls aren't human."

"We three here are humans," Reimu said, pointing to Marisa and Sanae.

"Now that your friends have admitted that they are not humans," the judge said her, "will you confess that you really are the ones who summoned the monster?"

"No."

"Lies! Don't listen to them!" the troll shouted.

"Right! Don't listen to those liars!" I.M. Meen shouted. "Demons like them should be executed, as well as their human friends!"

"Silence! No shouting in the court!" the judge said, pounding the bench again.

"I have something to say, judge," Roy said as he stood up. "I believe that these girls are innocent."

"Your Majesty, even though your position is the highest in this country, I'm afraid that you still need to follow the laws."

"Don't worry; I will. These girls actually come from another world, and as strange as it sounds, different worlds actually exist in different dimensions. I myself have also traveled to a different world before."

"Ah, yes. You have been to a world known as Smash World back when you were a prince."

"Some of them had told me about their journey throughout various worlds. They have saved the previous worlds and battled the villains there, so I truly believe that they are innocent. They have no reason to summon a monster to destroy this town if they saved the previous worlds."

"They probably got tired of saving worlds, so they decided to forget about all those and cause trouble instead," I.M. Meen said. "Just because they did good things in the previous worlds doesn't mean they can't have a change of heart and do evil instead."

"What's that guy's problem?" Reisen asked. "We only met each today, and he's totally against us!"

"Beats me..." Marisa said.

"You must be Captain Moe, right?" Roy asked the soldier.

"Yes I am," I.M. Meen replied.

"You're not acting like you usually do, Captain Moe. You're usually a decent person who wouldn't accuse people without proof."

"I do? Well, people change, right? I'm no different. All the times I've spent as a guard captain made me realize that being too nice doesn't pay. One should be harsher in order to bring order and justice! I truly care for the wellbeing of this country, so I must make sure that all evildoers like those girls get what they deserve!"

Suddenly, the door slammed opened and a middle aged man with graying hair stepped inside. "Don't listen to him!" he shouted.

"Who are you? Who allowed you to barge in the courtroom without permission?" the judge asked him. "A trial is currently going on!"

The man pointed to I.M. Meen and said, "That guy knocked me out and hid me in the castle's weapon hangar! I was eventually found by one of the castle guards, and I have every reason to believe that he used my identity while I was out cold!"

"What? You mean you're the real Captain Moe?" Roy asked.

"Yes, I am the real Captain Moe!"

All eyes immediately turned to the trembling I.M. Meen. "Then who are you?" Roy asked him.

"Cripes! Busted! Why must that guy barge into this place now!" I.M. Meen said. "Fine! Now that the real guy is here, there's no more point in me taking up this disguise anymore!" Then he took off his helmet.

"Hey! It's that crazy guy we met Dream Land!" Nitori said.

"What's he doing here!" Youmu asked in surprise.

"And let me present to you my henchman!" I.M. Meen said, pointing to the troll. "His name is... Um... His name is... What's your name?"

"You never gave me a name," the troll replied.

"Um... Okay, from now own, you will be known as Mr. Troll."

"What a generic name..."

"I'm your master, so I have the right to name you whatever I want!"

"Hey you!" Reimu shouted at him. "Don't tell me that you're actually the one who summoned the monster and then blamed it on us, right?"

"Hohoho, that's a good guess!" I.M. Meen said to her. "But that's not the right answer! Someone else did the job of summoning that monster! Our plan was to get you girls accused for something you did not do in hope of getting you all executed in this country, but thanks to the fool whom I impersonated, it's all ruined!"

"How dare you!" Meiling angrily said.

"That's what you get for messing with our organization! All right, we're out of here! There's no point in staying here anymore! Time to begin Plan B!" Then I.M. Meen rushed for the exit along with Mr. Troll.

"You're not getting away!" Youmu shouted as she ran after him.

Captain Moe tried to stop I.M. Meen from escaping, but the villain fired magical sparks at him to blast him into the wall. Youmu went after the two villains as they disappeared behind the wall, but as soon as she did, a blade went through her chest.

Everyone in the courtroom was horrified at the sight they just saw. "YOUMU!" the Gensokyo girls screamed.

Youmu slowly lifted up her head and saw a person covered in bulky armor looking at her. Without saying a word, the person pulled his sword to the side, cutting through her body as a result. The half-phantom fell onto the floor, and the women in the courtroom shrieked at the terrifying sight.

"YOUMU!" the Gensokyo girls shouted as they quickly rushed over to her.

"Youmu! Are you all right?" Sanae asked her while shaking her body. "Answer us! Please!"

"Don't shake her!" Reisen told her. "It'll worsen her wound! Quick! We need to keep as little blood from coming out as possible!"

"Nobody is getting out of here alive!" the armored person said, and he raised his sword into the air and then swung it at Youmu.

CLANG!

His sword came to a halt when Roy blocked it with his own sword. "You're not laying a hand on the injured!" the young king said to the villain.

"Anyone who gets in my way shall die!" the armored person said. He raised his sword and brought it back down again, but Roy stepped aside before slashing him across the chest. However, no wound was inflicted on him at all. The villain swung his sword to the side to hit Roy, but he quickly blocked it with his sword before jumping back, and then he ran at him and thrust the sword into his stomach as hard as he could, only to break his sword in two. "What!" Roy said in shock.

"Your wooden stick cannot pierce my armor!" the villain said. As he got ready to attack him with his sword, he was blasted in the back by several projectiles. "UGH!" He then turned around to see that it was the Reimu and Marisa who attacked him. "Why you!"

"You'll pay for hurting our friend!" Reimu said.

"Right! You're going down for sure, you big hunk of metal!" Marisa said. "Prepare yourself! Narrow Spark!"

"Demon Buster!" Reimu shouted as she threw three pink amulets.

The villain brought his cape in front of himself to form a green barrier that reflected both the projectiles. Marisa got blasted by her own Narrow Spark, but Reimu ducked to avoid her homecoming amulets. Unfortunately, Nitori was standing behind her, so she became the amulets' victim.

BAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Nitori!" Reimu said in shock when the kappa was blasted onto the floor. The villain charged at her and readied to swing his sword at her head, but Aya landed a kick to his head to push him back.

The villain angrily swung his sword at Aya, but she flew to his back and shot him in the back using air blades. "Gale Fan!"

The villain spun around to face her and threw a ball of light at her. "Vacuum Wave!"

Aya easily dodged it, but the ball of light bounced off the wall at the end of the hallway, and because she did not expect it, she got hit. "Ya!" This allowed the villain to slash her when she got blown in his direction.

SLAAAAASH!

The tengu screamed in pain as she fell back onto the floor. Suddenly, his head was smashed in between Reimu and Meiling's legs. The two girls landed from their kicks, and then Meiling threw a rainbow-powered punch into the side of his body. "Spiral Light Step!"

The villain crashed into the wall so hard that he went through it, but he got back up again and stretched forth his arm. "Black Hole!"

Meiling was pulled towards the ball of darkness, and she was paralyzed from head to toe when she got sucked into the center of it. The villain was about to impale her with his sword, but Remilia slashed him in the head from above. "Nobody lays a hand on my gatekeeper!" Remilia angrily said to him.

"Like I care!" the villain said. He swung his sword at her several times, but she was able to dodge them all before slashing him in the stomach several times with her claws. "Ugh!"

"Red Magic!" Remilia shouted as she fired a red energy ball at him. To her surprise, the villain disappeared right when he was about to get hit. "What the!"

The villain reappeared behind her and was about to hit her with his sword, but she ducked down in the nick of time and then jumped away from him.

"Teleportation, I see... Comes in handy, doesn't it?"

"All the better to take down the likes of you!" he replied.

"You won't be taking down all of us at once!" Reimu said to him. The villain looked around and saw that he was not only surrounded by the Gensokyo girls, but also several guards.

"As strong as you are," Alice said, "you will still lose if you are outnumbered, and that is your condition you're in right now!"

"You'll pay for hurting my friends!" Cirno angrily said.

"Don't be so sure of yourself just yet," the villain said. "The day you underestimate me is the day of your downfall! The plan to frame you by summoning Twintania may have been a failure, so I shall do the favor of crushing you all by myself! My name is Exdeath, and I have confidence in saying that I am one of the most powerful members in the organization! You will not stand a chance against me"

"Twintania is the name of the monster from before, right?" Remilia asked him. "I assume that you're the one who summoned that monster. Am I right in saying that?"

"And what if I am?"

"Then we have every reason to teach you a lesson!" Reimu angrily said.

"You shall pay for that!" Alice said. "Ambush-Party Dolls!" And she commanded several dolls armed with lances to charge at the villain.

"Firaga!" Exdeath shot a large fireball at the dolls to incinerate them, and the fireball kept on heading towards Alice.

Reimu quickly got in front of Alice and created a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!" The fireball exploded and sent embers flying all over the place when it hit the wall. The explosion was also so powerful that the wall shattered into pieces and sent both the girls flying backwards.

"Sky Dragon Kick!" Meiling shouted as she tried to attack Exdeath with a rainbow-powered kick.

"Hurricane!" Exdeath shouted, and then strong wind appeared around him and broke through the ceiling, and Meiling was blown out of the building by it.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"If you use wind, then I'll also fight you using wind!" Sanae said. "Wind Call!" She pointed her gohei at Exdeath to make wind fly in his direction.

The wind did nothing to the villain, however, though he did feel it trying to push him back. "What was that breeze supposed to do?" he asked. "I have no times for childish games! Begone! Thundaga!" He raised his arm into the air to fire a lightning bolt out the hole on the ceiling.

Suddenly, the portion of the ceiling right above Sanae burst open and the lightning bolt came down on top of her. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Sanae fell onto the floor, and lying on top of her was a charred Meiling. The gatekeeper was still in the air when the lightning bolt was fired, so she got hit by it and then fell back down along with it.

Remilia charged at him from behind to slash him with her claws, but Exdeath unexpectedly grabbed her arm and flung her into the other girls. He then shot a fireball from his hand. "Firaga!" Immediately afterwards, he shot several ice shards into the air. "Blizzaga!"

"Watch out!" Reimu shouted when the ball of fire headed in their direction. Everyone ran out of the fireball's way, but suddenly, giant hail pallets crashed through the ceiling and crushed the unfortunate ones.

CRASH BANG!

"This place is too dangerous!" Roy shouted. "Get out of here at once! We can't stay here any longer!"

Everyone ignored Exdeath and ran down the hall to get to the exit, and the injured ones were carried by those who could still move. Suddenly, Exdeath appeared right in front of them. "Nobody is getting out of here!" he said. "This place shall be your grave!" And he swung his sword at Roy.

Roy ducked down and then quickly reached for the hilt of his sword to try to pull it away from him.

"Get your hands off my sword!" The villain shouted, trying to shake him off. He managed to knock Roy away with his other free hand, but he was suddenly blasted in the body by several paper amulets thrown by Reimu.

"Out of the way!" Remilia shouted as she slammed her claws into Exdeath's stomach really hard, so hard that the armored villain was pushed back by the much smaller vampire and out into the sun.

Everyone ran out of the building afterwards, and when they turned around, they saw smoke and fire inside. "We have to put out the fire as quick as possible!" Roy said.

"We could've done it with ease if it weren't for her passing out at a time like this!" said Reimu, looking at Sanae, who was being carried on a charred Nitori's back.

"If there is a large amount of water around here," Nitori said, "then I can do something about it."

"Before that, we still have someone to deal with," Marisa said, looking at Exdeath.

"Don't think that things will be easy!" the villain said. "I haven't used my full power yet! Once I used the power of the Void, none of you will stand a chance against me! In fact, I'm going to use it right now and show you just how terrifying it is!" He cupped his hands in front of himself and a ball of darkness was formed in between them.

Before it grew to a decent size, however, a large door appeared behind him. "Don't you think you're getting a bit too extreme there?" asked a voice that came from the door.

Exdeath stopped the attack and turned around to see Dracula standing behind the door. "Dracula... What are you doing here?"

"There should be a limit to what you are doing," Dracula told him. "Right now, we have something else to do."

I.M. Meen appeared from behind Dracula and said, "Who cares about that? The girls are right in front of our eyes! Kill them at once!" But Dracula smacked him in the face with the back of his hand. "Oof!"

"I'd rather destroy them all right now!" Exdeath said.

"Do you dare defy his orders?" Dracula asked him.

"Who cares about him? I never saw him as my superior! I only took orders from him because I am interested in his goal!"

"I can say the same as well, but there are several things to do before that goal can be reached, so we have no choice but to work together."

"Fine..." Exdeath grumbled as he walked towards the door.

"You're not getting away!" Marisa said. "Behold the power of my Master Spark-ze! Love Sign: Master Spark!" And she fired a huge laser beam from her Hakkero.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the beam disappeared, Marisa said, "Heheh! How'd ya like that-ze?"

"No... They're unharmed," Remilia said.

"What are you talking about? There was nothing protecting them at all when the beam hit, unless you mean they somehow withstood the beam. Doubtful; my Master Spark is too powerful for anyone to withstand."

"I'm afraid what Remilia said is true," Reimu said.

When the smoke cleared, two people were seen standing in front of Exdeath. One of them was Nergal while the other one was a blond man dressed in royal purple clothes. He was also armed with massive sword.

Marisa was shocked to see this. "What! No way!"

"Heheh! That was a powerful attack!" Nergal said. "But nothing can penetrate my magical barrier of darkness!"

"The power of the Eckesachs amazes me," the other person said. "To think that it can shield against a beam of that proportion. It looks like I never got to use its powers to full extent."

"That man!" said a soldier in shock while pointing at the person dressed in purple. "He's... He's..."

"It can't be!" Roy said in horror. "He's supposed to be dead! I killed him years ago!"

The man looked at Roy and said, "We meet again, Roy. You sure have grown quite a bit since we last met. We must be very surprised to me again, right? Of course you would be surprised. After all, you are the very person who slain me in a fight."

"Another case of a revived person," Alice said. "There's only one explanation for that."

"How is that possible!" Roy said. "Why are you alive?"

"I was very surprised as well. I saw was this person next to me and the one behind me when I came to life. They explained to me everything, and they also promised to help me accomplish my dream. I'm very sure you know what that is."

"Don't tell me... To bring dragons back into this world, right?"

Hearing the term 'dragon', the girls became shocked.

"So you haven't forgotten. After my defeat, you went ahead and stopped Idenn from carrying out my orders to her. Congratulations on managing to save the world, but this time, I shall be the winner."

"My dream to bring dragons back into this world failed thanks to your father," Nergal said to Roy. "You are Eliwood's son, am I right?"

"Yes, and who are you?" Roy asked him.

"Tell your father my name. He'll surely be so shocked that he'll get heart attack and die! He's at that age already, right?"

"Don't say such a thing to my father, and he's not at that age yet! I remember now! My father once told me about how he saved the world from a dark druid when he was younger! You wouldn't happen to be that dark druid, would you?"

"You are smart, kid! Your father told you everything, haven't him? Much as I want to pay him a visit now, there are things that we need to do if we want to bring dragons back to this world."

"Let us be on our way," the other person said. "Roy, I do not want you to tell Guinevere about this. I know that she is currently the queen of Bern, and I do not want to shock her with the news of my revival. For now, keep it a secret. After I have accomplished my goal, I will appear before her myself and show her what a successful man I have become."

"May we take our leave now?" Dracula asked. "Even though I am not standing in it, it still stings my eyes to look at sunlight."

"Yes, let us be on our way. Remember my words, Roy. Do not tell Guinevere about me. This time, nobody is going to stop me," the man told him, and then he looked at the Gensokyo girls. "You must be the girls they told me. I have heard about your feats from them. This is my advice for you: You do not know anything about this country, so you have right to interfere. I will be the one to change this country, and nobody is going to stop me." With that, he went into the door with the other villains, and then it disappeared.

"They're gone again..." Nitori said.

"Who was that guy?" Reimu asked Roy.

"He's Zephiel, the former king of Bern," Roy replied. "He waged war against the countries of the continent of Elibe. His ultimate goal was to bring dragons back to this world, but my army and I stopped him."

"I want to ask you another thing. Are the dragons of this world powerful?"

"Dragons? Well, we faced dragons before, and I have to admit that they were really tough to deal with, but once we obtained the Legendary Weapons, they became easier to take down."

"So they aren't all-powerful, right?" Marisa asked. "At least they don't sound as powerful as the one in Lucas's world. That one apparently has the power to destroy the whole world!"

"Let's not talk about that for now. Quick, we need to put out the fire inside the building and also help the injured ones! Everyone, get to work!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the soldiers said.

As the soldiers got busy, Roy said to himself with a worried look, "Things are getting serious... If Zephiel wants to try to bring back dragons again, then is it possible that he's going to go after her...? Idenn, the dark priestess..."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope this chapter made up for the shortness of the previous chapter. You can also tell that this arc is starting to become more exciting! Look forward to it!

And before anyone asks, I have nothing against Aya. I didn't make her go through a lot of sufferings because I dislike her or something. If I dislike her, then I wouldn't make her one of the main characters in the first place.

One last thing: I made up Captain Moe, so he's an OC. He's not going to show up anymore, so you don't have to remember him.

**Next chapter: Desert Animism**


	75. Desert Animism

**SBS Time!  
****Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV****: **Question, what is the least amount of days you update a chapter?**  
Game2002: **I always try to update within ten days, though I cannot say that I'm true to my words anymore... Back then, I can easily update everyday or within two or three days, but not anymore. Admittedly, I procrastinate and suffer from writer's block a lot more than before. I'm also more concerned about grammar and quality than before, so I take longer times working on chapters nowadays.

Most of you should know this already, but I still want to apologize to you for not telling you who Exdeath is in the previous chapter. He's the main antagonist of Final Fantasy V.

**Chapter 74  
Desert Animism**

* * *

The girls were all inside the finest room of the most expensive inn in Lycia, and Youmu, Aya, Sanae, and Meiling were all lying on beds.

"Ow... Just when the wound I received from the arrow was getting better, I just had to get cut in the body!" Aya angrily said. "Man! Does this world hate me or what?"

"You should be glad that you're not human," Reimu said to her. "Wounds like that are normally fatal to humans."

"Yeah, that's one thing to be thankful about. How's Youmu by the way?"

"The doctor says she's fine," Reisen replied. "In fact, he's really shocked that she's actually still alive!"

"Well, what do you expect?" Marisa asked. "She's half dead to begin with, so there's no way she was going to die so easily! Come to think of it, I never really got to understand half-phantoms very much... I mean... How is it possible for there to be a species that is a ghost and human hybrid? Are they considered dead or alive?"

"Sorry for making you all worried..." Youmu said in a weak voice. "I got too careless... I can't believe that I got taken out so easily... I'm so sorry for not being of any help back at that place either..."

"Don't talk too much," Reisen told her. "Even if you aren't in a critical condition, talking too much can still do harm to your body little by little."

"Well, what do we do next?" Remilia, who was sitting on a stool next to Meiling's bed, asked. "Obviously, the villains are on the move to accomplish their evil plan, and we're just sitting here doing nothing."

"Much as I want to have nothing to do with it, I'm afraid my conscience is telling me to be a good girl and save this world," Reimu said. "Aye... I guess the formula is the same every time we arrive at a new world... Fight bad guys, save the world, and then find the Light Essence in order to go the next world..."

"We don't know where to find those bad guys, though," Nitori said.

"That's true," Alice said. "Perhaps the king knows about where they are heading for. He said that the man named Zephiel might be going after someone named Idenn the dark priestess. He's obviously familiar with that person, so he should know where that person lives. All we have to do is ask him, and then we will go to Idenn's place to save her from the villains."

"So that Idenn person can help them bring dragons back into this world or something?" Marisa asked.

"Whoever she is, we should get to work fast," Reimu suggested. Even if the dragons of this world are not gods like in our world, I still do not wish to face them."

"Yeah, dragons make me think of powerful and unbeatable foes..." Marisa said while shuddering at the thought of it.

* * *

"So Nergal is back to life again?" a middle aged man with red hair—Eliwood—asked Roy.

"Yes, father," the young king replied. "He really is the dark druid that you told me when I was younger, right?"

"Indeed, the description fits exactly the same as how I remember him, and the fact that he is trying to help Zephiel bring dragons back into this world further proves that it is him. I would never have thought that he would return..."

"We need to stop them, father! I have every reason to believe that they are going after Idenn! I need to form an army and quickly head over to Nabata Desert to stop them before it's too late!"

"Even so, I don't think we can get there in time. Nabata Desert is pretty far from here, so you won't be able to get there within a day. Knowing Nergal, he can definitely make it there in a single day using magic."

"I know, but still, there's nothing else we can do but try... Is there anything else we can do?"

"Perhaps there is another thing we can do."

"What is it, father? I will do anything to stop them from bringing dragons back into this world! Please tell me, father!"

"They're probably going to go to Dread Isle. It is the place where Nergal attempted to open the Dragon's Gate, the gate to the dragons' world. What you can do instead is to head there to stop them. There may not be time to go over to Arcadia, but there should be enough time for you to go to Dread Isle. This is the best idea I can think of at the moment."

"Okay, father. I will immediately form an army and then head over to Dread Isle."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and after Eliwood gave the permission for the person out there to come inside, Merlinus came in and bowed down in respect. "Your Majesty," he said to Roy. "The girls from another world are here. They wish to see you."

"They're here?" Roy asked.

"They seem to have an urgent business with you."

"Then hurry up and let them in."

* * *

Soon afterwards, the Gensokyo girls were all in front of Roy and Lilina, who were sitting on their thrones. "Welcome to my castle!" Roy said to them. "Merlinus said that you have an urgent business with me. What can I do for you?"

"You see, Your Majesty," Reimu replied. "We want to help you; therefore, we want to know where we can find this person named Idenn."

"Yeah, the bad guys are surely heading for her even as we speak," Marisa said, "so we need to hurry over to her and stop them."

"I appreciate the fact that you want to help," Roy said to them, "but it's too late to get to where Idenn is. It will take several days to get to Arcadia, the place she is currently at. My father has given me another option, however."

"We won't know if we try," Reimu said. "Just tell us where Arcadia is, and we will get there as fast as we can."

"We can get there in a short amount of time for sure!" Nitori claimed. "You can count on us! We can fly there in a day!" As soon as she said this, she floated in the air.

"Look, I know you really want to help out," Roy told the girls, "but I just told you that it takes several days to get to... WHAT IN THE WORLD!"

"Yeah, we never told you that we can fly," Marisa said.

"And that is why we insisted on going over to Idenn," Reimu said. "With our ability to fly, we can get to places in a short amount of time, as long as the location isn't too far."

"I see... That is a cool ability to have!" Roy commented. "However, even if you can get to Nabata Desert, the place where Arcadia is located, in a short amount of time, you still have to face the problem of finding Arcadia itself. That place is the only known place in this world left where dragons still exist, and its existence is only known by a few people. It's definitely not a place where you can find with ease."

"Whoa, there are actually still dragons in this world...?" Marisa said. "So that means we'll get to see dragons when we get there?"

"True, though you won't be able tell them apart from normal humans. Dragons in this world always take the form of humans to disguise themselves. They only change back into their true forms during battles. They are weaker than an average human in human form, but once they change into their true form, they're really tough to deal with."

"Searching for that place shouldn't be a big problem as long as we have Aya," Alice said, "and she's recovering pretty fast. She has superb eyesight and hearing, so she can easily track down Arcadia."

"In that case, you should go now. I will give you a map that tells you the location of Nabata Desert, but because Arcadia's location is not on it, you will have to look for that place yourself."

"A map should be enough," Reimu said. "Thanks a lot!"

"Please be careful. I do not know exactly how powerful Nergal is, but Zephiel is definitely someone you do not want to mess with."

"I think we have even bigger things to worry about..." Marisa said, thinking about Exdeath. "That guy will surely be there as well..."

"As well as that other person he called Dracula," Remilia said. "Dracula... Never thought I would see someone with that name... Is it really him... or is the name merely a coincidence...?"

* * *

The girls were now outside the inn they were staying at. "Okay, now that we have the map," Reimu said while looking at the map Roy gave them, "we should head over to Nabata Desert. Because we can fly, we should be able to get there within a day."

Alice looked at the map and said, "Judging from the map, we should be able to get there in around twenty minutes if we fly at max speed. Aya can make it there faster, I believe."

"I can make it there get faster as well!" Marisa said. "With the help of my Hakkero, I can speed through the sky like a rocket! Of course, I have to admit that Aya is still faster if she flies at max speed..."

"We also have to face the problem of finding Arcadia, right?" Remilia asked. "The king told us that the village is hard to find."

"Aya's eyesight and hearing should help us find that place without a problem," Reimu said. "The problem is if she is currently in the condition to help us."

"What are you talking about?" asked Aya. "The fact that I'm standing right here proves that I'm in the condition to help you!"

Reisen was shocked by her appearance. "Wha! When did you get here?"

"Count on me to find Arcadia! Nothing escapes my eyes and ears!"

"I'm coming along as well," Youmu said as she came over to them.

"Youmu! You should be in bed!" Reisen told her. "Your wound isn't fully healed yet!"

"I'm feeling better already. This isn't anything big. If I let such a wound take me down, I wouldn't have the face to see my grandfather when I one day find him."

"The both of us are feeling better as well!" Meiling said as she came out of the inn with Sanae.

"Actually, I feel like I could take a bit more rest, but I simply don't feel right being left out of this," Sanae said.

"Well, everyone in our group seems to recover from injuries really fast, eh?" Marisa said.

"Good to see that everyone is still in the condition to move around," Reimu said. "Okay, if everyone is ready, let's go."

"Ready when you are!" Aya said. With that, the girls took off into the air simultaneously, and the bystanders watch in awe at such a sight.

* * *

The sun shone down on the city of Arcadia, a city where dragons and humans coexist in harmony. It was a place that one never thought would exist, especially after the war between humans and dragons known as The Scouring.

Despite the intense heat of the sun, the inhabitants of the city lived a happy life. The population wasn't much, however, but that was what made this place quiet and peaceful.

A winged young girl with violet hair dressed in red and yellow clothing was happily skipping through the mostly empty town with a basket of fruits balanced on her head, and behind her was a young woman with silver hair wearing a dark purple robe. A notable feature about her is that her right pupil was green while the left pupil was violet.

"Fae and Idenn collected lots of fruits today!" the young girl happily sang. "Lots of fruits!"

"Be careful not to fall down," the young woman said to her.

"Okay!" the young girl replied, but shortly after she did so, she tripped on a rock, so the fruits on the basket fell out and rolled all over the place. "Ow!"

"Are you all right?" the woman said as she went over to help her up.

"Fae hurt her knees..."

"Don't worry; we'll go home and treat it."

"Fruits got dirty..."

"Don't worry; we'll wash them and they'll become clean again."

After picking up all the fruits, the woman held the girl with one hand while using her other hand to carry the basket of fruits.

"Can you walk?" the woman asked her. "Be careful not to fall down again."

Suddenly, a large door appeared out of nowhere behind them, so they immediately turned around to look at it. The massive door swung open, and I.M. Meen, followed by several soldiers, stepped out.

The magician danced his way towards the two girls and then started walking around in circles while singing, "Here we are at the desert! It's a place where the sun always shines! The sun is shining because it wants you to dehydrate to death! It's the perfect kind of death for goody-goodies that make me sick!"

"Look! Lots of people came out from a door in the air!" the girl said. "And there's also a funny man singing!"

"Who are calling funny man, you wretched child!" I.M. Meen angrily said to her, and this made the girl cower behind the woman.

After all the soldiers had marched out, Nergal and Zephiel both stepped out. "Ah, it feels so nostalgic to be here again!" Nergal said. "The last time I came here was more than a hundred years ago!"

"Save the talk of nostalgia for some other time," Zephiel sternly said to him. "We are here for something important, and I do believe that we have already found who we are looking for." His eyes were focused on the silver-haired woman. "Idenn the dark priestess... We meet again!"

When the woman saw Zephiel, chills immediately ran down her spine as if she saw something terrifying. She took a step back and said in a horrified voice, "Master...!"

"It's that bad king!" the young girl said out loud. "But Roy killed him! Why is he alive?"

The soldiers parted ways for the former king to go through, and as he approached the two girls, he said, "You must be very surprised, Idenn. Yes, it is I, your master, King Zephiel."

The little girl got in front of the woman named Idenn and stretched out her arm to both sides. "Fae will not let you touch big sister Idenn!" she said. "Fae will protect her!"

"Ah, it's the divine dragon from that time."

Nergal approached Fae and said, "Yes, I can sense that you are different from a normal human. You are indeed a dragon. A manakete, to be precise."

"Come with me, Idenn," Zephiel said to the woman. "I need your help once again in bringing dragons back into this world."

"No..." Idenn said, shaking her head. "This world is as good as it is... There is no need to bring dragons back into this world. The dragons of Arcadia are different from the ones in that other world. They cannot live in harmony with humans, unlike the ones here."

"Your soul has been restored, right? Very well, I will destroy your soul once again in order to make you mindlessly obey me. I will refrain from harming the inhabitants of this place as long as you come quietly with me. Do you wish to see this place destroyed?"

"No! Fae will not let you take big sister Idenn away or destroy this place!" Fae angrily said to him. "Go away at once, or else Fae will get angry!"

"How disgustingly cute, you miserable little brat!" I.M. Meen said, poking his face close to her. "Be a good little girl and get out of here at once! Do not interfere with adults' business!"

"No! Funny man should go away instead!"

"How dare you call me a funny man! Do you really think that a little brat like you can scare away the world's most powerful magician? Try and do so if you can! You'll never succeed, I tell you! Never in million years!"

"Fae is angry now! You look down on Fae! Fae will punish you!" the little girl angrily said. She wrapped her wings around herself and was then engulfed in a ball of light. A few seconds later, the ball of light disappeared and a large furry dragon appeared in place of where the little girl used to be, and I.M. Meen jumped back in fright.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD!"

Nergal, Zephiel, and the soldiers, on the other hand, were not intimidated at all. Nergal watched with a face full of interest while Zephiel watched with a stern and unimpressed face. "Don't waste your energy," the former king said. "I will not fall back just because you are threatening me."

The transformed Fae took a deep breath, and then she released a burst of yellow fire in the villains' direction. I.M. Meen screamed and ran for his life, but Nergal held up his arms to form a barrier of darkness that protected them from the attack. The barrier became distorted when it got hit, however. It was as if it was about to be broken through. "Tsk! Even with my powerful darkness, trying to hold up against the power of light is a bit excessive!" he said.

"Don't worry," Zephiel said as he help out his massive scepter. "I will deal with her using my Eckesachs." He slammed the back end of the scepter onto the ground to cause it transform into a giant sword. He held it up and got ready to swing it when suddenly he noticed an arrow flying in his direction, so he used the sword to deflect it instead. At the same time, Fae stopped breathing the yellow fire and looked in the direction the arrow came from.

"It's you, Guardian of the Nabata Desert," Zephiel said, looking at a blond dark-skinned woman who was standing on top of a building.

"King Zephiel," the woman—Igrene—said. "How are you still alive...?"

"Do not try to stop me. Anyone who gets in my way shall die."

The woman jumped down from the building and aimed an arrow at him using her massive bow. "Leave this place at once! Nobody disturbs the peace of Arcadia!"

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I'll have to get you to leave by force!" Igrene said, and then she let go of the bowstring. Zephiel swiftly dodged the arrow and then charged at her really fast. When he swung the Eckesachs at her, she quickly jumped back and reached for another arrow to fire at him. Despite being fired at a very close range, Zephiel managed to dodge it with ease before thrusting his sword at her. She stepped aside in time, and the sword went through the building wall like it was butter.

Igrene quickly got away from him and readied to fire another arrow, but she was suddenly blasted and paralyzed by dark magic. "AH!"

"You seem to be skilled, woman," Nergal said to her while holding out his hand to keep her from moving, "but at the hands of my dark magic, there is nothing you can do!"

Fae appeared behind him and took a deep breath, but a lightning bolt suddenly struck her.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

The dragon screamed in pain, and then she reverted back into a little girl before collapsing on the ground. "FAE!" Idenn gasped.

"Enough of this madness," said Zephiel, who had his sword pointing at Fae. "You are trying my patience, and that is a foolish thing to do. Idenn, come with me at once if you do not want anyone else to get hurt."

"Don't listen to him!" Igrene shouted at the dark priestess. "Take Fae out of here at once! Go and tell the elder and everyone about it! You must not allow yourself to be captured!"

"You refuse to keep quiet, do you, girl?" Nergal said. "Looks like I should give you a bit of pain in order for you to learn your lesson!" He strengthened the power of his dark magic, thus bringing more pain to Ingrene.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Igrene!" Idenn cried.

"Just go!" the guardian shouted

"Don't worry; I'll help her!" said a new voice. Idenn turned around to see a girl dressed in a blue dress with a purple cloak coming over. "I'll handle things here, so you take Fae to a safe place first. If you want fight after that, you can come back and help."

"I told you that nobody is getting out of here!" Zephiel said as he rushed in Idenn's direction.

The girl—Sophia—brought up her arms to launch a burst of dark energy at the king, but he easily deflected it with his sword. Idenn quickly used this opportunity to pick up the unconscious Fae and then ran as fast as she could from the place.

"You're not getting away!" Zephiel said. He tried to go after her, but Sophia launched another burst of dark magic at him, so he quickly stopped to block it. "You're in my way. Step aside at once!"

Nergal turned to the soldiers and said to them, "Go, my army of Morphs! Follow that girl and bring her back alive! Kill anyone who gets in your!"

"Yes, master," said the soldiers simultaneously in emotionless voices, and then they marched after Idenn.

"I'll take the lead!" I.M. Meen said as he 'danced' after the dark priestess. "Come after me, you lot! I'm going to be your leader for the meantime, so you better do what I tell you! Let's go and cause some unnecessary destruction! Yahahahahaha!"

* * *

"We're above Nabata Desert now," Reimu said, looking at the desert down below.

"Yeah, this should be the place," Marisa said. "All I see is sand, so it has to be the desert."

"It's hot..." Cirno, who was leaning against Marisa's back, cried.

"It's the desert. What do you expect? By the way, thanks for keeping my back cool! Just don't fall off, okay?"

"Geez... I really should've considered things first before tagging along..." Remilia grumbled. "The sun is so strong that even parasol isn't doing much! At least it's keeping me from getting burned... We should've waited for the sun to set before coming... Deserts are much cooler at night."

"That would be too late," Youmu told her. "We need to get to Arcadia fast. The enemies might even be there already!"

Reimu looked at Aya and asked her, "Do you see or hear anything?"

"Still searching," Aya said while looking all over the place with her hand held above her eyes. "Even though there's no fog or anything, I still can't find anything that looks like a town or a building."

"How about try listening to the sounds of the people in that place?" Alice suggested. "You can still tell the location of something just by the sound, right?"

"Good idea! Let me see if I can hear anything!" Aya closed her eyes and placed her hands behind her ears. She listened as hard as she could, and after a few seconds, she opened her eyes and pointed in a certain direction. "I hear the sound of a girl screaming coming from that direction!"

"Well, then let's get going!" Reimu said. "They must've found Idenn already!"

* * *

"I'm going to go back out there and help the others fight off the enemies," Idenn said to Arcadia's elder, a bald old man with a white beard.

"Are you sure?" the elder asked her. "It's very dangerous, and your powers may very well destroy this place if you go too reckless..."

"Don't worry; I want to protect this city, so I must fight to protect it, even if it means to unleash my full power. Don't worry; I will control my power."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of laughter, and when they turned to the entrance of the building they were in, they saw a singed I.M. Meen coming in with an army of trolls. "Hahahaha! I found you, dark priestess!" the magician said. "Your fellow dragons sure are annoying, but none of them are a match for my powerful magic!"

"Get out of here at once!" Idenn angrily said to him. "Or else I will not show mercy!"

"Oh, are you trying to threaten me with words? I know that you are the dark dragon, but I am not afraid of you! The world's most powerful magician is not afraid of a dragon! Feel free to attack me if you want to! I will not hold back! I shall unleash my full power on you!"

"That's enough," said a voice. When they turned around, they saw Zephiel coming in, and Nergal was following closely behind him. "Leave her to me."

"Ah, so you took care of everything that stood in your way," I.M. Meen said to him. "You sure are a strong fighter, aren't you? Our organization really could use someone like you! You actually look more competent than the other members!"

"You and your army go out there and make sure that nobody comes inside," Zephiel said to him.

"But she just said that she wanted to show no mercy on me, so I'm going to show her that I'm not one to be messed around with!"

Zephiel glared at him and said, "Do you have any objections?"

"What's with that look? Don't look at me like that! You're new in our organization, so you better show your respect to someone who has been a part of it from the beginning!"

Zephiel then sent him flying with a swing of his arm.

SMACK!

"Ow! What was that for!" I.M. Meen cried after getting back up. "How dare you hit me like that! Show me some respect, I demand you!"

"Boss, I think it's better that we just listen to him," Mr. Troll said to him. "It would be a good opportunity to prove to the other members that you are indeed reliable and strong."

"Grrrr! Fine! I won't argue you with you anymore! I'll go out there with my trolls to make sure that nobody comes in, but don't think that I won't forget this! I will get back at you when I have the chance! C'mon, my servants!" Then I.M. Meen left the building with his trolls.

After I.M. Meen and the trolls left, Zephiel approached Idenn and said, "Are you or are you not going to come with me?"

"She will never go with you!" the elder angrily shouted at the king. "Her soul has been restored to her, so she will never do your biddings! You shall not ruin the peace that the continent of Elibe currently has!"

"Stand back, Zephiel," Idenn angrily said to him as an aura of darkness slowly appeared around her body. "I will not tolerate to kill you if you come any closer!"

"Ah, it seems that she is on the verge of transformation! I'm very interested to see the Dark Dragon in all her glory!" Nergal said with interest.

"Do you really think that your words will intimidate me?" Zephiel asked her. "Feel free to come after me if you want to. I will not be taken down by you so easily."

Suddenly, I. M. Meen shot into the place really fast and hit Zephiel from behind. The king almost fell over, but he managed to maintain standing on both feet. He turned around and saw the Gensokyo girls standing at the entrance. "You..."

"They killed all my trolls..." I.M. Meen cried. "They shall pay..." Then he passed out.

"So they actually came all the way to this place!" Nergal said. "And they sure came fast as well!'

Reimu pointed her gohei at Zephiel and said, "You better get ready. You should know why are here, right?"

"On the second thought, it's better that you don't get ready," Marisa said. "That way, we can take you down with ease."

"Have I not told you to stay out of this?" Zephiel asked them. "Do you wish to get involved with things that do not concern you?"

"Well, we do wish to stay out of things that do not concern us, but our conscience is telling us that it's not right to ignore people who need help or worlds that need to be saved," Reimu said.

"We will stop you no matter what it takes!" Youmu said, unsheathing both her swords.

"So you insist to stop me, do you?" Zephiel said as he transformed his scepter into a sword. "Very well, then I shall show you the consequences of coming after me."

"Looks like he isn't planning to go down without a fight," Alice said as she got her dolls ready.

"No problem! I'm in the mood for a fight at the moment-ze!" Marisa said. "The fight out there was too easy. This should make up for it!"

"Come at me if you dare," Zephiel said to them. "I would like to know why those people find you troublesome."

"Be careful," Alice said. "It might be a trap. He's trying to lure us."

"Narrow Spark!" Marisa shouted as she fired a beam from her hakkero.

"You're not listening to me!"

Zephiel easily blocked the beam with his sword, and immediately after that, Youmu and Meiling both charged at him. He blocked a strike from Youmu, and Meiling used this opportunity to run to his side to attack him from there. Zephiel quickly swung his sword at her, but she ducked to avoid it. The king swung his sword with such a speed that Youmu had no time to find an opening at all; instead, she had to hold up her swords to block another swing from Zephiel, and the force of the attack was so strong that she was sent skidding backwards.

Meiling performed a leg sweep that managed to hit Zephiel in the leg, thus causing him to fall down on his knee. Meiling then threw a punch at his face, but he caught her fist with one hand and then flung her away. She managed to land in a crouching position, though.

Remilia suddenly rushed at Zephiel and swung her claws at him, but he quickly blocked it with his sword. The vampire continued to swing her claws at him over and over, but every hit was blocked. When Zephiel brought down his blade at her, she moved aside and then sent out bats made of red energy. "Servant Flier!"

Acting quick, Zephiel brought his cape in front of himself to protect himself from the bats, but they created holes on it. "Red Magic!" Remilia shouted as she pulled back her arms to one side to charge up a ball of red energy, but she was interrupted when dark magic blasted her in the back. "Ugh!"

"I do believe that you girls are forgetting me," Nergal said. "It's no fun if I don't join the fray, don't you think?"

Remilia turned to him and said, "Oh yeah? Then I'll gladly play with you!" And she went towards him. She thrust her claw at Nergal, but he managed to block it by holding out a hand that was covered in dark energy.

Meiling saw her mistress fighting the dark druid, so she rushed over to her. "I'm coming to help you, Mistress Remilia!" She jumped at Nergal to hit him with a flying kick.

The dark druid suddenly disappeared in a burst of dark energy, so Meiling hit the floor instead.

"Uh? Where'd he go?"

Nergal reappeared a few feet away from them and instantly launched a dark thunderbolt at Meiling.

"YAH!"

"Don't hurt my gatekeeper!" Remilia shouted as she charged at Nergal and swung her claws at him. The dark druid countered this by swinging his arm to produce a trail of dark energy that knocked her back slightly, and then he launched a burst of dark magic that blasted her backwards, but she managed to come to a skidding halt on her feet. She held out her hand to the side and formed a red spear. "Heart Break!" And she threw it at him.

Nergal teleported behind her to avoid the attack, and before she had the chance to turn around, he grabbed her head and zapped her with dark energy.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Remilia screamed in pain as the dark energy stung her whole body.

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped. "Let go of my mistress at once!"

"As you wish!" Nergal said, and his palm released a miniature explosion of darkness that propelled Remilia into her.

"Mistress Remilia! Are you all right?" Meiling said to her mistress while shaking her.

Remilia pushed Meiling aside and then turned to glare at Nergal. "I'm fine! I'm going to show that fool for messing with the great Remilia!"

"Heheh! You're something to be able to still stand up!" Nergal said to her. "You have the potential to give me a good challenge. I look forward to seeing what else you can do! Before that..." He suddenly spun around and thrust his forth his arm to hit the empty air. Nitori suddenly appeared out of thin air and was sent flying back by the palm thrust.

"Ya!" The kappa fell back onto the floor, but she stood back up again. "How did you find me when I had my Optical Camouflage activated?"

"No invisibility magic is going to help you get near me, little girl!"

"Then I'll take on you directly! Monster Cucumber!" Nitori fell down on her hands and allowed her backpack to fire green laser beams at him, but Nergal easily blocked them using a barrier of darkness.

Reisen then ran around him and formed three clones of herself, and all four Reisen fired at him from their fingers, but Nergal protected himself with a barrier of darkness. When he stretched out his arms to the sides, the barrier expanded and blew them all away. The clones disappeared shortly after flying through the air, and the barrier eventually disappeared.

Remilia suddenly appeared behind him and was about to slash him across the head when suddenly Nergal stretched out his hands to form a dark cyclone around himself, and Remilia was blown into the air by it. He then fired dark projectiles into the air to blast her. While he was doing this, Meiling ran towards him and performed a flying jump kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!" At the same time, Nitori tried to punch him with one of her mechanical arms.

Nergal escaped by teleporting out of the way, and Meiling kicked the mechanical fist instead. "Sorry about that!" she said to Nitori.

Nergal fired a pair of dark energy balls at them. They were able to avoid them, but the dark energy balls turned around to go after them again, and as they were not expecting it, they got hit in the back.

"KYAAAAA!" they screamed.

"Heheh! None of you here are a match for me!" Nergal said. Suddenly, bright light appeared above him. "Uh? What's that light?"

"Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted, and then the ball of light that she sent into the air shot beams of light that Nergal.

Nergal quickly used his cape to shield himself from the attack. "Ugh!"

Sanae threw several paper amulets into the air and then pointed her gohei at him. "Protect the Prosperous Business!" And the amulets flew towards him while glowing with purple light.

Nergal was struck by a series of explosions when the paper amulets struck him, and at the same time, the ball of light in the air disappeared. He looked at Sanae and said, "I can't say that you didn't do a number on me. Well done! But this is as far as you..."

"Heart Break!"

BAAAAAAAANG!

Nergal was sent flying forward after a red spear exploded against his back. He got up slightly and turned his head around to glare at Remilia.

* * *

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted as she fired several icicles Zephiel.

"Persuasion Needle!" Reimu shouted as she threw needles coated in purple aura.

"Meteoric Shower!" Marisa shouted as she fired stars.

Zephiel blocked them all with his sword and then charged at them and swung his sword, but they all got out of the way. Some of Alice's dolls attacked him with their swords, but he easily blocked their attacks and then knocked them away. When dolls armed with spears tried to spear him, he easily swatted them away with the flat part of the blade.

Marisa swung her broom at him, and he was very surprised that it didn't break when he hit it with his sword. "What is this? A broom that a sword can't cut?"

"It's magic-da ze!" she replied.

"It doesn't matter. A mere broom isn't going to help you win against me."

Reimu suddenly appeared behind him and was about to hit him with her gohei, but he grabbed Marisa's broom and then swung it along with Marisa herself into her. The both of them tumbled onto the floor, and Zephiel raised his sword over them and prepared to swing it down, but Youmu appeared in front of him and blocked it with her Roukanken. As Youmu was no match for Zephiel's strength, the impact against her sword caused her to fall on top of Marisa, but she still managed to hold up her sword against his.

Cirno and Aya appeared on both sides, and the former got ready to hit him with an ice sword while the latter used her fan. Suddenly, Zephiel performed a full 360 degrees spin to send them both flying away.

"KYA!" they both cried.

Using this as an opportunity, Youmu slashed Zephiel in the leg to make him take a step back, and then she attempted to slash him in the body, only to have it blocked.

"This guy's pretty good!" Marisa said. "All right, it's payback time!"

Using his strength, Zephiel, pushed Youmu back, but then Aya landed a kick into the side of his head. The king turned to her and to hit her, but she moved back and then fired wind blades at him. "Gale Fan!"

Zephiel easily shrugged off getting cut by the wind blades, and then he charged at Aya and thrust his sword at her, but she flew into the air before stomping him in the head. He turned around to look for her, only to get shot by Cirno's icicles. "Icicle Machine Gun!"

Zephiel gritted his teeth as he tried his best to use his sword to block the icicles. Suddenly, Marisa used her broom to hold him back by the neck. "Ugh!"

"Shoot him with all you have, Cirno!" Marisa said to her.

"You've got it! Let's try a bigger one!" Cirno said as she formed a ball of ice that gradually grew in size in front of her palm.

"Don't think I'll let you do what you want so easily!" Zephiel said, and then he bent over at a speed that caused Marisa to fall down in front of him.

"Ow!" she cried, and then Zephiel grabbed her by the back of her neck and flung her at Cirno. "Ya! Cirno! Don't shoot it!"

Too late; the ice fairy fired the large ice ball. "White Rose Cluster!" The ice ball crashed into Marisa and pushed her back through the air. Instead of running away, Zephiel kicked Marisa in the back so hard that the ice ball shattered, and she flew into Cirno.

"Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" Reimu shouted as she fired energy yin-yang orbs at him. Zephiel easily deflected them, and then he swung his sword downwards in her direction to cause a lightning bolt to fall down from thin air.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reimu screamed as the lightning bolt zapped her badly. While she was still dazed from the shock, Zephiel ran towards her.

Suddenly, several dolls armed with spears and shields appeared in front of Reimu and pointed their spears at Zephiel. Instead of stopping, Zephiel swung his sword and knocked them all out in a single swipe. Immediately after that, several dolls latched onto his body.

"What the!" he said.

"Artful Sacrifice!" Alice shouted as she snapped her fingers, and then the dolls exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Whoa... I lost my mind for a second..." Reimu said, holding he head. "Did a house just fall on top of me or what...?"

"You were hit by a lightning bolt," Alice told her. "It seems that his sword has the ability to summon lightning bolts."

"Really? No wonder I felt quick a jolt traveling throughout my body. Actually... jolt seems to be an understatement..."

When the smoke cleared, Zephiel was seen to still be standing, but he was badly charred at the same time. "Is that all you've got?" he asked.

"He's still standing..." Alice said with a rather surprised look. "He sure has a lot of stamina."

"You girls are indeed tougher than I think. I am beginning to understand why they find you troublesome. However, I have no intentions to be defeated by you here, especially not before I accomplish what I came here for."

"Too bad we won't be letting you do so," Reimu said to him.

While the fight was going on, Idenn and the elder watched from the sideline. "Who are those girls?" Idenn wondered.

"Whoever they are, they appear to be on our side," the elder said. "They are faring well against the villains as well."

I.M. Meen slowly got back up while rubbing his head. "Ow... What on earth happened...? Oh yeah, those miserable little girls showed up and wiped out my entire army of trolls, and then that girl in green with red hair gave me a kick to the stomach so hard that I flew into this place..." Then he saw the girls fighting Nergal and Zephiel. "Accursed girls! You shall pay for messing with I.M. Meen!"

He got out a book and flipped through its pages. "Aha! Here's a good one! You beat up all my trolls, right? Then I'll show you the biggest and meanest troll there is! Come out, Trollmeen!" He moved his hands in circles above the book, and then magical sparks came out from the pages and make a large troll with white hair armed with a club appear. "Go and crush those girls, Trollmeen! They killed your little friends, so avenge them!"

Trollmeen shook his club in the air and cried loudly as if he was angry from hearing what I.M. Meen said, and then he ran towards the scene of battle. Reisen saw Trollmeen running over to her, and she jumped back to avoid a swing of the troll's club. "What is this!" she said in shock.

* * *

Trollmeen swung his club at her from above, but she jumped to the side and shot him in the body several times. The troll took a few steps back from being shot, and then he approached Reisen again to hit her.

"Where'd that monster come from?" Nitori asked Reisen.

Reisen looked at I.M. Meen, who was laughing at them, and said, "I may have an idea..."

Trollmeen ran to them and swung his club vertically, but they both jumped over it. While in he air, Nitori grabbed the troll's shoulders using her mechanical arms, and then she pulled herself to his face and punched him really hard. The kappa flipped back into the air while the troll took some steps back in pain, and then she fired lasers from her backpack at him. "Monster Cucumber!"

"Psycho Missile!" Reisen shouted as she fired an energy missile.

BANG!

The explosion sent Trollmeen flying backwards until he tumbled roughly onto the floor and stopped in front of Zephiel while he was fighting some of the girls. "What is this?" he wondered.

"Get back up and show them your true power, Trollmeen!" I.M. Meen said to the fallen troll. "I'll get someone else to help you! Come out, Vegemeen!" This time, he summoned a living tree, but it did not have any leaves at all.

Trollmeen got back up again and shook his head, and then he rushed towards Reisen and Nitori.

I.M. called out to Zephiel, "Leave those pesky girls to me! You go ahead and capture the dark priestess!"

"Very well," Zephiel said while defending himself from his attacker. "I'll leave them to you, then."

"We won't let you get away from us!" Reimu said as she threw several needles at him. "Persuasion Needle!"

Zephiel effortlessly blocked them and then swung down his sword to summon a lightning bolt. This time, Reimu saw it coming, so she rolled out of the way in time to avoid it, and then she threw paper amulets at him. Zephiel easily destroyed them all with a swing of his sword, and when Cirno jumped at him from behind with an ice sword in her hand, he spun around to both destroy the sword and knock her away.

Meanwhile, Vegemeen, under the command of I.M. Meen ran towards Zephiel and the girls. "What the! A living tree!" Marisa said in shock. The living tree tried to grab Marisa with its long arms, but she moved back in time. "Take this! Radial Strike!" And she used her broom to fire stars at its body. The tree took several steps back from behind shot, and then it flung several thorns at her. "Yikes!" Marisa had no time to run, so she held up her broom in hope of defending herself, but some of the needles pricked her body. "Ow!" Vegemeen managed to smack her away afterwards.

She tumbled onto the floor and cried in pain as she pulled the needles out of herself. "Ow... These hurts..."

Vegemeen approached Marisa again, but Youmu suddenly dashed past it. A few seconds later, the living tree split in half horizontally, and then both halves of its body disappeared. "Are you all right?" Youmu asked Marisa.

"Not exactly all right..." Marisa said, still pulling out the remaining thorns. "Ouch!"

"Why you!" I.M. Meen angrily said when he saw that Vegemeen was defeated. "You shall pay for this! I'm going to take on you myself!"

"Look who's getting angry," Marisa said as she stood back up.

"What happened at Dream Land was merely a fluke, I tell you! This time, I'm not going to mess around with you girls anymore! Behold the true power of the greatest magician in the world, I.M. Meen!"

Trollmeen swung his club at Reisen, who ducked down to avoid it, and then she jumped out of the way and fired at his body when he tried to hit her from above.

"Monster Cucumber!" Nitori shouted as she fired laser beams at him from her backpack. She then punched him in the face with one of her mechanical arms.

The troll raised his arms into the air and roared angrily, and then he ran to Nitori and swung his club at her. The kappa easily stopped the club using only one arm, much to the troll's surprise. Using her other arm, she delivered a punch into his stomach.

POW!

The unexpectedly powerful punch sent Trollmeen flying in the direction of Remilia, who was fighting Nergal. Seeing the troll flying in her direction, she swung her claws at it to alter his course.

Trollmeen eventually tumbled onto the floor, but he got back up again and groaned in pain. When he set his eyes on Meiling, who was helping her mistress with the battle against Nergal, he ran towards her in hope of smashing her with his club.

The gatekeeper turned her head around to see him coming towards her, and when he brought down his club, she stepped to the side and slammed her elbow into his abdomen. She then spun around to punch him rapidly in the body, and then she placed her hand in front of him. "Red Inch Punch!" A burst of red energy came out from her hand and sent him flying through the air again.

Trollmeen flew out of the building and tumbled down a staircase. When he hit the ground, he lied there with swirly eyes for a few seconds and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"That was easy," Meiling thought as she turned around to focus on Nergal.

"Meiling sure made a quick work out of that guy..." Reisen said. "Hope he's down for good..."

"He wasn't that tough to deal with at all," Nitori said.

* * *

"Fenrir!" Nergal shouted as he released several dark energy particles that traveled through the air like a blizzard.

Remilia ducked down and placed her hands over her head to protect herself from the incoming attack. When the attack ended, she looked up, only to find that Nergal was gone. Suddenly, he reappeared behind her with his hands held over her head. "Nosferatu!"

Before Remilia could do nothing, dark energy came down around her, and then she felt a large amount pain all over her body. "KYAAAAH!"

The dark energy then entered Nergal's body. "Thanks for sharing with me some of your energy! I feel much better now!"

"Sky Dragon Kick!" Meiling shouted as she performed a rainbow-powered flying kick at him. Nergal managed to stop her using only one arm, and then he slammed her right on top of Remilia.

SLAM!

He then moved back from the two girls and casted a magical spell. "Fenrir!" The blizzard-like attack blasted the two girls across the place.

Remilia came to a stop and angrily glared at the dark druid. "You'll pay for this!"

"I had great fun fighting you," Nergal said, "but I'm afraid I can't be doing this all day. I am here for something else, so if you would kindly let me accomplish my job."

"As if I would let you! I won't let my enemies get away from me until they are defeated!" The vampire dashed at him at a really fast speed and swung her claws, but the dark druid disappeared.

Nergal reappeared in front of Idenn and said to her, "Now let us get going, dark priestess. We have spent enough time here."

* * *

"Eat this! Meen Lightning!" I.M. Meen shouted as he launched lightning bolts from his hands. Marisa and Youmu easily dodged them, however.

"You go after Zephiel, Youmu," Marisa told her. "I can take on this guy alone."

"Okay," Youmu said with a nod. "Be careful."

"You're not getting away, little girl!" I.M. Meen said. "Meen Lightning!" And he fired lightning bolts at her.

Youmu dodged them by rolling forward, and then she ignored him and continued heading for Zephiel.

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore me!" I.M. Meen shouted as he ran after her, but Marisa gave him a swat to the back of his head using her broom. "Ow!"

"You're facing me, Mister Meen!" Marisa said to her.

Youmu swung the Roukanken at Zephiel as she approached him, but the king spun around and blocked it with his Eckesachs. "Take this!" Cirno shouted as she appeared next to him to hit him with her ice sword. Zephiel swung his arm at the ice sword and managed to shatter it with the armor on his arm, much to Cirno's surprise. He then grabbed the ice fairy by her head and slammed her against Youmu's forehead.

Suddenly, Nitori grabbed his shoulders using her mechanical arms, and then she pulled herself into him to punch him in the stomach. Thanks to his armor, Zephiel barely felt any pain, but he was surprised to see that Nitori actually made a crack on the armor. Nitori then retracted her mechanical arms before hitting him in the stomach with a series a rapid palm thrusts. "Hiyayayayayayaya!"

"Enough of this childish antic!" Zephiel angrily said, and then he raised his knee to hit her in the chin. She was knocked into the air, where he grabbed her by the neck.

Aya and Reimu rushed towards him from behind, but he turned around and said, "Come any closer and I'll strangle her to death." To show that he was serious, he tightened his grip to keep Nitori from breathing.

"Let go of her at once!" Reimu shouted.

"On the second thought," Aya said, "there's really no point in us trying to help her. It's not like she only has one pair of arms after all."

Nitori's mechanical arms came and closed themselves together to ready to hit Zephiel from above, but with a single swing of his sword to the air, the hands were sliced off.

"You were saying?" he asked.

"Um... Well, the arms are still intact..."

"Come any closer and I'll strangle her for real," the king said as he took steps backwards.

"Oh yeah? Like you can strangle her before I get to you!" Aya said, and then in an instant, she was in front of the king, much to his surprise. She punched the crack Nitori created on the armor and sank her fist into Zephiel's body.

"Gugh!" the king grunted in pain as he dropped Nitori and flew back through the air until he hit the wall.

The sight of Zephiel flying into the wall made Idenn turn her attention to him. "Not a wise idea to turn your face away from me, don't you think?" Nergal asked. "Flux!" Nergal placed his hands close to each other to form a ball of darkness. It then became liquid-like and seeped into the floor, and then black ribbon-like energy came out from the part of the floor around Idenn and bound her.

"What the! Ya!" Idenn screamed. She tried to free herself from the dark energy, but to no avail.

"Manaketes are weaker than an average human in their human forms. As long as I keep you from transforming into your dragon form, I can subdue you with ease."

"Oh no! He caught Idenn!" Reisen gasped.

"Then let's rescue her quick!" Meiling said as she rushed towards Nergal.

Suddenly, a large door appeared behind Idenn, and when it swung open, both Dracula and Exdeath were seen standing behind it. "About time the three of you completed your task," Dracula said.

"It's them again!" Meiling said as she stopped in her tracks.

"I do not have that much patience to be waiting for all day," Exdeath said. "Are you done yet?"

"As you can see," Nergal replied, "I have successfully captured the dark priestess, but we must hurry up and take away her Dragonstone, lest she transforms into a dragon."

"Very well, bring her in here," Dracula said. "We will make sure that she does not retaliate."

Both Dracula and Exdeath placed their arms on Idenn's shoulders and prepared to bring her back into the door, but then they saw Remilia diving at them. "You're not getting away!" she shouted.

Seeing that Remilia was heading for him, Dracula quickly brought Idenn in front of himself, and when Remilia swung her claws, she ended up hitting her instead.

SLAAAAAAAAASH!

"KYAH!" the dark priestess screamed.

"Oh no!" Remilia gasped. Exdeath tried to st?ab her with his sword, but she quickly got out of the way. "How dare you use her as a shield!"

"Begone with you!" Exdeath said as he formed a ball of light in his hand. "Vacuum Wave!" And he fired it at her, but she managed to avoid it with ease.

All the girls except for Marisa then charged at the two villains, ready to attack them. "You're not getting away!" Reimu shouted.

Suddenly, I.M. Meen appeared in front of his fellow members and said, "Meen Flash!" He held out of his hands and bright light came out from the palms.

"Aya! It's stinging my eyes!" Aya cried.

While I.M. Meen continued to release light from his hands to blind the girls, the other villains quickly ran into the door. Exdeath turned to the side and saw that Zephiel was only starting to stand back up, so he stretched his hand in his direction and formed a ball of darkness. "Black Hole!"

The king was pulled over by the black hole's gravitational pull, but Exdeath disabled the move just before he touched it. "Get in there!" he said as he pushed Zephiel into the door. He then stepped into it, and then I.M. Meen stopped releasing light from his hand to run inside as well.

By the time the girls were able to open their eyes, the door was no longer there. "No... They got away..." Reisen said in horror.

"No... Idenn...!" the elder said. "This cannot be...! If they take away her soul, she will once again obey them without questions, and then Elibe will be doomed!"

Marisa ran over to them and said, "Sorry, that guy got away during the middle of the fight... If only I had kept him from getting away, this would never have happened... I'm sorry..."

"He could always teleport away whenever he wanted to, so it's not your fault," Youmu said.

"We failed... We lost..." Sanae said.

"All that energy we used for fighting... wasted..." Reimu said in disappointment.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

What a long chapter! Hope that was a good read for you all!

My method of naming I.M. Meen's attacks came from the Youtube user named chincherrinas (it's spelled with a lower-case 'c'), who made a video depicting I.M. Meen's moveset and more if he was a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Also, let us have a moment of silence for Mr. Troll, who was killed off-screen.

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Okay, have patience waiting for the next chapter!

**Next chapter: Dreadful Desires**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Touhou 11's subtitle, Subterranean Animism.

2. Remilia's ducking animation in the Touhou fighting games is quite a bit of a meme, since it makes a charismatic person like her looks like she's cowering in fear.


	76. Dreadful Desires

**SBS Time!  
Starx: **What I am wondering is, doesn't Youmu, Aya, or Remilia have good danger sense?  
**Game2002: **I didn't know about that. Sorry...

**Starx: **Hmmm, a few things... Is Youmu using her special swords when she hit the Octo? Her swords are meant to be able to slash through pretty much everything.  
**Game2002: **My bad on that part... I simply went with the same logic in Ocarina of Time, which resulted in that mistake...

**Starx: **(talks about Ganondorf and his weakness)  
**Game2002: **Once again, I went with game logic, and I don't think this one is a mistake whatsoever. After all, Ganondorf major weaknesses are the Silver Arrows and the Master Sword, so other kinds of attacks won't work on him. Yes, I'm aware that you can hurt Ganondorf using the Biggoron Sword in OOT, but that's probably just game logic. To my knowledge, you need to use the Master Sword to defeat him in the final battle of that game, unless you can actually defeat him using either the Biggoron Sword or the Megaton Hammer as well, something which I never tried before.

-  
**Starx: **Though, after reading so many chapters, Reimu feels could be just me, but she seems a bit timid. Oh, and this applies to Youmu too.**  
Game2002: **Somehow, she strikes me as someone who doesn't get impressed or get into action so easily. In Silent Sinner in Blue, she looked bored and unimpressed when Remilia got defeated by Yorihime while Sakuya and Marisa were shocked. Now that I think of it, she does seem a bit too timid here. She attacked Orange just because the latter was as demon, so she does look like someone who would attack first and talk later.

As for Youmu, she strikes me as an honorable person and one who follows a strict moral code. Okay, she did attack you just to "drain every drop of spring from you" in Perfect Cherry Blossom, so she really does look like the kind to attack first and talk later. So much for wanting to portray the series as close as possible to canon... Also, Marisa seems to be ruder than Reimu if you ask me, what with breaking into Patchouli's library to "borrow" books all the time. By the way, thanks for pointing out the grammatical mistakes in Chapter 16: The Hero Who Travels the Seas! God bless you!

For those of you who missed out, a trivia about Remilia has been added to the previous chapter. Go and check it out if you want to.

**Chapter 74  
Dreadful Desires**

* * *

Some time after the villains left Arcadia, the Gensokyo girls were all standing in front of the elder and Igrene with a guilty look. "We're sorry..." Reimu said to the elder. "We got the permission from King Roy to come here to protect Idenn, but we failed our mission... We are very sorry... Please accept our apology." And she bowed down.

"It's all right," the elder replied. "I do not blame you for what happened. The enemies are simply too strong."

"They aren't that tough if you ask me," Aya claimed. "It's just that... Well, um... We're just unlucky, that's all..."

"No, I am the blame to this," Igrene said. "I am the guardian of Nabata Desert, and yet I failed my duty to stop them... Both Sophia and I were struck down with ease... We brought shame to the city of Arcadia..."

"Don't worry! We'll definitely rescue Idenn!" Marisa said. "You can count on us to rescue her!"

"Then please do so," the elder said. "This continent was once in danger because she obeyed Zephiel without questions, and so many War Dragons were created. Thanks to Roy and his army, the threat came to an end."

"You can count on us, elder," Reimu said to him. "We definitely won't let history repeat itself! We promise!"

* * *

"Give it back!" Idenn shouted, trying to reclaim a gray stone from Nergal, but Zephiel caught her by the shoulder.

"We will give it back to you after removing your spirit," Zephiel said to him.

"It's useless trying to resist us," Nergal said to Idenn. "In your human form, you are helpless, so removing your soul will be an easy task for me. Back when I was in Arcadia, I learned all I have to know about dragons, so do not think that I do not know how to remove your spirit."

"Do it now and fast," Zephiel said to Nergal. "I do not want to waste anymore time. I must return this world to the dragons as soon as possible."

"Do you not fear that the girls come to this island?" Exdeath asked them. "They surely will not let us get away with it so easily."

"Right! We need to make sure that they do not interfere with us again!" I.M. Meen said. "They have been following us wherever we go!"

"You talk as if you fear them," Dracula said. "However, it is true that we should still take precautions."

"Do not worry," Nergal assured them. "The Morphs I created have been assigned to stop any intruders from coming here. Three of them are even modeled after the... the... They're called Dragon Generals, right?"

"Right, they were the three most powerful generals the kingdom of Bern has at its disposal," Zephiel said. "However, one of them was actually so weak that he was put on candidate to be replaced. Still, it's better to have all three than only two of them. His replacement should still be alive in Bern, and he doesn't know that I'm alive again either."

"With such a large army on our side, rest assure that those girls will not be getting here so easily. Even if they do make it in here, we will gladly end their lives."

"Then I'm going to enjoy ending their lives!" I.M. Meen said. "It's about time those wretched girls get they deserve! Yahahahahaha!"

Nergal then turned to the struggling Idenn and said, "Now let us start the spirit-removing process, shall we? Heheheh!"

* * *

The Gensokyo girls were back in Roy's castle, standing down in front of the king himself. "I see... Such a pity to learn that they succeeded..." Roy said.

"We're very sorry..." Reimu said.

"It's all right. I have taken precautions already. After you girls left, I gathered together some of the finest people in my army as well as preparing a ship to get ready to set sail to Dread Isle. Please do not misunderstand; I did not do this because I do not trust you. I trust you, but it still best to take precautions in case anything goes wrong."

"You did the right thing in taking precautions," Alice said. "If I were you, I would do the same thing as well."

"I cannot be sure that they will be at Dread Isle, but according to my father, that's the most likely place they are at, so we can only hope that we won't waste our time going there," Roy said as he stood up from his throne. "All right, let's go to Dread Isle."

"We can simply fly there," Reimu told him. "We'll make up for our failure ourselves, so you do not have to burden yourself to go all the way there."

"I know that you want to deal with this yourself to make up for your failure, but there is a reason that I must go with you. If they really do succeed in removing Idenn's spirit, then the Binding Blade will come into play."

"Binding Blade?" Youmu curiously said.

"It's the legendary blade used by the legendary hero, Hartmut. He used it to strike down Idenn without killing her. Only by using that blade can we save Idenn. I used that sword before, so I feel that I must stop Idenn myself if her spirit really is removed."

"Let's not stop him from coming," Reisen said. "He made all the preparations already, so it would be disrespectful to turn down his offer to help us. You were being disrespectful just now, Reimu."

"Fine... I'm wrong..." said Reimu, sounding ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry..."

"It's all right," Roy told her. "All right, we have to get going now."

"I'm ready when you are!" Lilina said, standing up from her throne. "I fought by your side before, so I have every reason to join you in this battle."

"Okay, let's go to Badon!"

* * *

Because they traveled at the fastest speed possible, Roy and his army arrived at the port of Badon within an hour. As they approached a large ship docked at the port, a soldier came up to him and saluted. "Your Majesty, the ship has been prepared as ordered! It is ready to set sail anytime!"

"Good," Roy said with a nod. "Thanks for the hard work!" He then turned around to face his army. "Okay, we're going to go onboard now. You all fought alongside me in the war against Bern before, so I trust you all to stay alive until the end. Okay, time for a roll call. Let me know if you are present."

Roy then called out the names of the people that he gathered up. They were Lilina, Wolt, Dieck, Alan, Lance, Thany, Wade, Bors, Barth, Wendy, Treck, Noah, and Zealot. He also called out the names of the Gensokyo girls.

"Here!" Cirno said, raising her hand when her name was called. She was the last to be called.

"Okay, everyone is here. I may not have been able to summon everyone who participated in the war, but I believe that this should be enough."

"Everything is enough as long as I'm around!" Dieck claimed. "Oh boy! I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Don't be so full of yourself, Dieck," Thany said to him. "It's possible that we'll be facing dragons again, and you know how powerful they were when we fought them! Plus, you don't have the Durandal with you anymore, so it's not going to be an easy task without the Legendary Weapons!"

"That may be true, but as a knight, I will not back down from any kind of enemies," Barth said, "not even dragons."

"Were they really that tough to deal with?" Marisa asked them. "In our world, dragons are the highest order of gods. While I never saw one in my life, I do know that they are very powerful, so powerful that simply hearing about them can strike people with fear."

"Well, dragons are indeed very powerful, but I don't think they're powerful enough to be considered gods," Allan replied. "Rest assure that if we do face a dragon, it shouldn't be as powerful as the ones in your world."

"That's good to hear-ze! If we do take one down, then we can boast to our friends back in our world that we took out a dragon!"

"All right, let's get onboard!" Roy said, and so, everyone boarded the ship, which set sailed shortly after they did.

* * *

An hour has passed since the ship set sailed, and Dread Isle still wasn't in sight. Aya was resting her head and arms on the side of the ship with a bored face. "Geez... This ship sure is slow... We would've been there by now if we flew by ourselves..."

"It's a nice change of pace to go slowly once in a while," Remilia, who was sitting on a chair while drinking juice, said. Meiling was standing next to her, shielding her from the sunlight using her parasol. "This allows us to store our energy for the next big battle. Learn to have a little patience, will you?"

"Sorry, no can do. As the fastest in Gensokyo, I simply do not have the patience to wait. I'd rather rush over there and end everything in an instant."

"You really think you can take on all of them at once?"

"Um... If I try hard enough... It's still gonna be tough, however... Honestly saying, I don't really have that much confidence either..."

"Then have patience until we get there."

Wolt then came up next to Aya and said to her, "Um, excuse me..."

"Yeah? What's up?" the tengu replied.

"I was the one who shot you yesterday. I hope you're all right..."

"Oh, you were the one who shot me?"

"I'm very sorry... I thought I was helping the guards by doing that. Never would've thought that you're actually innocent... I'm really sorry..."

"It's all right. I feel better already. Demons heal faster than humans."

"It's good to know that you're all right! I hope you're not angry about that anymore."

"I'm not angry. You didn't know the truth, so I don't blame you for shooting me. Don't feel bad about it, okay?"

"Thanks for forgiving me! I no longer feel guilty now!"

"That's good to hear!"

"Can't this ship go any faster?" asked Roy all of a sudden.

"I'm afraid not, captain," replied the pilot. "The wind isn't very strong, so it will take at least four hours to get to Dread Isle. Unless the wind is stronger, we can only move at this pace."

"I see... Perhaps we can row to increase the speed a little?"

"Good idea! That's better than doing nothing, Your Majesty."

"So wind is what you need, right?" Aya asked the pilot as she walked up next to Roy.

"Yes. Why'd you ask?" the pilot asked her

Aya got out her fan and said, "I'll give you a bit of wind if you want to. I'll get you all to the island in less than an hour! You can count on me!"

Reimu was coming out of the ship cabin when she heard this. "Uh oh..."

"All right! Tell everyone to hold onto something!" Aya said as she flew behind the ship's sail. "I'm going to unleash a gale!"

"Everyone! Hold onto something, and I mean it!" Reimu shouted as loud as she could. "Or get inside the ship at once!"

"She's actually going to cause a gale?" Roy asked.

"Yes, she is capable of causing one, so make sure that you don't fall off the ship when she does so!"

Roy nodded and then shouted for everyone to either get inside the ship cabin or hold onto something. After Aya made sure that it was all right to get started, she said, "Okay, it's time! Here it goes!" She raised her fan over her head, and then with a powerful swing, caused a huge blast of wind that caused the ship to move through the water faster than a speedboat. She then went after the speeding ship to do the same thing to keep things up.

Inside, most people found themselves being force against the wall against their own will due to the ship's moving speed. Even the pieces of furniture were skidding into the wall, and there was danger of getting hit by them.

"Can't she do it any lighter!" Marisa cried.

"That's Aya for you!" Reimu told her.

Meanwhile, the pilot was holding onto the helm for dear life in order to avoid flying away. He had to stay there because there had to be someone steering the ship. "Stop! This is too much!" he cried. "Even a storm is less intense than this!"

"Not until I see an island over the horizon!" Aya replied. "Even with my superb eyesight, I still cannot see anything in the horizon yet, so hold on tight for a little longer!"

And this went on and on...

* * *

After several minutes had passed, Aya finally stopped because she saw something over the horizon. By this time, the pilot was down on his knees with his hands holding onto the helm. She came down to him and asked, "Are you all right?"

"I feel as if my arms were gonna be torn off..." he weakly replied.

Reimu came out from the cabin and said to Aya, "Geez! You had a lot of fun with that, didn't you?"

"Well, I'm impatient to see land," the tengu replied.

"You should think more about the others! Some of us nearly got injured in there! Anyway, I assume that you saw land, which is the reason you stopped, right?"

"Yep! Look over there!" Aya said, pointing to the island that was visible in the horizon.

Roy and some of the members in his army came out to the deck to look at the horizon. "That must be it!" the young king said. "Wow! It's probably not even hour yet! That was really fast!" Then she turned to Aya. "Thank you very much for your help!"

"No problem! Okay, I'll go and unleash another gale to get to that island in an instant!"

"You're not seriously thinking of doing that again, are you!" Reimu asked in shock.

"Would you rather wait for the ship to get there? Even with the island in sight, it can still take several minutes to reach there."

"I have another idea!" Nitori said. "It may not be as fast, but at least nobody will be in danger."

"Are you implying that method is dangerous?"

"Yes!" everyone on the deck replied.

Nitori then dived into the sea. Some of the people on the deck ran over to the side to look at the sea, and Thany asked, "What's she doing diving into the sea like that?"

"Nitori has the ability to manipulate water," Reimu replied. "I don't know what she actually wants to do. Maybe she's going to manipulate the water in a way that will help the ship move faster, or maybe she wants to carry the ship on back and swim."

"Carry the ship on her back and swim!" Treck said in shock. "How is that possible? This ship is huge! There's no way she can ever..." Suddenly, everyone felt the ship moving at a faster than usual speed. "Whoa! What the!"

"From the looks of it," Aya said as she landed onto the deck, "she's carrying the ship on her back."

"She's actually doing it!" Dieck said.

"Kappas are several times stronger than humans, so it's not impossible for her to do something like."

Underwater, Nitori was doing exactly what Aya thought she was doing. She had her hands placed underneath the ship as if carrying it, and at the same time, she was kicking her legs as fast she could to move forward at fast speed. The ship moved four times faster than it originally did.

* * *

After about ten minutes, the ship finally arrived at the shore of Dread Isle. Nitori walked onto the shore and stretched her arms. "Phew... That ship is pretty heavy... I'm glad I made it, though." Then she turned around to watch the others come down from the ship.

"Thank you very much for you help, Nitori!" Roy said to her.

Nitori's face turned red when she was applauded. "I'm glad to be of help!"

Roy then turned around to face his army and said in a loud voice, "This is it, everyone! We're here on Dread Isle! We will travel as a group to the Dragon Gate and stop Nergal and Zephiel from bringing dragons back into this world. According to my father, Nergal is capable of creating artificial humans called Morphs, and we can assume that he stationed them on various parts of this island, waiting to ambush us. Move forward with caution and fight with all your might when the enemies show themselves. Remember to stay together at all times. We are more powerful as a group!"

"Yes, General Roy!" they all replied.

"Heheh! You just had to refer to me as general, right? It brings back memories! I approve of this! Okay, let's go!"

And so, they all marched into the island's forest.

* * *

The group came to a stop after several minutes had passed. Roy looked up at the air as if waiting for something to appear, and Aya eventually dropped down from the above trees and landed in front of him. "Did you see anything?" Roy asked her.

"Yep," she replied with a nod. "I saw what appears to be an ancient temple farther up ahead, and I also saw several people stationed around the place. Also, I saw some people hidden among the trees in this forest. They're waiting to ambush us."

"I figured as much... There's no way they will ever let us get anywhere near the temple so easily..." He then turned to his army. "Let's keep on moving forward. Make sure to keep an eye on your surroundings."

The group continued on their way with Roy in lead. Suddenly, Youmu rushed in front of Roy with her Hakurouken unsheathed. "Watch out!" And she quickly used the sword to deflect an arrow that shot down from diagonally above. She then jumped towards where the arrow came from and swung her sword.

SLASH!

An archer fell down from the tree and hit the ground. Shortly after hitting the ground, he crumbled into dust.

"Thank you very much for your protection, Youmu!" Roy said to her. "But that person... Did he just turn into dust...?"

"I was very surprised by it as well," Youmu said. "I never saw anything like that before."

"Maybe it's a characteristic of a Morph," Lilina said.

"That would explain things," Roy said.

"This characteristic would come in handy," Reimu said. "This will ensure that the battleground has no dead bodies getting in the way. I'm not saying that I kill people, mind you."

"Rin will be disappointed that there will be no corpse to carry, though," Marisa said.

Suddenly, Youmu noticed something hidden among the leaves a tree, so she jumped at that tree and swung her sword.

SLASH!

This time, a mechanical fly fell onto the ground, severed in half. "What's this?" she wondered.

* * *

"They found that spying device Rez gave us..." Exdeath said, looking at a portable TV screen that he was holding.

"Let's go get them!" I.M .Meen said.

"Several of Nergal's Morphs are hidden around them even as we speak, so let's see how well they fare first," Dracula suggested. "This is also the perfect opportunity to see whether or not those artificial humans are praiseworthy."

"You're always thinking of sitting back and not doing anything yourselves!"

"Leaving all the works to your henchmen is pretty common, isn't it? I'd assume that you did the same when the kid you called bookworm was running throughout your castle."

"Um... I cannot deny that... If you ask me, that wasn't a very choice, however... I should've just taken on him right from the beginning..."

"Anyway, by judging the performance of his Morphs, we can tell a lot about Nergal and his powers, and this will ultimately help us decide whether or not he is worthy of being part of us."

"At least he's worthier than this guy," Exdeath said, looking at I.M. Meen.

"Don't have enough of insulting me!" I.M. Meen angrily shouted.

* * *

Arrows shot in from various directions, and everyone found themselves either busy avoiding them or deflecting them. "Knights! Stand around the others and use your shields to protect everyone!" Obeying his commands, Barth, Bors, and Wendy tried their best to protect their comrades by standing around them.

"Whoa! That was close!" Marisa said as she stepped aside to avoid an arrow whizzing past her. "Take this! Narrow Spark!" And she used her hakkero to fire a beam at where the arrow came from. The Morph hiding there was blasted and thus crumbled into dust.

Cirno used a shield made of ice to protect herself from the arrows, and then she fired icicles at where the arrows came from to shoot down the Morphs. Youmu dashed towards some Morphs who were hiding behind some trees, and with a single slash of her sword, the trees fell down and the Morphs turned into dust. Reimu threw several paper amulets that homed in on the hiding Morphs with perfect accuracy and took them down.

"Headwind: Route Forbidden to Man!" Aya shouted as she swung her fan at a spell card. The card disappeared, and then strong wind tore down the trees as well as making the Morphs fly away. Because her comrades were all standing behind her, they were safe from being blown away.

When the wind finally settled down, there was a large clearing in front of them since all the trees had been torn down, and no Morphs were in sight as well. "Whoa...! That was crazy!" Lance commented.

"There! Now we have no more worries about ambushes!" Aya said as she put her spell card away.

"Look! There's a large architecture over there!" Sanae pointed out.

"That must be the temple you saw," Roy said to Aya.

"Yup, that's the one," Aya said, "and you can see that there are several people standing all over the place there, waiting to attack us."

"There's so many of them!" Reisen commented.

"No big deal," Remilia said. "We can easily take them down. Even if they are artificial humans, they're still only as powerful as normal humans, and no normal human is going to take me down so easily."

"Oh really?" Reimu remarked.

"Okay, except you..."

"It's time for the real battle!" Roy said to his army. "Since we are in a hurry to stop Nergal and Zephiel from bringing dragons back into this world, I will charge into the temple as fast as I can. I trust the rest of you to stay outside and fight the Morphs."

"We will do as you say," Allan said. "Who do you want to bring along with you inside?"

Roy looked at the girls and said, "If it is possible, can I ask for you assistance?"

"Sure," Reimu replied with a nod.

"Some of you should still stay outside and lend my army a hand, though. I need to ensure that nobody follows us inside."

"Don't worry; leave it to me to keep anyone from going in after you!" said Meiling as she punched her palm.

"I'm more worried if it were you..." Marisa commented.

"I can't decide who will come in with me, so come in along with me if you want to," Roy said. "Okay, everyone, it's time to charge into the battlefield!"

"Yes, General Roy!" his army loudly said.

"I'm the strongest!" Cirno loudly said as she punched upwards.

"Okay! Charge!" Roy shouted, and then everyone ran towards the temple.

The Morphs guarding the temple saw them coming, and as they were assigned to take on intruders, they charged at them to begin the battle. As Roy approached the Morphs in lead, he swung his sword and shot several fireballs that incinerated them, and then he started slashing his way through the army of Morphs with ease.

"Wow! Look at him go!" Marisa commented. "His sword even shot fireballs! So that's the power of the Binding Blade!"

"No time to admire things!" Reimu said as she took out several paper amulets. "This is a battlefield!"

Both sides fully engaged with each other, and as they fought, I.M. Meen and Exdeath watched from a window. "They're fighting! They're fighting!" I.M. Meen said in excitement. "Heheh! Let's see them suffering a terrible defeat! I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Can you please shut your mouth?" Exdeath said to him. "Watch in silence!"

* * *

"Elfire!" Lilina shouted as she casted a magic spell that involved shooting a large fireball. The fireball shot through the place really fast and burned up any Morphs standing in its way. A Morph armed with a sword suddenly jumped at her from behind to attack her, but Dieck jumped at him from the side and knocked him onto the ground before slashing him across the chest. "Thanks for the help, Dieck!" Lilina said to him.

"No problem!" he said, and then he ran towards a group of sword-wielding Morphs and started cutting them down. "Haha! Bring it on! I'm totally enjoying this!" A large knight then threw an axe that was connected to his hand via a chain at him, but he managed to block it with his sword. "That was close!"

Before the knight could pull back his axe, Meiling kicked him in the waist with a rainbow-powered flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!" The knight took several steps to the side and then faced her, but he had no chance to do anything at all as the gatekeeper punched and kicked him in the body rapidly, and the armor didn't protect him much. Several Morphs armed with lances and swords ran towards her from the side, but she stomped the ground to create a rainbow-colored shockwave that sent them flying backwards, including the knight. "Rainbow Taichi!

The knight pulled back his axe and then threw it at her, but she jumped over it and then ran along the chains to get to him, and then she delivered a knee smash to his face. The helmet was shattered as the knight flew back from the attack, and before he could get back up, Dieck plunged his sword into his stomach to turn him into dust. "You're good!" Dieck said to the gatekeeper. "It's not everyday that you see someone take down a knight unarmed!"

"Thanks for the compliment!" Meiling said.

* * *

Hooded Morphs launched a series of elemental magic spells at the heroes and heroines. Reimu protected herself using Cautionary Border, and then she threw several paper amulets that blasted them down. "Thanks for clearing the way!" Roy said. "Okay, let's head inside!"

"Got it!" Reimu said.

The both of them rushed for the entrance of the temple, and Youmu and Remilia joined them as well. "I'll help you out in there!" Youmu said.

"I want to stay out of the sun, so going inside it a better choice for me," Remilia said.

"Okay, then let's go!" Roy said. When they got close to the entrance, an axe suddenly came flying out. Luckily, Roy saw it coming, so he managed to block it with his sword in time. The axe flew back into the entrance, and then they heard the sound of footsteps. "Someone's coming! Be on your guard!"

They watched and waited for the person to show up, and then two people came out. Roy was shocked at who he saw. "What! It's them!" One of them was a tall man with a blonde flat top haircut wearing purple knight armor while the second one was a purple-haired woman dressed in a dark purple dress.

"You know them?" Reimu asked.

"Yes! I know them! That man is Murdock and that woman is Brunya! They were two of the Dragons Generals, the highest ranking soldiers in Bern! How are they still alive?"

"There's only one explanation for that," Youmu said.

As Roy and the girls got ready to fight the Dragon Generals, something flew over them at a really fast speed. When they looked up, they saw what appeared to be a winged reptile flying through the air, and a man with light brown hair dressed in reddish-purple clothing was riding on its back. "What is that?" Reimu asked.

"That's a wyvern! And the person riding on it... If I saw correctly, that's Nacien, another one of the Dragon Generals!" Roy said.

Roy and the girls were about to make a move when suddenly Allan and Lance got in front of them. "We'll take on them, General Roy," Allan said to him. "You go on ahead into the temple!"

"Don't worry; you can count on us!" Lance told him.

Murdock pulled back his axe and then threw it at Lance, who blocked it with his shield. However, the axe hit the shield with such a force that it knocked him off his horse. "Whoa!"

Brunya then shot a fireball in the direction of his horse, but Bors got in front of it and used his body to protect it.

BANG!

"Bors!" Lance said in shock.

"Don't worry; a knight's role is to take hits," Bors told him. "This is nothing to me at all! My lance can cause more pain than this!" Then he ran towards Brunya in an attempt to impale her with his lance. However, Murdock brought down his axe on top of the lance to cut it, and then he slammed his axe against Bors's armor with such a force that a crack appeared on it, and he also fell back onto the ground. When Murdock tried to axe him in the head, he quickly grabbed his hand and tried his best to hold it back.

"Bors!" Roy said.

"You can on ahead, General Roy!" Bors told him. "I'll hold them back!"

Allan and Lance, who was back on his horse, ran towards Murdock to attack him with his lance. The Dragon General quickly swung his axe at the tip of their lances to knock them out of their hands. Their horses got startled by this, and Murdock was about to attack again when suddenly an energy star fell down on top of him.

BAAAAAAAAAANG!

"I'm here to help-da ze!" Marisa said as she ran over to the scene.

Seeing a newcomer approaching, Brunya shot a large fireball at her, but several dolls equipped with shields came down in front of it and formed a wall that actually blocked the attack, though they got blown back and fell to the ground afterwards. Several more dolls appeared in the air and fired laser beams from their hands at Brunya, who used her cape to shield herself.

Murdock stood back up and was about to throw his axe at Alice, who was commanding those dolls, when suddenly a mechanical hand grabbed his arm, and then Nitori retracted the arm to pull herself over to him and punch him in the face. When Murdock stood back up after getting knocked onto the ground, Nitori pushed him towards the part of the wall next to the entrance and pinned him there. "I've got him! Now go into the temple!"

"C'mon! Let's go!" Reimu said. Roy nodded, and then they both headed for the entrance along with Youmu and Remilia.

Brunya formed electricity in her hand and was about to cast an electric-based spell when suddenly Marisa fired a beam from her hakkero at her to interrupt her. "Narrow Spark!"

"Thanks, Marisa!" Reimu said before disappearing into the entrance.

"Go on ahead and show them what you've got-ze!" Marisa called out to her.

Still pinned to the wall, Murdock raised his axe over Nitori and was going to bring it down on her, but Nitori caught his arm with her mechanical arm, and then she turned around to fling him over her shoulder and towards the battlefield.

"C'mon! Let's take them all down!" Marisa said as she adjusted her hat.

* * *

Idenn was now emotionless and standing perfectly still, and Nergal and Zephiel were standing in front of her, looking very pleased, though one couldn't tell that Zephiel looked please due to his never-changing stern expression. "Well? How do you like it?" Nergal asked the king. "She's devoid of expressions now. Whatever you tell her to do, she will do without a fail."

"Good," Zephiel said. "This is exactly how she was like back then. She has returned to her spiritless self once again. At last, my desire to bring dragons back into this world will soon come true!"

"And my desire to harness the power of dragons for my own use shall come true as well! Heheheh!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Because I'm going on a four-day church retreat tomorrow, I rushed out this chapter as fast as I could, and I think it turned out pretty good! Hopefully, I will be able to come up with the next chapter with ease after I return.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Great Morph War**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Touhou 13's subtitle, Ten Desires.**  
**


	77. Great Morph War

**SBS Time!  
Starx: **There is no way Cirno can pass off as a human, since you know, she always floats and is a lot smaller than a normal human. Not sure about Youmu's ghost half either.**  
Game2002: **Cirno walks normally in this story. As for Youmu's ghost half... I have to admit that I tend to forget about her ghost half... My bad on that part...

Sorry for the wait... I can't really say that I was on writer's block, though there are still some parts that I had problems coming up with. Sometimes I just can't seem to get motivated to work on this story... I'm sorry for being lazy...

**Chapter 76  
Great Morph War**

* * *

Roy, Reimu, Remilia, and Youmu were running through the temple, looking for Zephiel, Nergal, and Idenn. "We have to hurry!" Roy said. "We must stop them before they remove Idenn's soul!"

"You shall not pass!" shouted a voice that echoed throughout the place.

"Who's there?" Youmu said, holding out both her swords while looking around.

Suddenly, a skeleton dressed in a blue robe and wielding a large scythe faded into existence in front of their eyes. "Under the command of my master, Dracula, I will stop you here!" the skeleton said. "I am Death, Lord Dracula's most faithful servant!"

"Out of the way," Reimu said to him with a stern face. "We do not have time to be messing with you!"

"If you insist on stopping us," Remilia said, "then don't blame us! Since we're in a hurry, we'll take you out in the shortest amount of time possible."

Death made several sickles appear around himself in a clockwise manner, and when he pointed his finger at them, the sickles flew towards them. Roy and the girls managed to avoid them with ease by jumping aside, and then Remilia flew at Death really fast to attack him with her claws, but she passed through him instead. "What!"

The grim reaper turned around to swing his scythe at her, but she dropped altitude to avoid it. Youmu jumped at him from behind and slashed him across the back. Death cried in pain and then moved as far as he could away from her and said, "Impossible! Normal attacks are supposed to go through me! How are you able to hurt me with a mere sword?"

"My sword is no ordinary sword," Youmu explained. "The things that it cannot cut are next to none!"

"Very interesting! Let's see if it is stronger than my scythe!"

Death and Youmu charged at each other and clashed blades, and while doing so, Youmu said to the others, "Go on ahead! I'll hold him back!"

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Roy asked her.

"Don't worry about her," Reimu told him. "She can take him out with ease."

"Okay, but please be careful."

Roy and the remaining two girls then ran past Youmu and Death. "You're not going anywhere!" Death said as he turned to them, but Youmu jumped down in front of him to block his way.

"Your opponent will be me!" she said.

"Then I will grant you a death wish! Even though they managed to escape from my grasp, they will not live to the end of this day!"

"I guarantee you that you are the one who will not live to see the end of this day!"

"Maybe you will be the one who won't be living to see the end of this day," said another voice. Youmu turned around and saw Exdeath.

"It's you again!" she said.

"Dracula and the new recruits will deal with those three," Exdeath said as he approached Youmu with his sword unsheathed. "Meanwhile, I will make sure that you drop dead for real this time!"

* * *

"Green Spread!" Marisa shouted as she fired several green lasers from her hakkero.

"Shanghai Doll!" Alice shouted as she commanded Shanghai to fire a pink beam from her palms.

Brunya fired lightning bolts from her hand that canceled out the beams fired at her, and then she casted a wind spell that sent Marisa, Alice, and Shanghai flying backwards.

"Whoa!" Marisa cried as she and Alice tumbled onto the ground. "Man, that's a strong wind!"

"Watch out!" Alice shouted as she pushed down Marisa by her head all of sudden. A second after she did so, a battle axe went flying over their heads. They got back up again and watched the axe fly through the air in an arc before returning to Murdock's hand. "Had we ducked down a bit later, our head would've been cut clean off..."

"Phew... That was close..." Marisa said. "Thanks a lot-ze!"

**BGM: In the Name of Bern (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade)**

"Attack him from all sides!" Bors shouted. He charged towards Murdock along with several of his comrades. The Dragon General lifted his axe into the air and then slammed it really hard onto the ground to create a shockwave that sent them flying away.

BANG!

"Ngh! I won't let this take me down so easily!" Wendy said as she got back up. "Haaaa!" She charged at Murdock again to impale him with her spear, but he easily caught the spear and then flung it away along with her. "Kyaa!"

Murdock then looked at the side to see Meiling running towards him. When she threw a punch at him, he blocked it with the flat part of his axe and then tried to axe her in the head, but she swiftly moved to the side and kicked him in the side of the waist.

Before Murdock could do anything else, Meiling proceeded to punch and kick him mercilessly. "Red Inch Punch!" Meiling shouted as she released a burst of red energy from her palm to blast Murdock backwards.

Murdock came to a skidding stop, and then he threw his axe at her. Meiling jumped over it and spun vertically as she fell towards him, and then she stopped spinning and stuck out one leg. "Flower Overhead Slam!" Murdock quickly brought up one arm to block the axe kick, but the force of the attack was so strong that his arm was pushed against his forehead.

The axe came back to him shortly afterwards. Meiling fell back onto the ground and jumped back in time to avoid an axe swing from him. Suddenly, a fireball struck Murdock from the side, and he saw that it was Lilina who shot him. "Elfire!" Lilina shouted as she shot another fireball at him.

Murdock destroyed the fireball with his axe, and then he rushed at her. Dieck quickly came in front of Lilina to block Murdock's axe with his sword. "Get to a safer distance and blast him!" Dieck said to her.

"Okay! Got it!" Lilina said, and then she moved farther away from them before shooting another fireball at Murdock. "Elfire!" However, Murdock grabbed Dieck's head and used him as a shield to protect himself from the fireball.

BANG!

"GUAH!" Dieck cried.

"Oh no!" Lilina gasped.

Murdock then pinned Dieck to the ground by his chest and then raised his axe into the air to ready to bring it down onto his neck. Suddenly, Meiling flew into Murdock's hand with a flying kick to knock away the axe. As the axe flew through the air, Nitori caught it by the handle with her mechanical arm. "I got it!" the kappa shouted. "Now let's see how you like a taste of your own weapon!" And she used her mechanical arm to swing down the axe onto Murdock, hitting him in the left shoulder.

Due to his armor, however, Murdock did not receive a very deep cut. He grabbed the handle of his axe and forcefully yanked it out of the mechanical hand's grasp before slicing it off. Nitori quickly retracted the arm and said, "Aw man! That's three out of four hands cut off! That does it! Time to get serious! Behold the Kappa Drill!" Another mechanical arm came out and the hand transformed into a drill that spun furiously as it stretched towards Murdock.

Murdock blocked it with the flat part of his axe. Meiling, thinking that she could make Murdock get by the drill, ran towards him in an attempt to pull away his weapon. However, Murdock grabbed the arm and rammed it into Meiling's stomach when she was close.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the gatekeeper screamed in intense pain.

"MEILING!" Nitori gasped, and she quickly pulled back her drill.

Meiling cried in pain as she fell on one knee and held her hands over the wound on her stomach. When she looked up, she saw Murdock standing in front of her. Without waiting for a second, the Dragon General swung his axe at her. The blade of the axe was only a few millimeters next to her neck when suddenly a wyvern fell on top of Murdock.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Meiling fell back when that happened, breathing heavily and sweating profusely due to her life flashing just before her eyes a second ago. Lilina and Nitori both ran up to her, and Lilina asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm really sorry, Meiling!" Nitori said to her. "I never should've used the drill! I'm really sorry!"

"It's... all right..." Meiling told her.

The wyvern slowly turned over to get back on its feet, and lying face first on the part of ground where it originally fell down on was Murdock and Nacien.

Aya came down behind them and said, "Riding on something to help you fly is no match for someone who can fly with natural wings! Remember that!"

"Thanks a lot, Aya!" Nitori said to her. "You just saved Meiling's life!"

"I did? What did I do just now?"

Murdock suddenly got back up again, and without saying a single sword, threw his axe at Nitori, but she managed to catch it by clasping it in between her hands. However, the fact that is almost hit her made her legs tremble. "Wha... That... was... close..."

Murdock rushed at Nitori and took the axe away from her while using his other hand to pin her onto the ground by the neck. He was about to bring the axe down onto her head when suddenly Meiling grabbed the arm holding the axe. "Let go of her at once!" Meiling shouted. "Jaoooooo!" And she bent his arm so hard that a sickening crack was heard.

"Elfire!" Lilina shouted as she shot a fireball at Murdock to blast him aside.

BAAAAAAAANG!

Meiling then helped Nitori up and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm... all... right..." Nitori replied while trembling violently. She even had bits of tears at the corners of her eyes. "Shouldn't... you be... more concerned... about... your health... right now...?"

Meanwhile, Nacien got back up and ran to Aya to attack her with his sword, but she easily avoided each of the swings by moving around. "You're too slow!" she taunted.

Nacien then placed two of his fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly to make his wyvern respond. The wyvern flew over to him, and he jumped onto its back to ride it into the air. "It won't make any difference," Aya said to him, and then she flew after him. "I'll just throw you back onto the ground again!"

Nacien looked back to see Aya flying after him, and when he heard the sound of wings flapping coming from the front, he turned and saw Thany flying towards him on her Pegasus. She thrust her spear at him, but Nacien moved his body to the side while the wyvern bit the Pegasus in the neck to cause it to trash around in pain. Thany was a skilled Pegasus knight, however, so she managed to remain on top of her Pegasus and not fall off. She stabbed the wyvern in the neck to cause it to let go of her Pegasus. The wyvern cried in pain and moved back as far as it could from her.

Meanwhile, Aya flew towards the wyvern at a fast speed and was about to catch up with it from behind when suddenly Nacien pointed his sword at her to fire a purple mist-like projectile. Aya managed to dodge it, and then she came up from below the wyvern to ram her head against its belly. The wyvern cried and flew higher into the air, and then Nacien fired the same kind of projectile downwards. Aya managed to dodge it again and then flew in front of the wyvern.

The wyvern charged at her with its mouth wide open to bite her, but she forcefully shut its mouth with her hands, stomped it in the head, and then rushed to Nacien to carry him off its back. "Told ya that it's going to be the same!" she said. "This time you're going straight back to the ground alone, though. Hiya!" And she flung him downwards.

Nacien crashed onto the ground and tumbled forward violently, knocking down some Morphs as a result. When she came down onto the ground, she saw Nacien standing back up, and then he rushed towards him with several Morphs accompanying him. "You just don't give up, do you?" Aya said. "Well... Don't blame me... Sarutahiko's Guidance!" And she rushed forward really fast while surrounded by a tornado.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Nacien and the Morphs were knocked out of the way, and when they fell back onto the ground, they all turned into dust. "This is too easy!" Aya said after coming to a stop. "I can end this battle all by myself! Wait a minute... Where'd that guy go? Did he turn into dust as well?" Suddenly, a blast of cold air accompanied by snow and ice blew into her from the side. "Whoa!"

Brunya casted a large-scaled ice-based spell that covered a good portion of the battlefield in snow in a short amount of time, and everyone was having a hard time trying to stand up, except for Cirno. "Snow and ice won't work on me!" the ice fairy said as she flew towards Brunya with a sword made of ice in her hand. She swung the ice sword at Brunya, but she moved back to avoid it and then blasted Cirno in the face at point blank with a fire-based spell.

BAAANG!

"YAAAAAA! MY FACE BURNS!" Cirno cried as she fell back onto the ground and trashed around with her hands on her face.

Marisa suddenly smacked Brunya in the back of the head with her magically-enhanced broom, and then she proceeded to whack her in the head over and over when she fell onto the ground. "Take this! Take this! Take this!" Marisa shouted over and over.

Brunya released a burst of electricity from her hand to blast Marisa back onto the ground, and when she sat back up, she saw Brunya running towards her with one hand covered in electricity. Marisa quickly moved her head to the side when Brunya thrust her hand forward, but the Dragon General moved her hand at such a speed that Marisa still received a small cut on the cheek. Marisa quickly got back up and moved as far back as she could from her. "That was close!"

Brunya then fired a lightning bolt at her, but one of Alice's dolls came in front of Marisa to protect her with a shield. Several dolls appeared around Brunya and were about to impale her with their bladed weapons, but the Dragon General formed a tornado around herself to send the dolls moving in circles into the air. She then pointed her arm at Alice to bend the tornado in her direction.

Alice quickly got out of the way, but she was caught off guard when Brunya moved the tornado into. Alice was blown back through the place by the tornado along with the dolls that were caught in it. Eventually, she hit a tree, but the wind was so strong that the tree was torn down by it as well. When she hit the tree, however, she stopped for a second, and one of her dolls, which was wielding a spear, flew into her and stabbed her in the stomach. "UGH!"

"Hey you! Stop it at once!" Marisa shouted as she pointed her hakkero at Brunya. "Narrow Spark!" And a beam was fired at her.

Brunya easily canceled out the beam by swinging her hand, which was covered in electricity, at it, and then she moved the tornado in her direction. Acting quick, Marisa flew into the air without getting onto her broom to escape.

Brunya looked up and then and started firing lightning bolts into the air to try to shoot down Marisa, but she easily avoided them all. "You can't hit me!" she taunted. From the air, she saw Alice pinned by her own doll's spear onto the fallen tree. "Alice!" Then she dodged another lightning bolt. "I need to take care of her off first!" She did a u-turn in the air and then swooped towards Brunya from behind. She got out a card and slapped onto the tip of her broom. "Luminous Strike!" The tip of the broom glowed with bright yellow light and fired a large star-shaped projectile at Brunya to send her flying backwards.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

With the Dragon General temporarily out of the way, Marisa quickly flew over to Alice and removed the doll and the spear from her body. "Alice! Are you all right?" Marisa asked her.

"Ugh... Impaled by my own doll..." Alice said in pain as Marisa helped her up. "I would never have thought... that this would happen..."

Brunya got back up again and turned to them, and Alice said to Marisa, "Watch out... She's still at it..."

Marisa turned to the Dragon General and adjusted her hat with a serious expression. "This settles it! You'll pay for hurting my friend with her own doll!" she angrily said. "She considers her dolls her own daughters, and do you know how heart-breaking it is for a daughter to hurt her own mother? You're really going to get it! Radial Strike!" And she used her broom to fire star-shaped projectiles at her.

Brunya held out her arms to get ready to cast a spell to counter the incoming projectiles, but Cirno suddenly struck her over the head with an ice hammer. "Take this!" the ice fairy shouted.

SMAAAAAAASH!

Because this stopped Brunya from casting her spell, she got blasted in the body by the star-shaped projectiles rapidly afterwards. "Freezer Beam!" Cirno then fired a three-way ice beam at her at a close range to freeze her entirely.

Marisa then took off into the air on her broom. Hovering above the frozen Brunya, she placed a spell card in front of her hakkero and pointed them downwards. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" And a huge beam was fired at her.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the smoke cleared, Brunya was nowhere to be seen, but Cirno was seen lying charred on the ground quite a bit of a distance away from where Brunya used to be. She didn't get away from the explosion in the time. Marisa didn't notice this, however. "Heheh! This is what you get for messing with my friend!" she said while adjusting her hat, which nearly fell off due to the slight recoil caused by the firing of the beam.

* * *

Sanae quickly drew a rainbow-colored grid in the air and then sent it flying at Murdock. "Nine Syllable Stabs!" Murdock was caught in the net, and as he struggled to break free from it, Sanae used this opportunity to launch all sorts of attacks at him. "Sky Serpent! Protect the Prosperous Business! Omikuji Bomb!"

The Dragon General was blasted over and over by her projectiles, not to mention getting zapped by the net itself. Eventually, the energy net disappeared, and he immediately stood back up and ran towards Sanae, enduring her projectiles as she did. Sanae shrieked and raised his arms over her face when Murdock got close to her, but Barth quickly got in between them and protected her with his shield. "You're probably still inexperienced. Remember this: Getting scared in a battlefield can cost you your life!" Barth told her.

"I'm sorry..." Sanae said in shame.

Meanwhile, Lilina was using a staff to release white light at Meiling's stomach, and when the light died down, the gatekeeper's wound was slightly healed. "I'm not an expert in healing," Lilina told her. "I hope this should make you feel better to some extent."

"It's all right," Meiling told her. "I feel much better now! Thanks a lot!" She then turned to look at Murdock to see that he was holding up against Roy's army with relative ease. "That guy is strong..."

"He was very hard deal with back then as well... They say he's the second strongest man in Bern, the first being Zephiel himself..."

"No matter what," Meiling said as she stood up, "we have to win this fight! All right, I'm ready to take on him again!"

Zealot thrust his spear at Murdock's head, but he moved his head aside to avoid it. He then pulled the spear to get him off his horse and then kicked him away in the head. Wolt fired an arrow straight for the back of his head, but he brought his axe there to block it, and then he turned around to throw his axe at Wolt, who ducked down to avoid it. Dieck caught the axe as it was spinning through the air.

"This is our chance!" Treck said as he and Noah charged towards Murdock on their horses. Treck thrust his lance at him, but Murdock moved aside and then pulled away his spear to use it against him by knocking him off his horse using the back end of it. "Oof!"

Noah got close enough to bring down his sword on him, but Murdock stepped aside and then thrust Treck's spear into right shoulder. "Ah!"

"You're finished!" Dieck shouted as he ran towards Murdock and swung his sword. "Hiya!" Murdock used the armor on his arm to block the sword, but Dieck used the axe he was holding on the other hand to hit him in the side of the waist. He actually swung with enough force to cut through the armor and hit his skin.

Despite this, Murdock did not show signs of pain. He took the axe from Dieck and knocked him back into the air with an uppercut. A mechanical arm stretched towards him from afar, but Murdock caught it by the hand. "Electric Arm!" Nitori shouted as the arm released electricity to zap Murdock. When she was done zapping him, she pulled herself towards the Dragon General by retracting the arm and hit him in the forehead with a headbutt. "Kappa's Iron Head!"

CONK!

Murdock took some steps back from being hit, and when Nitori moved away from him, Meiling ran towards him with her fist glowing with rainbow colors. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!" And she punched him rapidly in the body with one arm, and his armor started to crack from the rapid punching. She then slammed her palm into his stomach, spun around and slammed her back against him, and then delivered a powerful uppercut to his chin. "Roc-Killing Fist!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Murdock was sent shooting high up into the sky really fast. In fact, he went so high that when he was at the peak of his ascension, everyone could only see a small black speck from the ground. "Whoa..." Wolt said in awe.

The Dragon General eventually fell back onto the ground.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

A huge amount of dust spread throughout the place upon his landing, and everyone had to shield his or her faces to avoid breathing in the dust. When the dust cleared, Murdock was nowhere to be found at all. All that remained was his battle axe. "Wow! That's one amazing finisher!" Noah commented. "It must hurt a lot!"

"Where'd Murdock go?" Wendy asked. "Did he simply disappear upon landing?"

"I would assume that he was a Morph after all," Treck said. "The same goes for Brunya and Nacien. They weren't resurrected; rather, they were artificial humans created to resemble actual people."

"That would explain why they said absolutely nothing at all," Marisa said. "These artificial people don't talk, it seems."

"Dunno..." Aya said with a shrug.

"It's not over yet," Alan said. "There are still several enemies around here! Furthermore, the battle is not really over until General Roy emerges victorious!"

"Well, then we'll have to hold up until they come back out," Marisa said as she held up her broom like a close-range weapon. "This should be easy now that the three strongest fighters are taken out!"

"You all shall now face the power of I.M. Meen!" shouted a familiar voice. Everyone turned to see I.M. Meen standing on a piece of block behind an army of trolls.

"Oh no... Not that guy again..." Aya grumbled.

"Attack, my underlings! Show them the consequences of messing with us!" I.M. Meen shouted as he pointed in the heroes and heroines' direction. Suddenly, he was blasted in the face by projectiles. "WAH!"

Everyone turned to Reisen, and she said, "It's always a wise idea to attack your enemies before they make their moves."

I.M. Meen got back up onto the raised block with a charred face and angrily said, "Wretched bunny girl! You'll pay for that sucker punch of yours! While my trolls deal with everyone else, I will deal with you... GAH!" He was blasted in the face by Reisen again.

"Never give them an opportunity to finish whatever they're doing," Reisen added.

I.M. Meen jumped back onto the raised block again and said, "Argh! You accursed bunny girl! You'll pay for... GUAH!" He was shot in the face for the third time, but he still got back up onto the same place. "What are you guys doing! Hurry up and at... GYAH!"

* * *

After running through a lengthy hallway, Roy, Reimu, and Remilia came into a really large room with a person standing in the center. "Nergal!" Roy said.

"Congratulations on making it here!" the dark druid said. "King Zephiel and Idenn are in the room beyond. You are too late! Idenn's spirit has already been extracted!"

"Oh no! We're too late!"

"There is still a chance to stop them, however. She has yet to open the Dragon Gate. However, you will not be getting past me! I will hold you back until dragons are brought back into this world. If I'm merciful enough, I will let you witness the return of the dragons!"

"I will prevent that from happening!" Roy said as he ran towards Nergal. "I will take you down in the shortest time possible!"

"Your father put up a good fight back then. Now I want to see what the son is capable of!"

Roy swung the Binding Blade at Nergal, but the dark druid warped to the side. When Roy swung the blade at him again, Nergal once again warped to safety. "Is that all?" Nergal taunted.

"Take this!" Roy said as he swung the sword to shoot several fireballs at him. Nergal shot dark fireballs, and they exploded upon colliding with each other. One of Roy's fireballs emerged from the explosion and headed for Nergal, but the dark druid easily eliminated it by swinging his arm, which is covered in dark energy, at it.

"Honestly saying," Nergal said, "your father fought more aggressively than you. You don't seem to live up to my expectations, though it may be too early to say jump to conclusions. Let me guess... Has being the king for too long caused your fighting skills to dwindle?"

"I'll show you if my fighting skills really have gone down!" Roy angrily said as he ran towards Nergal, but Remilia dropped down in front of him suddenly. "Remilia!"

"I'll deal with this guy," she said. "You and Reimu go on ahead. There is no time to lose, so hurry up and do what you must do."

"Remilia's right," Reimu told Roy. "Your Binding Blade is important for stopping Idenn, right? Then we need to hurry before she brings dragons back into this world."

"You're right," Roy said. "I temporarily let rage got the best of me that I forgot my objective here... All right, I'll leave him to you, Remilia, but come back alive, okay?"

"Just what on earth are you saying?" Remilia asked him. "I am the Scarlet Devil, so emerging from fights alive is a piece of cake for me."

"You speak with such confidence, young lady!" Nergal said to her. "Very well; we shall continue our fight here! As for the others, they can go on ahead... if they can escape me, that is!" He launched a black lightning bolt into the air and made it fall towards Roy and Reimu.

Seeing this, Reimu quickly raised a spell card into the air to create blue wall. "Cautionary Border!" It protected them from the lightning bolt.

Remilia then charged at Nergal to attack him with her claws, but the dark druid blocked the attack with a hand covered in dark energy. "Go now!" Remilia shouted at Roy and Reimu, and the two nodded before heading for the door at the far end of the room.

"Oh no you don't!" Nergal said as darkness came out from his feet and traveled towards them along the floor like liquid.

Remilia quickly flew to the front of the darkness and slammed her hand, which was covered in red energy, onto it so hard that it dissipated. She then grabbed Reimu and Roy by their shoulders.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Reimu asked in surprise.

"Get in there fast!" the vampire shouted before flinging them towards the door.

"WHOA!" they both cried as they went through the door.

Remilia then turned to Nergal and said to him, "Okay, they managed to escape. It's just you and me now!"

"You helped them get away..." Nergal said, looking unpleased. "Oh well, it's not like Zephiel can't do anything about them... All right, let's fight to the death, shall we?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Not much to say here asides from hoping that you enjoyed this chapter. Look forward to the next one!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Scarlet Darkness**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Touhou 12.8's subtitle, Great Fairy Wars.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

I'm gonna talk about my favorite characters in the Touhou series again!

**Yoshika Miyako: **She just made her debut in Touhou 13, but I've already grown on her! People won't blame you if you fall in love with a dead body! Her theme song is the best theme in the game so far as well! Watch out, Yuyuko, you're not on top of the food chain anymore because she eats spirits, which are equivalent to ghosts!

**Nue Houjuu: **I'm not a big fan of her at first, but she eventually grew on me. I simply found her cute and attractive, that's all. Her wings are pretty unique and cool-looking as well! She's the closest character we have based on aliens as of now, even though she's a nue, not an alien, but with all those UFOs accompanying her most of time, who wouldn't think she's based on aliens?

**Yuugen Magan: **Odd choice for a favorite character, don't you think? Honestly saying, Yuugen Magan isn't really my favorite character, but I do wish to see her return in a Window title. Her design is actually very cool! She's basically a being made of electricity that has five eyes. The human-like figure in the center of where the eyes are connected to makes one curious, doesn't it? Is that human-like figure simply for looks, or is it the real Yuugan Magan? If the latter is the case, then what does that make the eyes? That is why I wish to see her make a return in the Windows series so that we can get an official artwork of her. It's always a nice to have characters with eccentric designs!


	78. Scarlet Darkness

**SBS Time!  
Starx: **A minor correction:  
Chapter 71 - From Heroines to Convicts  
"How there you hurt our leader!"  
How – Hey  
**Game2002: **Actually, it's supposed to be "How dare you hurt our leader!" I got it fixed now.

**Chapter 77  
Scarlet Darkness**

* * *

**BGM: Nergal's Wrath (Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword)**

"Servant Flier!" Remilia shouted as she sent bats made of red energy after Nergal, and the dark druid countered by firing spikes made of dark energy at them to cancel them out.

Flying at a really fast speed, Remilia moved to the back of Nergal's head to swing her claws at him, but the dark druid warped behind her the moment she swung her claws. She quickly turned around to use her hand to stop a darkness-powered hand thrust from Nergal. However, an explosion of darkness burst out from his palm and thus blasted her backwards.

Remilia came to a skidding halt on her feet, and then Nergal shot a dark fireball at her. She flew straight up into the air to avoid it and then dived at him really fast. "Ceiling Fear!" The dark druid quickly moved back to avoid the falling hand slam attack. Nergal then fired a beam of darkness at her. Since the attack came too fast, Remilia had no time to avoid it; she could only up her arms in hope of protecting herself.

Even though she planted her feet against the floor as firmly as she could, the beam still managed to push her backwards, and it was burning her skin as well. "Ugh...!" Unable to endure the pain any longer, she quickly leaped out of the beam and then flew at Nergal really fast with her claws ready to slash him in the face.

However, Nergal stopped the beam attack and flicked his hands upwards to make a pillar of dark energy shoot up from underneath Remilia, so she was blown into the air and hit her back against the ceiling. Nergal then formed a ball of darkness and raised it into the air. It exploded into energy beams that flew to Remilia and blasted her.

The vampire flew out from the pillar of darkness and tumbled onto the floor violently. She gritted her teeth in anger as she stood back up, but the moment she tried to move, black liquid-like lines came out from the floor and bounded her. "What is this!"

"You're finished!" Nergal said as he fired a dark beam at her. Remilia struggled with the dark "strings" as hard as she could, and she eventually tore her way out of them and was able to escape the beam in the nick of time. Nergal was surprised when the young vampire flew towards him at a blinding speed, so fast that he was slashed in the side of the waist by her claws, even though he quickly moved aside. "That was something! Congratulations on landing hit on me!"

"You're not going to appreciate all the other hits that come next!" Remilia said to him. Nergal teleported away when she tried to hit him with her claws again. When the dark druid reappeared several feet away from her, he stretched forth both his hands to shoot dark fireballs rapidly. Remilia flew to the side at a fast speed to avoid getting shot, but Nergal kept on aiming in her direction.

She then flew high into the air and pointed both her arms at him. "Queen of Midnight!" And she shot several red energy balls that plowed through the dark fireballs and towards Nergal.

Nergal quickly formed a barrier of darkness to shield himself from the energy balls. Remilia then stopped the attack and dived at him, and right when she about to flew into the barrier, she went around to his back. "What!" Nergal said in shock. Before he could do anything, Remilia slashed him across the back. "Ugh!" The dark druid fell forward, but managed to retain his footing. He turned around and moved as far back as he could from her. "You sure did catch me by surprise!"

"You're facing one of Gensokyo's finest after all," Remilia told him.

"Is that so? Then let me warn you that you are facing Elibe's finest at the moment!"

"Are you sure that you're the finest in this world?"

"You'll see for yourself soon enough! Gespenst!" Nergal stretched out his arms to the side and made a cyclone composed of black energy particles appear around himself. The dark particles then spread out in every direction really fast as if the cyclone exploded. Remilia moved from side to side to avoid the dark particles flying in her direction, and she dodged them with ease.

She managed to get close to Nergal at the same time as well, but the villain fired a dark fireball at her unexpectedly, so she was blasted backwards. "Ah!" The dark particles then struck her all over the body rapidly. "Ugh!" She then pointed her arms at him to fire a rapid burst of red energy balls. "Queen of Midnight!"

Nergal disappeared just before he got hit, and his attack ended as a result. Remilia looked around for signs of him, and then she looked into the air to see him floating high up there. He raised his arm into to the air to create a black fireball which he threw at her.

Remilia flew into the air to avoid it and then fired a red energy ball at him. "Red Magic!" Nergal destroyed it by slamming his hand, which is covered in dark energy, into it. Remilia then charged at him, but the dark druid released purple electricity from his hand to freeze her in midair. "Ugh! What the!"

Using what could be said to be telekinesis, Nergal moved his arms into to make Remilia float upwards, and when he brought down his arm at a fast speed, the young vampire crashed onto the floor face first really hard.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

"You're finished!" Nergal said as he dived towards her with one hand covered in dark energy that was shaped like a spearhead. Just when his hand was about to hit her in the back, Remilia rolled aside in the nick of time, so Nergal's hand hit the floor instead. It hit the floor with such a force that a small crater was created.

Before Nergal could pulled his hand back up, Remilia grabbed his arm and then placed her other hand against his stomach. "Chain Gang!" Suddenly, Nergal felt tremendous pain as a chain shot out from behind his back.

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Remilia retracted the arm back into the vortex on her palm as she moved back from the badly injured dark druid. Nergal fell onto his knees with his hand held over the wound on his stomach. "You got me... real good..." he said. "I can't... believe it..."

"Well, who's the finest among us now?" Remilia said to him.

"I'm not done yet, though... The man who lived for a thousand years... won't go down so easily... to a little girl like you...!"

"So you're over a thousand years old, eh? You're twice my age."

"You're saying that you're about five hundred years old...? Heheheh...! Your longevity is only half of mines...! I'll show you that the one... who lives longer... is the superior one!" After saying all these, Nergal disappeared.

"You can run, but you can't hide," Remilia said as she looked around the place. "I can simply track you down by sensing your presence. Do not underestimate the senses of a vampire!"

As she was looking around the place, she suddenly heard footsteps. When she looked at where the sound was coming from, she saw several Morphs armed with weapons running towards her. "Hmph! I have no time to deal with underlings like you."

One of the Morphs wielding a spear ran up to her to try to impale her with his weapon, but she easily avoided it by stepping aside. She then grabbed his arm and hurled him using one hand at the other Morphs to knock them down.

After avoiding an arrow fired at her, Remilia flew to the archer Morph really fast and sent him flying back with a claw thrust to the stomach, and then she slashed the air around herself in a full circle to create a red shockwave that sent the other Morphs flying away.

Several more Morphs, who were wearing brown robes, came into the room. They raised their arms into the air to create a fiery sphere which they threw at Remilia, but she avoided them with ease and then sent out bats made of red energy. "Servant Flier!" The bats flew to the Morphs and harassed them, and then she got close to them and slashed the air to fire projectiles that took them out.

Some of the Morphs were still alive, however. One of them, a knight, threw his battle axe at her. Remilia ducked underneath the axe and then rushed in front of him and slashed through his armor to take him out.

Two spear-wielding Morphs ran to her from both sides, but she grabbed their spears and forcefully plunged them into each other's body. When she saw some archers readying their arrows, she held out her hand to side to create three energy spears. "Demon's Dinner Fork!" And she threw them all at the archers before they could fire their arrows.

When a sword-wielding Morph brought down his sword on her from behind, she quickly sidestepped and then placed her hand next to his face. An energy bat came out from her palm and blasted his face at point blank.

BANG!

With that, all the Morphs in the room were defeated. Remilia looked around the place and said in a loud voice, "All right, you can stop hiding now! All your henchmen are defeated. You're only proving yourself to be a coward by not fighting me yourself!"

As soon as she had finished saying this, Nergal appeared behind her, so she turned around to face him. "You managed to take them all out by yourself!" he said. "That's nothing to boast about, however. I can take them all out by myself as well if I were fighting them."

"Your artificial humans could use a bit more brawn if you ask me," Remilia told him.

"Now that I am back to perfect health, I will now fight you seriously."

"Oh, so you were saying that weren't serious before?"

"You will now be drowned in fear and despair as I use my most powerful attack against you! Oh, just so you know, your friend and Eliwood's son are both having their own battle."

"Oh really? I expected them to get into a fight with someone. I'm not worried about Reimu, however. She's not the kind of person to be so defeated easily."

"We'll see about that! If I'm merciful enough, I'll let you take a glimpse of your friend getting killed before you die!"

"You talk as if you have confidence that you can defeat me! I'll prove you wrong!" Remilia said, and then she dashed at him.

**BGM: Everything into the Dark (Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword)**

When she was about to reach Nergal, a burst of dark energy came out from around the dark druid and blasted her backwards, but she landed on her feet.

Nergal then stretched his arms to the sides to make several dark vortexes appear around himself, and then projectiles shot out from each of the vortexes at Remilia. The young vampire easily avoided them by flying at a fast speed, and when she attempted to get close to Nergal again, Nergal flicked his hand upwards to make a pillar of darkness rise from the floor. Remilia saw this coming the moment he flicked his hands, so she managed to stop just in front of the pillar. She went around to his back to attack him, but the vortexes aimed in her direction, so she was forced to move back quickly.

Nergal turned to her and pointed his arm at her to make the vortex continue firing. "Scarlet Sign: Scarlet Meister!" Remilia shouted as she stretched forth her arms, and then a rapid burst of red energy balls, both large and small, were fired at Nergal.

Nergal smirked as the vortexes merged together in front of him to become a large vortex that devoured every single shot. Remilia stopped the attack and said with a surprised look, "What the!"

"You can have them back, though they no longer look the same!" Nergal said. The vortex then shot out energy balls at Remilia. It was the exact same attack, only the energy balls were now black instead of red. Remilia quickly flew into the air to avoid the shots, but the vortex tilted in her direction, so she had to avoid the shots by moving around swiftly and constantly.

Nergal then stretched out his arms to make the vortex break down into energy balls that floated to his sides, and when he pointed his arm at Remilia, the energy balls turned into beams that homed in on her. She quickly moved back to avoid the beams, so they collided into each other instead. However, the beams merged together into one large energy ball as a result, and it flew towards Remilia.

Remilia once again dodged it, but the energy ball turned around to come after her again. She continued to dodge the homing energy ball a few more times, and then she became frustrated. "Enough is enough! Red Magic!" And she fired a red energy ball at it.

The red energy ball started to get absorbed by the black one, and when it was fully absorbed, the black energy ball flew towards Remilia again. Remilia quickly moved aside to avoid it, but the energy ball stopped moving and fired smaller projectiles at her from behind, and then it flew into her.

BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The explosion sent the vampire shooting onto the floor and sliding across it on her face. She got back up again and glared at Nergal while growling in anger. "This is only just the beginning!" Nergal said to her. "I decided to save my most powerful attack for the last." Suddenly, the dark druid was rammed in the stomach really hard when Remilia flew into him and headbutted him in the stomach hard. "OOF!"

Remilia pushed the dark druid all the way across the room with her head until he hit the wall, and then she grabbed him by the collar and flung him to the other side of the room. Nergal quickly used his magical powers to make himself stop in midair just before he hit the floor, and then he got onto his feet. "Going violent now, aren't we?" Nergal asked her.

"You're asking for it!" Remilia angrily said. "I may be calm and elegant most of the time, but when it comes to fights, I won't hesitate to become aggressive when push comes to shove! Congratulations; you're now going to witness the wrath of the Scarlet Devil! In the very least, you should be grateful that I'm not as dangerous as my younger sister!"

"Heheh! So the little girl is angry, eh? Very well! Show me what you've got! Be angry at me! Your rage shall get the best of you!"

"Demon's Dinner Fork!" Remilia shouted as she formed three energy spears in her hand to throw at Nergal. Nergal quickly warped out of the way, but Remilia turned her attention to him and formed three more energy spears to throw at him, this time throwing only one at a time.

Nergal managed to dodge all three of them by using his magical power to fly through the air. He then pointed his hand at Remilia to shoot a dark energy beam which she avoided by flying into the air. Remilia dived at him really fast, but the dark druid quickly warped to safety. Remilia turned around and landed her feet against the floor and then shot in the direction Nergal appeared to ram hard in the stomach. "Ugh!"

"Vampire's Claw!" Remilia shouted as she slashed him across the body three times in a row. She then fired an energy ball at him at point blank. "Red Magic!" The energy ball pushed the villain through the air until he hit the wall.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

When the red smoke created by the explosion cleared, Nergal was seen sitting on the floor, injured. He coughed and then stood back up, this time looking angry. "Why you! Don't get too full of yourself just yet! This battle is far from over!"

"It will be over soon!" Remilia shouted as she formed a large energy spear in her hand. "Heart Break!" And she threw it at him.

Nergal quickly flew out of the way to avoid the incoming energy spear and then fired black energy beams that homed in on her. "Miserable Fate!" Remilia shouted as she stretched out her arms to the side, and then several red vortexes appear on the floor, and giant chains came out from each of them. The spiked tips of the chain got in front of Remilia to protect her from the energy beams, and then they headed for Nergal.

Nergal quickly flew out of the way when the chains headed for him, but one of them swung at him and smacked him into the wall. "Ack!" The dark druid quickly recovered from the hit and then flew up into the air avoid the chains as they headed for him. He fired a dark beam at the chains, but they plowed through it like it was nothing. The dark druid quickly warped out of the way, and the chains struck the ceiling instead. A bit of sunlight shined down from a narrow crack that was left behind on the ceiling.

"Argh! This is getting annoying!" Nergal said as he appeared on the far end of the room, only to find the chains heading towards him.

"You can't escape your fate!" Remilia loudly said.

"Then I shall now use my ultimate attack! Ereshkigal!" Nergal said as he held his arms into the air to make a pillar of darkness form around himself, and the chains bounced back when they hit it.

Nergal then stretched forth his arms to make the pillar of darkness disappear. Suddenly, a black hole that size of an average person appeared in front of him and started to suck in a large amount of air. Due to the sudden sucking force, Remilia lost her footing and thus her Miserable Fate attacked was canceled—the chains, along with their respective vortexes, broke down into red particles and disappeared. "Ugh! What powerful pulling force!" Suddenly, she heard a sound coming from behind, and when she turned around, she was shocked to see that another block hole had appeared at the back end of the room. "What the!" Instead of sucking in air, the new black hole shot out black energy balls instead.

Remilia quickly rolled to the side to avoid getting hit by one of them, but in doing so, she slid across the floor and towards the black hole in front of Nergal. The vampire desperately dug her claws into the floor to keep herself from moving, but her claws broke instead. "OUCH!" She found herself flying through the air with her back facing the black hole, and when she saw that she was getting closer and closer to it, she tried to escape by flying upwards, but the force of the black hole's gravitational pull kept her from doing so.

"It's useless!" Nergal told her. "The powerful of darkness swallows everything! Not even light can escape its grasp!"

"I won't lose to a black hole!" Remilia said. Suddenly, an energy ball flew into her face and blasted her right into the black hole. "YAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Once she was sucked inside, Nergal formed his hands into a cup to shrink the black hole, and when he clasped his hands together, it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Remilia was sent flying out of the explosion and spinning across the room until she hit her back against the highest part of the wall on the other side of the room. She hit the wall so hard that when she fell down, an imprint the shaped of herself was left behind on it.

CRAAAAAAASH!

"Heheh!" Nergal laughed when he saw Remilia hit the floor, and then he warped in front of the fallen vampire. "This is what happens to those who come against me!" He saw that she was still breathing, so he picked her by the hair and then pulled back his other arm. "I don't feel like showing you mercy, so consider yourself unlucky to be unable to see that friend of yours getting killed! Die!" Dark energy coated his hand, and then he aimed it for her heart. Suddenly, the vampire caught his arm before it could reach her. "What the!"

"You want to kill me? LIKE THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN!" Remilia angrily shouted. She then twisted his arm with such a force that a sickening crack could be heard.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nergal screamed. Remilia then slammed her claws into his chest really hard to send him flying backwards. After that, she flew to him really fast and pushed him to the center of the room before carrying him into the air by the collar.

Remilia whipped out a card and shouted, "Spear the Gungnir!" Immediately, the card glowed with bright red light, and in an instant, a massive spear made of blood red energy appeared in her hand.

Nergal gasped in horror as he desperately tried to pull her hand away from his neck, but to no avail as her grip was too strong. Remilia then slammed the spear into his body at point blank.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

A massive explosion of red energy spread throughout the whole place, and when the explosion died down, the room was mostly filled with red smoke. As the smoke slowly dissipated, Remilia could be seen standing in a large crater, panting heavily. Nergal was lying just in front of Remilia, on the center of the crater.

"Phew... Took care of him at last..." she said. "I didn't expect to use one of my most powerful moves against him... I sure used up a lot of energy... At least I still feel like I can help out Reimu and the king, though." She walked out from the crater and headed for the door at the other end of the room when suddenly she heard the sound of coughing, so she turned around to see that Nergal was slowly getting back up. "Oh, you still have the energy to get back up? I sensed life in you earlier, but I didn't expect you to be able to get back up this fast."

Despite being able to stand back up, the dark druid looked like he was going to fall over any second. He slowly took a step forward and said, "Im... possi... ble... Beaten... by a... little girl...? No... I won't... accept this... truth... I won't...!"

"Face it; you've lost. You don't look like you can even throw a punch anymore."

"The great... Nergal... will... never... lose... in... such an... embarrassing... way..." Nergal said as he slowly reached out his arm towards Remilia. "I... must... live... to see... dragons... return... to this... world... I must... live...! Dragons... Dragons... Dragons...! I... must... see... them...!" The dark druid started to cough, and after taking another step forward, he collapsed face first down onto the floor, dead.

Remilia stared at his dead body for a few seconds, and then she turned around to leave. "Well, enjoy the afterlife."

"So you have managed to defeat Nergal," said a new voice all of a sudden. "You have really showed me the extent of Nergal's powers. The fact that he is now dead shows that he is not qualified to be one of us."

Remilia turned to the source of the voice and saw a person standing on the other end of the room. "Who's there?" she asked.

The person then stepped forward to reveal himself. "I have my eyes on you since we learned about you girls. Never would I think that one of our enemies would be the same species as me!"

"You're... Dracula...!" Remilia said in a rather surprised tone.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I had a hard time trying to give this chapter a decent length. I think this length should do for a major fight. Hope you enjoyed it!

**Next chapter: Beyond the Darkness**

**Trivia:  
**1. Chapter 25's subtitle (26 if you count the prologue) is named after Team Rocket's full name in the Pokemon Adventures manga series, **R**aid **o**n the **C**ity, **K**nock Out, **E**vil **T**usks.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

More of my favorite themes in the series!

**Rigid Paradise: **My favorite theme so far in Touhou 13! It sounds Egyptian and is really, really upbeat and awesome! Imagine this theme playing instead of the usual song in Michael Jackson's Thriller!

**The Gensokyo the Gods Loved: **Beautiful... What a beautiful theme... This is one of the best stage themes in the series! This theme usually gets great vocal remixes as well! For some reason, I'd imagine that this theme make a great opening theme for the series if it ever gets an official anime! Yeah, watching that one particular PV made me think of this...

**The Bridge People No Longer Cross: **Now that's one catchy stage theme! If anything, it's the other character would should be jealous that Parsee's got a nice and catchy stage theme! Wait a minute... It seems that Parsee is jealous that the stage theme above is better than hers. Yeah, I agree that the one above is better. Please don't hate me, Parsee...


	79. Beyond the Darkness

**SBS Time!  
****Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV****: **I wonder when Reimu will remember that Yukari can travel through space and borders.  
**Game2002: **Come to think of it, I never thought of having her remember about that. Thanks for the reminder!

**Chapter 78  
Beyond the Darkness**

* * *

Roy and Reimu saw Zephiel and Idenn standing at the far end of a large room. "Zephiel! Your evil plan stops here!" Roy shouted at him.

"So you managed to make it here after all," Zephiel said. "Much as I hate to admit it, you did make in time as well. It seems that Nergal wasn't so competent in stopping you after all."

"He's dealing with a friend of mine," Reimu told him. "As for you, we'll be your opponents!"

"Perhaps the dragons can wait a little longer," Zephiel said as he transformed the Eckesachs from a scepter into a sword. "Since there are two of you, it would only be fair for the both of us to fight you as well."

"Both of us?" Roy curiously said. "You mean...?"

Zephiel turned to Idenn and asked her, "Idenn, will you aid your master in this fight?"

"I will do as you say, master," Idenn replied.

"Very well, you may now assume your true form. Show them the true power of a Mage Dragon!"

"I will, master," Idenn said as she took off her hood.

"Uh oh... She's going to change into a dragon now!" Roy said in shock.

"Then we have to stop her!" Reimu said, and then she wasted no time in flying towards Idenn as fast as she could. Zephiel tried to hit her with his sword when she got close, but she managed to dodge each of his blows before getting past him. Suddenly, black fire burst out from around Idenn, and the shrine maiden was blown back through the air because she got too close to her. "Ya!"

The fire grew in size, and then wings, sharps claws, a long tail, and a draconic head appeared. The black fire eventually disappeared to reveal the Mage Dragon in all her glory.

Reimu stared at the dragon with wide open eyes and mouth in shock. "A... A... dra... dra... dra... gon...!"

"Reimu! Watch out!" Roy shouted when he saw Zephiel swinging his sword at her. Luckily, she recovered from her shock in time and ducked down to avoid getting hit, and then she leaped away from the king. Roy then ran up to her. "Get a hold of yourself! You could've got killed just now!"

"I'm sorry..." she said. "It's just that... I can't believe that I'm going to fight a dragon... Even though I've managed to take down tough opponents in the past, I still don't have the confidence to face a dragon..."

"Remember, dragons of this world are not as powerful as the ones in your world. They are powerful, but certainly not as powerful as gods. Just treat of the one before you as a giant wild animal and you'll do fine."

"It doesn't matter whether you treat dragons as gods or wild animals," Zephiel said, "you will still lose in the end! Do you really think you can defeat the both of us? You are now fighting the strongest man in Bern and the most powerful dragons at the same time! Your chance of winning is zero!"

"We'll see about that!" Roy said as he readied the Binding Blade, and then he ran towards Zehiel. "Haaaaaaa!"

**BGM: Battle for Whose Sake (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade)**

Both kings clashed blades a few times and then pushed them against each other. While doing so, Reimu jumped into the air and threw some needles at Zephiel. Zephiel quickly raised his sword to block the needles and brought up his foot at the same time to kick Roy in the stomach to prevent him from taking advantage of the opening.

"Oof!" the young king grunted in pain as he took a few steps backwards, and then Zephiel brought down his sword on him. Roy recovered from the kick in time, so he managed to block it by holding up his sword horizontally.

Reimu appeared behind him with needles held in between each of her fingers, but Zephiel spun around to hit her with his sword. She quickly ducked down to avoid it and when Zephiel spun his sword into Roy, the young king jumped back and slashed the air with his sword to shoot fireballs upon landing.

Zephiel swung his sword at the fireballs to make them explode, and knowing that Reimu was still behind him, he spun around to hit her, only to find that she was nowhere in sight. He looked around for the shrine maiden, and suddenly, energy projectiles rained down on top of him. "Ugh!"

"Praying for Rain!" Reimu shouted as she spun her gohei while flipped upside-down in the air, and then she flipped right-side-up and dropped down to stomp him over the head. Next, she bounced into the air and threw some paper amulets at him. The amulets blasted Zephiel and surrounded him in smoke, and Reimu threw even more amulets after landing.

"Out of the way!" Roy shouted as he slashed the air to shoot fireballs, and Reimu jumped out of the way for the fireballs to fly into the cloud of smoke.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Zephiel was blown out from the back of the explosion with his body on fire, but he managed to put it out by rolling around. "Don't get too cocky!" he angrily said as he got back up, and then he swung his sword downwards.

Roy immediately jumped away from his spot just in time to avoid a lightning bolt that came down. "You used that move in me before," he said, "so I know what was going to happen when you did that! I'm not going to fall for it again!"

Zephiel then said to Idenn without turning around to see her, "Idenn, I command you to attack them!"

The Mage Dragon let out a roar and then took a large step forward, her foot causing the floor to crack when she did. "Watch out! Here she comes!" Roy warned Reimu.

Idenn raised her front leg into the air and then swung it at Roy, but he used his sword to block it. Dark energy burst out in every direction when her claws clashed with his sword. "Don't worry, Idenn," Roy said to the dragon, "I'll return you to normal again!"

He then ran towards Idenn, and when the dragon swung his claw at him again, he quickly blocked it with his sword, but the force of the attack was so strong that he was sent flying to side. Idenn then raised her other front leg to crush Roy underneath it, but he stopped her by shooting fireballs at it, and then he got up to get out of the way before she brought it down again. Roy shot fireballs at the side of Idenn's body, and the dragon turned his head to him to breathe black fire at him, but he avoided it.

Suddenly, Idenn was blasted in the back of the head by projectiles, and she turned around to see Reimu, accompanied by four yin-yang orbs, floating in the air. She pointed her gohei at Idenn to make the orbs fire at her face rapidly. Idenn suddenly moved in her direction and reached out her head to bite her, but she got out of the way before continuing to fire at her.

Meanwhile, Roy was running towards Idenn, planning to jump onto her body to stab her, but Zephiel got in front of him. "Things will not go as you want it to," Zephiel told him, and then they clashed blades. They both swung their blades at each other for a while, and then Zephiel swung down his sword to summon the lightning bolt. Roy leaped to the side in time and then charged at Zephiel to hit him in the waist, but the king managed to block it with his sword.

Zephiel pushed Roy back with his sword and then ran towards him and spun once before slamming his weapon onto him, but Roy avoided it with a back flip. Immediately after landing, Roy jumped at him and shot fireballs at him from midair. Zephiel blocked with his sword, and he continued to hold it up, thinking that Roy while fall through the smoke and hit him. Suddenly, Roy landed in front of him and thrust his sword into his abdomen.

"UGH!" the king grunted in pain as he took some steps back, and then he grabbed the blade and pulled it out, not caring that his hand was cut through the gloves in the process. "I must say... You really did take me by surprise... Well done, Roy...!"

"This shows that my fighting skills have not dwindled just because peace returned to Elibe!" Roy said.

"However... a little wound like this is nothing to me. Did you think that the strongest man in Bern will fall to such a minor wound? I can easily shrug it off!" Then he charged at Roy and clashed blades with him furiously. The young king wasn't expecting him to move this fast after receiving such a fatal blow.

In the midst of clashing blades, Zephiel reached out his hand and grabbed Roy by the head to slam it against the flat part of the Ecksachs's blade. Roy was dazed from the impact and took some steps backwards, and then Zephiel slashed him across the waist to send him spinning through the air once, and he hit the floor face first. "AH!"

"You're finished!" Zephiel said as he raised his sword into the air to bring it back down onto him, but Reimu suddenly caught him by the neck using her gohei and held him back. "Ugh!"

"Get away while you can!" she told Roy.

Roy pushed himself back up and then crawled away, ignoring the pain while doing so.

"Let go!" Zephiel shouted as he trashed around to get Reimu off his back, and he eventually did. When Zephiel turned around to face her, Reimu kicked him in the abdomen, right in the wound. "GACK!"

The king fell on one knee in pain, and suddenly, a shadow loomed over Reimu. When she looked up, she saw Idenn bringing down her foot onto her, so she quickly jumped out of the way. Roy then ran to her hind leg and slashed it. The dragon roared in pain and then turned and reached her head towards him with a wipe open mouth, but Roy shot fireballs into her mouth to make her pull back her head.

While Idenn was crying in pain from getting burned in the mouth, Roy jumped at her body and stabbed her. The dragon cried and trashed around, but Roy gripped tightly onto the handle of the sword. Eventually, he pulled out the sword and fell onto the floor, where he shot some fireballs at the wound.

Idenn suddenly reached out her head at him to bite him again, but he jumped out of the way, only to get swat in the back by her tail. She then turned to him to breathe black fire, but Reimu got in front of the fire and blocked it with a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!"

She pushed the wall against the fire and stuck it into her mouth, and then she commanded her yin-yang orbs to shoot through the wall and into her mouth. Next, she flew high above the dragon and then took out a card. "Spirit Sign: Fantasy Orb!" The card glowed with various colors and then shot five energy balls at her back.

Idenn roared with anger and then flapped her wings to take flight. Reimu quickly got out of the way when the dragon ascended, and then she flew around the place to avoid the black fire being breathed at her.

While avoiding the flames, Reimu threw several paper amulets rapidly, but Idenn incinerated most of them. Only a few managed to make their way to her body and explode.

When Idenn flew towards Reimu to bite her, she quickly drop underneath her and slapped a card onto the floor. "Divine Arts: Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!" A massive pillar of light formed around her and engulfed Idenn.

"Cool!" Roy exclaimed as he watched from a distance. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footstep coming from behind, and then he ducked down just in time to avoid a swing of the Ecksachs from Zephiel. He then jumped back from Zephiel and shot fireballs at him, but the king jumped out of the way before swinging down his sword. Roy immediately rolled to the side before he was struck by a lightning bolt.

"King's Tornado!" Zephiel shouted as he started spinning really fast while moving towards Roy, and he slammed down his sword. Roy managed to get away from it, and when the sword hit the floor, pieces of the floor flew into the air. Zephiel quickly swung the flat part of the blade at the pieces to send them flying into him. Roy used his arm to shield himself from the small projectiles, and then Zephiel charged at him and swung his sword.

Roy jumped up high and slightly to the side and landed on top of the blade, and then he performed a back flip into the air and shot some fireballs when he was right-side-up. Zephiel dashed forward to avoid the fireballs, however, and thrust his sword at Roy when he was about to land. Roy barely had time to get out of the way when he landed, but he managed to avoid receiving a fatal blow. The Ecksachs merely went through the side of his waist. Despite this, Roy cried in pain and almost lost his footing. "Ow...!"

Zephiel proceeded to attack him again, and Roy ignored his pain while trying to block every single one of his sword swipes. Eventually, his wound got the best of him, thus giving Zephiel an opening. The king slashed him across the chest. "YA!"

Roy fell onto the floor, and as Zephiel went in for the kill, he was interrupted by Reimu throwing paper amulets onto his head.

BANG BANG BANG!

"Argh!" Zephiel growled as he stepped back from the smoke, and suddenly, Reimu planted her foot against his face and then kicked him in the same spot rapidly. Reimu then landed and delivered a powerful elbow thrust to his abdomen, followed by a sweep kick to the feet to make him fall on one knee. "Ascension Kick!" Reimu then performed a back flip to kick him in the chin.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

Zephiel was sent flying back into the air and then fell back down with a thud, and then she went to Roy and asked him in concern, "Are you all right?"

"Not like this is the first time..." Roy replied as Reimu helped him get back up. "Wow... You're actually strong enough to send Zephiel flying back into the air like that!"

"You need to be good at fighting if your job is to exterminate demons, you know. Watch out!" Reimu quickly grabbed Roy by the collar and jumped back to pull him along. Idenn's front leg slammed down onto where they were a second afterwards.

They both looked at the Mage Dragon, and Roy said, "Zephiel seems to down for the meantime. Now it's only her."

"Let's take on her together!" Reimu said.

**BGM: Shaman in the Dark (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade)**

Idenn took a deep breath and then breathed black fire at them, but they ran in separate directions to avoid it.

"Fantasy Sign: Spirit Orb!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire five energy balls of various colors at Idenn, and then she started flying around the dragon while throwing paper amulets and needles at her over and over.

As the dragon received blows from all directions, she tried shooting down Reimu by breathing black fire at her, but the shrine maiden managed to avoid getting hit.

"Reimu! Leave the finishing blow to me!" Roy called out to her. "Only by using the Binding Blade will she be able to be defeated without dying!"

"Okay! I'll weaken her until you can do so!" she replied as she continued to bombard the dragon with projectiles, but despite getting hit over and over, Idenn didn't seem to be fatigued at all. She endured the projectiles with seemingly no issue and tried to take down Reimu using her fire breath all the while. "She's pretty durable! I guess this is to be expected from a dragon after all. In that case... Roy, I need you to buy me some time! I'm going to use a powerful attack against her!"

"Okay!" Roy replied. "I'll do whatever I can to help!" Then he turned to Idenn. "Idenn, over here!" And he shot fireballs at her head.

The enraged Mage Dragon breathed fire at him, and when he jumped out of the way, she moved in her direction and tried to smash him with her front legs. Meanwhile, Reimu clasped her hands together and a blue aura appeared around body.

When the dragon lowered her head to bite Roy, he jumped onto it and stabbed it. Idenn cried in pain as she raised her head into the air, and then Roy pulled out his sword and slid down her neck and all the way onto her back. This time, he stabbed her in the body. The dragon once cried in pain, and then she swung her tail at him to knock him off. "Whoa!"

"Stay away, Roy!" Reimu said. "I'm finished! Duplex Barrier!" Roy quickly got out of the way, and a second after he did, a blue double-layered barrier appeared around Idenn. The dragon looked around, confused, and then tried to ram through the barrier. "It's useless! You're trapped in there!" Then she snapped her fingers to make the inner layer explode.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The outer layer kept the explosion from going out, and when the smoke cleared, Idenn was seen still standing, though she looked a bit fatigued this time. "Man... She's still not out cold yet...?" Reimu said in disbelief.

The outer barrier then disappeared, and Idenn growled weakly. "She seems to have been weakened enough," Roy said. Okay, time to put an end to this!"

He was about to make a move when suddenly Reimu shouted at him, "ROY! BEHIND YOU!"

Roy looked back to see Zephiel charging at him, but he was too late to do anything. The tip of the Ecksachs went through his back and out the front. "GAH!"

Zephiel swung his sword to the side to send Roy flying away while the Binding Blade dropped onto the floor. The young king fell onto the floor and was in too much of a pain to move.

"Roy!" Reimu shouted, and then she flew towards Zephiel. "How dare you!" When Zephiel swung his sword at her, she quickly held up her gohei in horizontal position using both hands to block the blow. However, the impact was so strong that the gohei was pushed back, and the side of the blade sank a bit into the part of her body just above the waist. "ACK!" Despite the pain, Reimu mustered all her strength to keep the blade from completely slicing her in half.

"You can't beat me in strength, girl!" Zephiel told her.

Knowing that she couldn't keep this up forever, Reimu quickly flew to the side. She landed on one knee and cried in pain as she placed her hand on the wound. "Ugh... Ow...!"

Zephiel picked up the Binding Blade and approached Reimu, saying, "I told you that you and your friends should've stayed out of this. Now you will suffer the consequences of disobeying a king's order! Death shall be your punishment!" And he swung down the Binding Blade.

Reimu held up her gohei to block the Binding Blade. Despite her wound, she was still able to muster enough strength to keep the blade back. Suddenly, she kicked Zephiel in the hand to make the sword fall off, and then she picked it up and ran away from him.

"Why you!" Zephiel angrily said.

Holding her gohei in one hand and the Binding Blade in the other, she thought to herself, "Roy doesn't seem to be in the condition to fight any longer, but I still can... I need to use the Binding Blade to take down Idenn, even though I don't really have any skills with swords..."

"If you're thinking of using the Binding Blade to fight in Roy's place," Zephiel said to her, "then let me tell you that it won't make a difference."

"Don't jump to conclusions yet!" Reimu shouted as she ran towards him. "Haaaa!" Zephiel ran towards her as well and swung the Ecksachs, but she jumped over him and spun vertically once before landing behind him, and then she headed for Idenn. "Hey you, look over here!" Reimu then slashed the air with the sword to shoot fireballs at Idenn's face. Once she got close enough to the dragon, she jumped at its body and slashed it vertically.

Idenn roared in pain, and when Reimu landed, she tried to crush her with her front leg, but the shrine maiden got out of the way. Zephiel tried to hit her again, but she ducked and rolled to the side before slashing him in the ankle.

"Ugh! Argh!" Zephiel angrily growled. Reimu used the Binding Blade to block a sword swipe from him, and then using questionable swordfight skills, she blocked some of Zephiel's attacks. For ones she didn't block, she dodged instead. "With a skill like that, you're not going to win against me in a swordfight any time!"

"I never said I am good with the swords to begin with!" Reimu replied.

Zephiel slammed down his sword, but Reimu jumped back and then scattered four pieces of paper to the side to summon four yin-yang orbs. She pointed her gohei at Zephiel and the orbs shot him rapidly.

The king used his cape to protect himself from the shots. When the orbs stopped firing, Zephiel pulled aside his tattered cape and saw Reimu flying at him. She swooped into the air when he tried to hit him with the Ecksachs, and then he was smashed over the head by something. Reimu had used one of her yin-yang orbs to hit him over the head.

Suddenly, she heard Idenn's roar and so looked up to see the dragon coming in her direction. When Idenn breathed black fire at her, she quickly got in front of Zephiel and formed a blue wall. "Cautionary Border!" The fire ended up burning Zephiel in the back and pushed him against the other side of the wall.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the king screamed when he was burned.

Reimu then flew to Idenn's front leg and slashed it to make her lift it into the air in pain, and then she immediately went for the other leg. The dragon raised the other leg in pain as well, and as a result, she fell down due to having no support at the front part of the body.

"YOU BRAT!" Zephiel shouted as he angrily charged at Reimu. Reimu turned around to face him, and when he swung his sword, she swiftly ducked down and got behind him. The moment Zephiel turned around, Reimu thrust the Binding Blade diagonally upwards to stab him through the stomach. She took flight as well to push him into the air. At the same time, Idenn raised her head, and as a result, Zephiel got pinned against the underside of her lower jaw. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The dragon also cried in agony.

As Reimu pushed the sword against the two, the blade started to release heat, thus bringing even more pain to the king and the dragon. Reimu then pulled out the sword and jumped up high into the air with the fiery sword raised up high. "Dragon-Binding Slash!" And she slashed Idenn through the middle of the head.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm aware that this chapter is actually shorter than the previous chapter. I thought of having at least 4,000 words in this chapter, and once it was close to 4,000 words, I started working on the conclusion, and this is the end result... You can say that I don't feel like making it longer, and I don't really know how to drag on the fight besides from adding some filler stuff. Of course, I can put in scenes that show what the other characters are doing, but I don't feel like doing it.

Also, I'm aware that Zephiel is a bit out of character getting angry like that, but I'd imagine that it is something that would happen to everyone when they reached their limit of getting annoyed.

On the side note, Reimu with a sword... How awesome can that be! Well, your mileage may vary, and I'm neutral towards her fighting with a sword.

**Next chapter: Lights of Elibe**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after the final chapter of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, and by final chapter, I mean the REAL final chapter accessed after acquiring all the Legendary Weapons.


	80. Lights of Lycia

**SBS Time!  
****Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV****:** Hey, you're giving the eleven main characters all a chance to shine and be important in each arc right?**  
Game2002: **Right; each of the girls are going to fight a major villain in each of the arcs in order to give themselves an opportunity to shine.

**Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV****: **So Iku doesn't have a dragon form?  
**Game2002:** Iku is not a dragon; she is an oarfish demon. However, she is a messenger of the Dragon Palace and observes the dragon god.

I changed the term "flaming sword" into "fiery sword" in the previous chapter. Flaming sword sounds a bit... strange...

**Chapter 79  
Lights of Elibe**

* * *

"Lotus Stance Cut!" Youmu shouted as she slashed both her swords against the air to fire a pair of green sword beams at Death, but he destroyed them with his scythe.

Death made several sickles appear around him and then sent them flying at Youmu. The half-phantom knocked away some of them and dodged some. She charged at Death to slash at him, but he disappeared before he got hit. Youmu looked around for signs of the grim reaper when suddenly he appeared behind her and swung his scythe at her head. Youmu quickly spun around to block the blow.

The swung their blades at each other, and eventually, Death moved back through the air and created floating skulls that flew at her. Youmu ran towards the skulls and sliced them as she approached him, but Death held out his arm to shoot a laser beam from his palm. Youmu saw this coming in time, so she managed to avoid it by bending back her body. Death used this opportunity to try to cut her in the waist from above; however, Youmu performed a back flip before he brought down his scythe, and in doing so, she kicked the flat part of the blade to send it flying off his hand.

Youmu landed and fired pink energy rings that moved in a curvy formation. "Phosphorus Slash!" And Death was hit by it. She then ran towards him, but all of a sudden, she was stabbed through the stomach from behind by the tip of the scythe.

"Heheheh! You didn't know about this, right? I can retrieve my scythe even without going to pick it up myself!" Death explained to her.

"GAH!" screamed another Youmu, who was fighting Exdeath not too far away. A wound suddenly appeared on her stomach, despite not getting hit by anything at all. The Youmu that was fighting Death changed into Myon.

"So it seems that if your clone gets injured, you will get injured yourself as well," Exdeath said to the real Youmu. "Such a large weakness you have! It will be the downfall to you!"

Youmu, down on her knees and panting heavily, said in pain, "It is only through overcoming such a weakness... will I become... stronger..."

"Unfortunately, you have no more chance to become stronger. Not in the land of the living, at least. Have fun overcoming your weakness in the afterlife!" Exdeath then got ready to impale her through the forehead when suddenly he heard footsteps. He looked at the entrance and saw Roy's army as well as the Gensokyo girls coming in.

"Youmu!" Reisen shouted.

"We're here to help-ze!" Marisa said.

"What are you doing in here?" Exdeath asked. "Shouldn't I.M. Meen be stopping you out there with his army?"

"The enemies outside has been taken care of," Alan replied.

* * *

Outside the temple, a badly beaten up I.M. Meen was lying in the middle of the former battlefield. "Guuuuh... Wretches..." he weakly said.

* * *

"Figured he wouldn't be able to hold you all back for long," Exdeath said.

"It's your turn-ze!" Marisa said to him. "Get ready to face us all at once! You had trouble facing us back then, so don't think you'll do any better this time around-ze!"

Exdeath and Death, who had just removed his scythe from Myon, were not fazed by what she said, however. In fact, they were confident that were able to take on all of them at once. Suddenly, Death heard the cry of a familiar voice.

"Ugh! Sunlight!" the voice cried.

"That is the voice of my master!" the grim reaper said. "He is in danger! I must rush to his aid at once!" So he quickly flew off into the next room.

Exdeath watched him leave, and then he turned to look at the others as they got ready to fight. "Hmph! Consider yourself lucky that I don't have time to deal with you at the moment!" he said, and then he teleported away.

"He's just too scared to admit that he can't take on us all alone," Marisa said, placing her broom against her shoulder.

"Roy and your friends must be deeper inside," Lilina said. "Let's go help them!"

"Right! We need to help our king at once!" Alan said with a nod. So everyone quickly rushed into the next room.

* * *

A few minutes ago, Remilia had defeated Nergal, but came face to face with Dracula soon afterwards. "I was hoping to meet you," she said.

"I was thinking the same as well," Dracula replied. "After all, we both are of the same kind. It's natural for those of the same kind to want to meet each other."

"You sure made your name famous throughout the world," Remilia said to him. "Vlad Tepes, also known as Count Dracula... The most famous vampire in the world! I never thought the day I meet my ancestor would come!"

Dracula raised an eyebrow and curiously said, "Ancestor?"

"Yes, I am in fact your descendant. Surprised to hear that, eh?"

"If you want to make a lie, young mistress, then please make it a believable one. I am very well aware of my own lineage, so I can be sure that I have no female descendants. I have only a son who was never married, so it impossible for him to have any offspring."

Remilia remained silent for a while, and then said, "Okay, I admit that it's a lie, but with you being so well known throughout the world, which vampire wouldn't wish that he or she is part of your lineage."

"That may be true, but I'd rather not have someone in my lineage who befriends him or herself with humans."

"That would include me, right?"

"Indeed. Now let me ask you something. Why do you travel with humans?"

"And what's wrong with that? I can travel with whoever I want to."

"A young mistress like you should know how to reply with more manners than that."

"And what if I don't have good reason asides from the fact that they are good friends of mine?"

"Making friends with humans... Don't you think that you are disgracing the name of vampires? Truly you remind me of my son, who also befriended humans and came against me. As much as I love my son, it still makes me angry and disappointed as a father that he walk such a path!"

"Guess that shows what kind of father you are."

"Since we both are vampires, I will spare your life, but only if you are willing to leave your friends and come over to our side. Your nonhuman friends may join well."

"Why'd the offer?"

"Surely as a vampire, you have faced persecution and mistreatment in the past, am I right? Humans are indeed very persistent beings who want us dead. Can you remember the times when you were hunted down by humans?"

Remilia placed her fingers underneath her chin and thought for a while and then said, "Well, I can't really deny that I have lived a peaceful life all these five hundred years, but even so, the fact that I'm still alive today shows how good I am in defending myself."

"Indeed, humans judge us unfairly. They believe that they are superior to us when it is clearly the other way round. Together, we shall rule over humans and show them that it is us vampires who are fit to rule the world!"

"And what if I say no? I have no interest in world domination at all. I may not be a nicest of the bunch back in my own world, but I'm surely am not in your league. The last time I tried to do something that could be considered immoral, I received quite a beating. I can't imagine the consequences if I fall as low as you."

"So you turn down my offer, right? Then there is nothing more to talk about between us! Have at you! Hellfire!" He quickly pulled his cape in front of himself and then swung it to the side to make three fireballs arranged vertically fly at Remilia, who dodged it by flying straight up. Dracula did the same thing again, but this time, a pillar of fire shot up from where Remilia used to be standing on.

Remilia managed to dodge it by flying to the side, and when the pillar of fire hit the ceiling, the same spot that was damaged during the battle with Nergal, the ceiling burst apart, thus allowing sunlight to pour down onto Remilia. "The sun!"

"Ugh! The light!" Dracula said, quickly using his cape to shield his eyes. Though the light didn't reach him, the sight of it was enough to turn him off.

Remilia quickly flew away from the sun and landed on the shaded area. "Phew... That was close... I really felt my whole body burning just now..."

"Master!" Death said as he rushed into the room. "Master Dracula! Are you all right?"

"It's nothing," Dracula told him.

Exdeath then appeared next to him, "A little light and you're turned off by it? I can't believe how weak you vampires can be! A little bit of sunlight and you cry as if you just got hit by a fatal attack!"

"Why don't you try becoming one yourself?" Dracula angrily said to him.

"By the way, where is Nergal?"

"He is dead."

"Oh, I just saw his body over there. He was nothing but talk after all... What about Zephiel?"

"I do not know. He is dealing with one of the girls and the young king at the moment. There was noise coming from the other room earlier, but now it is quiet."

At this moment, the rest of the group came into the room. "Mistress Remilia!" Meiling shouted to her mistress.

"Grrr! Troublesome bunch!" Exdeath growled in frustration.

"Perhaps we should go and see what Zephiel is up to at the moment," Dracula suggested. "We can decide what to do with them afterwards."

"I agree."

The three villains then warped away. Meiling ran to Remilia and asked her, "Mistress Remilia, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," the young vampire replied. "A bit of sunlight won't kill me or make me bedridden."

"Where are Reimu and the king?" Marisa asked.

"In the next room."

"Then let's go fast!" Lilina suggested. "Roy may need our help!"

* * *

Idenn roared as fire traveled throughout her body due to getting slashed by the fiery sword. Reimu remained floating in air and breathed heavily as she watched the Mage Dragon trash around in pain, and then the latter fell over to the side.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Reimu looked at the fallen dragon and said, "Did... I... do... it...?" Suddenly, black fire appeared around Idenn and consumed her. The burning mass began to shrink, and then it disappeared to reveal that the dragon had once again transformed into a human. "Phew... I did it..." And she looked at Zephiel, who was lying unconsciously on the floor. "He's down for the count too..."

After landing, she quickly ran to Roy and shook him by the shoulder. "Hey, are you all right?"

Roy slowly opened his eyes and said, "What... happened...?"

"It's over. I defeated both Zephiel and Idenn."

"You did...? Wow... Amazing...! You actually took them both out by yourself...?"

"Don't talk too much. You're badly wounded. We should get you treated immediately."

"You don't have to worry too much about me... I never told you this, did I? I am able to take hits and survive from fatal wounds better than an average person..." He then sat back up. "My father... married a half-dragon..."

"Really?"

"Yes, and as a result, genes of a dragon reside within my body. Even though I cannot transform into a dragon like a mother, who died when I was still really young, I have stamina similar to that of one, so a wound like this isn't a big deal to me."

"Wow... I don't believe it...!"

"Surprised, eh? This world sure is full of amazing things!"

Suddenly, Reimu felt her injury acting up, so she fell on her knees in pain. "Ow!"

"What happened!"

"Got injured myself as well..."

"Then we better get you treated fast!"

"No... I will not... allow... such a thing... to happen..." said a voice all of a sudden. They both turned to see Zephiel getting back up.

"He can still get up!" Reimu said in surprise.

Zephiel managed to stand back up despite his injuries. "I will not... fail... the second... time... I will... succeed... this... time...!"

Roy took the Binding Blade from Reimu and then stood up. "Give it up, Zephiel! You're bound to lose all the time! Furthermore, you're gravely injured. For the good of your health, you should stay down."

"Even if it means to destroy my body... I will still... fight until I succeed...! I will not... let anyone... get in my way again...!"

Suddenly, Exdeath, Dracula, and Death appeared around Zephiel.

"Uh oh... We've got company..." Reimu said.

"I see that you have failed as well," Dracula said to Zephiel.

"Good...! You're here...!" Zephiel said. "Get them...! Kill them all...!"

Instead of listening to him, however, Exdeath plunged his sword through Zephiel's chest.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"You're no longer of any use," Exdeath said to him. "Your defeat has shown us what you are capable of." He then pulled out his sword and slashed him across the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Hey! How could you!" Roy angrily shouted at the villain.

"Why are you angry, young king?" Dracula asked him. "Exdeath slew your enemy for you. You should be thankful about it."

"That doesn't mean I necessary want him dead! You can't kill someone just like that!"

"Enough! I have enough of hanging around with you people!" Exdeath said. "It's time we leave this place!"

"I agree," Dracula said with a nod. "We no longer have a reason to be here. Let us be on our way."

"You're not getting away!" Marisa said as she got ready to attack them, but Alice grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"No, we should just let them go," she told her. "There are injured people among us, so it's not wise to continue fighting any longer."

"We shall meet again, girls from another world," Dracula said he got out a remote control and pressed the lone button on it to summon the door. "The next time we meet, death will come upon you all." With that, the villains stepped inside, and then the door closed and disappeared.

"There they go..." Reisen said.

Roy immediately ran up to Zephiel and held him up by the back. "Zephiel, are you all right?"

"How pitiful I am..." replied the king weakly. "My attempt... to bring dragons back to this world... failed twice, and I faced death... the second time as well... I even got pitied... by my enemy in the end..."

"Don't say anything! We need to get you treated at once!"

"Don't bother... I know when my life... is coming to an end... Have you told Guinevere about me... yet...?"

"No, I never told her about you."

"Good... Then please keep it... a secret to the end... I don't want her to know... what a useless big brother I am... She will feel very bad... about it... Please let me... leave this world... quietly... and in secret... Promise... me..." After saying these, Zephiel closed his eyes.

Seeing this, Roy lowered his face in sadness while everyone else stood around them with sad looks and said nothing at all.

* * *

"In the end, he was a failure," Exdeath said as he took his seat in front of the table.

"Well, I wasn't expecting anymore new recruits to succeed," Sigma said. "Every single one of them ended up falling to those girls."

"This is perhaps starting to become a waste of time," said the man with a hat. "I'm wondering if I should even bother going to my client. Chances are likely that the same thing will happen."

"We do not know until we try," The Emperor told him. "You are assigned to meet him, so go. Rez will go with you."

"By the way," Mr. King asked, "where is I.M. Meen?"

As soon as he had said this, I.M. Meen came into the place. "You left me alone back there!" he angrily said. "It was a good thing I had a remote with me, otherwise I won't be able to come back!"

"Like we care," Exdeath replied.

"Argh! I'm not getting enough respect around here at all!"

"More like no respect at all! Geeheehee!" Fawful laughed.

"Enough!" said the voice all of a sudden. "Please show some respect to each other! We are a group here, and even though I am not demanding everyone one of us to get into good terms, we should at least be able to agree with each other to some extent if we want to reach our goal."

"At least there's someone here who still acknowledges me" I.M. Meen said as he took his seat, "and someone that none of you dare disobey!"

"It would appear that those girls are getting closer and closer to their goal. It does not make any difference, however. Just because they are able to gain access to Smash World does not mean they will affect our plan at all."

"I wouldn't exactly say so," The Emperor said. "If they meet him, and he tells them everything, they will surely come after us."

"That may be true, but that doesn't deny the fact that we have an unstoppable army at our side, the Darkling!"

"It is as you said," Mr. King said. "The Darkling are the embodiments of evil, and unless those girls have the special power to do so, they cannot destroy even the weakest Darkling."

"Indeed, so even if they do come here..."

"There's something heading towards us from outside the window," Dracula said all of a sudden. Everyone turned to the window and saw a large piece of block flying towards them. They quickly got ready to defend themselves when suddenly a glowing yellow line came down on top of the block and shattered it into pieces.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The villains immediately ran up to the window and looked outside, and then they heard a really loud roar.

"What's with that guy!" I.M. Meen angrily said.

"He seems to be bored," The Emperor replied as he watched the sight of what appeared to be architectures crumbling and falling down in the distance. "After all, being forced to stay in this place for so many years would surely make one bored."

"I'm just reminded that we still have one last trump card," Rez said. "Huhuhahahahaha! Those girls will never be able to get past him!"

"Though it would be a pity that I don't get to crush them myself," Sigma said. "Still, it's going to be fun to see them struggle something they cannot kill!"

Suddenly, blue light shined down from above the window, and the voice said, "His boredom will surely be eased when those girls come. Perhaps we should wish those girls success and that they can reach this place after all."

* * *

Roy and the others had returned to the ship, which was on its way back to the continent of Elibe. The Gensokyo girls were all inside the ship cabin, taking a rest from the battle. "I'm sure glad that it's over..." Reimu said. "At least for now... I don't think I can fight another serious battle until I fully recover..."

"Makes me glad that it wasn't me fighting in your place-ze..." Marisa said to her. "It must hurt a lot getting cut like that... Getting stabbed by spike wasn't that bad compared to this..."

"I think getting drilled in the stomach is even worse..." Meiling told her.

"Ow... It hurts to even think of that... Are you really feeling all right now?"

"Much better now, but I still need to take a rest in order to fully recover. That's a good thing about being a demon—we heal at a much faster rate than humans and have better survivability."

"You know," Reisen said, "I just realized that we still have no idea where the Light Essence is..."

"You're right!" Sanae said. "I totally forgot about that!"

"If the essence happens to be back on that island..." Alice said.

"Don't tell me that we totally missed our chance of finding it!" Marisa said in shock.

"That won't be a problem," Aya told her. "I can simply fly back there and look for it."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, so Cirno went to open it to see Roy standing outside. "Hello, king!" she cheerfully said.

"Hello! Are you girls feeling better now?" he asked.

"We're much better now," Sanae replied. "Thanks for the concern!"

"That's good to hear! By the way, about the Light Essence... I overheard your conversation while standing outside."

"Do you know something about it?" Alice asked him.

"I'm not sure about this... You see, while I did not participate in the third tournament, I did go and watch it. However, I had to return to my own world early for certain reasons, and Master Hand gave me a souvenir before I left."

"So you're saying that..." Reimu said.

Roy nodded. "Yes, it's possible that the souvenir is the Light Essence."

"What makes you so sure that it is the Light Essence?" Remilia asked him. "It's not that I don't trust you, mind you."

"You see, when you described to me what the essences look like, I eventually figured out that they look like symbols representing each of the participating worlds."

"What do you mean?" Reimu asked.

"Each of the worlds that participated in the tournament is represented by a symbol that is related to them. For example, Mushroom Kingdom's participants were represented by a mushroom while participants from the Kirby's world were represented by a star. The Light Essences that you have collected so far look just like the symbols!"

"So the souvenir that you got looks like the symbol representing your world?" Sanae asked.

"Yes, a sword. Well... not an actual sword, but a miniature version of it."

"Then it's possible that the souvenir is the Light Essence," Alice said. "There's only one way to find out now, and that is to mention the term World Light in front of it to see if it responds to it."

"What do you mean?"

"The essence will glitter whenever World Light is mentioned anywhere near it."

"I see... We'll have to see, then. It's in my room back at the castle. I'll get it for you when we get back there."

"Thanks a lot!" Reimu said. "By the way, what are you going to do about Zephiel? And what about Idenn?"

"Idenn is fine. She's just unconscious. I'll take her back to Arcadia for the elder to restore her spirit. She will return to normal afterwards. About Zephiel... I plan to bury him back in his grave in Bern in secret. He wants to keep his resurrection a secret after all. Doing it at night is the best time."

* * *

Eventually, the ship returned Badon, and from there, everyone went back to Lycia. After that, each of the members in the army went separate ways after saying good-bye to each other. Roy gave strict instructions to his soldiers that Zephiel's body must be hidden until nighttime, and then they would go to Bern to bury him in his grave.

After that, the Gensokyo girls followed Roy, Lilina, and a few of his men back to the castle. Once they were back at the castle, Merlinus came to greet them. "It's so good to see you back, Your Majesty! Are you injured?"

"I'm fine, Merlinus," Roy told him. "How is father while I was gone?"

"Have no worries! He is in a good condition! He is worried about your safety, however, so I recommend that you go and assure him that you are safe."

"I know. In the meantime, please show these girls a room where they can rest. They gave us a lot of help, so we should repay them somehow."

"At once, Your Majesty!"

"You don't really have to force yourself to repay us asides from showing us the thing that you mentioned," Reimu said, "though if you insist..."

"You clearly wanted to be rewarded with cash," Marisa said to her.

"I will go and get that thing right after seeing my father," Roy told the girls. "Please go and wait in the guest room in the meantime. Merlinus will take you all there."

"Come along now, girls!" Merlinus said to them. "It's not a good sight for girls to be unclean! There are a lot of beautiful dresses in the guest room's closet, so feel free to make yourself comfortable in them!" Then he led the way.

* * *

"Hey! How do I look in this?" Sanae asked her friends as she showed them an elegant green dress that she was wearing.

"Looks great!" Aya commented. "Mind if I take a picture?" And she took a picture without waiting for a reply, though Sanae didn't mind.

"I've always wanted to wear dresses like these! I feel like a princess wearing one!"

"I have several of those kinds of dresses back at home," Remilia, who was reclining at a couch, said.

"Mistress Remilia! How do I look?" Meiling said as she stepped in from the dressing room. She was wearing a pink dresses decorated with jewelries. She's also not wearing her hat.

"Wow! You look stunningly beautiful in that dress!" Nitori said in awe.

"Not bad-ze!" Marisa said. "Come to think of it, this is the first time I saw you wearing something else asides from your usual clothes."

"Well, I don't have many clothes back at the mansion, and I don't get much opportunity to change into them either..."

Marisa turned to Remilia and asked her, "Just how much respect do you give to your gatekeeper anyway?"

"Trust me; I give her more respect than you actually think," Remilia claimed.

Then there was a knock on the door. "Come on in," Reimu said, and then Lilina appeared from behind the door.

"Am I disturbing you?" the queen asked.

"No, not at all," Sanae told her.

"Okay, then don't mind if my husband and I come in." Then Lilina stepped into the room, followed by Roy.

"This is the one I've told you about," Roy said, showing them a miniature sword that had a light blue hilt and a light red blade. "But..."

"But what?" Reimu asked.

"The color changed when I found it. It was pure silver when Master Hand first gave it to me."

"Didn't Captain Falcon say the same thing about the Light Essence from his world?" Reisen asked. "He said that it was originally silver, but then it changed into having colors that matches Meiling's color scheme!"

Roy handed the sword to Reimu, who said, "World Light." This caused it to glitter. "Yep, this is the one. We found it!"

"Hooray!" Cirno happily exclaimed while throwing her arms into the air.

"Great! Now we're done with this world-ze!" Marisa said.

"Would you mind staying for a day before leaving? The sun is beginning to set, and you must all be very tired from the battle. Rest for a day here and we will send you on your way tomorrow. I've told the castle's chefs to prepare a meal using the best ingredients of Lycia for you all!"

"Thank you very much!" Youmu said. "Mistress Yuyuko is probably going to throw a fit if she learns that I ate foreign delicacies before her."

"Too bad for her-ze," Marisa said.

"Get well dressed for tonight's dinner," Roy said to them. "I hope that you will have a great time here!" After that, he left with his wife.

As they walked down the hallway, Merlinus came running up to them in panic. "Your Majesty!"

"What happened?" Roy asked him.

"You should come and see this! You won't believe what happened!" So Roy and Lilina quickly followed Merlinus down the hall until they came to a frozen statue of a frog placed on a stand. "This golden statue of Wart you bought during your trip turned to ice!"

"How did this happened!"

"I don't know... It wasn't like this when I came across it while leading the girls to their room, and when I came across it the second time, it became like this!"

* * *

That night, the girls, all of them wearing royal castle dresses, enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Music and entertainment were brought to them, including a skit about a popular fictional character, Wart the Magical Frog. The mystery about the frozen statue was also solved when Cirno froze the actor dressed up as Wart.

Roy also talked with them about his time at the Smash Bros. Tournament, and the girls also shared with him and his wife about their world.

All in all, they had a great and fun night.

* * *

The next day, Roy and a small army accompanied the girls back to their shrine. "Well, I guess this is good-bye," Roy said to them. "I wish you all a safe trip!"

"Thank you very much for helping us!" Sanae said to them. "If it weren't for you, we would never have been able to prove our innocence!"

"And we would never have found the Light Essence as well," Reisen added.

"I'm glad to be of help!" Roy told them. "I'm sure you will like Smash World! It's a very fun place!"

"I can't wait to get there!" Aya said with enthusiasm.

"All right, we're leaving now," Reimu said to him.

The girls said good-bye to Roy, and then they all went into the shrine, except for Reimu. She let the Light Essence float into the air before going into the shrine. Like always, the same thing happened, and the pillar of light engulfed the shrine, eventually causing it to disappear.

"There they go," Roy said. "Good luck to you all, girls!"

* * *

Up in Heaven, Tenshi the Celestial was bored out of her mind. Nothing interesting had happened ever since the Hakurei Shrine disappeared. Rocking herself back and forth on a keystone, she let out a sigh and then said, "I wonder if there's anything interesting to do around here... I hate boredom... Maybe I should go down there and cause trouble in order to grab people's attention. Maybe I should create another earthquake so that someone will come to me to fight me! The Hakurei Shrine is gone, so there shouldn't be any worries about it getting destroyed and thus affecting the Great Hakurei Barrier."

"You better not do that!" shouted a voice all of a sudden. Tenshi look up and saw Iku the oarfish demon descending from the sky.

"Oh hi, Iku! Paying me a visit to entertain me somehow?"

"You can say that if you want too..." Iku replied as she landed in front of her, "but whatever you do, don't cause another earthquake! You know what happened the last time you did that, right? You got Gensokyo into danger because of that! Just because the Hakurei Shrine is gone doesn't mean it's all right to cause an earthquake. In fact, it will make things worse!"

"Why's that?"

"As you now, the shrine itself is vital in holding up the Great Hakurei Barrier. Without the shrine, the barrier will eventually disappear, thus revealing Gensokyo's existence to the outside world. With the shrine currently missing, it's only a matter of time before the barrier disappears, and causing an earthquake may very well speed things up. Therefore, whatever you, DO NOT cause an earthquake!"

"Geez, thank you so much for shooting down an idea I have for getting some sort of entertainment..." Tenshi then made her Sword of Hisou appear out of nowhere. "Now that causing an earthquake is out of the question, perhaps I'll find some enjoyment in fighting you!"

"You sure you want to do this?"

"Bring it! Make sure to give it all you've got! You know that I don't like boring fights, right?"

Iku then started to release electricity from her all over body. "Well, if you say so..."

* * *

Kind Dedede was slouching on his throne, looking in a bad mood. The Waddle Dee with a blue bandana asked him, "What is the matter, Your Majesty? You don't look happy around these days."

"I still cannot get over the fact that I lost to a bunny girl," he replied. "Thinking of it makes me mad, and they even took away something that belongs to me..."

"You mean the Light Ascend?"

"Yeah, whatever it's actually called... Grrr... I really feel like hammering something to relieve my anger! Perhaps I should go and clobber Kirby, but now I'm so angry that I would rather hammer the floor instead!"

"But the floor will be destroyed!"

"Then patch it up afterwards!" Dedede said as he raised his hammer into the air.

Suddenly, a gap appeared in front of him, and Yukari popped her head out of it, only to get hammered in the head right away.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Dedede looked into the gap curiously and said, "What's this? Where'd this hole come from? And who's that woman inside?"

Yukari got back up \, and she definitely did not look happy when she came out from the gap again. "Um... Hi..." Dedede said while trembling in fear.

"!" Yukari shouted at the top of her voice.

Meanwhile, Kirby and his animal friends were eating apples underneath Whispy Wood. Suddenly, they heard a series of explosions coming from afar. "What's that noise?" Kirby asked.

"No idea," Coo replied, shaking his head.

Back in the castle, Dedede was lying charred on the floor. "You sure have the guts to hammer the most powerful demon of Gensokyo in the head," Yukari angrily said to him. "People like you anger me so much that I wouldn't even want to have you for dinner! I shall utterly destroy you here and now!"

But the Waddle Dee ran in front of Yukari and said, "Please spare him! His Majesty may be a mean person, but he can actually be very kind! He may treat us unkindly, but he actually cares for us! If it weren't for him, we would still be living a harsh life outside! It's all thanks to him that we are able to live a happy life today! We all owe him a great debt! Please spare his life! We won't know what to do without our king! It was an accident that he hit you! He's in a really bad mood, that's all!"

"Okay, if you say so. I'm not an unreasonable person, so I'll spare him. By the way, can you answer me something? Assuming that you know the answer to it..."

"I will do my best to help you!"

"Have you met a group of eleven girls? They are traveling around in a shrine."

"Does one of them have rabbit ears?"

"Why yes! You must be talking about Reisen! So they are here after all, right? Or maybe I should say... they were here... I'm not wrong in saying that, right?"

"They left a few days ago. His Majesty first lost to her in a carrot-eating contest, and then later lost to her in a fight. That was the reason he got so angry that he wanted to hammer the floor, but then you popped out of the hole all of a sudden."

"Okay... Thanks for the information! I hope your king recovers soon! See ya!" And so, Yukari left through the same gap.

The Waddle Dee then shook Dedede and asked him, "Are you all right, Your Majesty?"

"Buh..." replied the charred king.

"You're all right! Hooray!"

"Get the doctor... quick..."

* * *

Like always, all the girls except for Meiling were gathered in the living room while the Hakurei Shrine was traveling through the passage of light.

"I can't wait to show Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako my new dress!" Sanae said, admiring the same dress that she wore at Lycia. "How nice of the king to give us these dresses for free!"

"I should start making miniature versions of my dress for my dolls," Alice thought while looking at the yellow dress she got.

"That place sure brings back memories of the olden days," Remilia said while resting her head on her palm. "The atmosphere, the setting, the architectures... Ah... How nostalgic!"

"You know," Reimu said, "I just thought of something... With the shrine missing from Gensokyo at the moment, Yukari should be very worried about it."

"It should be obvious," Youmu said.

"I'm wondering... How come she hasn't come to find us yet?"

"Maybe she is looking for us at the moment," Marisa said, "but she hasn't found us yet."

"It shouldn't that tough for her to track us down, though," Reisen said.

"True, but considering that we are no longer in the same dimension as our world, it's probably harder for her to do so," Reimu said. "That may be why she still hasn't found us."

"But even if she found us," Youmu said, "should we really go back to Gensokyo with her?"

"If we can safely go back, why not? However, with the threat of that evil organization out there at the moment... If we simply leave them alone, Gensokyo may eventually fall into danger as well... They are seeking universal domination after all."

"True," Remilia agreed. "If Yukari does finally find us, then we'll need to explain the situation to her."

"In the very least, we can let her bring the shrine back to Gensokyo. That way, the Great Hakurei Barrier can be secured even without my presence there."

"Everyone! I can see the next world!" shouted Meiling's voice.

"It took a bit longer than usual this time, don't you think so?" Marisa asked as she stood up.

"Yeah, I noticed that too," Youmu replied as she stood up.

* * *

The girls found themselves in a place with several pillars arrange in a circle, and in front of them was a tall structure with stairs leading to the top of it. "What is this place?" Reimu asked.

"This place has Native American look to it," Sanae commented.

Suddenly, a red arm wearing a white glove burst out from the floor within the shrine, and the girls were shocked at the sight of it. "What is that!" Youmu said as she placed her sword on the hilt of the Roukanken.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Well, that's it for the Fire Emblem arc! You're probably thinking that I've forgotten about the frozen frog running gag, right? Admittedly, I did forget about it... I wanted Cirno to freeze a random frog found in the wild, but then I remembered that the frog must be named Wart, and it wouldn't make sense for a random frog out in the wild to be named Wart. I also though of having a random unnamed character having a pet frog named Wart, but in the end, I came up with the idea of a popular story character named that instead.

The next arc should be very obvious. I'm also looking forward to working on it! At last, it's coming up next chapter! Look forward to it!

**Trivia:  
**1. Tenshi is popularly known as a masochist in Touhou fandom due the fact she told the heroines to punish her, or else "Gensokyo shall be no more".

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
Things That You Might Want to Know

**How does Nergal know that Roy and Reimu are fighting Zephiel and Idenn?  
**After getting injured by Remilia, he warped to another room to heal himself. He also went to the same room Roy and Reimu are fighting Zephiel and Idenn in to watch in secret.


	81. The Fastest Thing Alive

**Random Pointless Rambling: **Sonic Generations looks awesome! I'm looking forward to it! I wonder how epic the final boss theme is going to be.

**Chapter 80  
The Fastest Thing Alive  
**

* * *

The girls were shocked at the sight of a hand coming out from the floor, and then something burst out from the floor entirely. It was red mammalian creature with spikes that bend downwards sticking out of its back. "Okay, who's idea is it to land a... a... something big on top of somebody else!" he angrily said.

"Hey! You destroyed my shrine's floor!" Reimu angrily said to him. "This shrine is very important to me!"

"Oh yeah? That's what you get for landing a shrine on top of me! You're asking for it!" the red creature shouted, and then he ran to Reimu at such a speed that she didn't even see him run at all. The creature pushed her out of the shrine, pinned her onto the ground, and punched her in the face over and over.

POW SMASH POW WHACK SMASH!

"Hey! Stop hitting Reimu at once!" Marisa shouted as she ran up to the creature from behind and whacked him away with her broom. She then helped Reimu up. "Reimu, are you all right?"

"I didn't lose any of my teeth, did I...?" the shrine maiden replied.

The red creature got back up again and was about to attack them when Meiling got in front of him, saying, "You're not hurting my friends!"

"I'll beat up anyone who gets in my way!" the creature said.

Meiling got into fighting stance, but suddenly, she was punched in the abdomen by him. "OOF!"

The red creature then started punching her rapidly, making her move a step back with each hit. She eventually fought back by unleashing a roundhouse kick, but he blocked it with his arm. After that, he grabbed her by the leg and flung her away, but she managed to land in a crouching position.

The red creature rushed up in front of her and was about to punch her in the face when suddenly Aya dashed into him from the side to knock him away. The red creature landed on his feet and glared at the tengu for a few seconds before charging at her. "He's fast!" Aya thought. When the red creature threw a punch at her, she countered with her own punch.

SMASH!

"YEOW!" Aya cried as she pulled back her hand. She saw that her hand was injured from punching him, and when she looked at his hands, she saw that there were spikes on the back it.

"You're going to get it!" the red creature said as he got ready to make a move again, but Reisen got in front of him with her arms stretched to the sides.

"Stop! Please don't fight any longer!" she said. "We can talk over this quietly! It was an accident that the shrine landed on top of you, so please do not be angry!"

"You think that can ease my anger? I'm not going to calm down until I at least beat up one of you! Plus, this place is supposed to be off-limits! I only allow certain people to come here! You may very well be here to steal the Master Emerald! I will not allow you to do such a thing!"

"Master Emerald? You mean that thing being carried into the air by that flying machine

" Nitori asked, pointing in the direction of the tall structure.

"Yeah, that's the Master Emerald," the red creature replied, and then he became surprised. "Being carried into the air by a flying machine?" He looked at the structure to see that there was indeed a flying machine that was circular in shape carrying a large emerald into the air using a mechanical claw. "Hey!"

"So you've spot me!" said the person piloting the flying machine. He was a bald, obese man with a large brown moustache dressed mostly in red. "I was hoping to make it out with the Master Emerald in secret. Oh well, at least I managed to take it into the air. So long, knucklehead!"

"Get back here at once, you egghead!" the red creature shouted as he ran to the top of the structure. From there, he jumped at the emerald and grabbed on it tightly.

"Let go of it!" the obese man angrily said. He then pressed a button that made a pair of wire-like arms come out from the bottom sides of the flying machine. "This brings back memories, doesn't it? Want me to give you a jolt to refresh your memory?"

Suddenly, a blue blur shot at the part of the claw that was connecting it to the bottom of the flying machine, thus causing it to fall down.

"What the!"

The red creature landed on his feet with the emerald in his arms. "Thanks, Sonic!" he said.

The blue blur landed to reveal itself as a blue mammalian creature with a spiky back. He looked at the obese man and said, "What's up, Eggman?"

"Curse you, Sonic!" the obese man angrily said. "You just have to show up at the worst times, don't you!"

"More like I always show up at the right time! So how many times have you been trying to steal the Master Emerald already? You're always up to no good when you go after it!"

"Like an evil genius like me is going to reveal my plans to you! You're going to get it, Sonic! Don't think that I've come unprepared!" Then he pressed a button that caused missile launchers to come out from the side of the flying machine, and then missiles were fired at the blue creature.

The blue creature dodged the missiles with ease by moving from side to side at a fast speed. He didn't even have to run from them since they exploded the moment they hit the floor. "Ha! Is that all you've got? You usually make more unique missiles than these!"

"Unfortunately, these are all I got today," the obese man replied as he fired more missiles.

Once again, the blue creature dodged the missiles, but he noticed that the missiles drilled into the ground instead of exploding this time. He then looked down for a second before jumping to the side just in time to avoid a missile that shot out from the part ground he was originally standing on. He had to move out of the way again to avoid the remaining missiles that came out from the ground.

The missiles fell towards him after rising into the air, but he gave one of them a kick to knock it aside. However, the missile went after him again after it stopped spinning. "Well, looks like these missiles are pretty smart!" he said. "Good job telling a big lie, Eggman!"

"And that is why my IQ is 300!" the obese man boasted. He then got out a remote control and pressed a button on it to cause the claw, which still had the emerald in its grasp, to float into the air. The red creature was still holding onto it, so he floated into the air along with it.

"Hey! Let go of the emerald at once!" he shouted at the obese man.

"You're the one who should be letting it go!" the obese man said to him.

Suddenly, a pair of mechanical arms caught the emerald from below and pulled it down.

"What the!" the obese man said in shock.

Nitori brought the emerald down onto the ground using her mechanical arms and then used them to pry open the claw. "Okay, it's safe and sound now!" she said to the red creature.

"Thanks, whoever you are!" the red creature said to him.

"Argh! Don't interfere, little girl!" the obese man angrily said to her.

"Hey Eggman! Look at me!" shouted the voice of the blue creature. When he looked up front, he saw him riding on top of a missile and heading in his direction, and behind him were the other missiles.

"What the! No! Don't come in this direction!"

"Have at you, Eggy!" the blue creature said before jumping away from the missile. The obese man quickly moved his flying machine upwards, but he was too late; the missile struck the bottom of the machine, thus causing it drop altitude a little bit. It was immediately hit by the following missiles.

BANG BANG BANG BANG KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The flying machine flew out from the explosion. Despite being badly charred and short-circuiting, it was still able to fly, albeit in an awkward manner. "Ugh... You'll pay for this, Sonic!" the obese man angrily shouted. "I'm not going to give up on the Master Emerald just yet! Sleep with one eye open, because I'm going to come back to steal it again!"

"Thanks a lot for the warning, Eggman!" the blue creature said while waving good-bye to him. "I'll be sure to welcome you when you come back!" After the obese man left, he turned to Nitori. "Thanks for keeping the Master Emerald from being taken away!"

"I'm glad to be of help!" Nitori cheerfully said.

The other girls came up to them, and Remilia asked, "You just had to jump in to help without making the situation clear first, didn't you?

"Well, that guy said he is an evil genius..." Nitori replied.

"You did the right thing in keeping him from taking away the Master Emerald," the red creature said. "Who knows what sort of evil things he will do with it again."

"Who are they, Knuckles?" the blue creature asked the red one. "I saw them hanging out around here while I was on my way here."

"No idea. I was lying down in front of the Master Emerald's altar, gazing the sky, when suddenly their house appeared out of a bright flash and fell on top of me. I got into a fight with them, both out of anger and thinking that they might be after the Master Emerald. Well, they may still be after the Master Emerald... Why else would that girl stop Eggman from taking it?"

"Please do not misunderstand!" Nitori desperately said. "I just wanted to help!"

"Don't worry," the blue creature said to her. "Knuckles can be a bit paranoid when it comes to things concerning the Master Emerald since it is constantly targeted by Eggman. I can tell that you're not trying to steal it for yourself. By the way, my name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog. Nice to meet you girls!"

The girls then introduced themselves to the blue creature named Sonic and the red one named Knuckles.

"So... your house popped out of the sky and fell on top of Knuckles, right?" Sonic asked them after they had finished introducing themselves. "Mind sharing the story with us?"

"Well, it may sound weird to you..." Reisen said.

"Go ahead! I've seen all sort of stuff, so your story can't be as strange."

"Can someone please explain it to them?" Reimu asked. "It's been me explaining the situation the whole time."

"I did the explaining to Roy," Marisa said.

"That's because you met him first."

"I'll explain," Sanae said, and then she explained everything to Sonic and Knuckles.

After listening to her story, Sonic said in surprise, "Wow! The World Light! Never thought I would hear that term again!"

"You know what the World Light is?" Sanae asked. "Then do you know...?"

"Smash World, right? Yep! I participated in that tournament!"

"Wow!"

"So you're looking for something called a Light Essence, right? Nope, never heard of it."

"That was a quick reply..." Reimu commented.

"Can't be helped; I do things quick most of the time."

"Speaking of which, you sure move very fast!" Aya said. "And so is your friend!"

"Yep, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive! Knuckles runs just as fast too! In fact, most of our friends can run really fast! We make 100-meter marathons look like 2-meter marathons!"

"Oh really? It would be interesting for at the both of us to have a race!"

"Oh, you think you can beat me in speed?"

"I'm the fastest in my world after all!

"She's not kidding, I tell you-ze," Marisa said. "To be precise, she's fastest in flying. Not sure about running, though."

"Sounds interesting! Maybe we should have a race some time!" Sonic said. "Wait a minute... Flying?"

"Yep!" Aya said, and then she made her wings appear.

"Cool! What are you? I've never seen a human with wings before!"

"I'm a tengu. A crow demon in case you don't know."

"Okay... You don't look like a demon. I never expected a demon to look so... human-like..."

"That's pretty much how all demons from our world looks like," Reimu explained.

"If you're gonna race, then do it back on your island," Knuckles said as he lifted the Master Emerald over his shoulder. "Speaking of which, what are you doing on my island anyway?"

"I saw Eggman flying to this island while I was running along the shore of South Island, so I immediately went to tell Tails about it, and then he took me here using the Tornado. He's at the shore of this island at the moment." Sonic then turned to the girls. "Come over to South Island! That place is bigger than here!"

"Before that, I need to patch up the floor in my shrine first," Reimu said. "Better yet, tell your friend to patch it up! He broke it and even punched me in the face several times!"

Sonic turned to Knuckles and asked him, "Did you really do that? Dude! You should treat women nicer!"

"Then tell her to not drop houses on top of somebody else first!" Knuckles replied.

"And it's not like I can pick a location to appear at! You could've just crawled out from underneath the shrine! It's not like the bottom of the shrine is completely touching the ground!"

"Um... Can we not argue about this anymore?" Reisen asked. "This is getting nowhere..."

"C'mon, Knux," Sonic said while giving his friend a pat to the back. "It was an accident after all. You shouldn't get so mad so easily."

"Bah! Whatever..." he grumbled. "Fine, I'll patch up that hole on the floor, but don't blame me if it doesn't look beautiful, okay?"

"As long as you can cover it up, I'm fine with that," Reimu said.

"Okay, let's go to the shore!" Sonic said. "Tails is waiting!"

* * *

After a few minutes of walking, Sonic and the girls arrived at the shore, and red biplane and a two-tailed fox were there. "Welcome back, Sonic!" the fox said to him while waving to him.

"Hey there, Tails! Anything interesting happened while I was gone?" Sonic asked him.

"Asides from seeing Eggman flying off into the distance, nothing interesting."

"Yeah, nothing interesting."

"Who are those girls with you?"

"Oh, they come from another world using the World Light."

"Really? But the World Light is supposed to take them to Smash World."

"It's broken, that's why they ended up here."

"Hey, are you kyubi?" Marisa asked the two-tailed fox. "From the looks of it, you're at least two hundred years old, right?"

"Pardon?" the fox asked. "I'm afraid that I don't quite get what you're asking me about."

"In our world," Reimu explained, "a kyubi is a demon fox that grows an additional tail every one hundred years, and the maximum number of tails is nine."

"Oh, I just remembered. I've read about the nine-tailed demon fox in a book before, but I don't have interest in legends and myths."

"Tails is a science guy," Sonic told them. "He built this plane all by himself!"

"Looks neat!" Nitori commented. "I like science as well!"

"Really? Perhaps you would be interested in coming to my lab to take a look."

"I'd love to!"

"Okay, then let's go back to South Island!" Sonic said.

"How are they going to come back with us?" Tails asked. "The Tornado can only carry at most two people. It's possible to sit on the wings and the body itself, but it's not safe."

"Hey, I did that before, and did anything bad ever happen?"

"That's because it's you."

"What kind of reason is that...?" Reisen asked.

"If only we can fly right now..." Reimu said. Suddenly, she felt herself bobbing up and down, and when she looked down, she was surprised to see herself floating a few inches above ground. "What the!"

"Whoa! How'd you do that!" Sonic asked in surprise.

"Hey! I can fly too!" Marisa said. "We can fly already!"

"Wow! That was fast!" Sanae, who also floated into the air, exclaimed.

"This sure makes things a lot more convenient!" Youmu said. "I wonder why it returned so much faster this time, though."

"This doesn't make sense at all," Tails said with a puzzled look on his face. "Are you wearing a device that helps you levitate using electromagnetism? Or is it an anti-gravitational device?"

"There's really no explanation behind this," Sanae told him. "This is something that most people in our world are capable of doing, so it's best that you don't think too much."

"Okay, I'll just assume that you're all using magical power of sorts to fly. Science can't be used for explaining magic after all, so I won't bother looking into this anymore. Anyway, this should solve the problem of trying to get us all back to South Island. The island is visible off the shore, so getting lost is impossible."

The girls looked at the shore, but saw nothing but the sky. When they went up to the edge, they were really surprised at what they found out. "This island is floating in the sky!" Marisa said in shock.

"Yep!" Sonic replied. "Angel Island is an island that floats in the sky using the power of the Master Emerald! It's also known as Floating Island!"

"Wow! Amazing!" Sanae exclaimed. "I thought islands floating in the sky exist only in fiction! I guess common sense can't be applied to this world as well."

"More like common sense can't be applied to any of the world we've been to so far," Reisen said.

"If you're done sightseeing, then let us be on our way," Tails said as he started the biplane's engine.

* * *

The obese man named Eggman was back at his base. He sat down on hit seat in front of a large computer and grumbled, "Grrrr... I was so close to getting the Master Emerald... Well, I guess I'll go for plan B. It's not like the Master Emerald is my only solution, though it will make things much simpler..."

Then a black and red robot with a round head and a black and yellow robot with a cube-shaped head floated over to him. "Welcome back, boss!" the black and red robot—Orbot—said. "I didn't hear you coming in just now."

"Boss is home! Cubot happy! Guh!" the black and yellow robot—Cubot—said.

Eggman turned to Cubot and asked, "What is wrong with his way of talking? He sounds like a caveman or someone with low mentality speaking!"

"Well, his voice system hasn't been working properly ever since you modified his original voice because you thought it was too annoying. On the bright side, his mentality hasn't really been affected. He is still as smart as he always is."

"One plus one is two!" Cubot said. "Yay! Yay! Cubot can count! The last number of pi is... is... is..."

"You call that smart? Go and get one those voice chips I made for him!"

"Right away, boss!" Orbot said as he left the room. He came back about a minute later with a computer chip in his hand. "This should do the trick!" Then he flipped open a small cover on Cubot's back and inserted the chip into the slot underneath. "There!"

Cubot's body shook and the head spin, and then he said, "I' the cave person m whom you speak already has not lived! The fragment of voice worked! I think…"

"What on earth is he saying!" Eggman said.

"It would appear he is speaking in some form of translated language," Orbot said, "one not properly translated or something like that."

"It's going to be a pain to understand what he is saying... Get another one!"

"But that's the only one."

"For real? Argh... I'll make another one when I have time..." Eggman then spun around on his rotating chair to face the computer screen.

"So anyway, boss, how goes your attempt to steal the Master Emerald? I assume that you failed, right?"

"Why else would I be in a bad mood? If it weren't for that... that... whoever that little girl is, I would've been able to successfully steal it!"

"The sound wave still finally, so the result wouldn' it stops; t differs," Cubot said to him.

"What sound wave and result are finally stopping? Argh! I think I might as well start making you a new voice chip!" So Eggman got up and left the room along with the two robots.

Shortly after they left, the computer screen automatically turned on. "Are you sure that he is the person we are supposed to meet, Rez?" asked one of the voices that came from it.

"Precisely," said Rez's voice.

"He looks so clumsy! And according to his records of evildoings, he fails often."

"The same can be said for us all, am I right?"

"Right... Wait a minute! I don't need you to remind me of my failures!"

"Whatever the case is, let us keep an eye on him for little longer and then we will choose the best time to show up before him."

"All right, let's hope that he's more than meets the eyes."

Then the screen turned off.

* * *

The Tornado and the Gensokyo girls were flying over a grassy landscape. "Welcome to Green Hill Zone!" Sonic said to the girls.

"This place looks beautiful!" Sanae said.

"The checkered patterns on the sides of the cliffs strike me as unnatural, though..." Reisen commented. "And what's with those giant loops? Are those even natural?"

"They're very fun to round around in!" Sonic told her. "Of course, you need to be able to run very fast, otherwise it's impossible."

The Tornado and the girls continued flying across the island until the sight of a house build on a plot of land with a few trees was seen.

"Sonic!" shouted a loud voice.

Sonic looked at the direction of the house and saw a pink anthropomorphic animal dressed in red waving at him. "Oh boy, it's Amy..." he grumbled.

"Who is she?" Reimu asked.

"Someone annoying."

"That's not very nice," Tails said to him. "Amy is a fan of you."

"I wouldn't mind if she doesn't follow me around so often, not to mention throwing herself at me all the time."

The Tornado flew in a circle above the house and eventually came to a landing in front of a garage. The girls landed next to the biplane. When Sonic and Tails jumped down from the Tornado, the pink anthropomorphic animal—Amy—ran up to Sonic. "Sonic! I've been waiting for you!" she happily said, but then she stopped when she saw the girls. "Hey, who are these girls? Where have you been? How did you meet so many girls at once? Why did you bring them back? How did you convince them to come back with you? And how are they flying without the help of anything?"

"Whoa there! Too many questions asked at once, don't you think?" Sonic asked. "Dude, chill out! You're thinking too much!"

"How can I not think so much? You never have so many girls following you at once! I know you're very well known on this island, but this is the first time I've seen so many of your fan girls at once! As your girlfriend, I would obviously become suspicious and jealous!"

"I told you to chill out!"

"Don't worry," Marisa told Amy, "you can be sure that none of us here fell head over heels with your boyfriend. You can continue fawning over him as much as you like! None of us here will get jealous!"

Amy narrowed her eyes as she turned her attention to her. "Are you sure? You look suspicious... You can't play any tricks on me! My love towards Sonic allows me to see through all sorts of devious tricks that get in the way between us!"

"C'mon, you don't believe me? I'm a human, so there's no way I'm going to find a... a... a... a blue creature with a spiky back attractive!"

"Sonic is not a creature! He's a hedgehog!"

"Okay... Then there's no way I'm going to find a hedgehog attractive!"

"Aren't hedgehogs supposed to be grayish in color, not to mention a bit round?" Nitori asked. "You look nothing like a hedgehog at all. Also, they should know how to curl up into a ball."

"Sure, I can do that!" Sonic said. "Just watch!" Then he bent down and curled himself up.

"Cool!" Cirno said. "Since I'm also dressed in blue, I should be able to do that as well!" Then she bent down and curled herself up. Obviously, the result wasn't like Sonic's.

"Don't bother trying," Amy said to Cirno. "There's no way a kid like you can try to mimic the awesomeness of Sonic! You're not even the same species for crying out loud!"

Suddenly, Sonic started to spin in place, and then he rolled off at a really fast speed.

"Hey Sonic! Where you going? Wait for me!" Then Amy ran off after him at an equally fast speed, leaving behind a trail of smoke as she did.

"Wow! She can run really fast as well!" Aya commented.

"As Sonic said, most of our friends are capable of running very fast," Tails reminded her. "All right, why don't we go inside first? Sonic will be back after getting Amy off his trail."

"Does she really follow him around all the time?" Reimu asked.

"Most of the time."

"Must be very annoying for him..."

"I wouldn't know unless I'm in his shoes. Anyway, come on in." Tails then led the girls inside the house. "It's a bit cramped, not to mention a bit of a mess. I hope you don't mind."

"It's all right," Alice said as she looked around the place. "Marisa's house is worse."

"I won't deny that-ze..." Marisa said, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"I'll go prepare some drinks," Tails said as he headed for the kitchen. "Please make yourself comfortable by sitting on the sofa or any of the chairs. You can turn on the TV if you like."

The girls then sat down, and Nitori said, "They're very nice people! Or... animals... Um... I don't know..."

"Don't you think that Tails's way of speaking sounds rather monotonous?" Marisa asked. "He speaks as if he is bored out of his mind or something like that."

"Maybe that's how all people obsessed with science are like," Reimu said.

"Hey, I'm certainly not like that!" Nitori said, sounding offended. "Not all my fellow kappas are like that too, and they're just as interested in science as me!"

Then a yellow cylinder-shaped robot with a dome-shaped head came into the living room, bringing with it a tray of lemonade. "Here is your drink," it said. "Please enjoy!"

"Wow! Is this is a housekeeping robot?" Sanae asked. "Thanks!" Then she took one of the glasses of lemonade from the tray.

Nitori observed the robot from all four sides with sparkling eyes. "Wow! This is really cool! Amazing!"

Tails came into the living room with a remote control in his hand. "I made this."

"You made it all by yourself? Awesome! I don't think I'm skilled enough to make something like this yet."

"Want to come to my lab to take a look?"

"I'd love too!"

Suddenly, Sonic rushed into the house. "I'm back!"

"Welcome back, Sonic," Tails said. "So you managed to get Amy off your trail?"

"What do you think?"

Suddenly, Amy rushed into the house and grabbed Sonic by the arm. "Gotcha!"

"Here's your answer..." Sonic grumbled. "Though it was supposed to be yes a second ago..."

"You chat with them, Sonic," Tails said to him. "I'm taking Nitori to my lab." Then he left with Nitori.

"So," Sonic said as he took a seat on a couch, "what shall we talk about? Perhaps I should talk to you about my time at the Smash Brothers Tournament."

"How about we have a race now?" Aya asked him. "Didn't you agree on it back on Angel Island?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about it! Okay, let's see who makes it around the whole island first. Nah, that'll take too long. Maybe we'll have a race across Green Hill Zone. What do you say?"

"She wants to race you?" Amy asked. "Can she run fast?"

"I can fly fast," Aya said.

"Yeah, she has wings," Sonic told Amy. "In fact, every single one of them can fly! It's a special ability that most people from their world have."

"That explains why I saw them flying alongside the Tornado earlier," Amy said.

Remilia then noticed a yellow diamond inside a glass container placed on top of a drawer. "That diamond must be really expensive, right?"

"Oh, that's a Chaos Emerald. I found it somewhere outside," Sonic said. "There are seven of them in total, and they contain special powers. Putting it there doesn't seem like a good idea. Guess I'll put it in a safer place." Then he went to put the Chaos Emerald along with its container inside the drawer. "There, that should do! Okay, Aya, let's go outside and have a race!"

"Okay! Let's go!" Aya said with enthusiasm.

* * *

Eggman was typing away on his computer. "Hmmm... According to the search result, one of the Chaos Emeralds is actually located in Sonic's house. Shadow has another one, and then there's another one at the president's house. That leaves only one with an unknown location. I'll search for the last one some other time. The two with Sonic and Shadow might be a bit difficult to obtain, but the one with the president should be a piece of cake, assuming that Sonic doesn't show up..."

Cubot and Orbot came into the room, and Orbot said to Eggman, "The new voice chip has been installed into Cubot."

"That's good to know," Eggman replied without turning around. "How is it?"

"It's-a me, Cubot! Da new voice chip-a eez pretty good-a eef you ask-a me!" Cubot cheerfully aid.

"What the! Why are you speaking with an Italian accent!"

"You made the chip. Who can you blame?" Orbot replied.

"Argh... I should've tested the voice chip first before putting it to use... At least I'm able to understand what he's saying this time... Anyway, I'm busy right now. I'm trying to think of a way to obtain the last four Chaos Emeralds."

"So you've decided to go for finding all the Chaos Emeralds instead? When you got your hands on three of them, you thought that it was too troublesome and time consuming trying to find the remaining four, so you changed to using the Master Emerald instead. What's with the sudden change of plan?"

"I want to, can't I? Plus, one of the emeralds is with Sonic. This will give me a good opportunity to get rid of him at the same time!"

"You wanna get-a rid-a of Sonic?" Cubot asked. "But-a you always fail whenever you try to do so. At least that's-a what-a Orbot told-a me."

"It's going to be different this time! I'm going to win for sure this time!"

"Why are you so confident-a?"

"I'm always confident in my plans!"

"Then why do you always fail?"

"Enough already! Go eat spaghetti or something and stop annoying me!"

"But-a robots can't eat-a!"

"Then just stop annoying me!" Eggman shouted as he stood up from his seat to leave the room. "Okay, time to unleash that thing! I'm going to steal Sonic's Chaos Emerald for sure, heehee!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Yes, it's the Sonic the Hedgehog arc! Congratulations, Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV! You've guessed correctly! This is my most anticipated arc to work on, hence the reason I got this chapter out fast! I can't guarantee that the following chapters will come out just as fast, though. Still, I'll try my best to get each of the chapters out in a short amount of time.

This arc takes place before the events of Sonic Colors due to the reason it was planned out before that game was announced, but I threw Cubot into the mix for fun. Also, I originally intended for Cubot to speak in Shakespearean English, but I'm not good at doing that, so I changed it to English that has been translated into Japanese using Babelfish and then back to English. In case you want to know he said:

"I' the cave person m whom you speak already has not lived! The fragment of voice worked! I think…"  
"**I no longer speak like a caveman! The voice chip worked! I think..."**

"The sound wave still finally, so the result wouldn' it stops; t differs."  
**"Sonic will still stop you in the end, so the result won't be any different."**

The bolded ones are the meaning of those phrases, but they aren't exactly the original phrases. Sorry, I can't remember what the exact original phrases are... And in case you don't know, Cubot is mimicking Mario and Luigi's way of speaking after the second voice chip is installed into him.

Also, I gave Tails his Sonic Colors personality. I actually thought he's pretty cool with a more serious attitude in that game!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Speed vs. Speed**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

The Legend of Zelda arc was originally planned to be based on Twilight Princess and not The Wind Waker. In fact, the decision to change it into The Wind Waker is actually made while I was still uploading chapters of the Mario arc. You can say that this decision was made at the last second.

The reason for this change is because I didn't want this story to be too similar to Specter24's One Piece: A Smash Adventure.


	82. Speed vs Speed

**Chapter 81  
Speed vs. Speed**

* * *

Sonic, Amy, and all the Gensokyo girls except Nitori were at Green Hill Zone, and both Sonic and Aya were positioned adjacent to each other. Sonic was in crouched position while Aya was bent down slightly with her wings out. "Got the map shown to you earlier burned into your memory?" Sonic asked Aya.

"Got it!" she replied.

"Okay! The first to make it back here is obviously the winner of this race!" Amy said. "Try your worse, human girl!"

"I'm a tengu, and don't look down on me!"

"Aya is very fast, so don't count her out of the race already-ze!" Marisa said.

"Oh, you better believe that Sonic's running speed is insane. Not even someone who can fly at a fast speed can beat him!" Amy told her.

"Can we start now?" Sonic asked, sounding impatient. "On the second thought, we might as well start by ourselves."

"I agree," Aya said with a nod.

"Okay... GO!" As soon as Sonic shouted out loud, he zoomed off at a monstrous speed. Aya also took off at the same time.

"Wow! They're both equally fast!" Sanae commented.

* * *

**BGM: Modern Green Hill Zone (Sonic Generations)**

Sonic was in the lead. He looked back and saw Aya flying as fast as she could about a meter above the ground to catch up with him. "Not bad being able to keep up with me!" Sonic commented. "But you'll need to move faster than that if you wanna surpass me!"

"I'll show you!" Aya said. She flapped her wings as fast as she could to build up speed, but when it seemed like she was about to catch up with Sonic, the blue hedgehog moved farther away from her. "Man, he's faster than I thought!"

Sonic ran around the path that was conveniently designed for high-speed running, and despite moving at a really fast speed, he was still able to make perfect sharp turns. Even though Aya wasn't touching the ground, she still followed the path as if she was running on it. After all, she made a promise to Sonic that she would play by the rules; otherwise, she could've cheated by using flight to take shortcuts.

They eventually came to a giant loop, and Sonic circled it with no effort. Aya circled it with even lesser effort due to obvious reasons.

The duo continued to blaze through the area, and Sonic was taking the lead the whole time. Sonic then turned around and ran backwards at an equally fast speed. "You're too slow!"

"You can run backwards just as fast!" Aya said in surprise.

"I can also run sideways just as fast! Ever wonder how a crab in a hurry is like? Like this!" And Sonic ran sideways just as fast. He then ran backwards again. "Cool, huh?" Unfortunately, he wasn't watching where he was going due to running in this manner, and as a result, he hit the bottom of a cliff. "DOH!"

"Haha! That's what you get for not looking at the front when running!" Aya mocked him as she continued along the path. "See ya!"

"Okay, I got a bit careless..." Sonic said while rubbing his spikes. "Better not be such a show-off..." He then ran after Aya.

* * *

Tails looked into Nitori's backpack and commented, "You sure have a lot of space in here. I still find it hard that you kind fit all these inside."

"Can I open this up and take a look inside?" Nitori asked. Tails looked up and saw her pointing at a blue biplane.

"Um... It's not a good idea to open up that unless you have a reason to... It may end up getting destroyed..."

"Oh, then I'm sorry for asking... I get curious about what the insides of machines look like often..."

"Actually, that's a start for most engineers and scientists. It's because of curiosity do they become one. The fact that you have such a curiosity shows that you really do have talents as a scientist."

"Heheh! I'm a real scientist! It makes me happy!" She then looked around the place. "By the way, since there are a lot of mechanical parts around here, will you mind if I use them to upgrade the weaponries in my backpack?"

"Go ahead; I don't mind."

* * *

Sonic and Aya were still racing through Green Hill Zone, and Sonic was once again in lead. "Man! It's near impossible to catch up with him!" Aya thought. "Looks like I'll gave to get serious! Domination Dash!" And she dashed forward at an even faster speed and eventually caught up next to Sonic.

"Well, that's quite a sudden burst of speed!" Sonic commented.

"I had to resort to using one of my attacks to actually catch up with you," she said.

"Okay, then let's see if you can catch up with this. Sonic Boost!" Then Sonic zoomed ahead at a really fast speed while surrounded by a blue aura.

"What the! He even out sped Domination Dash! Just how fast can he go!"

Sonic eventually came to a cliff, but he jumped into the air and shot forward in a straight line as if he was shot out of a cannon. He landed on one of the pillar-like structures and then jumped from one pillar to another. Because Aya had to go by the rules, she had no choice but to jump across the pillars as well.

When Sonic finally landed onto a large landmass, he wasted no time in zooming off into the distance, and Aya did the same when she came to the large landmass.

* * *

The Gensokyo girls and Amy were back at the starting point. "I wonder when they will return," Sanae asked.

"Judging by the time, they should be back very soon," Amy replied.

"Hello, Amy!" said a voice all of a sudden. They turned and saw a fat purple cat approaching.

"Hello, Big!" Amy said to the cat.

"Are these your friends?" asked the cat named Big.

"Yeah, they are considered friends, though I don't know them very much yet..."

"A friend of yours?" Reimu asked Amy.

"Yep."

"Nice to meet you!" Big said to the Gensokyo girls. "My name is Big!"

"Nice to meet you too-ze!" Marisa said. "A rather fitting name you have there-ze!"

"Oh yeah, Amy, have you seen Froggy?"

"Nope," Amy replied, shaking her head. "You got separated from him?"

"He went to play with a friend that he recently made named Wart. They've been gone for a while already. I'm worried that something might have happened to him, so I came out to search for him."

"Froggy... That sounds like a frog's name..." Reisen commented. She then turned to Cirno. "Have you frozen any frogs on the way here?"

"Nope," Cirno replied, shaking her head.

"I'll go look somewhere for them both," Big said. "Thank you for the reply! Good-bye!" And he left.

"See ya! Hope you find Froggy and his friend soon!" Amy said while waving good-bye to him.

"I think I see them coming back," Youmu said, looking at two speeding figures that were getting closer and closer to them.

"Yep, it's them all right," Remilia said.

Both Sonic and Aya were getting closer and closer to the finish line, and Sonic was in lead with a blue aura around himself. Aya, surrounded by a cyclone, was slowly catching up, though. "Just a little bit more!" she thought. "Just a little bit more and I'll surpass him! I won't lose in speed!"

Amy held out her Piko Piko Hammer and said out loud, "The first person to snatch my hammer from my hand is the winner! By the way, Sonic, I recommend that you catch me inste..." But she found herself spinning in place when Sonic zoomed past her before she could finish speaking, and Aya went past a second later.

Sonic came to a stop and held up Amy's hammer. "And the winner goes to the blue hedgehog!"

**BGM: Act Clear (Sonic Adventure)**

Aya stopped and panted heavily while her friends gathered around her. "I lost..." she said in disappointment. "I can't believe it..."

"You're also pretty fast yourself!" Sanae told her. "Don't feel bad; at least you can be sure that you're still the fastest in Gensokyo!"

"Take it easy-ze!" Marisa said while patting her in the back. "You didn't get left far behind either! The fact that you managed to stay close to his back shows that you are not to be underestimated when it comes to speed!"

Sonic went up to Aya and said to her, "Your friend is right! You are very fast! That was a great race! Don't feel bad!"

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't feel bad about this. It's good to know that there is someone I can compete with when it comes to speed. I boast about my speed often back in my world, but it seems that I can't really boast about it when in other worlds..."

"It's a good idea for you to see the world sometimes. I've seen a lot in my various adventures! The Smash Brothers Tournament is without doubt that one time when I saw the most! Okay, let's head back to my house to talk more! About the Light Essence... We can ask Tails to see if he can help find it using his inventions. You thought I totally forgot about that, eh? Nope!"

"Hey, what's that?" Youmu asked, pointing to the distance. Everyone looked at the distance and saw something round approaching, and as it came closer and closer, it turned out to be a giant spike ball.

"Watch out! It's going to crash!" Meiling shouted. Everyone quickly got out of the way, and the spike ball hit the ground.

CRASH!

They all gathered around the spike ball to observe it. "That was random," Remiu commented, "or is this something common in your world?"

"As far as I know, nope," Sonic replied.

Suddenly, a pair of eyes appeared on the side of the spike ball, much to everyone's surprise. "What the! This thing is alive!" Reisen said in shock. A pair of arms then came out from the side of the spike ball, and the whole thing floated into the air.

"What is that!" Sanae asked.

"There can only be one explanation for this!" Sonic replied. "Eggman!"

**BGM: Globotron/Drillinator Battle (Sonic Colors DS)**

The spike ball robot folded its hand into a fist and then came down to smash Sonic with it, but he jumped out of the way. "Whoa there! Cool down, will ya?" Sonic said to it. "I know you're obviously here to crush me, but can't we at least make sure that the innocent bystanders are out of the way first?"

The robot rose into the air again and then came back down to smash him with its fist, only to miss the second time. Amy and the girls quickly moved to a safer distance and watched Sonic avoiding the blows given to him by the robot. "Sonic! Go and show that thing whose boss!" Amy loudly cheered.

"We have to help him!" Sanae said.

"On the second thought, I prefer that we watch first and see how he fares," Remilia suggested. "He participated in the tournament, right? That means he shouldn't be a pushover."

Sonic continued to avoid the fist slams coming from the robot. "Let's see..." he thought. "Spikes all over the body, and I saw spikes on the back of the hands as well... There doesn't seem to be a good spot for hitting. Eggman's pretty smart this time around, eh?" The robot swung his hand at him, but he jumped over it. "Perhaps I should amputate it. Nah, that term sounds too gruesome. How about disarm? Get it? Disarming its arms! Haha!"

When the robot swung its hand at him again, he rolled at the arm and sliced through it like a buzz saw. The robot quickly pulled back into the air after founding out that it lost an arm. It then held out his fist, and metal plates came out from the back of its hand and covered it, and spikes came out of it to turn it into a mace. It fell towards Sonic to smash him with its mace hand, but he got out of its way. The robot jumped after him to try to hit him, only to miss.

When the robot tried to hit him the third time, Sonic ran forward to avoid the mace hand and then jumped at its arm from below to slice it off. The robot quickly flew into the air when its remaining arm was destroyed.

**BGM: Globotron/Drillinator Battle, Pinch Version (Sonic Colors)**

Without its arms, the robot had to resort to using its whole body to fall on top of Sonic as its means of offense, and Sonic was also met with a problem. "Okay... Where do I hit now?" he wondered as he dodged the bouncing spike ball.

The spike ball stopped bouncing and rolled at him, but he stepped to the side. He watched as the spike ball made a u-turn to come back for more. Once again, he avoided it, but he saw that the spike ball was heading towards Amy and the Genoskyo girls. "Watch out, girls!"

They quickly moved aside to avoid the incoming spike ball. "It seems that Sonic is out of ideas on how to fight it," Aya said.

"Then I'll take it out for him!" Marisa said as she took out her hakkero and a spell card. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" And she used them to fire a huge laser beam that engulfed the spike ball as it rolled towards them again.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The spike ball robot exploded into pieces, and the girls had to avoid some of the spikes as they rained down from the sky. "Phew, that was close!" Meiling said when she managed to avoid a few, but one fell onto her head. "Yeow!"

"Ouch! That has to hurt!" Amy gasped. "Are you all right?"

Meiling pulled out the spike and threw it away. "I'm all right. It's just a small wound. I'm a demon, so it's no big deal..."

"Wow... I can't believe that there are people who can shrug off getting stabbed into the head so easily..."

Sonic went up to them and said to Marisa, "Wow! That giant laser attack was awesome! I was really surprised to see that you can do something like that!"

"That's the awesome move I've invented-ze!" Marisa boasted. This caused Reimu to give her a weird glare.

"Thanks a bunch! Having you girls around will surely make fights against Eggman and his robots much easier!"

"By the way, Sonic," Amy said to him, "I find it strange that Eggman would unleash a robot at you all of sudden. Usually, he would show up alongside it to taunt you or something."

Sonic placed his fingers underneath his chin and thought for a while. "Hmmm... You're right... It's not like him to simply throw a killer robot at me without showing up himself first. He would at least introduce the robot to me first before making his leave. Something is not right here... Hmmm... I have a bad feeling about this... I better go back home first!" Then he rushed off at top speed.

"Wait for me, Sonic!" Amy shouted as she ran after him.

"I think we better go after them too," Youmu suggested. "I also have the feeling that something bad has either happened or is happening at the moment."

"Okay," Reimu said with a nod, and then the girls went in the direction the two hedgehogs went.

* * *

Sonic returned to his house and saw that nothing had happened to it. "Phew, everything is safe and sound! Guess I was bit too worried..."

Tails and Nitori then came out of the house. "Sonic! Bad news!" Tails shouted in panic. "The Chaos Emerald is gone!"

"What!"

"While we were in the garage, we heard a crashing sound, and when we went to the living room, we saw a hole behind the drawer. I was shocked to see the Chaos Emerald missing, but then I thought that you must've put it inside the drawer. When I opened the drawer, however, it was no longer there! There's even a hole at the back of the drawer!"

"I knew it was a trap! Eggman must've tossed that robot at me to keep me from coming back here!"

"Well, that explains a lot," Amy said, looking at the hole at the side of Sonic's house. "He somehow bust through this wall and right into the drawer to get the Chaos Emerald."

The Gensokyo girls then rushed into the scene. "Is anything wrong?" Reimu asked.

"The Chaos Emerald got stolen," Sonic replied. "It's the yellow jewel that Remilia asked about."

"What a filthy thief!" Marisa angrily said. "Robbing from someone when the owner of the house isn't at home is a cowardly method!"

"Is this to imply that breaking into somebody's house while the owner is still home is a more preferred method of stealing?" Remilia asked her.

"You said that the jewel has special powers, right?" Youmu asked. "Is it a power to be feared?"

"Only when all seven of them are together," Sonic replied. "All seven of them together can grant super powers to the user. I have used the Chaos Emeralds to change myself into Super Sonic several times to fight Eggman as well as other powerful entities. I have every reason to believe that Eggman stole the emerald, and he's definitely up to no good stealing them. Uh oh, I just realized that he could've gotten all seven of them already... It's bad news if he has them all..."

"From what I know," Tails said, "Shadow has one of them and the president also has one. I don't know about the rest. We know that he has at least one of them, though it's possible that he could've gotten more."

"The one with Shadow shouldn't have to be worried about. It's not like he doesn't know how to defend himself from Eggman. The one with the president, however... I think we better check the news to see if there is anything up."

Everyone went into the house, and Sonic turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels, but there was no news broadcast at all. "It looks like nothing bad has happened," Amy said.

"Yeah, seems like it," Sonic said.

"Chao in Space will be broadcasted next!" said the TV announcer.

The movie started to play, but a few seconds after it did, a news reporter appeared on the screen. "We apologize for interrupting the program to report to you urgent news." Then the screen showed what appeared to be a mechanical canine standing in front of a White House-like building. "A giant robot has appeared and is causing havoc the president's house!"

"Okay, now my fear is confirmed!" Sonic said. "Eggman really is up to no good! All right, gotta go to the president's house to save the day! C'mon, Tails, get your Tornado ready!"

"I'm coming along too!" Amy said.

"No, Amy, it's too dangerous. You should stay behind."

Amy then took out her hammer. "I'm coming along too!"

"Okay, you can come along too... Just stay out of trouble, okay...?"

"You're afraid of her when she's armed, aren't you?" Marisa asked Sonic.

"We're coming along too," Reimu said.

"I assume that you all can perform cool attacks, right?" Sonic asked. "Okay, come along! Let's show Eggman the power as a group!"

Eggman was flying across the sky in his personal flying machine, the Eggmobile. A mechanical arm was attached to the front of the Eggmobile, and in its grasp was the yellow Chaos Emerald. "Haha! That was too easy!" he said. "Luckily, Sonic is not at his house. Even if he managed to destroy the Spikerator, he is still too late to come back to prevent the Chaos Emerald from being stolen. It's also his fault for hiding it in such an easy-to-find place! By the way, the news should be reporting that already."

He took out a palmtop and used it to watch the news report.

"Good, the Egg-Cerberus is having fun with G.U.N.! Too bad my robot is too much for them to handle! Time to head over to the president's house to steal the Chaos Emerald while they are busy dealing with the Egg-Cerberus! Before that, I better send the Chaos Emerald back to the base first."

He pressed a button on the palmtop, and then Orbot appeared on the screen. "Yes, boss?" he asked.

"I'm sending the Chaos Emerald back to the base, so activate the item transporter."

"It's already turned on and waiting."

"Good! Make sure to take good care of the emerald while I'm gone!" After saying that, he pressed a button to make the mechanical arm come over to him to hand him the Chaos Emerald. He took the emerald and placed it on top of the palmtop, and after pressing a button on it, light came out from the screen to make the emerald disappear. "Portable transporters sure are useful, heheh!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Another chapter out in a short amount of time! It really does show that I'm really excited about working on this arc, doesn't it? By the way, I made up Spikerator, but it's modeled after Globotron and Drillinator from the DS version of Sonic Rush.

Sonic is supposed to be faster than Aya. He can run at Mach 1, and as far as I know, Aya isn't capable of traveling that fast under normal circumstances. Sorry for Aya fans, but Sonic wins the race.

Also, you can hear the modern version of Green Hill Zone's theme by looking at Modern Sonic's gameplay videos for Sonic Generations. Even though there are sound effects, you can still hear the background music clearly. I think that version of GHZ's theme fits best for the race.

**Next chapter: Presidential Chaos**


	83. Presidential Chaos

I made a mistake in the previous chapter. The events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 got erased from continuity at the end of that game, so Tails shouldn't be able to recognize the Egg-Cerberus. It's been corrected now.

**Chapter 82  
Presidential Chaos**

* * *

A large mechanical canine known as the Egg-Cerberus was growling as it looked around at the G.U.N. soldier and tanks, which were pointing their weapons at it. A gray-haired man in his late sixties said out loud to his men, "Round him up from both sides! That way, you can avoid hitting the president's house!"

The soldiers ran to the left and right sides of the Egg-Cerberus and fired when their commander gave the order. However, their bullets bounced off the robot's metallic skin. The Egg-Cerberus turned its head to the left and ran towards the soldiers there to send them fleeing. It then turned around and made an astonishing leap towards the ones on the right to send them fleeing as well.

Next, it ran towards the soldiers at the front. "Aim for its legs! That'll avoid hitting the president's house in case it avoids it!" the commander shouted.

One of the soldiers wielding a bazooka fired at the Egg-Cerberus, but the robot leaped into the air and towards that soldier. He quickly ran before he got crushed by it. Unfortunately, he fell down, and because the robot was standing in front of him, he was too scared to get back up; he could only cry in fear while slowly crawling backwards.

Suddenly, a figure jumped at the Egg-Cerberus at a blinding speed and kicked it in the side of the head so hard that it fell over to the side.

CRASH!

The figure landed to reveal itself as an anthropomorphic bat. "Bad dogs should stay down!"

"Rouge! About time you showed up!" the commander said to her.

"Sorry for the late appearance. Is the president all right?"

"He's taken to safety already. All we have to do now is to take care of this abomination."

"I have every reason to believe that this is Eggman's creation, and I can only think of one reason that he sent it here to cause havoc."

The mechanical canine let out a roar and then ran towards Rouge. The bat also ran towards the canine, and when it lowered its head to bite her, she jumped into the air and performed a drop kick onto the top of it to smash it against the ground. She then landed next to the head to give it a kick that sent its whole body falling sideways.

When the Egg-Cerberus stood back up to face Rouge, she ran in front of its face. "Black Wave!" she said, and then she released a sound wave from her mouth. The sound wave went into its head and messed with its circuitries, thus causing the whole thing to go haywire. The robot stood back up, but was unable to move properly.

Rouge got away from the robot and said to the commander, "Okay, it's your turn! Go ahead and give it your best shot!"

"Okay! Fire at will, tanks!" the commander said out loud, and so the tanks shot the Egg-Cerberus. It was struck in the head once, and then in the side of its body when it turned.

BANG BANG!

The Egg-Cerberus's head and body were severely damaged from getting hit. As it walked around awkwardly, Rouge ran up to it and gave a powerful kick to its head.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The head was sent flying off the body, and thus the robot fell down and stopped moving. "Well, that was easy," Rouge said while dusting her hands. "I didn't even break a sweat!"

"Good job, men!" the commander said to his soldiers, and then he approached Rouge. "Thank you very much for your support, Rouge!"

"I'm glad to be of help! By the way, is the Chaos Emerald all right?"

"I believe that it is still inside a safe somewhere inside the president's house. Why'd you ask?"

"Eggman is obviously after that Chaos Emerald; otherwise, he wouldn't come after the president. I think it's a wise idea to go and check the emerald to make sure that it really is all right."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of plane engine, and when they looked up, they saw the Tornado approaching.

"Well, look who's here!"

The biplane made its landing, and then Sonic, Tails, and Amy hopped down from it. Sonic was sitting on the wing because there were no more seats left. The Gensokyo girls landed shortly afterwards. "Hey there, Rouge!" Sonic said as he went up to her. "I see that you and G.U.N. have already taken care of everything here."

"Not fast enough for the fastest hedgehog, eh?" Rouge said to him.

"Yeah, say whatever you want... It's good to know that everything is all right, though admittedly, I wished I had part in this..."

"Don't underestimate us, Sonic," the commander said to him. "Even though you are a big help to us, there are times when you should let us do the job. It's our job to protect the country after all."

"By the way, who are these girls?" Rouge asked, looking at the Gensokyo girls. "I saw them flying behind your buddy's plane. Just how are they flying?"

"Oh, they are friends from another world," Sonic replied. "Yeah, it probably sounds a bit strange, but it's not that strange when you think about it."

"Okay... It's not like alternate dimensions don't exist, so I don't really find it that strange."

"Look over there!" shouted a soldier all of a sudden. "There's another one of the same robot on top of the president's house!"

"What!" the commander said in shock as he looked at the president's house, and sure enough, there was another identical-looking Egg-Cerberus standing on the roof.

"Well, looks like I haven't missed out the fun yet!" Sonic said, sounding excited.

"Okay, I didn't expect Eggman to throw more than one at us," Rouge said. "All right, I'll leave that one to you."

"Thanks a lot, Rouge!" Sonic said as he crouched down to begin running. "Time to teach that dog some new tricks!" Then he was off.

**BGM: Egg-Cerberus/Egg-Genesis Battle (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)**

The Egg-Cerberus leaped onto the ground and let out a roar as Sonic approached it. It swung its front leg at him when he got close, but he jumped into the air and stomped it in the back of the neck before bouncing back down in front of it.

The Egg-Cerberus raised its front legs and then slammed down on top of Sonic, but he ran to the side and circled it several times. As the Egg-Cerberus was trying to focus its eyes on Sonic, the blue hedgehog suddenly leaped at it from the side in the form of a ball and struck it in the head really hard.

BANG!

The Egg-Cerberus almost lost its balance, and then it turned to Sonic. Sonic ran underneath its head and jumped up from there to strike it in the chin. He then got behind the robot by running underneath it, and then he ran up its tail to get onto its back, where he bounced on top of it so hard that it was crushed against the ground.

The Egg-Cerberus let out a roar as it stood up back in an instant to make Sonic bounce higher than usual into the sky. Sonic landed a few feet away from it, but he dashed at it again. The Egg-Cerberus quickly leaped into the air and over him, and as it turned around to face him, it was suddenly blasted in the side by projectiles. When it turned to see its attackers, it saw the Gensokyo girls.

"C'mon! Let's help Sonic take it down!" Reimu said.

"I'll take it down! I'm the strongest!" Cirno shouted as she flew towards the robot with an ice sword in her hand. "Take this! Ice Saber!" She brought down the sword onto the Egg-Cerberus's head, but it shattered into pieces upon contact. "What the!" When the robot roared into her face, she quickly backed off. "Whoa! You think you can scare me with that? Loud noise won't scare me! Icicle Machine Gun!" And she fired a rapid burst of icicles at it.

The icicles shattered when they hit the robot, and then it ran towards her, ignoring the icy projectiles fired at its head. Suddenly, Youmu pushed Cirno away from behind and then swung her sword at the incoming robot to cut off the front end of its snout.

The robot let out a roar as it stood up on its hind legs, thus giving Youmu the chance to slash it in the belly. The robotic canine fell back down and let out a roar of anger, and then it charged at Youmu. The half-phantom leaped over it and slashed it right down the back as she flew over its body. The robot continued to run forward.

Meiling got in front of the Egg-Cerberus and delivered a rainbow-powered punch right into its head. "Spiral Light Step!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Egg-Cerberus flew backwards and crashed onto the ground with its head somewhat dislocated. "Not bad!" Sonic commented. "Now's my turn again!" Then he curled into a ball and spun in place for a few seconds before rolling towards the robot at a fast speed. He slammed into the Egg-Cerberus's belly and right through it. The Egg-Cerberus let out one last roar before exploding.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Sonic came to a stop and then turned around to look at the burning remains of the robotic canine. "Too easy! Piece of cake!"

"Not bad, Sonic!" said a familiar voice. Everyone looked in the direction of the president's house to see Eggman in his Eggmobile hovering in front of the door.

"So you've showed yourself, eh?" Sonic said to him. "As you can see, both your pet dogs got wasted! You should've trained them more!"

"I supposed I'll have to give you a round of applause!" Eggman said as he clapped his hands. "Also, those girls are quite something! I don't know who they are, but you sure made some pretty spectacular friends!"

"All right, let's get down to business, Eggman! You're after the president's Chaos Emerald, right? You're not getting your hands on it, and if you have it already, I'm taking it back from you this instant!"

Eggman showed him his hands and said, "Look at my hands, do you see anything? Of course, you don't see anything! It means the Chaos Emerald is already at my base!"

"Say that again!"

"I used a portable transporter to send it back to my base! While you and your friends were busy dealing with the Egg-Cerberus, I sneaked into the president's house and cracked open his safe to get it. Even the most durable safe in the world is no match for my brain!"

"Why you!"

"Give back what you're stolen now!" Youmu angrily said while pointing the Roukanken at Eggman.

"Now, now, let's not get too rough here, little girl," Eggman told her. "I already told you that the Chaos Emerald is not with me, so even if you give me a beating, you still won't get back anything. As you can see, violence won't resolve anything here anymore!"

"Don't think it's over like this, Eggman!" Sonic said to him. "We'll just track down your base in order to get back all the stolen emeralds!"

Suddenly, Eggman received a call from his palmtop. "Hello? What is it? What? Metal Sonic found that emerald in the Special Stage? Good! I knew I could rely on him!"

"Did you just hear that!" Tails said in shock.

"Yep, I heard that!" Sonic said. "So that's where one of the Chaos Emeralds is all along, and we're too late to prevent that one from being taken as well!"

"Haha! All that left is Shadow's Chaos Emerald!" Eggman said with joy. "That one may be the hardest to obtain, but for the sake of my plans, I will do whatever I can to take it from him!"

"Dream on, Eggman! You know that Shadow will never give up his emerald so easily!"

"We'll see about that! I'll have to get to work now, so if you would mind letting me go. Plus, another one of my pets would like to play with you!" Eggman then placed his fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly. Suddenly, another Egg-Cerberus charged through the president's house.

"Another one!" Rouge said in shock.

"My original plan was to build an actual three-headed Cerberus," Eggman explained. "However, the combined weight of the heads made it so that it cannot stand properly, so I split it into three separate Cerberuses instead. Even if the last one is only as powerful as the previous two, it should buy me some time to get out of this place!"

"Yeah right!" Sonic said. "I'm going to make a short work out of this one as well; furthermore, my friends here will make sure to keep you under check!"

"We'll see about that! Go and rip them all to shreds, Egg-Cerberus!"

The robotic dog let out a roar before running towards Sonic. Just as the blue hedgehog and the Gensokyo girls got ready to fight, a burst of purple energy suddenly appeared in front of them. "What the!" Reimu said in surprise. The purple energy eventually disappeared to reveal a black anthropomorphic hedgehog with spikes that had tinges of red.

"Well, look who's here!" Sonic said. "Shadow!"

"Shadow!" Eggman said in surprise.

"Leave the greetings for later," the black hedgehog named Shadow said before running towards the Egg-Cerberus.

**BGM: I Am All of Me (Shadow the Hedgehog)**

Shadow performed a back flip to kick the Egg-Cerberus in the chin, and the kick was actually so strong that the robot flipped in the air once before hitting the ground.

CRASH!

"Is that all you've got?" Shadow said to the fallen robot. "I would be very disappointed if that is so."

The Egg-Cerberus turned over and then stood back up again. After turning around to face Shadow, it tried to crush him with its front legs, but he jumped into the air and then struck it in the back with a powerful drop kick. He then bounced off to the side, and he was falling down, he kicked the robot in the side so hard that it flew sideways. Shadow then ran towards the robot and rolled into a ball to ram it in the belly before it had the chance to get back up.

The robot slid even farther back as a result, and then it got back up again. It let out an angry roar before running towards Shadow, but it was suddenly struck in the side of the body by several bullets. It turned to its attacker to see that it was a robot with a mostly red body—Omega.

"All creations of Eggman must be eliminated," he said.

"Argh! Not that robot again!" Eggman growled.

The Egg-Cerberus decided to take on the robot first, so it ran towards him. "Omega Fire," Omega said as he released a stream of fire from his arm cannon to burn the robotic canine in the face. The Egg-Cerberus reared back and howled in pain because of the heat. Omega then grabbed the robotic canine by its head, held it in a headlock position, and pointed its arm cannon below its jaw. "Beam Cannon." And he fired a beam that tore off the front part of its face.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Omega then swung the Egg-Cerberus around by its head and flung it into the air, and Shadow ran and jumped at the airborne robot and dashed through it in the form of a ball really fast. With a hole torn through its body, the Egg-Cerberus short-circuited and exploded shortly afterwards.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

As Shadow landed, the burned remains of the robot crashed onto the ground not too far behind him.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"No challenge at all," he said.

"Eggman robot terminated," Omega said, and then he turned to Eggman. "Next target: Eggman. Prepare to be terminated." But the mad scientist was no longer there.

Eggman was flying through the air in panic, and he got behind the Gensokyo girls and used the Eggmobile's mechanical arm to grab Nitori. "Hey!" she cried.

He then pointed a high-tech gun at her and said, "Playtime is over! Shadow, hand over your Chaos Emerald at once or else this girl gets it!"

"Hey you! Don't you dare lay a hand on our friend!" Aya angrily said to him.

"It depends on whether or not he wants to hand over his emerald! Blame him if I pull the trigger!"

Suddenly, a pair of mechanical arms came out from Nitori's backpack, much to Eggman's surprise. "What the!" The mechanical arm grabbed him by the head, pulled him out of his seat, and flung him across the place. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Ngh!" Using her strength, Nitori pried open the mechanical hand's grip to free herself. "Don't underestimate me!"

Eggman tumbled onto the ground, and when he looked up, he saw Sonic and Shadow standing in front of him. "Well, the game's over for you, Eggman!" Sonic said to him.

Shadow was tossing a gray Chaos Emerald up and down in his hand. "This is what you're looking for right? Losers like you don't deserve it!"

Eggman started bowing in front of them over and over. "I'm sorry! Please have mercy! I'm wrong! I'll turn over a new leaf for sure! Please give the chance to do so!"

"Knock it off, Eggman!" Sonic said to him. "The last time you did this, you made the world crack up literally! I'm not going to fall for this again!"

In the midst of begging for mercy, Eggman suddenly flung his palmtop onto the part of the ground between Sonic and Shadow. The two hedgehogs looked at it with curiosity, and suddenly, it released a burst of energy that stunned them from head to toe. "What the...!" Sonic gasped.

"Can't... move...!" Shadow cried.

Eggman quickly snatched the Chaos Emerald from Shadow's hand and then picked up the palmtop and pressed a button on it. The Eggmobile automatically flew to him at a fast speed, and the mad scientist jumped into it to make his escape. "Gotta go! Thanks for the emerald!"

"Target is escaping," Omega said as he aimed his arm cannon at the escaping villain. "Lock on target. Omega Missile."

When Eggman saw the missiles coming, he quickly pressed a button on the control panel that caused the Eggmobile to fire missiles backward. The missiles collided with each other and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Haha! You won't get me!" Eggman laughed.

"Hey you!" shouted a voice unfamiliar to him. When he looked back, he saw Aya flying after him. "Get back here!"

"Who are you?" Eggman asked. "Bah, who cares? I don't have time to deal with any of you anymore!" Then he increased the Eggmobile's speed to fly away at a speed equivalent to Sonic's running speed.

"You're not getting away!" Aya shouted as she flew after him at a fast speed.

The others could only watch from the ground as the two of them disappeared into the distance. "I hope Aya gets him," Reimu said.

"I'm sure she will," Marisa said.

Amy ran up to Sonic and asked him, "Sonic, are you all right?"

"I'm fine... I knew Eggman was pretending," he said, "but I didn't expect him to do something like that..."

"I got careless..." Shadow said. "I should never have taunted him with the Chaos Emerald... If only I knew better..."

"Don't feel down, Shadow," Sonic said to him. "This is Eggman we're talking about. He's known for having several tricks up his sleeves, so it's nothing wrong to get tricked by him."

The Gensokyo girls, Tails, Rouge, Omega, and the G.U.N. commander walked up to them. "This is unfortunate," the commander said. "While you did do a good job taking out Eggman's robots, he still managed to make it away with both Chaos Emeralds. Who knows what sort of evil scheme he has in his mind this time?"

"Don't worry," Sonic said to him. "I'll make sure that his evil scheme fails like always. You can count on me to get the job done!"

"Our friend is also going after him," Marisa said, "so let's wait for her to come back first and see what news she brings us!"

"She's coming back," Sanae said, looking at the sky.

Aya returned and landed from her flight. "He got away..."

"But you were able to go as fast as him," Reimu said. "How did you let him get out of your sight?"

"I never let him get out of my sight; it's just that he went somewhere that I can't follow... He dived into the sea..."

"He dived into the sea?" Tails asked.

"That would mean Eggman made his base under the sea this time," Sonic said. "Okay, now that we know where he is, let's go after him!"

"I remember which part of the sea he dived into, so I can lead you there," Aya said.

"Still, it's best that we get the location one-hundred percent sure first," Tails said. "Maybe he didn't dive into the exact spot or something like that."

"You have a point, Tails," Sonic said. "Then let's get busy with this!"

Nitori looked at Omega and said, "Wow! What an awesome-looking robot! It seems to be very powerful judging by what did earlier!"

"That's Omega," Tails told her. "Eggman created him but then sealed him away, that's way he is mad at his own creator and even wants to take him down."

"It must be very scary to have your own creation coming after you..."

"This is the consequence that Eggman brought to himself for sealing me away," Omega replied.

"Oh yeah, these girls came to this world using the World Light," Sonic said. "They came here looking for something called a Light Essence. Anyone here heard of that?"

"Can't say I do," Shadow replied.

"Me neither," Rouge said, shaking her head. "And did you just say Light World? Well, I didn't expect to hear that term again!"

"Something is wrong with the World Light, so they are unable to go to Smash World; therefore, they need eleven Light Essences in order to fix it, and they currently have nine."

"Sorry, can't do anything to help," Shadow said. "And I'm not interested either."

"Oh, come on, must you be so unfriendly? But then, I didn't really expect you to be of any help either..."

"Perhaps the Chaotix can help," the G.U.N. commander suggested. "They are detectives after all."

"Maybe... but for some reason, I don't think this is something within their league."

"I think it's a good idea, Sonic," Tails said to him. "We can ask them to look up info on the Light Essence while we go after Eggman. That way, those girls can finish up what they came here for faster."

"I guess that's a pretty good idea. If it were me, I'd want to finish up what I'm supposed to do in the first place as fast as possible too."

"We appreciate the help that you're giving us," Reimu said. "In return, we'll help you fight that villain named Eggman."

"No problem!"

* * *

Eggman stepped in the room with the computer and said to Orbot and Cubot, "Well, it's been a great day! I've got all the remaining Chaos Emeralds!"

"To be precise," Orbot said to him, "Metal Sonic got one of them for you, so you didn't actually get all of them by yourself."

"Makes no difference! I created Metal Sonic, and my creation's accomplishments are also my accomplishments! So are all the emeralds put in the proper location?"

"Only one is left, and you are holding it with you, I presume."

Eggman looked at the gray Chaos Emerald. "Yes, this is the only one left. At last, my master plan is going to work! This time, nobody will stop me!"

"I won't-a be too sure about-a theez yet," Cubot said. "Who knows what kind-a tricks Sonic will pull off-a theez time."

"Must you be such a killjoy? Not even Sonic is a match for me when I have all the Chaos Emeralds! I'm going to show not only him, but also the whole world, the terror of my creation when powered by the Chaos Emeralds! Hahahahahaha!"

Cubot asked Orbot, "You think-a we can believe in him?"

"I can't be too sure either, but let's hope for the best," he replied.

* * *

Back at Sonic's house, Reimu was speaking on the phone. "Yes, you've got all that, right. The Light Essence should look like the icon used for representing your world. You do remember what your world's icon is, right?"

"Even if they forgot about it, I still remember it," Sonic said. "It's a silhouette of my head!"

"You remember, right? Good! I'm counting on you to find it, and I'll pay you if you can get the job done in a short amount of time. It shouldn't be too hard for you guys, right? Okay, I want to hear from you again in the shortest time possible. Got it? Okay, good-bye!" Then she ended the call. "They're quite a noisy bunch if you ask me."

"Vector and Charmy, I can agree, but Espio is the opposite. The former two must be quarreling over something pointless in the background while you were speaking to Espio. Don't worry; I'm sure they'll get the job done. They're actually reliable at times."

"So... what do we do in the meantime?" Marisa asked while watching TV from the sofa. "Your buddy is taking his time to make something that can help us track down Eggman's base."

"Give him some time," Sonic told her. "If it takes a while to finish, then you can be sure that it's something that'll come in handy!"

"By the way," Aya asked, "Eggman mentioned a place called Special Stage. What is that place?"

"It's an alternate dimension where the Chaos Emeralds are hidden most of the time. The entrance to Special Stages can be hidden pretty much anywhere, and in there, you'll either need to find the emeralds yourself or complete certain tasks, such as collecting rings or colored spheres, before you can get them."

"You used the power of the emeralds several times before, right?" Youmu asked. "Why didn't you keep them all with you after using them?"

"The emeralds usually fly off in random directions after being used, so it's pretty much impossible to keep them all together. Sometimes it's for the best, because if all seven of them are together, then power hungry villains can easily obtain them all."

"Now that you said it, you do have a point."

"What do you think Eggman is going to do with those emeralds?" Aya asked.

"My only guess is that he's going to use them to power up some doomsday device. Nothing new for sure..."

Then there was a knock on the door, so Amy went to open it to find an anthropomorphic rabbit standing outside, and hovering next to it was a small, blue, unidentifiable creature. "Hello, Cream and Cheese!" she greeted them.

"Hello, Amy and Sonic!" the rabbit named Cream said, and then she saw the girls. "Hello, um... Hello, everyone!"

"Hey there, Cream!" Sonic said to her. "What's up?"

"Have you seen Chocola? Cheese and I haven't seen him in a long time, so we want to look for him, but we don't know where he is."

"Who's Chocola?" Amy asked.

"Did Ms. Amy forget? She's the brown Chao who is a good friend of Cheese!"

"Oh yeah, I suddenly remembered."

"Also, Mr. Big wants me to help find Froggy and his friend Wart. Have you seen them anywhere?"

"Sorry, haven't seen them anywhere."

"Hello! I'm Cirno!" said a voice coming from behind Cream. The rabbit turned around to look at the ice fairy.

"Hello! Nice to meet you! I'm Cream!" she said to her. "And this is Cheese!"

"Hey, what's that in your hand?" Amy asked Cirno.

"Oh, this one?" Cirno held up the thing in her hand. "I found this frog, and I want to show you and Sonic my hobby, so I brought it back!"

"Wait a minute... Does this frog happen to be... Froggy?" Amy asked while carefully observing the frog. "Um... I can't tell... All frogs look pretty much the same... I hope it's not... and I hope that it's still alive too..."

"Sonic!" shouted Big as he came up to Sonic's house. "I found Froggy! I also found Chocola! The both of them were hiding underneath a tree!"

"Chocola! It's great to see you again!" Cream happily exclaimed when she saw the brown Chao. Cheese flew over to Chocola, and they both held hands while spinning in midair.

"According to Froggy," Big said, "a girl dressed in blue was chasing them, and Wart was unfortunate enough to get turned into ice and..." Then he saw the frozen frog that Cirno was holding.

He stared at it for several seconds in silence...

"What's wrong?" Cirno asked, breaking the silence.

* * *

"Geez... Just how many times must you learn not to freeze frogs just because you like it?" Reimu angrily said.

"Sorry..." Cirno cried while rubbing her head.

"Not that I care about frogs, but what if the frogs belongs to somebody? Imagine how mad and sad the frogs' owners would be! Thanks goodness that frog is still alive!"

"Mr. Big isn't angry about it," Cream said, "so you don't have to be angry at Cirno anymore, Ms. Reimu."

"Yeah! That fat cat didn't get angry at all, just shocked," Cirno said to Reimu, "so stop being angry at me, you got that?"

"Is that you speak to someone who is lecturing you!" Reimu loudly said while whacking her over the head with her gohei.

"Ow!"

Cheese flew over to Myon and looked at it curiously, and then he poked it. Youmu then touched her head and asked, "Huh? Who touched my head just now?"

When Cream saw Myon, she grabbed its tail and shook it. "What's this? A balloon?"

This caused Youmu to shake around uncontrollably. "Hey! Stop it!"

"Oh, shaking this thing will make you shake? Sorry about that..." Then she let go of Myon.

"It's all right," Youmu said to her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tails was working on a piece of machinery in his lab, and Nitori was working on something else on a table opposite to his. "Finished!" the kappa said all of a sudden.

"What did you make?" Tails asked without turning around.

Nitori showed him a palm-sized device that resembled a turtle shell. "I call this the Kappa Reflector! It can bounce back several kinds of projectiles, assuming that the projectiles aren't too powerful for it to reflect. Hey, are you watching?"

"I'm busy, okay? Would you please refrain from disturbing me?"

"Okay, whatever... Guess I'll show it to the others..."

Nitori headed for the door, and then Sonic came in. "What's up?" he asked her.

"I invented a new device! This thing can create a force field that reflects projectiles!" she told him.

"That's cool! It will be useful for bouncing Eggman's attacks back to him! Hope you put that to good use!"

"I will for sure! I'm going to show it to my friends!" Then Nitori left the room.

Sonic went up to Tails and asked him, "How's it going, buddy?"

"I'm busy," Tails said without lifting his head. "I'm working on a device that will help us track down Eggman's base."

"You know," Sonic said, "why don't you just use the device used for tracking down the Chaos Emeralds? Since Eggman has all the Chaos Emeralds, we can tell where he is just by finding out the location of the emeralds."

"That one's broken," Tails told him, "so I'm making a new one."

"Then why don't you just fix it?"

"I accidentally threw it away with the trash..."

"Okay... So how long is this one gonna take to finish?"

"By tomorrow."

"You usually take shorter amount of time than this, unless it's a really big one."

"Making devices that track down the Chaos Emeralds isn't easy. The emeralds contain mystical properties that cannot be detected using normal tracking devices. The energy that the emeralds contain..." And Tails proceeded to explain to Sonic various complicated information regarding the Chaos Emeralds and tracking devices.

"Okay, okay, okay... I'm getting a headache from information overload, and I don't even think I understand what you're saying at all... Most of them anyway..." Sonic said. "Just continue with your work, okay? I'll wait for the good news tomorrow!"

* * *

Several people were enjoying their time at Emerald Coast. A guy was speeding across the water on a motorboat. Suddenly, he felt himself rising in the air. When he looked down, he was surprised a large portion of the water rising into the air. Something was coming to the surface. "What's this! A whale?" he said in shock. "Whoa!" His motorboat slid off to the side and into the water. He emerged from the water and watched the massive object as it continued rising from the water, and out of fright, he quickly swam as far as he could from it.

From the shore, everyone could see the massive object coming out of the sea.

"What is that!"

"It must be a submarine!"

"What is a submarine doing here?"

"Get the camera!"

As more and more water flowed off the top of the massive object, the onlookers got a better look at what it really was. It was a gigantic whale, a whale made of metal.

"Whoa! Look at that!"

"Cool!"

"Look! On its head! That's... that's..."

Imprinted in front of the mechanical whale's head was a red-colored icon of Eggman's face.

* * *

**BGM: Eggman's Theme (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)**

"Ohohohoho!" Eggman laughed with his hands place on his belly. "Behold the ultimate underwater fortress, the Egg Cetacea!"

"Looks like those people's summer vacation are spoiled," Orbot said, "though this is all for the sake of your world domination."

"They'll have a much more fun summer vacation once I reestablished Eggmanland! Before that, I will now strike fear into the minds of everyone! They shall know the true power of my brilliant mind! Attack, my army!" Then he pressed a gray square button on the control panel.

The Egg Cetacea's mouth opened to monstrous proportions, and then several robots flew out of it. The people on the shore started running for their lives when the robots came close to the shore attack with missiles, bullets, and laser beams.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Gensokyo girls were back in Sonic's house. "Wow! This show is intense-ze!" Marisa said with her eyes glued to the TV. "To think that they can make such an awesome program using cute little critters like these!"

"Yeah, Chao amaze me sometimes," Sonic said with a nod, "or maybe it's the show producers who are amazing enough to create shows like this."

Suddenly, the program was interrupted by a news report. "We have just received an urgent report!" the news reporter said, and then the screen showed the Egg Cetacea. "A giant mechanical whale that is believed to be controlled by Eggman is currently terrorizing Emerald Coast using an army of robots! G.U.N. is currently on their way to fight them!"

"Eggman!" Sonic said in shock as he stood up.

"A whale made of metal? If he really is inside that thing, then that explains why he dived into the sea yesterday," Marisa said.

"He's really going all-out, isn't he? Time to put him back in his place! Tails! Get the Tornado ready! We're off to fight Eggman!"

Tails came into the living room and said, "You found out where he is?" And he saw the news report. "Whoa! Look at that giant mechanical whale!"

"That's Eggman's doing! Quick! To Emerald Coast at once!"

"Don't forget about us-ze!" Marisa reminded him.

* * *

Eggman was laughing as he watched from a large screen his robots laying waste to not only the beach resort, but also the city further back. "Hahahaha! Eggmanland doesn't need buildings like those! I will replace them all with much better-looking buildings!"

"I cannot agree any better than what the boss just said," Cubot said. "The fact that the boss usually puts his face onto his creations proves that he is without doubt a narcissist. Even though the face of my boss isn't exactly the most attractive face in the world, there is simply a kind of charm to it. It is the kind of charm that cannot be described with words. Not even the power of science can be used to explain it. This is strange considering that science is considered the dominating force of this world. However, if science cannot explain this, then perhaps magic can explain this. Even so, the fact that the boss's face is charming is one mystery that the world may probably never solve.

"Shut your mouth, will you! You're talking like a scholar or something!"

"I tinkled with his voice system while you were sleeping," Orbot explained. "He no longer speaks in accents, but he uses a large amount of words whenever speaks this time."

"Precisely," Cubot said. "My voice system is without doubt a complicated thing to deal with. Had you decided to let me keep my original voice from the beginning, then none of this would have happened. It strikes me as strange that such a brilliant scientist like you would have problem with voice systems. My partner Orbot does not have any problems with it, and he told me that his voice was changed once. Perhaps you should've taken your time to work on my voi..."

"Enough! I don't want to hear anything else from you!" Eggman shouted in frustration. "My head is going to burst from word overload!"

"I believe that this is the first time I heard the term word overload. I only know about information overload, but that term is not the correct one to use since what I said cannot be considered information."

"SHUT UP!"

"Boss, it seems that we have company," Orbot told Eggman.

Eggman looked at the monitor and saw Shadow and Omega fighting his robots. "So they're both here! I was expecting Sonic to show up."

"I'm more inclined to believe that Sonic will be coming into this place and not after those robots."

"Well, then let him come! I'm going to show him that he's not winning so easily this time!"

"What you said just now implies that there is a possibility that he will win," Cubot said. "It shows that you do not have full confidence that you will win. Had you have more confidence, you would say that Sonic will not be winning this time for sure."

"Yes, thank you for the lecture, now PLEASE SHUT YOUR MOUTH UP!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Cetacea is the scientific classification for the order of whales. And in case you're curious, Marisa and Sonic were watching a rerun of Chao in Space.

Anyway, I don't have much to say. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

God bless you!

**Next chapter: Attack of the Robots**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If Keine was in the final version of the story...**

Keine got in front of the Egg-Cerberus and delivered a powerful headbutt to its head.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Egg-Cerberus flew backwards and crashed onto the ground with its head somewhat dislocated.


	84. Attack of the Robots

**SBS Time!  
Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV: **You really like to continue this right?  
**Game2002: **Yeah, I'm trying my best to update at a fast speed.

**Important notice: **The Egg Physeter has been renamed Egg Cetacea due to a certain reason. Also, a Game2002 Extra Show has been added to the previous chapter. Feel free to check it out if you want to.

Another mistake involving continuity has been fixed in the previous chapter. Rouge isn't supposed to know what the Egg-Cerberus is as well due to the events of Sonic 2006 being erased from the timeline.

**Chapter 83  
Attack of the Robots**

* * *

A robot received several bullets to its stomach before falling over. After felling the robot, Omega turned his arm cannon to another group of robot that were running toward him. He fired bullets rapidly while moving his arm cannon left and right to sweep down the robots one after another. When another one attempted to punch him from behind, he swung back his hand without turning around to smash it in the face.

Shadow sped across the sand and sent robots standing his way into the air. He jumped at another robot and, with a roundhouse kick, knocked its head away. A pair of flying robots appeared and tried to shoot him, but he jumped into the air and used a Homing Attack on one of the robots that knock it out of the air, and then he landed on the head of the second one. He tore off the robot's arm cannon and then used it to blow off head from above. After falling back down, he used the arm cannon to shoot down the other robots.

Then he noticed a shadow passing over him, and when he looked up, he saw a blue biplane flying in the direction of the Egg Cetacea. "About time," he said. "I'll leave Eggman to you, Sonic." Then a robot tried to shoot him from behind, but he stepped to the side, threw the arm cannon at its head, and then ran into it to send it flying backwards.

* * *

"Sonic is here," Eggman said, sounding neither shocked nor mad. "It was a matter of time after all."

"The way you speak sounds as if you lack the confidence that you will succeed," Cubot said. "After all..."

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"I will take him out of here at once, boss," Orbot said as he dragged Cubot out of the room by his arm. "C'mon, let's leave the boss alone for a while."

After the two robots left, Eggman turned to the computer screen and spoke into a microphone, "Listen, my robots! Go and give that pesky hedgehog and his friends a warm welcome! Give them all a dip into the sea!"

* * *

"Okay, everyone, we're heading in through the mouth!" Sonic said to the girls. "Either stick closely behind us or get in there first!"

"There are waves of enemies coming toward us!" Tails pointed out.

"Yes, I can see it!"

"Leave those to us!" Reimu told him. "C'mon, girls!"

"I'm on it-ze!" Marisa said. The girls went ahead of the blue biplane.

"Take this! Freezer Beam!" Cirno shouted as she fired a three-way beam that froze some of the robots. Frozen and helpless, the robots plummeted into the sea below.

Reisen fired several energy bullets at the robots. They got ready to avoid them, but the bullets suddenly froze and became distorted, much to their confusion. When the bullets suddenly moved again, they did not expect it, so they all got hit.

"Domination Dash!" Aya shouted as she dashed across the air to knock down robots that were in her way.

"Exteeeending Aaaaarm!" Nitori shouted as she started spinning sideways with her mechanical arms stretched out, and laser beams shot out in random directions from the arms and fell some robots.

"Demon Lord's Dinner Fork!" Remilia shouted as she formed and threw three energy spears at three robots to impale them.

Meiling dashed across the air and slammed her fist into a robot's stomach and pushed it across the air and into other robots. Then, using her other hand, she slammed her palm into the robot to send a burst of energy that went through all the robots to destroy them all.

"Yasaka's Divine Wind!" Sanae shouted as she raised her gohei into the air to summon a powerful cyclone around herself. The cyclone then dispersed, and the robots around her were sent spinning back through the air due to the strength of the dispersed wind.

"Maiden's Bunraku!" Alice shouted, and then her dolls attacked with red and blue lasers and energy bullets to shoot down the robots.

Youmu flew towards a group of robots at a fast speed while moving left and right to avoid their bullets, and when she dashed past them, they broke down into two pieces.

"Magic Sign: Milky Way!" Marisa shouted as she raised a card into the air to make it shoot colorful stars in various directions, and many of the robots were shot down due to not being able to avoid a large number of projectiles flying at them at once.

"Spirit Sign: Fantasy Jewel!" Reimu shouted as she used a card to fire five colorful energy orbs at five robots.

All the while, Sonic and Tails watched from the blue biplane. "They're pretty good!" Sonic commented.

"Oh no! The mouth of the whale is closing!" Tails pointed out in shock.

"Then let's get inside fast!"

"I'm not sure if we'll make it in time. It's closing at a pretty fast speed!"

"Then try! You'll never know if you don't try. Plus, speed is what we excel at, right? We can't let a whale made of nuts and bolts beat us in speed, even if it's the speed of mouth closing!"

"I'm on it!" Tails said as he sped the biplane toward the Egg Cetacea's closing mouth.

Seeing that the mouth was closing, Aya quickly flew to it at speed faster than the biplane and then pushed with all her strength against the bottom of the upper jaw. "Ngh! Hold up, will ya!" However, it was too heavy for her.

"I'm here to help!" Nitori said. She also got underneath the upper jaw and used her arms as well as her mechanical arms to push it up. "Ugh! This is really heavy!" Meiling also came to help hold up the mouth.

With their combined strength, they managed to slow down the speed of the mouth closing. "They're holding up the mouth for us!" Sonic said. "C'mon! Get in there quick!"

"We're almost there!" Tails said.

* * *

"What! How can three girls stop the mouth from closing just like that! How much strength do they have!" Eggman said in shock when he saw what happened on the screen.

* * *

Thanks to Aya, Nitori, and Meiling, the biplane and the rest of the girls managed to make it inside the mouth before the entrance became too small. The three girls then let go of the upper jaw to allow it to close at normal speed.

"Phew... That was pretty heavy..." Aya said. "Thanks for the help!"

"You're welcome!" Meiling said.

"Wow! I didn't know the three of you are so strong!" Sonic commented. "Thanks a bunch!"

"I guess this is something normal in your world," Tails said.

"Most demons are physically stronger than humans," Reimu told him.

"All right, let's go and teach Eggman a lesson!" Sonic said.

"Before that," Tails said, "I'm going to transform the Tornado III into the Cyclone first." Then he pressed a button that caused the biplane to arrange its body parts until it became a two-legged mech.

"Wow! That was plain awesome!" Nitori exclaimed with sparkling, wide-open eyes.

Suddenly, Eggman's voice was broadcasted into the place from somewhere on the ceiling. "So you and your friends managed to make into my Egg Cetacea!"

"Seetaseya?" Cirno curiously said. "Isn't this a whale?"

"It seems that you have brought along some really powerful friends, but don't think that you have the upper hand just because of this!" Eggman continued. "Coming in here is equivalent to being swallowed by a whale! This is where you will get digested! Hahaha!"

"Cut that out, Eggman!" Sonic said. "You know that I always win in the end. This is going to be same. By the way, where are the Chaos Emeralds? On the second thought, I might as well look for them myself; you're not going to give me the answer anyway."

"Yes, try to find them yourself! It's not going to be easy! My robots are stationed all over the place, and they are all given the task to eliminate you and your friends! Try to make it to me alive if you can! I'm looking forward to strike you down once and for all!"

"Okay, if that's what you want! I'm gonna make it to you and give you a whopping that you'll never forget!" Sonic said as he pointed diagonally into the air. "Get ready for it, Eggman!"

"He sure has a lot of confidence," Reimu commented.

"Yeah, and watch as everything fails to go according to his plan! C'mon, let's go! I'll take the lead!" Sonic said, and then he rushed off at a fast speed.

"Sonic! You're leaving us behind!" Tails called out to him, but the blue hedgehog had already left the place. "Oh well, that's pretty usual of him... Rushing off like that without waiting for the others..."

"Is he always like that?" Reisen asked.

"I'm usually able to catch up with him, so he doesn't mind running off like that. The Cyclone can't run that fast, however, and then you girls can't move that fast either, except for Aya."

* * *

"Okay, let's get a better analysis at those girls first," Eggman said as he watched a recorded clip of the girls fighting his robots outside the Egg Cetacea. "The seemingly youngest one appears to have ice-based powers. The one with rabbit ears can shoot energy projectiles from her finger, and they can distort their appearances as well as stopping in their tracks.

"The one with black wings can move at a fast speed, and seeing how she was able to keep the mouth from closing earlier, her physical strength must be really strong. The one armed with a sword obviously is skilled with it. The one dressed in oriental costume appears to have good physical strength and can also release bursts of energy from her palm. The one sitting on the broom can fire projectiles from a card, not to mention the one dressed in red and white.

"The green-haired girl has wind-based powers, the one dressed in blue has good physical strength and a backpack that contains a pair of mechanical arms, and lastly, the one with bat wings can form weapons out energy.

"Sonic sure found some very unique friends this time... It's going to be a pain if all of them team up against me. Doesn't matter! I'll just pressure them with as many traps and robots as possible! That shall wear them out before they get to me, so I'll be able to strike them down with ease!"

* * *

Sonic ran down a hallway at a really fast speed, and the Egg Pawns, red robots built in Eggman's likeliness, were sent flying to the side when he ran into them. He saw a robot armed with a hammer standing at the end of the hallway, and it slammed down its weapon at him when he came close. However, Sonic slipped to the side and then rammed it in the body really hard to send it flying away.

"Haha! You can't get me!" the blue hedgehog taunted as he continued running down the hallway.

Tails and the Gensokyo girls eventually came running down the same hallway. "Man, this place is a mess..." Marisa commented.

"Looks like Sonic took care of everyone here," Tails said.

Reisen spotted a not-quite-destroyed Egg Pawn raising its hand into the air, so she shot it down. "At this rate, he's going to take all the fun away from us," Remilia grumbled. "I was hoping to get a good exercise here..."

"On the other hand," Reimu said, "I think it helps us save our energy for the big boss. It would be tiring if we have to face every single opponent we come across."

* * *

Unknown to them, Eggman was watching them from his computer. "No enemies to fight? How about dealing with traps instead? Hohoho!" Then he pressed a button on the control panel.

Suddenly, a wall came down in front of them, and spikes came out from its surface. The wall began moving towards them. "Uh oh! Run!" Tails gasped.

The girls immediately ran from the incoming wall, which moved rather fast. "It's catching up with us!" Reisen cried.

"I can see the exit at the other end!" Reimu pointed out. "Keep running! We're almost there!" Obviously, Aya made it out of the hallway first

When the rest got near the exit, a trapdoor opened up in front of them, and everyone except Reimu fell down. She quickly flew back up the moment she realized she were falling. When she looked back, she saw the spike wall going over the trapdoor and then stopping at the hallway's exit. "Great, now we're separated from them..." Aya said. "Not like it's the first time something like this happened, though."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Reimu said.

"Let's just hope that there is nothing deadly down there, like spikes or boiling water."

* * *

"Aw man... The ceiling closed..." Marisa grumbled when she look up.

"To be the precise, the floor closed," Remilia corrected her.

Sanae looked around the place and said, "At least this isn't a confined space. It looks like we fell to a lower floor."

"And we're not alone here either," Youmu said, looking around to see robots all over the place.

"There are a lot of them..." Reisen said.

"Get ready, girl!" Tails said. "Let's take them all out! It shouldn't too tough for you, right?"

"Right! I'm the strongest after all!" Cirno claimed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aya and Reimu traveled by themselves through the mechanical whale's interior, and along the way, they encountered several Egg Pawns.

Egg Pawns armed with harpoons fired their weapons at Reimu, but she jumped into the air, went over them, and struck them in the back with her gohei.

Two Egg Pawns ran towards Aya with their arms raised into the air. "Look at your postures! How childish can you get?" she commented. With a swing of her fan, she sent them rolling backwards.

As Reimu continued to fight off the Egg Pawns, a robot armed with a hammer appeared behind her, but she jumped out of the way in time to avoid getting hammered. The robot rushed at her and swung down his hammer, but missed again. She then threw a paper amulet at the hammer to blow it into pieces, and then she threw another paper amulet onto the robot's forehead to blow up the whole thing.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

After destroying the robot, Reimu heard the sound of something coming towards her from behind, so she turned around to see mechanical beetles moving on single wheels approaching—Moto Bugs. She quickly jumped up to avoid getting hit by the Moto Bugs, and the moment they u-turned, they got destroyed by paper amulets. "No challenge at all," she commented.

"Yeah, these robots are a joke," Aya said while spinning a mechanical crab's body on her finger. "I wish something tougher would show up."

As soon as she said this, something zoomed past them at a really fast speed and then circled them over and over. "Whoa! What are you doing, Sonic!" Reimu said in shock. However, Sonic didn't listen to her; he continued running in circles around them. "Sonic! Are you listening to me? What are you doing running in circles around us?"

"Wait, this doesn't look like Sonic!" Aya said as she kept her eyes focused on the supposed blue hedgehog. "This one looks mechanical in appearance!"

"What?" Reimu asked. Suddenly, she was rammed in front of the body by the supposed Sonic. "Oof!" She fell back onto the floor, but then got back up again. "Ow..." She got a better look at who rammed her. It was a robot built in the likeliness of Sonic.

"Hey you! You must be a robot built by that Eggman guy, right?" Aya said while pointing to the mechanical Sonic's back. "I can tell that you run as fast as Sonic, so fight me!" Then she rushed up to the robot's back to attack him with her fan, but he zipped behind her in a blink of an eye. Luckily, Aya was used to looking at things that are capable of moving at high speeds, so she was able to step to the side in time to avoid a headbutt by the robot.

"Gale Fan!" she shouted as she fired a wind blade at him, but the robot leaped into the air, curled into a ball, and shot at her. She quickly jumped back to avoid getting hit, but the curled up robot rolled towards her really fast. She managed to avoid him by flying into the air.

The robot uncurled and then flew into the air using the help of rocket boosters on his back. Aya quickly moved to the side when he attempted to charge into her. She turned to him and fired several wind blades at him. "Gale Fan!"

The robot charged straight at the wind blades and went through them unharmed. Aya quickly moved aside to avoid getting him, but the robot caught her by the wing when he went past her. "Hey!" He dragged her to the bottom and slammed her against the floor really hard.

BANG!

"Ugh..." Aya groaned in pain. The mechanical Sonic then jumped into the air and curled into a ball to get ready to fall back down on top of her, but Aya rolled out of the way in time. "This guy's pretty tough! I did ask for something tougher to show up earlier after all..."

The mechanical Sonic headed for Aya again, but suddenly, Reimu warped in front of it and swung her gohei at it, but it quickly hopped back. She then threw several paper amulets at it, but it quickly moved to the side and then zoomed for her. Reimu quickly raised her gohei to defend herself, but right when the mechanical Sonic was about to run into her, a blue blur crashed into it from the side to knock it away. The mechanical Sonic landed on one knee and looked at its attacker, the real Sonic.

"Well, guess I was right after all," Sonic said. "It's you, Metal Sonic!"

"Sonic! Where did you go to just now?" Reimu asked him.

"Sorry for leaving you all behind. I got a bit too excited. While I was running around, I noticed something rushing past me on a higher part of the place. I had a feeling that it might be him, so I quickly came back here. Don't worry, girls; leave this guy to me! I've fought him several times, so I know him like the back of hand!"

"Do you need any help?"

"If you want to, but I prefer doing this alone."

However, Metal Sonic didn't face Sonic; he turned around and dashed away at a high speed. "Hey! Get back here!" Sonic shouted as he gave chase.

"Yeah! Get back here, you coward" Aya shouted as she followed Sonic.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Reimu shouted as she ran after them. Obviously, she couldn't catch up with them, so they eventually disappeared from her sight. "Great... I'm all alone now..." She then turned around to see several Egg Pawns and robots of other kinds coming towards her. "Well, not anymore, and now I wish I am alone..."

* * *

"Homing Missiles! Fire!" Tails shouted as the Cyclone launched several missiles at a group of robots to blast them all into pieces.

Youmu dashed at a group of Egg Pawns armed with katana blades and easily disarmed them. Seeing this, the Egg Pawns quickly ran off in panic, but Meiling came flying in from the side and destroyed them all with a rainbow-powered kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

In the air, Remilia grabbed a mechanical bat by its head and easily crushed it with her hand. More mechanical bats flew toward her from behind, but she easily destroyed them when she turned around and dashed through them. "Pathetic excuse for bats," she said.

"Yeah! Blow up into pieces!" Marisa shouted as she used her broom like a machine gun to shoot down the robots one after another. "Go down with a bang! Yeah!"

"Marisa! Watch out behind you!" Nitori shouted at her all of a sudden.

"Uh?" Marisa turned around just in time to see a large spike ball flying towards her, but she had no time to do anything. Luckily, Youmu got in front of the spike ball in the nick of time and sliced it in half. "Phew... That was close! Thanks a bunch, Youmu!"

Tails and the girls turned to the source of the spike ball and saw a robot that had a cockpit on the head containing Eggman. "Not bad!" the mad scientist said. "Let's see how long you can last!"

"Eggman!" Tails said.

"I was thinking of wearing you all out with my robots first, but it seems that none of you are getting tired at all! I decided that it was better if I face you myself. After all, experiencing things yourself is the best way to find out your enemies' weaknesses! Prepare to get crushed by the Egg Breaker!"

**BGM: Egg Breaker (Shadow the Hedgehog)**

The robot launched its spike ball at Youmu, only for her to cut it in half again. Another spike ball instantly appeared on the robot's arm, however. The half-phantom dashed at the robot at a fast speed, and she moved to the side when another spike ball was fired at her. The Egg Breaker was about to be cut when Youmu got near it, but Eggman quickly made the robot spin around to knock her away. "Ah!" she cried.

"Take this!" Eggman shouted as he fired the spike ball at her again, but she jumped into the air to avoid it and then had her phantom half fire at him.

"Strange Half-Body!"

The Egg Breaker used its spike ball as a shield, however. Meiling then ran in front of the Egg Breaker, and by the Eggman noticed her, the robot was sent flying into the air by powerful uppercut, but thanks to its weight, it didn't fly very high and far.

"Gah! Why you little...!" the mad scientist growled.

The robot got back up again, but then Nitori immediately caught its right arm, the one equipped with the spike ball, with her mechanical arms. "Hey you! Let go!" Eggman angrily said to her.

"Take this, Eggman!" Tails shouted as the Cyclone fired several homing missiles at him.

"No thanks!" Eggman shouted. He then made the Egg Breaker spin around to protect himself from the missiles. Nitori was caught in the spin as well, but luckily, none of the homing missiles hit her. She eventually got so dizzy that her mechanical arms lost its grip, so she was sent flying away. The Egg Breaker eventually stopped spinning. "Haha! That won't work! Now it's my turn!"

Just as the Egg Breaker was about to make a move, Remilia stabbed it in the back with a spear made of energy. "Heart Break!"

"What the!" Eggman gasped when he turned around and saw the vampire.

Remilia let got of the spear, and it exploded shortly afterward.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The robot was blown into pieces as a result, but as Eggman had his Eggmobile docked in the head, he was able to escape in an instant. "Argh! Accursed little girls!" Eggman angrily shouted. "You're going to pay for this!" And he quickly escaped through an opening on the ceiling which closed after he went through it.

"That wasn't too hard," Remilia said.

"Typical of Eggman to make his retreat whenever his ride gets destroyed," Tails said. "Anyway, let's keep on moving. We need to reunite with Sonic and your two friends."

"Is there anything else we can do asides from that?" Marisa asked.

"We can try to find the Chaos Emeralds. Destroying this place is also an option."

"The latter sounds like a neat option!"

"On the second thought, the latter isn't a good option at the moment... We should find the Chaos Emeralds first."

"You seem to be very excited about destroying this place..." Reisen said to Marisa. "What's with that?"

"Well... I find machines exploding to be quite a sight to look at, so imagine something the size of this place exploding-ze!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Admittedly, I had a bit of writer's block trying to come up with this chapter, and I'm afraid the same thing will happen with the next chapter. Please have patience while I come up with ideas for the next chapter. Thank you!

God bless you!

**Next chapter: Metallic Madness**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**If these Sakuya, Keine, and Mokou were in the final version of the story...**

"Sakuya's World!" Sakuya shouted as she crossed her arms. Immediately, all the robots around her turned gray and stopped moving. She then placed several knives in the air, all of them pointing at the robots. A few seconds later, the robots were able to move again, and this caused the knives to fly straight into their bodies.

"Phantasmal Emperor!" Keine shouted as she raised a card into the air, and then the card made several energy balls appear around her, and each of the balls of light fired a combination of laser beams and energy bullets at the robots.

"Fire Bird—Flying Phoenix!" Mokou shouted as she stretched forth both her arms to shoot a large bird made of fire at a group of incoming robots to burn them.

"That French maid can stop things from moving and is armed with a large number of knives. The one sitting on the broom can fire projectiles from a card, not to mention the one dressed in red and white and the long-haired woman with a strange-looking hat. The girl with red overalls seems to have fire-based powers.

**The quote above is Eggman analysis of Sakuya, Keine, and Mokou in case you don't know.**


	85. Metallic Madness

**Not-So-Pointless Rambling: **The fourth installment of Super Smash Bros. is coming to 3DS and Wii U! HOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

**Chapter 84  
Metallic Madness**

* * *

Sonic and Aya were both chasing Metal Sonic through the interior of the Egg Cetacea. Thanks to the boosters on his back, Metal Sonic was able to move at a speed faster than Sonic. "Get back here, you mechanical rip-off!" Sonic said. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Man! Those two are fast!" Aya said as she flew as fast as she could. "And I thought Sonic is the fastest I've seen!"

They came to large hole on the floor, and Metal Sonic jumped off the edge and soared across the pit the air using his boosters. Sonic leaped into the air and fell onto a metal pole that stretched from one end of the wall to the other, and he ran along it to the other side.

As Aya flew past the large pit, she said, "Who makes holes in their own hideouts!"

Sonic jumped onto the ledge and continued going after Metal Sonic. When the mechanical hedgehog ran down a hallway, buzzsaws suddenly came out from the ceiling and the floor and moved towards Sonic. However, he managed to get past them by leaping through the air in between them. In fact, he jumped with such precision that the the blades didn't scrape his skin at all. "Haha! It'll take more than that to stop me!" he said.

Aya came to a stop when she saw the buzzsaws coming, and then she quickly left the hallway to wait for them to leave first. However, the buzzsaws never disappeared; they continued moving back and forth within the hallway. "How am I going to get past here...?" she wondered. "On the second thought, I might as well forget about going after them... They're no longer within my range of sight, so it's impossible to catch up with them. Maybe I can try taking other paths..." Then she took off into the air.

* * *

Tails and the other girls were walking down a hallway, and behind them were several broken pieces of robots that they destroyed. "So how are we going to find the Chaos Emeralds?" Nitori asked.

"Unfortunately, I never got the time to complete the device used for tracking down the emeralds," Tails said. "Looks like this is going to be a blind search for them."

"Do you have any ideas on where Eggman might be keeping them?"

"Possible locations include the room where he controls this mechanical whale or the generator room. If we have a map of this place, then getting to both those places would be easier. Speaking of which, I'm just reminded of the fact that I can instantly get a map of this place." Tails then pressed a button on the Cyclone's control panel. It took only a few seconds for the monitor on the control panel to show a map of the place. "Good, I've got it."

"That was fast!" Reisen commented.

"I've installed the Cyclone with a scanner that can show me maps of places that it is in, though the range is limited. Luckily, this entire place is within its scanning range."

"Then I hope that your map is useful enough to get you out of here!" said a voice all of a sudden.

"It's Eggman's voice!" Marisa pointed out.

Suddenly, they noticed water on the floor. "Hey, who spilt water?" Cirno asked.

"I have allowed water to flow into this place," Eggman's voice said. "If you don't know how to swim, then it's bad luck for you! Oh wait... It's still bad luck for you even if you know how to swim. The water level is going to rise until it hits the ceiling, so you're going to drown due to having no place to surface!"

"The water level really is rising!" Sanae said in shock.

"We need to get out of here quick!" Reisen said.

"There's a staircase leading to the upper floor up ahead!" Tails said. "It's a bit far, but we should be able to make it if we run fast enough!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Youmu asked. "Let's move fast!" Immediately, the girls ran as fast as they could while the water level increased.

"Hohoho! I wish you all good luck!" Eggman's voice said. "Unfortunately, I've activated traps that will slow down your progress. I guarantee you that it won't be easy getting out of this place! Move your legs fast enough if you don't want to drown!"

The water level continued to rise, and as it did, the Cyclone and the girls had a harder and harder time moving their legs. Nitori, however, was still able to run at normal speed.

"Not fair, you kappa!" Marisa said to her.

"We can fly, you know," Cirno reminded her.

"How come we haven't thought of that?" Reisen said.

"People tend to forget certain things when they get too desperate," Remilia said. The girls quickly took flight and flew down the hallway.

"Good thing the Cyclone's boosters work underwater," Tails said. He pressed a button that activated the boosters at the back of the Cyclone's feet to allow it to slide down the hallway at a fast speed.

Marisa took the lead down the hallway, but suddenly, spears came out from the walls on both sides. Luckily, she came to a stop in time to avoid getting impaled. "Whoa! That was close-ze!" The spikes came in and out of the wall over and over. "Geez, these kinds of traps are very annoying when you're in a hurry!"

Remilia then grabbed the topmost spear on the left side and then pushed down so hard that she broke all the spears on that side, and then she did the same with the right side. "What's so annoying about it?" she asked as she bent the spears with little effort before flinging them away.

"Um... Thanks..."

They continued down the path and made it out of the hallway before it got filled up by the water. Luckily, the ceiling outside the hallway was much higher. "I can see the staircase over there!" Reisen pointed out.

"Then let's hurry! The water level is rising at a fast speed!" Youmu said.

"Where's Tails?" Sanae asked.

The girls looked around and noticed that he wasn't with them, but then a few seconds later, the two-tailed fox's head emerged from the water. "Don't tell me you got left behind in that hallway," Marisa said to him.

"I couldn't escape fast enough in the Cyclone, so I swam to escape instead," he replied. "Guess I'll have to sacrifice that for now..." He then flew out of the water. "C'mon, let's go!"

"What! You can fly as well?" Reisen said in shock.

"Oh, I don't think I've ever told you this before. I can fly by using my tails as a propeller, though I'll get tired if I fly for too long."

"You know, it would be a wise idea if we save the explanation for later," Remilia said. "Even as we're speaking, the water level is continuing to rise."

"Right, so let's get of here fast!" Nitori said.

As Tails and the girls flew towards the spiraling staircase in the distance, Cirno said, "I just thought of an idea. Why don't I just freeze the water to keep it from rising?"

"Hey, that might be an idea!" Marisa said. "I'm not sure if it'll work, but it's better than simply getting out of here! It's rare to see you coming up with smart ideas!"

"Because I'm the smartest! Okay! I'll try!"

Before Cirno could do anything, however, a spear shot out from the water and impaled her through the abdomen.

"CIRNO!" all the girls except Remilia gasped.

The ice fairy fell into the water. "You go on ahead!" Nitori said to the others. "I'll go and rescue her!" Then she dived into the water.

"C'mon let's get out of this floor first," Youmu said. "We can trust Nitori to return with Cirno.

The girls and Tails quickly headed for the spiraling staircase. When they got there, Tails was tired from flying, so he decided to land on the stairs, but when he was about to place his feet onto it, a bed of spikes suddenly came out from the surface. "Yikes!"

"Whoa! Eggman wasn't kidding when he said there will be traps slowing down our progress!" Marisa said. "Good thing we don't really have to use the stairs, though."

"I'll carry you," Meiling said as she carried Tails on her back.

"Thanks..." said a tired Tails.

"C'mon! To the top!" Youmu said.

The girls quickly made their way through the opening and onto the higher floor, and shortly after they did, Nitori, with Cirno on her back, flew up. "It's pretty dangerous down there," she said. "There were mechanical fishes and missiles all o the place! That's why it took me longer than expected to rescue Cirno."

"How is she?" Sanae asked.

"She seems to be unconscious. We should find some time to treat her."

"Uh oh... The water just wouldn't let us go..." Marisa said as she watched the water coming up from the lower floor.

"Let's get to a safer place quick!" Youmu said.

The girls ran as fast as they could as the water flowed into the higher floor, and Tails went ahead of them at a fast speed. "Man! That little fox is fast!" Marisa commented.

Tails ran into a hallway and stopped there. "Oops, looks like I ran a bit too fast..." he said. "Can't be helped that I usually run at a speed as fast as Sonic's..." He then looked around the corner to find the girls, but they were nowhere in sight. "Oh no... I lost track of them... I really should've made sure that they can catch up with me first..." Then he looked down to see water flowing into the place. "I better get to a safer place myself first... Hope they'll be fine..." So he ran to safety.

* * *

"I see a door up there!" Reisen pointed out. "Let's go in there!" So they quickly flew towards the door and entered it. When they were in the room behind it, the door closed.

"Well, that should render the water unable to come in," Marisa said. "I hope..."

"Um... I think we came to a dead end..." Meiling said. The girls looked around to find themselves in an empty square-shaped room.

"Rooms like this usually strike me as suspicious," Alice commented. "I have a feeling that we are in for trouble."

"Don't be so negative, would ya?" Marisa said to her.

Suddenly, Eggman's voice was broadcasted into the room. "Welcome into the room that I like to call the Pancake Room!"

"What kind of name is that...?" Reisen asked.

"This is the room where annoying people get flattened as flat as pancakes! I hope you know what I'm talking about!"

"Uh oh... I think Alice was right when she said we are in for trouble..." Sanae said in fear.

"Pillars will come out from various parts of the walls, floor, and ceiling to flatten you girls. Don't worry; I have made it so that there will always be at least one spot where no pillar will come out, so you can stay in those safe spots to avoid getting crushed. Unfortunately, there is no way out of this room, and this will go on until every single one of you is flattened! Enjoy! Hohoho!"

**BGM: Boss Theme 2 (Sonic the Hedgehog 4)**

As soon as the broadcasting ended, pillars slowly came out from various parts of the room. "Oh no! What do we do!" Nitori asked in shock.

"Try to find the safe spot!" Youmu said.

"How do we know where the safe spot is!" Reisen asked.

"Over there!" Remilia said, pointing to the northwestern part of the room. The girls wasted no time in rushing over to that place, and shortly after they did, the pillars came out at full speed and filled up the whole place with a loud crash.

"Whoa... That was close..." Marisa commented.

The pillars then pulled back into the walls, floor, and ceiling. "We need to find a way out of here," Youmu said as she looked around the place. "Since there are no exits, I'll have to make one myself!"

"Watch out! The pillars are coming out again!" Sanae said.

The girls desperately looked around for somewhere to hide as the pillars slowly came out from all around the room, but this time, there weren't as many as before. They quickly got out of the way when the pillars came out at full speed. There was more space for them to hide this time.

Cirno woke up on Nitori's back and said, "Can you please not move around so much? I was having a dream about eating a giant ice-cream!"

"How can you be asleep at a time like this!" Nitori said to her.

"Watch out in front of you!" Reisen shouted to her.

Nitori looked up front to see a pillar heading towards her, so she quickly rolled aside in the nick of time to avoid getting crushed, but unfortunately, a pillar came out from the spot she landed on. She pushed both her arms and her mechanical arms against the ceiling in order to keep the pillar from crushing both her and Cirno. "Ugh... My hand's... hurt... It's too... strong..."

Youmu quickly cut the pillar and then kicked away the top part of it, and the lower half retracted into the floor again.

"Youmu! Cut down the wall already!" Marisa shouted as she and the other girls desperately tried to avoid getting crushed.

"I'm on it!" Youmu said as she turned to the wall. She ran towards it and slashed it several times.

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

After several slashes, pieces of the wall fell down, thus forming an exit. "All right! Let's get out of here quick!" She ran out first, and the rest of the girls followed her shortly afterwards just before a large amount of pillars came down from the ceiling.

"Phew... That was close..." Meiling said. "We're saved..."

"Thanks a lot, Youmu..." Sanae said. "We really would have been done for if it weren't for you..."

"You talk as if I couldn't do something about it," Remilia said to her.

"But you didn't do anything other than avoiding those pillars," Marisa reminded her.

"I simply didn't thought of it, okay? What? Don't look at me like that! People tend to forget certain things when they are desperate! I'm telling the truth, okay?"

"It looks like we should be safe for a while," Youmu said while looking around the place.

* * *

"Oh really?" Eggman said while watching them from his computer. "We'll see about that!" Then he pressed a button on the control panel.

* * *

"Can you walk now, Cirno?" Nitori asked the ice fairy.

"Of course I can!" she replied. "I never got tired or anything, so why I can't walk?"

"Well, you were shot in the stomach earlier..."

"I did? Oh yeah, I forgot... But being the strongest that I am, I'm much better already! Hahaha!"

Suddenly, they heard what sounded like machinery starting coming from above, and when they looked up, they saw a portion of the ceiling coming down. "Uh oh... Out of the way!" Youmu shouted. The girls quickly leaped forward to avoid the portion of the ceiling when it came down.

"Man! What's with that guy wanting to flatten us!" Marisa said as she looked back, and she saw large fan blades with razor-sharp edges implanted to the side of the ceiling.

The fan blades started spinning, and the ceiling moved in their direction. "Run!" Youmu shouted.

"You don't have to state the obvious!" Reisen said.

The girls flew away from the incoming wall of bladed fans, and even though they were flying their fastest, the wall was still able to keep up with them. "That thing actually moves fast!" Sanae commented.

"Keep flying and don't look back!" Alice said.

The girls flew as fast as they could through the place, and several doors were closing to stop their progress. Luckily, they flew fast enough to get through the doors before they closed, but the moving wall broke through the doors with no effort.

"That thing won't stop, will it!" Marisa said as she looked back.

"I'll try freezing it!" Cirno said. She pointed her finger backwards and fired an ice beam at one of the fans, but it did nothing to it. "It won't work!"

"Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as she fired several missiles from her backpack. The missiles u-turned and went to the wall, but it was no good as well.

* * *

"That should keep them busy!" Eggman said as he watched the girls escape from the wall. "Let's see how long they can keep up! By the way, I wonder what Sonic's up to." He pressed a button several times to change the scene on the monitor over and over until he saw two blurs rushing across the place. "Aha! So he's dueling with Metal Sonic! This is going to be fun! If only they would stop running away from the cameras..."

"Geez... Why do I have to do everything by myself?" Reimu grumbled while dusting herself. "Man, this stinks! I usually get no help when I need them! This really pisses me off! Worse of all, I don't even know where am I or where to go!"

Then she came across a map on the wall. "Okay, a map. This should help me. Let's see... This red spot says that I'm towards the center of the whale... From here, I can head to these places... but where should I go...? Not even this map is helping me much... Okay, calm down and think properly. Experience tells me that leaders usually live in the high places, so I'll assume that Eggman is somewhere near the top part of the whale, or maybe at the head."

Reimu inspected the map more closely. "There doesn't seem to be way leading to the head... In fact, the only paths that I can take from here are straight forward, downward, and backward... Forget it! I'll just go wherever I please, and if I really can't find a way, I'll just create my own way!"

With that, the annoyed shrine maiden continued deeper into the mechanical whale.

* * *

Marisa and the other girls were still flying as fast as they could to escape the massive wall of bladed fans. "Will this thing ever stop coming after us!" Marisa cried. "We've been running from it for several minutes already!"

"Oh no! Dead end up ahead!" Reisen gasped.

The girls stopped in front of the wall and turned around to see the wall of death getting closer and closer them. "What do we do! What do we do!" Nitori cried. "We're going to die if we don't do something!"

"We'll destroy it!" Remilia shouted as she took out a card. "Spear the Gungnir!" And she created a massive spear of red energy.

"Right on! We should've done that right from the start!" Marisa said as she placed a spell card in front of her hakkero. "Love Sign: Master Spark!"

Reisen placed a card in between her closed eyes and then opened them. "Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon!"

Youmu raised the Roukanken into the air, and an aura appeared around its blade to make it look larger and longer. "Rise from Delusion Slash!"

All four of them unleashed their attacks against the wall.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The other girls closed held their arms over their faces when the attacks exploded against the wall.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Are we safe...?" Sanae asked as she lowered her arms and opened her eyes. The girls looked at the wall to see that it was no longer moving, and a large hole was torn in the middle of it to reveal the circuitry inside.

"Phew... We did it..." Reisen said. "We saved..."

"And all it took were some flashy attacks-ze!" Marisa said while adjusting her hat. "We really should've done this right from the beginning!"

"Let's hope no more danger awaits us," Alice said.

* * *

Tails stepped out from an elevator and looked around the place, and suddenly, he spotted two blue blurs rushing across the place. "One of them must be Sonic!" he thought. "Sonic! Wait up!" And he ran after those two. "Sonic! I'm behind you! Can you hear me?"

Sonic turned his head around and replied, "I heard you, Tails! Nice to see you safe and sound! Where are the others?"

"I got separated from them! Weren't Reimu and Aya with you as well?"

"Sorry, I got too focused on chasing Metal Sonic that I totally forgot about them, though I'm sure that Aya was following me some time ago."

Suddenly, Metal Sonic u-turned and headed for Tails, grabbing him in the neck and pushing him along. "Ack!"

"Tails!" Sonic quickly came to a stop and turned around. Metal Sonic stopped and turned to Sonic with Tails still in his grasp. "Hey you! Let go of my friend at once!"

"So... nic..." Tails cried.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I had quite a hard time coming up with this chapter, so I apologize for the shortness and the lack of contents.

Luckily, all the exciting parts are coming up next, so look forward to them!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Metal Battle**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Sonic CD's final stage.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

I originally planned to use Scratch, Grounder, and Coconut from the Sonic cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog instead of Orbot and Cubot. However, they were dropped in favor of the latter two because I want the arc to follow the games more closely.

Grounder and Coconut appeared in the Genesis version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as generic enemies, and Scratch is based off the enemy Clucker from the same game. It's true that all three of them appeared in the game Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, but that game is based off the cartoon, so it's not canon. Scratch also appeared as in enemy in the third special stage of Sonic Spinball.

In the end, their roles in the games are not big enough for them to have major roles in this story.


	86. Metal Battle

**SBS Time!  
****Shadus Tricefok of the XXIV****: **Hey, just a question. How much is the Wii U and the 3DS?  
**Game2002: **The 3DS's retail price is $249.99, but I'm not sure what the price is now. I don't know the Wii U's price, though I've heard that it'll be the same as the Wii's launch price, around $100. At least I think it was $100, but it looks a bit too cheap for a home console…

**Chapter 85  
Metal Battle**

* * *

"Let go of Tails at once!" Sonic shouted to Metal Sonic, who was holding Tails by his neck. However, the robotic hedgehog tightened his grip instead.

"Ugh… Ack…" Tails cried.

"I told you to let go of him!" Sonic angrily shouted. "You claim to be the real me, right? Well, guess what? I never make myself fall as low as using hostages, so if you claim to be the real Sonic, then you wouldn't be doing something like that!" Hearing this, Metal Sonic flung Tails away, so Sonic quickly went to catch his friend before he hit the floor. "You all right, buddy?"

"I'm fine…" Tails replied. "Thanks a lot, Sonic!"

Metal Sonic turned to Sonic and said in a deep, digitalized voice, "I am the real Sonic. I will destroy you, faker!"

"We'll see about that! Now let's have a fair fight!" Sonic said he raised his fists to get ready to fight his robotic doppelganger.

**BGM: Never Let it Go (Sonic the Fighters)**

Sonic ran at Metal Sonic and threw a series of punches at him, but Metal Sonic managed to block them all with his arms. Sonic then ducked down and performed a leg sweep, but Metal Sonic jumped over him to avoid it. He turned around and swung his arm at Sonic, but he managed to block it with his arm. He winded up his other arm and threw a punch at Metal Sonic's face, but he tilted his head to the side and then headbutted him in the face.

BONK!

"Ow!" Sonic cried as he took some steps back, and then Metal Sonic dashed into him and threw a punch to his stomach. "Oof!" Sonic flew back from the punch, but came to a skidding halt in a crouched position. "Not bad, eh? I haven't given my best shot yet, so get ready!" Then he ran towards Metal Sonic and moved in circles around him.

After running around him several times, he charged at him from behind, but Metal Sonic quickly spun around to stop him with his arms. Sonic managed to push him back a few feet, however, but then Metal Sonic fell backwards and threw Sonic away judo style.

When Sonic got back and turned around, Metal Sonic ran into him really fast and started punching him and kicking him in the face and body over and over.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted as he rushed over to him.

Sonic managed to grab Metal Sonic's arm when he tried to punch him again, much to the surprise of the mechanical doppelganger, and then he headbutted him in the head to give him a taste of one of his earlier attacks.

BONK!

Sonic then rammed him with his shoulder to send him flying back, and then he quickly curled up into a ball and rolled into him at high speed to knock him into the air. Sonic then jumped at him and hit him while he was in the air. Both Sonic and Metal Sonic fell back down, the former on his feet and the latter on his back. Tails ran up to Sonic and asked him, "Are you all right?"

"Thanks for the concern, but I'm all right," Sonic told him. "Now isn't the time to be worrying about that, though. Knowing Metal Sonic, he won't go down so easily."

Sure enough, Metal Sonic stood back and looked as if he never received any damage. The mechanical doppelganger jumped into the air and then used his boosters to zoom diagonally downwards at Sonic. Sonic and Tails quickly stepped to the sides, but Metal Sonic u-turned to go after Sonic again. Instead of running away, Sonic rolled at him, but Metal Sonic released electricity from all over his body to zap Sonic when he hit him.

BZAP!

"Yeow!" Sonic cried as the jolt caused him to bounce back, but Metal Sonic himself was also pushed back slightly from the impact. "I see you're going defensive, eh? Looks like it's going to tricky trying to hit you this time!"

Metal Sonic dashed at Sonic with electricity all over his body in an attempt to grab and electrocute him, but Sonic stepped to the side. When Metal Sonic came to a stop, the electricity around his body disappeared, so Sonic saw this as the perfect opportunity to attack him. The blue hedgehog rolled into Metal Sonic when he turned around, but this allowed him to grab him by the quills and electrocute him. "UWAAAAAAAAAA!"

Metal Sonic then flew into the air with Sonic in his hands, and then he fell back down to smash him face first against the floor. As Sonic groaned in pain, Metal Sonic flew back into the air and got ready to hit him with a drop kick to the back, but Tails suddenly interfered by ramming into him with his head.

Metal Sonic was pushed back through the air a few meters, and Tails said to him, "You're not fighting Sonic alone! He has me by his side!" Then he flew at Metal Sonic as fast as he could and spun around to hit him with his spinning tails. Metal Sonic easily dodged it and tried to punch Tails, but he managed to dodge it and then tried to fly into him. Metal Sonic avoided it by moving to the side and then gave Tails a karate chop to the back of the neck to make him drop altitude a bit. "Ow!" He was then pushed to the floor by Metal Sonic's drop kick.

SLAM!

"Tails!" Sonic shouted as he ran towards Metal Sonic. "Let go of him at once! Your opponent is me!" Metal Sonic didn't listen to him; he grabbed Tails by the neck and electrocuted him.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the two-tailed fox cried.

"I told you to let go of him at once!" Sonic shouted as he tried to pull Metal Sonic away by the shoulder, but he pulled back when he got zapped. "Ow! Grrr! You think something like this can stop me from rescuing my friend? THINK AGAIN!" Sonic once again grabbed Metal Sonic's shoulder, this time enduring the electrocution. He mustered all his strength to pull Metal Sonic away and threw him across the air before helping his friend up. "Tails! Are you all right?"

"I feel numb..." he replied.

"It seems you're all right. That's good to know!" Sonic then turned to face Metal Sonic, who was getting back up. "All right! That's as far as you go! It's time you become scrap metal! I'm not going easy on you this time!" Then he zoomed at him.

Metal Sonic quickly covered himself with electricity, but Sonic rammed into him nonetheless and didn't care about the fact that he was getting harmed by it. Sonic threw several punches to the robot's face and then kicked him in the chin to send him flying into the air. Next, he jumped slightly into the air in ball form and started moving circles, building up speed with each revolution. "Sonic Wind!" Wind started gathering around him, and all of a sudden, a large column of wind was created. Metal Sonic was sent higher into the air by it, not to mention getting cut all over the body by wind blades.

The wind eventually ceased, and Metal Sonic fell down next to Sonic. Sonic leaped into the air high above his mechanical doppelganger and curled up into a ball to get ready to fall on top of him to crush him. However, Metal Sonic fired a beam from his stomach to blast him away.

BANG!

"Ow!" Sonic cried as he fell to the side. "Ugh! I forgot that you have something like that up your sleeves! Or rather, up your stomach!"

Metal Sonic fired another beam at him, but Sonic jumped to the side and then dashed at him. The robot quickly formed a diamond-shaped barrier around himself, and Sonic bounced off it when he touched into it. When the barrier disappeared, Metal Sonic extended his arm in Sonic's direction to hit him with a long-ranged punch, and when he missed, the arm returned to its normal length. Next, he lengthened his leg and performed a roundhouse kick, but Sonic jumped over it.

Sonic ran towards Metal Sonic, and he jumped up when the robot fired a beam at him. In the air, Sonic spun in place for a few seconds before shooting himself at Metal Sonic, but the robot quickly protected himself with the diamond-shaped barrier. The blue hedgehog spun against the barrier like a buzz saw, and sparks were actually produced as a result. As he spun against the barrier, it started to flicker. Knowing that the barrier would soon be destroyed, Metal Sonic quickly leaped back to safety and then extended both arms at Sonic to punch him.

Sonic stepped aside and then dashed at him before he could retract his arms. He rammed into the robot to send him tumbling backwards with his arms retracted. When Metal Sonic got back up, he saw Sonic running in circles around him really fast, and as he was trying to keep track of the blue hedgehog's movement, he was suddenly knocked into the air in the side when the hedgehog rolled into him in ball form.

Tails flew above Metal Sonic with a hammer in his hand, and with a mighty swing, he sent him falling back onto the floor with it.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Nice going, Tails!" Sonic said to him. "Where'd you get that hammer anyway?"

"I invented it," Tails explained. When he pressed a button on the side of the handle, the hammerhead disappeared into the handle, and then the handle shortened in length until it was a small cylinder. "I made it so that you can carry it around with ease and whip it out with ease also."

The duo looked at Metal Sonic, who was lying motionlessly on the floor with electric currents running around his body. "Looks like he's down for the count," Tails said, "though I still have doubts."

"I doubt he's down for the count as well," Sonic said in agreement. "He's supposed to be more durable than this."

Sure enough, Metal Sonic slowly got back up, so both Tails and Sonic got into fighting stances. Instead of attacking them, however, the robot turned and rushed off at a high speed. "Hey! You're not going anywhere!" Sonic said as he gave chase, and Tails followed them.

* * *

Marisa and her group walked across a suspended walkway and onto a circular platform. When they walked into the center of the place, Eggman's voice was broadcasted. "Congratulations on surviving everything I've thrown at you so far! It seems that you are more capable than I thought!"

"Right, so you might as well give up trying to destroy us," Remilia said. "We're too tough to be taken out!"

"Show yourself if you call yourself a man!" Marisa shouted. "You've been doing nothing but taunting us and throwing traps at us! You don't like doing dirty works by yourself, right?"

"Say what you want!" Eggman's voice replied. "Even if I'm offended, I won't give in to what you say so easily! As a genius, it only makes sense for me to fight you indirectly. After all, my brilliant mind is to be preserved for bigger things! There's no point in wasting my time against the likes of you!"

"He's looking down on us..." Meiling said.

"Holding back our powers would be a good idea after all," Alice said. "That will catch him by surprise when he finally fights us himself. Though I guess it's pointless holding back now that I just said it out loud..."

"Why don't you guys get a load of this? My robots are more than willing to take on you! Go and get them, my robots!" Eggman's voice said. As soon as he said this, a part of the ceiling opened and several Egg Pawns dropped onto the platform.

"Finally! Some fighting to do-ze!" Marisa said with enthusiasm.

**BGM: Robot Carnival/Robot Storm (Sonic Heroes)**

Reisen moved her arm left and right over and over while shooting energy bullets to take out the robots. Alice commanded her dolls to shoot them down with their rifles. All the robots were destroyed by the both of them.

"That's all?" Remilia asked. "I didn't get a chance to do anything at all!"

"Hoho! Not bad! But this is only the beginning! There are more to come!" Eggman's voice said.

A part of the wall opened, and several flying robots flew into the room. However, they were all easily wasted by the girls within seconds. "That was quick... It's not over yet! There are a lot more, and they'll get tougher all the time!" Eggman's voice said.

"Bring it!" Marisa said. "We're not afraid of a bit of challenge! Throw your most powerful robot at us if you dare!"

"Then I'll throw a whole lot of them at you all at once! Ya happy now?"

Immediately, several flying robots and Egg Pawns, as well as Badniks, came into the arena. "Well, he sure called a whole lot of them..." Marisa said.

"Let's take them all out!" Youmu said.

"Earth Dragon Wave" Meiling stomped the floor to send forth an energy wave that tripped the Egg Pawns. She then started punching and kicking any robots that approached her.

Youmu dashed through a group of robots, and they broke into two shortly afterward.

"Frost Pillars!" Cirno shouted as she slammed her hands onto the floor to make large icicles come up and destroy the robots.

"Lemmings' Parade!" Alice shouted as she summoned several dolls that marched across the floor, and they explode when they ran into the robots.

"Visionary Blast!" Reisen shouted as she swept the place with a pair of eye beams.

"Kappa Missile!" Nitori fired several missiles from her backpack to shoot down the airborne robots.

"Magical Reusable Bomb!" Marisa threw a pot that exploded in a burst of light.

"Demon Lord Walk!" Remilia shouted as she dashed forward in a slight arc really fast to plow down the robots.

"Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars!" Sanae threw a spell card into the air, and it transformed into a ball of light that short-circuited flying robots that were near it.

* * *

"Man, they're stronger than I thought..." Eggman said as he watched the battle on the screen. "I'll need to find a way to deal with them... I think it's about time I get the secret weapon ready."

"Is it all right if I come in?" asked a girl's voice.

"Since you asked politely, why not? Wait a minute..." Eggman turned around and saw Aya standing at the door. "Who are you! And how did you get here!"

* * *

The girls continued to fight the robots, and in the heat of the battle, a man walked from the walkway to the platform to watch the fight. "Heheh! They sure are enjoying themselves!" he said. "I hope they don't mind if I join the fun, though I'd prefer having a one-on-one fight with one of them."

An Egg Pawn armed with a spear suddenly ran up to him, but the man stepped aside and smashed the robot in the head with his fist. "Out of my sight, useless piece of junk!"

Meiling then noticed the man. He was dressed in a red military outfit, complete with a hat. "You will do!" he said, and then he rushed at Meiling really fast. He grabbed her by the arm and then forcefully flung her off the railing at the side.

"Ya! What ware you doing!" she cried. The man then jumped after her and stomped her with his feet, but she held up her arms to block herself. The force of the stomp sent her shooting downwards, however. "AH!"

CRASH!

Meiling slowly got back up after falling several feet through the air. She rubbed her back and groaned in pain. " Ow... I didn't have time to fly at all... Who was that guy...?"

The man slowly floated down next to her with his arms crossed and said, "So you survived the fall? Guess not being a human has its advantages, doesn't it?"

Meiling got into defensive stance and said to him, "Who are you and why did you attacked me?"

"I am M. Bison, the man who will put an end to your life today! Prepare to die!"

* * *

Sonic and Tails were still chasing Metal Sonic. "Get back here and fight me like a man!" Sonic said. "Or like a hedgehog!"

The robot came to a stop in front of a ledge with a large mechanical pillar ahead of it.

"So you've decided to stop running, eh? All right, let's end this!"

"That must be the main engine of this place," Tails said, observing the pillar. "If that thing gets destroyed, then this place will surely fall apart."

"Okay, so what do you think? Destroy that thing?"

"I don't think that's a good idea at the moment. We should find the Chaos Emeralds first as well as telling the girls."

"Time for you to die, my loathsome copy!" Metal Sonic said as he raised his arm into the air and released electricity from the hand. Slowly, pieces of the pillars were pulled off from their positions and towards the mechanical hedgehog.

"Whoa! What's going on!" Sonic asked in surprise.

The mechanical parts orbited Metal Sonic, whose body started to become liquid-like. As the robot started to alter its appearance, the mechanical parts arranged themselves around his limbs and back. Eventually, Metal Sonic's body became solid again, but his appearance was now feral and draconic, and there were several sharp spines sticking out of his back. The mechanical parts had become his arms, legs, and tail. The hands and feet had sharp claws and the tail was lined with spikes on both sides. Another notable thing about him was that his eyes were somewhat u-shaped and were positioned above each other in the middle of his face. The newly transformed Metal Sonic let out a roar that could be heard far away.

"He merged with those machine parts..!" Tails said in awe. "And this form looks very familiar as well!"

"Yeah, it's obviously based off the form he transformed into that time," Sonic said, "though this one is much smaller. No big deal! It's not like a drastic transformation is going to stop me from defeating him! Bring it! Let's see how well your new form fares!"

Metal Sonic extended his arm at Sonic, but Sonic jumped aside and then ran along the arm to get to him. He jumped into the air and was going to fall down on top of Metal Sonic, but the mechanical beast swung his hand at him and caught him in midair. "Whoa!" Then he flung Sonic straight down. "WAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Sonic!" Tails gasped as he looked down the ledge.

Sonic curled up into a ball as he fell, and when he hit the floor, he bounced a few meters into the air and then uncurled himself to land in a crouching position. "Phew... That was close!" When he looked up, he saw Metal Sonic coming down, so he got out of the way before he got crushed by him. "All right! Let's roll!"

**BGM: What I'm Made Of (Sonic Heroes)**

Metal Sonic fired his claws like a machine gun at Sonic, who ran around to avoid getting hit. When he attempted to get close to the mechanical monster, Metal Sonic swung his tail at him, but Sonic leaped into the air and spun vertically once before stomping him in the head and then bouncing back into the air.

Sonic landed from his jump and then moved out of the way to avoid Metal Sonic's claw-firing attack again. Metal Sonic then activated his boosters to get close to Sonic. Sonic quickly rolled out of the way when Metal Sonic got close to him to attack him with a claw swipe. Immediately, Metal Sonic swung his tail at Sonic and managed to trip him with it. When he tried to slam down his claws onto Sonic, he rolled away in time. Without bothering to stand back up properly, Sonic launched himself at Metal Sonic and rammed him hard in the body using his head, and the impact forced the mechanical beast backwards.

Sonic then curled up into a ball and rolled at Metal Sonic really fast, but Metal Sonic extended his arm at him and forcefully pushed him back. Metal Sonic then picked him up and crushed him against the floor.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYA!" Sonic cried.

Metal Sonic retracted his arm and then fired the spines on his back into the air, and new ones immediately grew to replace the old ones. The spines flew a few meters into the air before flying towards Sonic. Sonic quickly rolled aside to avoid getting hit by the first one, and then he got up to run from the rest. Metal Sonic suddenly got in front of him and swung his claws at him to knock him aside.

SMACK!

"Ow!" Sonic cried as he tumbled onto the floor. When he looked up, he was greeted with several claws flying in his direction, and he was pierced all over the body. Metal Sonic dashed up in front of him and caught him with both hands, and then he raised him in the air and electrocuted him.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

After zapping him for a few seconds, Metal Sonic flung him into the air and then extended his tail at him to pierce his body. "UGH!" The robot then swung his tail through the air to send Sonic flying across the place until he hit the wall.

While Sonic was in pain and unable to move, Metal Sonic charged up the laser beam on his stomach, but before he could finish charging it, Tails whacked him in the head with his hammer. "Don't hurt Sonic!" he shouted.

Roaring in anger, Metal Sonic spun around and, with a swing of his hand, caught Tails. "Ah!" He then slammed him onto the floor before stomping his back over and over. "OW! YA! AH! GAH!"

"Tails..." Sonic weakly said as he stood back up. "Stop it... Stop it... Do... not... hurt... him... Do... not... HURT HIM!" Sonic mustered all his strength to stand back, and then he zoomed at Metal Sonic and rammed him in the side of the body so hard that he was sent flying away.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The robot got back up again and roared as he turned to Sonic, who ran to him. He swung his claws at Sonic, but he ducked down and then performed a back flip to kick him in the chin. Before Metal Sonic could fully recover from getting hit, Sonic punched him in the body rapidly. Sonic then winded up his arm before punching him in the chest really hard, so hard that his fist actually went through it.

SMAAAAAASH!

Metal Sonic let out a painful cry, and then he angrily fired his claws at Sonic, but the blue hedgehog moved left and right to dodge them while running towards him. Metal Sonic leaped into the air when Sonic got close to him, and then he stretched his legs downwards to stomp him, but missed. Sonic leaped into the air and caught him by the neck, and then he spun backwards with the robot in his grasp and slammed his head against the floor.

"Your power... Where did you get such a power...?" Metal Sonic said as he got back up.

"When one needs to win a fight or fight for his or her friends, such power will be granted!" Sonic replied. "You hurt my friend, and this is also a fight that I cannot lose! For the sake of the world, I will not be defeated by a copy like you!"

"No! You are the copy! I am the real Sonic!" Metal Sonic angrily said as he charged up the laser beam on his stomach.

Sonic ran in his direction despite knowing the beam was being charged, and even after the beam was fired, he continued running forward and allowed himself to be hit. "Sonic!" Tails cried. "Don't! You'll kill yourself!"

"This is nothing... at all...!" the blue hedgehog said as he pushed through the searing beam. When he got close enough to Metal Sonic, he thrust his hand into the part of his stomach that was firing the beam, and with a powerful yank, he ripped out the some of the circuits and machines parts inside to halt the attack. Metal Sonic cried in pain and took several steps back as a result.

"Argh! I will not lose to you again!" Metal Sonic angrily said. "I will win this time! I WILL WIN THIS TIME!" Then he turned on his booster to the max and zoomed at Sonic, and as he shot through the air, a yellow aura appeared around him.

"I will be the one winning!" Sonic said as he charged at Metal Sonic. "I WILL WIN!" As he ran, a blue aura appeared around him.

Both sides collided into each other.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

For those who still don't know, Tails and Sonic were referring to Metal Madness and Metal Overlord when they saw Metal Sonic's transformation.

Another member of the organization is revealed! It's M. Bison from the Street Fighter series! In case you don't know yet, all the members of the organization revealed so far except for I.M. Meen are dead in their respective series. Those who are familiar with the Street Fighter series' storyline should know that M. Bison is dead after the events of SF2, but is revived in SF4.

What happened to him after SF4 is unknown, and he did not make an appearance in SF3, which takes place after SF4. In this story, the Street Fighter series' timeline has yet to reach the events of SF4, so M. Bison has yet to be revived. That explains why he is part of this organization. The origin of the organization is something that will eventually be revealed to you all in later time, so look forward to it!

**Next chapter: Egg Rush Attack**

**Trivia:  
**1. M. Bison is called Vega in Japan, but as all Americans know, the latter name is given the one armed with claws. M. Bison in Japan is the name of the boxer known to Americans as Balrog. However, due to Balrog's similarities to the real life boxer Mike Tyson, his name was switched with Vega, who is called Balrog in Japan, in order to avoid lawsuit issues. Vega was also thought to be a weak-sounding name for an evil dictator, so he was given the name M. Bison, probably because it sounds more intimidating. The reason Vega received his English name is probably because he is of Spanish origin, and Vega is a Spanish word/name.

So in summary, M. Bison is the dictator, Balrog is the boxer, and Vega is the clawed one. In Japan, M. Bison is the boxer, Balrog is the clawed one, and Vega is the dictator.


	87. Egg Rush Attack

**Chapter 86  
Egg Rush Attack**

* * *

"Who are you? And how did you get here?" Eggman asked Aya in surprise.

"Well, I just flew around the place and looked all over as well," she replied, "and then I eventually heard you talking, so I followed your voice until I came here. Simple as that! Oh, I also heard you saying something about a secret weapon. So what's the secret?"

"So you're curious, eh? Haha! You can witness it… if you can live that long!"

"Oh, you talk as if I'm going to die very soon."

"What do you think?"

Aya held up her fan and said with a serious expression, "So basically… you want to pick a fight with me, right? I don't mind. This should save Sonic the trouble of beating you up. I just hope he won't complain that I took all the fun away from him." Then she started closing in on Eggman.

"You're not serious, are you?" Eggman said as he leaned as far back as he could on his chair, looking scared. "Wait! I wasn't serious! You know that I can't fight!"

"But you can if you use machineries of some sort, right? You should bring them out if you want to survive longer. Be careful; I can easily take lives if I fight too seriously, so you better get ready if you don't want to die so fast."

"Then I'll show you!" Eggman said as he pressed a button on the chair's arm. Then the ceiling opened and his chair floated through the opening.

"Getting away?" Aya asked. "You can't escape my ears!" She listened carefully to the sound above the ceiling, and then she left the room and continued following the sound. Eventually, she came into a large room and saw Eggman flying out of an opening above the door she came in from on his Eggmobile.

The Eggmobile flew over to a raised platform at the far side of the room and strapped itself in a metallic harness located on the edge. "All right! Get a load of this!" Eggman said. "Get ready to be crushed by the Ball Shooter!"

"Then get ready to be blown over the horizon by my fan!" Aya said as she got into fighting stance.

**BGM: Boss Theme (Sonic the Hedgehog 3)**

"Fire!" Eggman shouted as he pressed a button that caused an opening to appear at the part of the platform underneath the Eggmobile, and a large black ball rolled out from there.

Instead of avoiding the ball, Aya stopped it with her foot with little effort. "What is this supposed to be?"

"What the!" Eggman said in shock. "Oh right! I remember that you have very strong muscle power. But this doesn't make sense! You don't have any visible muscles at all, and you definitely don't look like someone who has that much strength. Even though I'm no biologist, I still no that this isn't scientifically possible."

"Common sense does not apply to demon and the likes," Aya said she lifted the ball over her head using both hands. "You can have it back!" And she hurled it at Eggman.

Eggman quickly pressed another button that caused another black ball to come out from the same place, but this one shot into the air instead. Both objects collided with each other and shattered into pieces.

CRAAAAASH!

Aya then flew in front of Eggman. "Hello!"

"What are you going to do!" the scientist asked in shock.

Grabbing the Eggmobile by the sides, she gathered all her strength into her arms to slowly tear it away from the harness. "Ngh!"

"Stop it! Stop it! I order you to stop!"

"Aya!" Aya shouted as she flung the Eggmobile across the air until it hit the wall.

CRASH!

"Ow!" Eggman cried when he banged his head against the glass. "Ugh! That girl seems to be tougher than I thought! I'll have to go more serious on her!"

"I can hear you!" Aya said. "Right! Go more serious on me! I'll stand here like a good girl and wait for you to get your next ride ready!"

"You'll regret it!" Eggman said as he piloted the Eggmobile over to the raised platform, and Aya watched as the flying machine inserted itself into a slot on the floor. When the Eggmobile came back up, it had a towering body equipped with a total of four miniature satellites around it. "Heheh! Meet the Beam Rocket! Get ready for round two"

"I'm ready!" Aya said.

Laser beams shot from two of the satellites and at Aya, but she dodged them with ease. More lasers were fired at her, but she managed to avoid them all. "Is that all you've got? Aim better, will ya?"

"Argh! Stay still, will you!" Eggman said in frustration as he fired laser beams like crazy, but she dodged every single one of the shots with little effort.

"Man! You need to learn how to aim better!" Aya taunted. "Let's see how well you can dodge these! Gale Fan!" She fired several wind blades at the mech and hit it all over the body.

"A little wind won't hurt me!" Eggman said as he continued to fire lasers at Aya.

Aya dodged the beams as she got close to the flying machine, and then she landed underneath it and created a towering tornado. "Maple Leaf Fan!" The tornado sent the Beam Rocket spinning into the air until it hit the ceiling.

BANG!

"Ow!" Eggman cried when he hit his head against the glass above. "Argh! This thing is useless against her! I'm ditching this for a better one!" He pressed a button that caused the Egg Rocket to fall apart, and Aya moved away to avoid getting hit by them.

"What? Giving up just like that?" she asked.

"Just you wait!" Eggman said as he piloted the Eggmobile through a door at the bottom of the raised platform. "This next one will surely destroy you!"

"Oh sure…"

Aya wait a few minutes for Eggman to come back out, and when he did, his Eggmobile was equipped with a pair of large red arms and a spiked cap on top of the cockpit. "Meet the terror known as Big Arm!" Eggman said.

"I can see where that name comes from," she said.

**BGM: Final Boss (Sonic the Hedgehog 3)**

"Get a load of this!" Eggman shouted as his mech zoomed towards Aya with its fist facing her, but she quickly moved aside.

"Miss me!" she taunted, but the mech suddenly swung its hand at her to knock her away. "Ya!"

"Gotcha!" Eggman shouted as the mech zoomed in her direction to punch her. Aya quickly raised her arms to stop the fist, but the force was so strong that she got pushed back through the air.

"Ugh! This thing's strong!" she thought. She managed to alter the mech's course and then fired wind blades at it. "Gale Fan!" However, the mech turned around and used its arm to block the cockpit from the projectiles.

"You won't last long with this one!" Eggman said to her. "I'll squish you like a mosquito!" He piloted the mech in her direction and tried to clap her with its hands.

"I'm not a mosquito!" Aya said as she moved back to avoid getting hit by the clapping attack, and she continued dodging each of the following clapping attacks. "Don't bother using the same move against me over and over! I can see through every inch of its movement already!"

"Oh really?" Eggman asked. When Big Arm tried to clap her again, its hands unexpectedly extended and caught Aya in between them.

"YA!" she cried due the force being pressed against both sides of her body.

"Haha! And you were saying that you saw through every inch of its movement!" Eggman laughed. "Unfortunately, you don't know the kinds of movements a genius like me can pull off! That's your fault for underestimating me! Take this!" Big Arm raised Aya into the air and then flung her onto the floor.

CRAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ow…" Aya groaned. "I really got caught off guard… It hurts quite a bit too…" Then she saw Big Arm descending towards her. "Yikes!" She quickly got out of the way before she got hammered by its arms.

"You're not getting away!" Eggman shouted as he fired the hand at her. The hand flew after her like a homing missile, but Aya blew it away with her fan when it got close to her. The hand went back to its original position afterwards.

"Looks like you're going serious for once!" Aya said. "All right! I'm going to go serious on you too! You better not cry! Sarutahiko's Guidance!" She spun forward at a fast speed with wind circling her.

"Come and get some!" Eggman shouted as Big Arm charged at her with its fist stretched forward, and they collided into each other with a tremendous force.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

They both collided into each other with such a force that they actually stopped moving in air. However, Aya slowly built up speed and power as she spun, so she was slowly pushing back Big Arm. Suddenly, the mech hit her from the side to knock her into the wall.

"Ow!" Aya cried. When she looked up front, she saw Big Arm rushing towards her to punch her. She quickly flew over it, so the mech sank its fist into the wall instead. "Tengu's Macroburst!" She fired wind projectiles at the mech from above. Because the move was unleashed at close range, it had enough power to tear away the spikes on top of the cockpit.

"You'll pay for that!" Eggman said as Big Arm's raised its arms into the air to catch her, but she got out of the way. When he turned around to face her, he saw Aya swinging her fan to fire a large horizontal tornado at him.

"Wind of the Tengu Path!" she shouted. The force of the wind pinned the mech to the wall.

"Argh! A little wind won't stop me!" Eggman shouted. He increased the power of the mech's booster to go against the wind. Aya then flew up to Big Arm, caught its arm, and swung it over her shoulder to send it onto the floor.

CRAAAAAAASH!

"Oh…" Eggman cried while rubbing his head. "This is no good… It seems that she is too strong for me to deal with after all… My weapons aren't working against her… I… I give up…"

Aya landed and walked up to Big Arm. "Finally realized that you're no match for the fastest in Gensokyo, eh?"

"Yes… I give up… Please help me out… The controls are broken, so I can't open the cockpit… Please help me out…"

"Hmmm… I don't know if I should be helping out a villain. Maybe I should leave you in there to starve you to death."

"Please don't be like that… I'm begging you… Please help me out… I promise I'll become a changed man from now on…"

"I don't know how you usually act when Sonic defeated you. Maybe I should let you out and drag you over to him and ask him about what to do with you." Aya then approached the Big Arm. Suddenly, the mech reached out its hands and caught her. "Hey!"

"Haha! You fell for it!" Eggman laughed. "The controls are working just fine!" Suddenly, the arms let out a loud beeping sound. "I've activated the self-destruct mechanism on the arms. Try to break free from them before they explode if you can! Meanwhile, I'll go and prepare my next weapon to use against you, assuming that you managed to make it free or survive the explosion."

"Why you! You dirty liar! I'll get you for this!" Aya angrily said as she tried to pry open the fingers, but their grip was too tight.

The Eggmobile detached itself from the arms and went into the entrance at the bottom of the raised platform. The beeping sound got louder and louder to signify that it was getting closer and closer to exploding, but Aya managed to free herself from it in time. She quickly got away from the arms before it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Phew… That was close…" she said while wiping sweat off her forhead. "I thought I was going to become grilled bird earlier…"

"Heheh! Get ready to meet your maker!" said the voice of Eggman from the entrance at the bottom of the raised platform, and then a red robot with an arm cannon for the right arm and a drill for the left arm came out. "Get ready to be crushed by the Egg Dragoon!"

Suddenly, Aya heard the sound of machinery activating, and then a large portion of the floor started to rise up. "What's happening!"

"I fear that the Egg Dragoon will cause too much damage to the Egg Cetacea's interior, so I'm moving our fight to the surface," Eggman replied.

"Oh, so you have confidence that your newest toy is powerful enough to destroy me? I'd like to see how destructive it can be!"

"You'll see for yourself soon enough!"

* * *

Back on the shore, Shadow, Omega, Rouge, and G.U.N.'s troopers had taken care all of Eggman's robots. Rouge looked in the direction of the Egg Cetacea and said, "Look! There are people on top of it!"

"Eggman and the girl from yesterday detected on the surface," Omega said. "Must destroy Eggman at once."

"Best not to interfere," Shadow said to him. "If Sonic is confident enough to take them inside that thing, then she should be able to deal with Eggman by herself to some extent. We should simply watch in the meantime."

* * *

Back inside the Egg Cetacea, Tails was inspecting the interior of the mechanical's whale central pillar. Lying behind him was Metal Sonic, back in his original form and no longer functional. "Well, how is it, Tails?" Sonic asked his friend. "Did I really bust it up?"

"Good thing the damage isn't severe," Tails replied. "However, it's not correct to assume that nothing is going to happen either. Even if the main computer isn't entirely destroyed, it still took quite a bit of damage from the impact. If this place is to receive violent shakings and damages of any kind, then it's possible that the whole place will start to fall apart."

"So we'll have to play it safe by not doing anything destructive, eh? That shouldn't be too hard, I think…"

"I'm not sure if I can really trust you to not cause any damage… You have a tendency of leaving behind lots of wreckages whenever you rush through enemies' hideouts…"

"Don't worry; I won't cause any destruction until I found the Chaos Emeralds. By the way, do you know where they are?"

Tails shook his head. "No idea… I thought that it would be hidden in this place's main engine, but this is the main engine, and there are no emeralds in sight. Guess they're not here after all…"

"Then they must be hidden in Eggman's room. All we have to do is find where Eggman pilots this thing first. All right, let's go and find him!"

* * *

**BGM: Egg Dragoon (Sonic Unleashed)**

"Get ready to die!" Eggman shouted as the Egg Dragoon fired bullets at Aya from its arm cannon, but the tengu sped around the place to avoid getting shot.

"Too slow!" she taunted.

The Egg Dragoon then closed in on her with its drill activated, and it was releasing electricity as it spun. "Take this!" Eggman shouted as he swung the drill at her. Aya quickly got down to low to avoid getting hit, and then she charged at the green spot at the lower part of its body and rammed it with her shoulder. The Egg Dragoon was pushed back through the air from the impact. "Don't touch that part!"

"So that's the weak spot?" Aya asked. "Thanks for having a big mouth!" Aya tried to get close to the green spot again, but the Egg Dragoon constantly fired at her and used its drill to keep her away.

"Eat this!" Eggman shouted as the Egg Dragoon fired several missiles from its arm cannon, and when Aya flew away from them, they went after her.

"Homing missiles? What's new?" Aya flew around the air to escape the missiles, and she eventually circled to the back of the Egg Dragoon and flew towards it in an attempt to get the missiles to hit it from behind. Suddenly, the Egg Dragoon turned around and thrust its drill at Aya. "Yikes!" Fortunately, Aya bent back her body in the nick of time. The drill was only a few centimeters above her body.

With her body still bent back, Aya planted her feet against the green orb and then pushed back through the air and flipped once before landing onto the surface of the Egg Cetacea. The Egg Dragoon was hit by its own missiles shortly afterwards. "Argh! Don't think you'll get away with this!" Eggman said. "I'm going to make sure that I'll get you next time!"

"Try it!" Aya told him. "That was pretty close just now, but it won't happen again!"

The Egg Dragoon spun the top half of its body to cause robots to fly out of it. The robots landed onto the surface and then went after Aya with arms stretched in her direction, but she made a quick work out of them with a single swing of her fan. She then looked up to see the Egg Dragoon charging up its arm cannon.

"How about this?" Eggman said, and then the mech fired a blue bomb at her. Aya quickly flew out of the way to avoid the blue bomb, and when it hit the surface, it made a large mass of spiky ice appeared.

"Ice bomb? So you plan to freeze me, eh?" she asked. "Not gonna work unless you can actually hit me with it!" She then flew into the air and towards the Egg Dragoon. The Egg Dragoon fired its drill at her, and when she avoided it, it turned around to go after her. Aya quickly got out of the way when she was close to the mech, thinking that the drill will fly into it. However, the Egg Dragoon moved out of the way when she got close, so the drill missed it. "Didn't work out, I guess…"

Seeing that the drill won't stop coming after her, she stopped to unleash a horizontal tornado at it. "Wind of the Tengu Path!" However, the drill was unaffected by the tornado, so she had to move aside to avoid getting hit. "Phew… That was close…"

The Egg Dragoon charged at her and fired from its arm cannon, but Aya dodged the shots. The drill then returned to the mech's arm, and then Eggman surged it with electricity before swinging it like a sword like Aya, but all the hits missed.

"You cannot hit me!"

"Take this!" Eggman shouted as the Egg Dragoon swung its electrified drill again, this time firing a crescent-shaped projectile when it did. Aya was caught off guard by it, so she got hit in the body and got electrocuted.

"YAAAA!"

"Haha!" Eggman laughed as he thrust the drill at Aya. The tengu was hit in the stomach, but because of the thrusting speed of the drill, she got sent flying down onto the surface of the Egg Cetacea.

"Ack…! Gah…! It hurts…!" Aya cried as she placed her hands over the wound on her stomach.

"You're finished!" Eggman shouted as the Egg Dragoon fired at her. Because she was in too much of a pain to move, Aya could only hold up her arms and fan to try to protect herself.

BANG BOOM BANG!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Aya cried as the explosion propelled her into the air and into the sea.

SPLAAAAAAAASH!

"Hahahaha!" Eggman laughed. "Now you now why I'm the best! Consider yourself unlucky to come against me!"

The tengu floated back onto the water surface, seemingly unconscious. She started to twitch, and then she raised her head before she ran out of breath.

"Still alive? Then I'll make sure that you float on the sea for eternity this time!" Eggman said.

Ignoring the pain on her body, Aya flapped her wings to rise into the air. "A little wound like this won't hurt me…!" she said. "Being a demon, wounds like this will heal by themselves soon! And it's not like I no longer have the stamina to fight you!"

"Then I'll hurt you to the point where the wounds can't heal themselves anymore!" Eggman said as he fired at her. Aya dodged the shots while firing wind bullets at him, but none of the shots did any good to the mech.

The Egg Dragoon charged at her and thrust the drill at her. Aya quickly moved aside, and when the drill was swung in her direction, she bent back her body and then moved to a safer distance. The Egg Dragoon electrified the drill and swung it to fire crescent-shaped projectiles that she managed to dodge. "I'm not gonna get hit by that again!" she said.

"Let's see how well you can avoid all these!" Eggman said as the Egg Dragoon swung its drill over and over to fire several projectiles, and all the while, the arm cannon fired homing missiles at her.

Aya desperately dodged the incoming electric projectiles, but when she tried to dodge one of the missiles, it followed her movement and hit her.

BANG!"

Aya fell down slightly after getting hit by it. "Ow… I forgot that those are homing missiles…!" She quickly fired wind bullets at the rest of the missiles to destroy them and avoided the electric projectiles at the same time.

"You can't dodge them forever!" Eggman shouted as the Egg Dragoon attack rapidly.

"Ugh! This is going nowhere!" Aya said as she kept up what she was doing. "My arms are getting tired from doing this over and over!" Unfortunately, she failed to notice two missiles approaching her from the sides, so she was hit by them. Immediately after that, she was hit by an electric projectile. "YAAAAAAAAA!" She fell onto the surface afterwards.

"Haha! How'd you like that? Time to finish you off!" Eggman said as the arm cannon charged up and fired a blue ball. The blue ball hit the surface and exploded into white mist that made a large mass of ice appear. The surface around it got frozen as well.

Fortunately for Aya, she moved out of the bomb's way at the last second to avoid direct hit, so she did not get frozen entirely, but her legs got frozen to the surface.

"Oh no!" Aya gasped.

"You're finished for real!" Eggman said as he fired the drill at her.

"I must get out of here fast!" Aya cried as she tried to free her legs from the ice, but to no avail. She looked up and saw the drill coming closer and closer to her. "Oh no… There's only… Ugh… Only one chance at this!" She raised her arms into the air, and when the drill was about to hit her, she swung them down onto it with such a force that its trajectory was altered. The drill struck the part of the floor just a few centimeters in front of her and drilled through it. This also caused the ice to crack apart, thus allowing her to free her legs. "Yes! I did it! Ow! My hands hurt!"

"What the!" Eggman said in surprise. "Lucky of you to get out of that alive, but you won't be so lucky the second time!"

The drill burst back out of the surface and towards Aya. She quickly moved to the side and then caught it by the back. "Here! Have a taste of your medicine!" she shouted as she flew towards the Egg Dragoon.

"Hey! Get that thing away from me!" Eggman shouted as Aya sped towards him. He tried to move the mech out of the way, but the tengu managed to smash the drill through the side of its body to take away a portion of it.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Eggman screamed. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

Aya flung the drill away and then took out a spell card. "Illusionary Dominance!" Red light appeared around her, and then she charged at Eggman really fast to ram it and then started knocking it around while traveling at such a speed that it was impossible to see her at all.

CRASH BANG CRASH POW CRASH BANG!

"OW! YEOW! STOP IT! OW!" Eggman cried as his head kept on hitting the glass.

Aya then dashed right through the green spot on the Egg Dragoon's body.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Aya came to a stop in midair. With a large hole on its body, the Egg Dragoon started to shake violently and let out smoke, and then it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Eggman screamed as he and his Eggmobile flew out from the explosion and into the air. After flying very high into the air, it fell back down into the sea.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Phew… Did it…" Aya said as she landed onto the surface of the mechanical whale and fell on one knee. "Didn't really turn out as easy as I thought… Did Sonic always have a hard time fighting him…?"

* * *

Under the sea, Eggman regained control of the Eggmobile and piloted it towards the Egg Cetacea. "Curse that girl!" HE angrily said. "I never expected her to be this hard to deal with! I really did underestimate her, and perhaps all of her friends! This settles it! I'm going to use the secret weapon and put those Chaos Emeralds to use!" When he got near the mechanical whale, an opening appeared at the bottom of it to let the evil doctor in.

The Eggmobile surfaced from the water inside the whale, and then Eggman stepped out. "Wait till they get a load of this!" he said as he walked through the place, and then he noticed someone in front of him. "Uh? Aren't you one of those girls?"

"Oh, it's you," said the person, Reimu.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm not exactly sure if this chapter really turned out that good. I still felt like I did the best I could, so enjoy!

**Next chapter: When Fantasy and Science Collide**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is a play on the term "Boss Rush Attack".


	88. When Fantasy and Science Meet

I forgot to bring up the fact that it was Sonic's birthday on the same day I posted the previous chapter. He turned 20 this year. Even though it's already late, I'm still gonna say this: Happy birthday, Sonic!

Also, additional corrections regarding Sonic 2006's continuity has been made to Chapter 84: Presidential Chaos. Sonic shouldn't more know that there should be an antenna on the Egg-Cerberus. Man… That game sure made quite a mess in the Sonic timeline…

**Chapter 87  
When Fantasy and Science Meet**

* * *

Orbot and Cubot were polishing and cleaning surface of a large machine. "What do you think the boss is up to now?" asked Cubot in a chipmunk-like voice.

"Probably dealing with Sonic and his friends," Orbot replied.

"Then why are we cleaning this again?"

"Because it's possible that he would come and use this. After all, he spent a lot of time working on this, and this thing is the reason he went looking for all the Chaos Emeralds in the first place. We should keep it clean and shiny so that it will be pleasing to his eyes if he does come to use it."

* * *

Eggman and Reimu stared in silence at each other for a while, and then the shrine maiden took out some paper amulets. "What are you going to do?" Eggman asked her.

"Since the reason we came here is to teach you a lesson," Reimu replied, "I might as well get it done with."

"Hey! Don't be so rash, will you! Can't we talk over this peacefully?"

"That would be a good idea, but seeing how much trouble you have caused, I don't really think letting you go would make me feel good. In fact, I would feel guilty letting someone evil like you go without teaching you a lesson first. Whether you like it or not, I'm going to go rough on you."

"Wait! Don't!"

Without saying anything else, Reimu flung the amulets at him, but Eggman dodged them and then ran at a really fast speed down the place. "Whoa! He's fast at running!" Reimu said in surprise. "Is running at a fast speed something normal in this world or what? Wait… I should be chasing him, not talking about pointless stuff!" So she flew after him. "Wait! Get back here!"

Eggman looked back and said, "She's after me! Argh! I'll have to shake her off first! That's it! I'll use that against her!" And he quickly ran through a door.

When Reimu went through the door, she saw a gigantic robot that appeared to be missing its head, and Eggman got onto a platform next to it. The platform raised into the air to allow him to jump into where the robot's head should be. "Get ready to meet your maker!" Eggman said before pressing a button to cause the head, which was flipped open, to close over the body.

It was a robot built in the likeliness of Eggman himself, and its hands had sharp nails that made them look like the claws of a wild beast.

Gas came out from the robot's joins, and then it took a step forward. "Don't tell me I have to take down this thing by myself…" Reimu said with a rather horrified look.

"Die, little girl!" Eggman said.

**BGM: Final Boss (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)**

As the robot walked towards Reimu, the shrine maiden threw several paper amulets at the robot's body, but the explosions did no harm to it at all. "Haha! It's no use! Your exploding sheets of paper are useless against my giant robot!" Eggman said.

"I can see that, but maybe this thing does have a weak spot that is more vulnerable to my paper amulets," Reimu said.

"Die!" Eggman said as the robot attempted to stomp her, but Reimu quickly flew out of the way and into the air. From there, she threw paper amulets nonstop at the robot. "It's no use! Give it up!" The robot pointed its arm at Reimu and fired it.

"Yikes!" Reimu quickly moved out of the way to avoid the arm, and then it returned to its original position, but immediately after that, the robot fired its other arm. Reimu managed to dodge it as well. She then used a card to fire energy yin-yang orbs. "Bright Orb Cast into Shade!" But the orbs bounced off the robot's body harmlessly.

"Hoho! No matter what you try, it's no use!" Eggman laughed. "Unlike its previous incarnations, I have refined its exterior to the point where not even Sonic can put a scratch on it! How I want to see his shocked expression when he learned that he can't strike it in the belly for damage! Hohohoho!"

"There's got to be some way to damage that thing," Reimu thought, "otherwise, there'd be no point in fighting it."

"Yes, there's no point in fighting this thing, so give it up already!"

"Not until I made sure that this fight is pointless myself first!"

"Then eat this!" Eggman said as the robot fired both its arms at her at once. She quickly dodged them and then bombarded the robot with several paper amulets and needles, but the robot withstood everything thrown at it while moving forward.

All of a sudden, Reimu was stabbed in the back by the claws of the detached arm when it went for her again. "GYAH!" Then the arm returned to the robot with Reimu still stuck onto its claws.

"Haha! You totally forgot about that, eh?" Eggman said. "Serves you right for no paying enough attention! Let's see how you like this!" Then the arm was fired towards the wall.

"Must… get out… of here… fast…!" Reimu thought as the arm got closer and closer to the wall. "Ngh!" She struggled to get herself off the arm's claws, and she succeeded when she flipped on top of the arm before it hit the wall. "Phew… That was close…" Then she quickly turned around to see the second arm coming, and she managed to get out of its way in time. "Not going to let that happen again! Ow! My back!"

"You won't be lucky this time!" Eggman said, and then the robot fired a pair of eye beams.

Reimu quickly got out of the beams' way, and then she constantly flew around to avoid beams as the robot kept on moving them after her. She managed to get close to the robot's body and slam a piece of card against it. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" And the card released a burst of orange light.

BAAAAAAANG!

Instead of the robot being blown back by the blast, Reimu was propelled backwards instead. "What! Not even close-ranged attacks work on it!"

"Haha! I told you that I have refined the exterior to the point where not even Sonic can damage it!" Eggman reminded her. "Admittedly, I have no idea on how powerful or destructive your techniques are, but at least it still gives me an idea on how durable I made this robot! I feel so proud of myself! Hoho!"

"Tsk! This is going to be a pain…" Reimu grumbled while both the detached arms positioned themselves to get ready to hit her in the back, and inside the robot, Eggman was grinning evilly. The arms shot at Reimu really fast, but the shrine maiden suddenly dropped altitude. As a result, they dug through the robot's body.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!" Eggman screamed. "DARN IT! MISSED!"

Reimu was rather surprised to see that. "I see! So those arms are actually strong enough to penetrate its exterior! Good thing I knew they were still out there, so I managed to dodge them."

"Get out of there!" Eggman shouted as he pressed a button to make the arms come back out, and they created two additional holes on the body when they did. "Can't you come back out through the same hole! Argh! I guess this is what I get for making those claws too sharp…"

"An opening at last!" Reimu thought as she threw paper amulets into the holes, and the robot was damaged from inside out.

Eggman started to panic when he saw from the computer that parts of the robot's inside was getting damaged and destroyed by the exploding amulets. "Argh! This shouldn't have happened at all! I'm not going down like this! Not at all!" He pressed a button that made a gun come out from the top of the robot's head, and it fired pink energy alls at Reimu. She dodged them while continuing to bombard the robot.

The robot then lifted off into the air using the help of the jet pack on its back. "Take this!" Eggman shouted, and then the robot fell diagonally towards Reimu's direction, but she managed to avoid the frontal body slam.

Reimu took out a spell card. "Dream Sign: Fantasy Seal!" And she used it to fire five multicolored orbs at the robot. The projectiles struck the robot as it was turning around, but it didn't do any visible damage.

A gun appeared from the top of the robot's head and fired pink energy balls at Reimu, and the robot also fired one of its arms at her. Reimu easily dodged the energy balls and the arm. After avoiding the arm when it made its return, she rapidly threw pink paper amulets at the robot. "Demon Buster!"

The amulets blasted the robot in the body, and some of them flew into the holes and damaged it from inside out. "Argh! Take this!" Eggman shouted as he made the robot fire its eye beams, but she dodged them by flying low.

"Dream Sign: Fantasy Seal!" Reimu shouted as she used the multicolored orb attack again. However, the robot quickly turned to the side to keep the projectiles from flying into the holes on its body.

"As long as you are unable to aim for the inside," Eggman said to her, "you have no chance of victory against me!"

"Guess I'll have to keep him from moving first," Reimu thought as she took out a yellow card, and she threw it at the robot's leg. The card released weak electricity when it hit the leg, but the robot was still able to move, and the card fell off. "What!"

"What was that supposed to be?" Eggman asked her.

"Looks like that thing is too big for a single card to work…" Then she took out several yellow cards. "This much shall do!" And she threw them all at the robot, but it fired its arms at the incoming cards and tore through them. Reimu quickly got out of the way to avoid getting hit by it. Suddenly, the wound on her back acted up, and she fell onto the floor in pain. "Ah!"

"I'll squish you like a bug!" Eggman said as he moved the robot in her direction to stomp her.

Acting quick, Reimu slapped a card onto the floor. "Dream Sign: Demon Sealing Circle!" The card created a pillar of blue light that caused the robot to pull its feet back into the air, not to mention almost causing it to fall on its back.

"Whoa! What the!" Eggman said in shock.

"Dream Sign: Fantasy Seal!" Reimu shouted as she fired multicolored energy balls into the holes on the robot's body. The robot took severe internal damage and fell down on its back.

CRAAAAAAAASH!

"Argh! Why you little…!" Eggman angrily said. "It's not over yet!" He made the robot stand back up. The robot, with the help of its jetpack, leaped over Reimu and landed behind her, and then three robots resembling rounder versions of Eggman himself fell down from the bottom of the jetpack.

"What the…?" Reimu said with curiosity.

The robots wobbled left and right as they approached Reimu, and the tip of the antenna sticking out from the top of their heads started to flash with red light, and the robots themselves also made loud beeping sounds. Knowing what was going to happen, Reimu quickly backed off from the robots before they exploded.

KABOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Not gonna fall for a child's play like that!" Reimu said.

The robot turned around to fire its eye beams at her, but she flew into the air. She continued to avoid the eye beams until they stopped, and then she threw a barrage of paper amulets that homed in on the robot's face. "Spread Amulet!"

The eyes were eventually destroyed, but Eggman was still able to see from the inside. "Darn you! Doesn't matter! At least I can still see! The eyes are only used for the beams!" However, Reimu kept on throwing amulets at the robot's face, so all Eggman could see were explosions. "Stop it already! I can't get a good view at the outside with you bombarding the face like that!" But the shrine maiden refused to stop. "ARGH! ENOUGH ALREADY!" The gun appeared from the top of the robot's head to fire energy balls at her.

Reimu stopped throwing paper amulets and then avoided the projectiles. She took out another card and shouted, "Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!" And she used it to fire a large energy yin-yang orb at the robot. The energy orb struck the robot like a giant cannonball and almost caused it to fall over.

"What the!" Eggman said. "This thing isn't supposed to be solid, is it?" While the robot was struggling against the energy ball, Reimu clapped her hands together to get ready to use Duplex Barrier.

However, as the robot was struggling to remain standing, it fired its arm at Reimu. Reimu saw this coming, so she quickly got out of its way. "Tsk! I thought I could pull that off!" she grumbled. "Why must this move take a while to charge up?"

The energy ball continued to push against the robot, but due to the robot's size, it was unable to go through it. The energy eventually exploded in a burst of blue light that caused the robot to fly back and hit the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ow… I can't believe that someone like you can put up such a fight…!" Eggman growled. "Looks like I'll have to go more serious on you!"

Suddenly, a loud siren was heard, and lights on the ceiling started to flash in red. "WARNING! WARNING! SYSTEM DAMAGE! SYSTEM DAMAGE! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"

"What the!" Eggman said in shock. "Why is this happening! I know! Something must've happened to the main computer! It must be either Sonic or your friends! Darn it! Look what they've done!"

"This means the whole place is going to blow up, right?" Reimu asked. "Looks like I better get out of here fast…"

"Not until I'm done with you! I'll make sure that you don't get out of this room alive first!" Eggman angrily said. "Since this place is going to fall apart soon, I won't be holding back! I'm going all out!"

**BGM: Final Boss (Sonic the Hedge 4: Episode 1)**

The robot leaped forward in an attempt to stomp Reimu, but she got out of the way. It immediately turned to face her and fired both its arms at her. Reimu flew up into the air and then threw paper amulets into the holes on the robot's body. The amulets exploding inside the body caused electricity to run along the robot's exterior. With a body covered in electricity, the robot floated into the air and then fell in Reimu's direction very fast.

She quickly flew backwards to escape the robot, but the robot slid along the floor when it landed. She got out of the way when her back almost hit the wall, and the robot hit the wall instead.

"Dream Sign: Fantasy Seal!" Reimu shouted as she used a spell card to summon and fire five colorful energy orbs at the jet pack. The jet pack wasn't as invulnerable as the body, so it got destroyed.

"I don't need to fly to take you out!" Eggman said as the robot turned around and fired energy balls from the gun that came out from the top of its head. Reimu easily dodged them while throwing paper amulets at the usual places. As the paper amulets exploded inside the robot, it started to malfunction more and more. "Argh! That does it! It's all or nothing! Take this! Big Egg Belly Slam!" He made the robot run towards Reimu and leap at her with arms spread out to the sides.

Reimu quickly landed and slapped a spell card onto the floor. "Divine Arts: Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!" The card created a large pillar of orange light that struck the robot from below to keep it airborne, but due to the robot's weight, it still came down at a really slow pace.

Eventually, the pillar of light disappeared, and Reimu quickly got out of the way before the robot fell down on top of her.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Phew… That was close!" she said with a sigh of relief. "Oops… No time to relax! I better get out of here before this whole place blows up! Hope the others made it out themselves already." Then she quickly left the room.

The head of the robot flipped open, and Eggman fell out. "Doh... Lost to another girl that I don't even know… Argh… I can't believe this is happening! I better get going! This place is falling apart soon! The secret weapon better be all right and ready to use!" Then he left the room as well.

* * *

M. Bison looked around the place as the lights constantly flashed and the siren rang. "Looks like this place is falling apart soon," he said. "Really says a lot about its quality…" Then he looked at the badly beaten up Meiling lying on the floor. "But before I get out of here, I'll put an end to your life first! Don't worry; I'll make sure that your death… is a painful and brutal one!"

Meiling weakly lifted up her head to look at M. Bison with half-opened eyes. She tried to move, but her body was in too much a pain to do anything. As she got ready for the worst, she quietly said, "I'm sorry… Mistress Remilia…"

When M. Bison got close to her, he suddenly looked up to see someone falling towards him at a very fast speed, so he quickly jumped out of the way. When the person landed, he saw that it was Remilia. "So the employer of the gatekeeper is here, eh?"

"Right! And I'm not happy with how you treated her," Remilia said. "As her boss, I have every right to avenge her!"

"Mistress Remilia…" Meiling weakly said to her. "I'm sorry… for being so useless…"

"Don't talk, Meiling. Save your energy for trying to stay alive. I'll teach him a lesson for you," Remilia said to her.

"Maybe you ought to ditch her for a more capable gatekeeper," M. Bison said to her. "It's not a good idea to keep someone as weak as her around."

"If she really is weak, then I would've ditched her a long time ago. Why did you think I never did that? Enough talk! Have at you!" She dashed at the villain at a really speed and swung her claws at him, but he easily caught it with his bare hand, much to her surprise.

"Ha! Is that all you've got?" M. Bison asked, and then he swung Remilia away, but she landed on her feet.

"I have a lot more tricks up my sleeves than that!" Remilia said to him.

"Remilia! What's up?" Marisa said as she landed next to her, and the rest of the girls joined them. "Who's that guy? And why is Meiling lying on the floor?"

"What do you think?" Remilia said to her.

"So the girls are all here! Well, most of them anyway," M. Bison said. "You all want to fight me? I'd love to, but this place is falling apart soon. If you fight me now, then I'm afraid that you won't have the opportunity to escape this place alive."

"He has a point," Reisen said. "We should get out of here first. Plus, Meiling is injured. We need to get her treated fast!"

Suddenly, the whole place shook violently, and some of the machines that were around the place exploded. Girders and pieces of the ceiling also started to fall down.

"Reisen's right… We better get out of here fast…" Marisa said. "I wouldn't want to throw away my life for the sake of fighting an enemy…"

"It's a pity," M. Bison said as a large door appeared next to him. "If you can survive this, then we will surely meet again! I look forward to fighting either one of you!" Then he went into the door.

When the door disappeared, Youmu went up to Meiling and carried her by the arm. "Are you all right?"

"My wounds will eventually heal by themselves…" she replied, and then she looked at Remilia. "I'm sorry for being so weak, Mistress Remilia…"

"You don't have to force yourself to win fights you cannot win," Remilia said to her. "It's important that you value your life. Everyone in Scarlet Devil Mansion is a big family, so I do not wish for any one of us to disappear so easily."

"Thank you for showing so much concern to me, Mistress Remilia…"

Suddenly, water burst in from various parts of the wall. "This place is really starting to fall apart! We have to get out of here fast!" Marisa said in panic.

"What about the others?" Sanae asked. "Sonic, Tails, Aya, and Reimu are still nowhere to be found!"

"They should be able to handle things themselves! Let's save our own hides first!"

"How do we get out of here!" Reisen asked in panic.

More and more water poured into the place, so the girls quickly flew into the air. "Let's create our own exit," Remilia suggested. "It's much easier and faster than trying to find one."

"Sounds good to me!" Marisa said as she took out her hakkero. "We'll need lots of firepower to make this work, though. Firepower shouldn't be a problem for us, right?"

* * *

"Whoa! This place sure is going crazy!" Sonic said as he and Tails sped through the place while avoiding falling girders. "And I didn't even do anything hectic!"

"Maybe the girls went a bit overboard with whoever and whatever they're fighting," Tails said.

"Wait, I'm just reminded of something. Where's your mech?"

"You mean the Cyclone? I left it at the lower area of the place. I was forced to abandon it when Eggman tried to drown us…"

"Must be sad, right? I understand that you wish to get it back now, but life is more valuable, so let's get out of here first. You can always build a new one."

"Actually, I installed the Cyclone with an autopilot," Tails said as he got out a remote control. "By pressing this button, the Cyclone will automatically come to wherever this remote control is." Then he pressed the button.

"Wow… You sure have all sort of things ready, don't you?"

As they were rushing through the place, they saw someone coming out from a hallway at the side. "Hey! What do you know? It's Reimu!" Sonic said in surprise.

Reimu saw them and said, "There you are! I've been looking for the way out…" Before she could finish speaking, Sonic ran into her and picked her up in his arms. "Whoa!"

"Don't worry; just leave it all to me!" he told her. "Hold on tight!"

* * *

Eggman hastily ran into a room where Orbot and Cubot were. "Is it ready?" he asked the two robots.

"Ready, boss," Orbot said to him.

"Good! Get onboard quick!"

* * *

Aya was watching from the air at the Egg Cetacea as it shook violently. Explosions appeared on various parts of its body and pieces of its exterior were falling off as well. "Whoa… What happened…?" she wondered. "I wonder if they're all right inside."

After another explosion occurred on the mechanical whale, Marisa and her group flew out from the hole created. "Yes! It's the sky!" Marisa exclaimed.

"We did it!" Sanae said.

"Hey! Nice to see that you're safe and sound!" Aya happily said.

"Aya! What are you doing out here?" Nitori asked her.

"The fight with Eggman brought the both of us out here. I taught him a lesson by throwing him into the sea."

"Oh, so you were fighting him?" Marisa asked. "That's something interesting to hear!"

"Where are Reimu, Sonic, and Tails?"

"Didn't see them at all. They're probably still inside that place."

"I see some people coming out from the mouth!" Nitori said. "It must be them!" They girls looked at the Egg Cetacea, and sure enough, it was the Tornado III flying out with Reimu next to it.

"Woohoo! We're out!" Sonic exclaimed. "The Tornado III sure came to us at the right time!"

Reimu looked to the side and saw her friends. "Look! They all made it out safe and sound!"

"That's great! Guess we all made it out in one piece! You go and meet them. We'll go back to the shore first."

Reimu and the Tornado III joined the rest of the girls in the sky. "Good to see that all of you are all right!" Marisa said to them. "You had us worried for a moment!"

"Is everyone all right?" Reimu asked.

"Aside from Meiling, who lost in a fight to one of the bad guys from that organization, we're all fine."

"My wounds from fighting Eggman are healing as well," Aya said.

"You fought Eggman?"

"Yeah, and I won!"

"I fought Eggman as well, and halfway through the fight, the whole started to fall apart."

"You fought him as well? Hmmm… The fact that you said the whole place started to fall apart during the middle of the fight means that it happened after my fight with him… So he somehow made it back into that mechanical whale?"

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails returned to the shore, and Shadow, Rouge, Omega, and the G.U.N. commander went to meet them. "Good to see you back!" Rouge said. "You sure did a good job messing up that thing!"

"Not surprised," Shadow said. "It's obvious that you would win."

"Good job as always, Sonic!" the G.U.N. commander said to him. "We've taken care of the robots here. Eggman's evil plan has come to an end! By the way, where is he?"

Everyone turned to look at the Egg Cetacea, which was slowly sinking into the sea. "Either he already escaped or is still in there," Sonic said, "but knowing him, he won't be learning his lesson from this. Someday, he's going to come up with something evil again."

"The Chaos Emeralds…" Tails said. "We totally forgot about them…"

"Yeah, I know. I fear that Eggman took them along with him…"

"Hey, there's something underneath the sea," Nitori pointed

Everyone looked down to see a silhouette under the water surface, and it was becoming larger and larger. "What's that…?" Tails asked.

Suddenly, what appeared to be a serpent made of metal came out from the water surface, and it was quickly joined by several other mechanical serpents. "Yikes! What on earth is that!" Marisa said in shock.

Soon, it became clear that the serpents were all connected to a single body, or rather, a face. As the serpents, seven in total, waved around the air, the monstrous face made of metal let out a loud "mechanical-sounding" roar. "Wha… Wha… What… is… that…?" Nitori said in fear.

"Hohohohohoho!" laughed the voice of Eggman. "Shocked, eh? You thought I was a goner, did you? Guess again! I would be a shame if I went down without using my secret weapon first! Behold the terror known as the Chaos Egg Destroyer, the ultimate weapon of mass destruction powered by none other than the Chaos Emeralds! Hohohohohoho!"

Sonic and the others saw and heard everything from the shore. "Whoa! Did you hear that?" Sonic asked. "So that's why he was after the Chaos Emeralds!"

"What do we do, Sonic? The power of the Chaos Emeralds is no laughing matter! Those girls definitely won't stand a chance against him, and I'm afraid that we won't be able to stand a chance as well!"

"Eggman used the power of the Master Emerald before, but we still defeated him, right? The Chaos Emeralds won't be any different! C'mon, Tails! Start the Tornado III again! We're heading over to help them take down Eggman!"

"Guess it's up to you again, Sonic," Rouge said to him. "Heroes never get much opportunity to rest, don't they?"

"Go for it," Shadow said to him. "I'm sure you can do it, but I'll be ready to help if you need to."

"I'm on it!" Sonic said as he and Tails hopped onto the Tornado III. "All right, Tails! Take off!"

"Roger that, Sonic!" Tails said as he started the biplane's engine, and then it took off into the sky.

* * *

"If all seven Chaos Emeralds are used, the user will gain great powers, right…?" Reisen asked. "So that means…"

"We won't know until we fight him first. Plus, it's his ride that's using those emeralds, not the scientist himself," Remilia said. "There are eleven of us here. As long as we fight together, we can surely take down this thing." Then she turned to look at Meiling, who was still being carried by Youmu. "Meiling, are you feeling better now?"

"I can fight again," Meiling said as she separated herself from Youmu. "I'm starting to feel better already."

"Well then," Reimu said, looking at the Chaos Egg Destroyer with an undaunted expression, "let's get this over with fast."

"Feeling confident, eh?" Eggman said from within the mech. "Very well! I shall show you the power of the Chaos Emeralds! It will surely make you go crying for your mommies and daddies! Hohohohoho!"

"My mom and dad aren't in this world, and even if they are, I'm not going to run back to them just because I'm scared-ze!" Marisa said. "I'm a grown girl already, so I won't be scared!"

"I'm the strongest!" Cirno said. "I'm not scared at all!"

"Hey girls!" shouted Sonic as the Tornado III sped in their direction. "We're here to help!"

"Sonic!" Eggman said as the mech turned to him. "You're here at the perfect time! Time to destroy you once and for all!"

"I should be saying that to you! Get ready to meet your maker, Eggman!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

You thought this chapter was going to be the final battle, right? Guess what? Combo breaker! I've been waiting to work on the next chapter for a long time already, so I'm really excited to get started on it!

Sonic games tend to have really, really awesome final boss themes, so you can imagine how epic the final battle of this arc is going to be! Look forward to it!

By the way, I based the design of the Chaos Egg Destroyer after the Nega-Wisp Armor. Just imagine that thing with seven arms instead than two to get the idea of what it looks like.

**Next chapter: The Power of Chaos**

**Trivia:  
**1. According to Sonic Retro and Sonic Wiki, the final boss of Sonic 2 and Sonic 4 is simply called Giant Mech. However, it has also been called Death Egg, named after Eggman's Death Star-ripoff spacestation.**  
**


	89. The Power of Chaos

**Important Notice: **The Chaotic Egg Destroyer has been renamed Chaos Egg Destroyer because the latter, in my opinion, sounds better. Also, a piece of trivia has been added to the previous chapter.

I think a better description for the Chaos Egg Destroyer is required. As I said in the previous chapter, it resembles the Nega-Wisp Armor. The color is the same as well, but the biggest difference is the number of arms, which are longer as well. There are three one each side, and the seventh one in one top of the mech. Another difference is that the mech is much larger, and the cockpit isn't visible from the outside; Eggman is controlling it from the inside.

By the way, I want to tell you that even if you encounter a line break that separates one scene from another, it doesn't necessary mean that the BGM playing in the previous scene, if there is any, has ended. If the next scene takes place in the same place, but focuses on a different people, then the music is still playing. Also, if the story eventually returns to that scene that has a BGM, then that BGM continues playing there again. An example would be the battle between Reimu and Bowser. Not too long after the final boss theme of Super Mario Galaxy starts, the scenes changes to focus on Mario and Aya. Obviously, that theme doesn't play in that scene, but once the scene returns to focus on Reimu and Bowser, it continues to play again.

Yeah, I like to treat my stories as if they are movies.

**Chapter 88  
The Power of Chaos**

* * *

**BGM: Nega-Wisp Armor Phase 1 (Sonic Colors)**

"You're the one who's going to meet your maker, Sonic!" Eggman said. "Be prepared to witness the power of the Chaos Egg Destroyer!"

The Chaos Egg Destroyer let out a roar before pointing one of its serpent arms at the Tornado III. "Red Volcano!" the mech said in a monstrous, digitalized voice. Red light came out from the mouth of the serpent, and then a massive blast of fire that was orange and blue at once shot out.

"Whoa!" Tails quickly steered the biplane out of the way. Even though he managed to steer away in time, the heat of the fire alone caused the tip of the wing to burn up. "That's some seriously high temperature! I even felt my skin burning just now!"

"Yeah, I felt it too," Sonic said. "Looks like Eggman means business this time!"

"Whoa… That's pretty hot!" Marisa said. "Even the air became distorted!"

"And Cirno can't stand the sight of it as well…" Reimu said, carrying the weakened ice fairy on her back.

"Fire… It's really hot…" she weakly said.

"And now it's your turn!" Eggman said as one of the mech turned to them.

"Watch out! Here he comes!" Youmu said, readying her swords.

"Cyan Saber!" the mech shouted as one of the arms produced a massive beam sword to swing at them. Luckily, they all managed to avoid it.

"Whoa! That was close!" Nitori commented.

The mech then flew higher into the air and pointed another one of its arms diagonally downwards. "Blue Tundra!" It fired a light blue beam, but the girls got out of the way again. When the beam struck the water surface, there was a huge explosion of mist that caused a large portion of the sea to freeze over.

"Whoa! Look at that!" Reisen commented.

Suddenly, Cirno got off Reimu's back and said, "Haha! I feel better already! The temperature got colder!"

"We can't just be avoiding his attacks!" Aya said. "We need to do something!" Suddenly, the mech got in front of her in an instant. "Yikes!"

"This is for earlier!" Eggman said.

"Green Hurricane!" the mech shouted as one of the arms released a huge blast of air that instantly sent Aya shooting across the air.

"AAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed the tengu as she flew farther and farther away from the scene.

"Aya!" Reimu gasped.

"Cyan Saber!" the Chaos Egg Destoyer shouted as it attacked Reimu with the beam saber, but Youmu quickly rushed over to help her by holding back the saber with both her swords.

"That was close! Thanks, Youmu!" Reimu said to her.

"It's no use!" Eggman said as the mech withdrew the saber and pointed another arm at them.

"Yellow Thunderstorm!" the mech shouted before firing a burst of electricity at them at point blank.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reimu and Youmu screamed as high voltage electrmicity ran throughout their bodies, and then they passed out and fell towards the sea below.

"Oh no! We have to rescue Reimu and Youmu!" Marisa gasped.

Remilia quickly swooped down and caught them by their arms. "Man! Be more careful, can you!" she said in frustration. "What am I going to do with the both of you now that you're no longer conscious?"

"Remilia! Watch out!" Alice shouted.

Remilia looked up to see the Chaos Egg Destoyer pointing one of its arms at her. "Darn it…!"

"Red Volcano!" But before the mech could unleash its attack, Meiling suddenly punched the head of the serpent from below to angle it upwards, so the fire blast ended up going into the air.

"You get the both of them to the shore first!" Meiling said. "They'll come back to join the fight once they're consciousness again!"

"That's what I was thinking," Remilia said. "And thanks for the help, Meiling!"

"It's my duty! You saved me from that evil man earlier as well, so it only makes sense for me to repay you!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Eggman said.

"Yellow Thunderstorm!" the mech shouted as it fired a lightning bolt from one of its arms at them.

"Oh no!" Meiling gasped.

Nitori quickly got in front of her and Remilia and held up the shell-like device she invented. "Kappa Reflector!" The shell flashed with blue light and created a force field resembling a turtle shell. The lightning bolt struck the force field with such a force that she was blown back into Meiling. However, a portion of the lightning bolt was reflected back to the mech and zapped the same serpent arm that fired it.

"Phew… Safe! Thanks a lot, Nitori!" Meiling said to the kappa.

"My whole body feels numb…" Nitori cried. "It actually did reflect that lightning bolt… but… the power is so strong that… that… my Kappa Reflector short-circuited…!"

"Gray Explosion!" the mech shouted as it fired a large amount of missiles from another one of its arms.

The girls dodged the missiles as they flew in their direction, and Alice commanded her dolls to fire laser beams at the mech. "Hourai Doll!" The dolls fired powerful pink lasers from their arms.

The beams struck the Chaos Egg Destroyer in the face. "Ha! Your beam attack is no match for my beam attack!" Eggman said. "I'll show what a real laser beam is!" And he pressed a button that made the mech open its mouth and fire a huge laser beam at Alice.

Alice quickly got out of the way and pulled her dolls to safety as well, but some of them got blown to oblivion. "Tsk! You'll pay for destroying my dolls!"

"I'll show you what a real laser beam is-ze!" Marisa said as she took out her hakkero and a spell card. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" And she used them to fire a huge beam at the mech.

The Chaos Egg Destroyer turned its aim to her, and because its beam was stronger, it pushed back the Master Spark with relative ease.

"Yikes!" Marisa quickly got out of the way before she got hit. "What! My Master Spark lost!"

"Hohoho! Your powers are no match for my brilliant mind!" Eggman laughed. "All right, enough dillydallying around! Time for serious business! None of you will escape this!"

"Purple Gravity!" the Destroyer shouted as the serpent arm on top of it opened its mouth to create a purple vortex that started to suck in a large amount of air, and the girls found themselves being pulled towards it.

"What the! A black hole!" Sanae said in shock.

The girls desperately tried to fly against the pulling force, but it was far too powerful. "I can't escape it at all!" Aya, who returned to the scene some time ago, cried. "I'm flying my fastest, but I'm not moving forward at all!"

"This black hole will suck you in and crush you into the size of an atom molecule!" Eggman said. "It's useless trying to escape it! Its gravitational force is almost as powerful as a real black hole!"

Suddenly, Sonic dropped onto the serpent arm that was using the attack and smashed it in his ball form. He hit it with such a force that the serpent was forced to close its mouth, thus stopping the attack.

"What! Sonic!"

Sonic continued to bounce on top of the serpent arm. He hit it so hard that one could hear the sound of metal being struck from afar. After bouncing on top of it a few times, Sonic stop and spin vertically in midair for a few seconds before shooting straight down, leaving behind a blue streak when he did. Pieces of metal flew all over the place when he struck the serpent arm's head, and then he bounced off into the air and landed onto the Tornado III's wing when it flew by.

"Argh! Curse you, Sonic!"

"Enough of this madness, Eggman!" the blue hedgehog said to the villain. "You're going down no matter how powerful your machine is!" Then he saw something shiny on the serpent arm. "Uh? What's that…?"

"Red Volcano!" shouted the mech as another arm breathed fire at him. The Tornado got out of the way in time, but once again, it wings got singed by the heat.

"Oh no! The Tornado III is starting to have a hard time balancing itself in air due to bits of the wing getting burned away!" Tails cried.

"You go back to the shore!" Sonic told him.

"What about you? You can't fight alone in the air!"

"Don't worry; I can handle things myself!" Sonic said before jumping off the Tornado and towards the Destroyer with arms spread out.

"Sonic!"

Sonic landed onto one of the arms and then ran along it to the one at the top of the mech. Once there, he looked at the place where he attacked and saw a shiny purple thing inside the crack left behind. "Just as I thought! A Chaos Emerald! He installed it into the arm's head! The same must apply for the rest as well!" Suddenly, the arm shook violently in an attempt to get Sonic off, but he held onto it tightly. "Whoa!"

During the midst of the shaking, Sonic punched through the crack and pulled out the emerald. "Got it! Whoa!" But he fell off. "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!"

Suddenly, Aya swooped down and caught him by the arm. "Gotcha!"

"Thanks a lot, Aya!" Sonic said, and then he looked at the purple emerald. "That's it! I can use these emeralds to transform into Super Sonic! I'll have to get all seven of them first, though."

"So you want us to get all seven of the emeralds from each of the arm's heads, right? Okay, leave it to us!" Then she turned to the other girls. "You heard that? Aim for each of the heads and take out the emeralds hidden inside! Give them all to Sonic whenever you get one!"

"Got it!" Marisa replied.

"I won't let you do it so easily!" Eggman said. "Just because you took an emerald doesn't mean you rendered the Chaos Egg Destroyer unable to attack! The power of the Chaos Emeralds has already been stored into the Destroyer, so even without them, it can still perform these powerful attacks! Here's the proof!"

"Purple Gravity!" the mech shouted as the serpent arm at the top opened its mouth again to create a black hole, but before the black hole became powerful enough, a red spear flew into the mouth to halt the attack.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

"What!" Eggman said in shock.

"No more of that!" Remilia said.

"This machine is very well-made, so it's not going to be destroyed so easily! Take this!"

"Yellow Thunderstorm!" The mech fired a lightning bolt at Remilia from one of its arms.

The vampire flew to the side very fast and fired a red chain from a vortex on her palm. "Red Chain!" The chain tied itself around the serpent arm that fired the lightning bolt, and then she pulled herself onto the arm's head. She covered her claws in red energy and tried to smash through the head with it. While she did succeed in making small holes on the surface, she still ended up breaking her claws. "Ugh! Break open, will you!" Then she punched it so hard that her fist went through it, and when she pulled her fist back out, she was holding the yellow Chaos Emerald.

"Get out of there!" Eggman shouted as the serpent arm shook her off. Remilia back off from it and looked at the yellow emerald while throwing it up and down in her hand.

When Aya flew by with Sonic in her hands, Remilia threw the emerald to Sonic. "Take this! This better be worth breaking my claws for!" she said in a frustrated tone.

"I assure you that it's worth breaking your claws for!" Sonic told her as he caught the emerald.

"Argh! You'll pay for this!" Eggman shouted.

The Chaos Egg Destroyer then backed off from the girls and Sonic at a fast speed. "Blue Tundra!" One of the arms fired a light blue beam at them.

"I'm not afraid of this!" Cirno said as she flew towards the beam. The beam struck her, but due to being an ice fairy, she did not get frozen by it; instead, she got pushed back by it. She then flew out from the beam and headed for the arm firing it. "Ice Saber!" She formed an ice sword in her hand and brought it down onto the top of its head. However, the ice sword shattered into pieces. "What!"

The arm shook and got her off it, and then another arm pointed at her. "Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted as she used a spell card to summon a ball of light that blinded Eggman.

"Ugh! My eyes!" Eggman cried.

Acting quick, Reisen got onto the arm that was previously going to attack Cirno and pointed her finger close to the surface. "Psycho Missile!" She fired an energy missile at point blank.

BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The explosion caused Reisen to spin back through the air a few feet, and then Cirno flew towards the crack left behind on the surface with her fist covered in ice. "If my Ice Saber won't work, then I'll use my Ice Punch! Hiyaaaaaaaaa!" With a powerful punch to the crack, her hand went through the surface, and then she pulled it back out. "Haha! I'm the strongest! I punched through metal!"

Aya and Sonic flew by, and Sonic called out to her, "Cirno! Get the Chaos Emerald quick!"

"Oh yeah!" Cirno put her hand into the hole again and took out the blue Chaos Emerald. "Got it!" And she threw it to Sonic.

"Argh! How dare you!" Eggman growled as the Destroyer shook that arm to get her off. "Burn to crisp!" Another arm pointed at her and was about to attack when suddenly Sonic flew into it in his ball form to interrupt it. The blue hedgehog bounced back into the air, and then Aya caught him by the arms. "Argh! Sonic!"

"Duplex Barrier!" shouted Reimu's voice all of a sudden, and then a large double-layered barrier appeared around the Chaos Egg Destroyer.

"What in the world!"

Marisa turned to Reimu and said, "Reimu! You're up again!"

"I have to admit that he really got me back there," the shrine maiden replied. "Thanks to you all keeping him accompanied, I managed to whip up Duplex Barrier."

"Bah! I can easily break through a box like this!" Eggman said.

"Don't bother; that barrier is very durable."

"We'll see!"

"Cyan Saber!" the Destroyer shouted as one of the arms released a beam saber from its mouth. The tip of the saber stopped at when it touched the inside of the inner barrier, but suddenly, cracks started to appear on it.

"What!" Reimu said in shock.

The saber extended to its maximum length and broke through both layers of the barrier as a result, and then the Destroyer swung its arm around to cut up the barrier and made it disappear. "Haha! Who's laughing now?" Eggman said.

"Whoa! He actually destroyed the barrier! That's insane!" Marisa said in shock.

"Die!" Eggman shouted as the Destroyer swung its beam saber at Reimu and Marisa, but Youmu quickly came to block the attack with her swords. "You again!" Suddenly, another Youmu appeared and attacked it from the side to interrupt it. "What the! There are two of them!"

"Rise from Delusion Slash!" the Youmu who blocked the saber said as she coated her blade of the Roukanken with an aura that made it look larger and longer, and then she swung it at the serpent arm.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The head was cleaved through the middle, and then the second Youmu rushed over to take the cyan Chaos Emerald from the opening created. "Pass it over to me, Youmu!" Sonic said as he came by with Aya. That Youmu threw it to him without saying a word. "Thanks! And… what's with there being two Youmu…?" Then the Youmu changed into Myon. "Whoa! So your phantom half can transform into a copy of yourself? Cool!"

"Four down, three to go!" Aya said.

"You'll pay for this!" Eggman angrily said.

"Gray Explosion!" The Destroyer fired several missiles from one of its arm at Youmu.

Youmu held up both her swords in a certain position, and then two squares made of energy lines stacked in front of each other appeared in the air in front of her. "Ageless Obsession!" When she slashed the squares, they exploded into a large number of purple bullets that collided with the missiles. The air was filled with massive explosions as a result.

BAAAAAAAANG! BOOOOOOOOOOM! KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Youmu!" Reisen shouted.

Youmu flew out from the smoke. "I'm all right!"

"But not for long!" Eggman said.

"Red Volcano!" The Destroyer aimed and shot fire at Youmu, who quickly flew away to avoid it. As the mech tried to shoot her down, a large amount of water suddenly struck that serpent arm in the mouth.

"Uh?" Eggman turned and see that Nitori had formed a pillar of water taken from the sea to counter the fire attack.

"Water versus fire!" Nitori, who was floating just above the water surface next to the pillar of water, shouted. "Guess who the winner is!"

"Red Volcano!" The Destroyer aimed the fire in her direction. Apparently, the heat was so intense that it actually evaporated the water.

"What!" Nitori said in shock. She quickly got out of the way before the fire got to her. "Water lost! I don't believe it!"

"Nine Stab Syllables!" Suddenly, a large colorful net fell on top of the Chaos Egg Destroyer and made it stop the fire attack.

"What the!" Eggman said in surprise.

As the mech tried to free itself from the energy net, Sanae flew onto one of the serpent's arm head that was sticking out from one of the openings. She slapped several paper amulets onto the surface and also placed several packets there, and then she moved out of the way before they exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the explosion cleared, she came back to see the result. "What! It did nothing at all!"

"Argh! Get this thing off me!" Eggman shouted as he made the Chaos Egg Destroyer spin rapidly, and Sanae fell off because of it. After spinning several times, the energy net disappeared. "Hoho! Good!"

"My attacks aren't strong enough to break through its exterior!" Sanae said.

Several dolls flew over to the same arm and latched themselves onto where Sanae tried to blow up, and then Alice threw three dolls there. "Return Inanimate!" Just before the dolls touched the surface, she snapped her fingers. "Artful Sacrifice!" And all the dolls exploded simultaneously.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The combined explosions of the dolls were strong enough to shatter the exterior of the arm, thus revealing the gray Chaos Emerald. Alice quickly sent Shanghai over to retrieve it. However, as the doll was returning to Alice, the same serpent arm caught her in its mouth. "Shanghai!" Alice said in shock.

Meiling rushed up to the serpent arm and forcefully pried open its mouth with her hands, and when the opening was big enough, Shanghai flew out and thanked Meiling by nodding her head before returning to Alice. "Thanks for the help, Meiling!" Alice said to the gatekeeper.

"No problem!" Meiling said, still keeping the mouth open.

"Gray Explosion!" the Destroyer shouted.

"Eeks!" Meiling dropped altitude before the missiles came out right in front of her face.

"Throw me onto that one!" Sonic said to Aya, looking at one of the serpent arms. "I'll get one of the emeralds!"

"Got it! Here goes!" Aya said as she swung Sonic into the air.

Sonic curled up and shot himself in the direction of the serpent arm and smashed it in the head really hard, and he bounced back into the air before hitting it again. "Argh! Get lost!" Eggman shouted as he made the arm bat Sonic away, but Aya flew by and caught him.

Suddenly, a pair of mechanicals caught the serpent arm from the side, and then Nitori pulled herself onto it. One of the arms changed into a drill, and she used it to drill the spot Sonic hit. Because the exterior was already weakened somewhat by Sonic, it didn't take her too long to drill through it, and then she reached her hand inside to take out the green Chaos Emerald.

"Argh! Not again!" Eggman angrily said. "Get lost!" He shook off Nitori, and she went to Sonic and Aya to hand the emerald to the hedgehog.

"Here you go, Sonic!"

"Thanks!" Sonic said as he took it from her. "All right, one more left!"

"You're not getting the last one so easily!" Eggman said.

"Red Volcano!" the Destroyer shouted as it released fire from one of its arms to burn down Sonic and the girls.

They flew around to avoid the fire, and when the attack stopped, Marisa flung a pot into the serpent arm's mouth before it closed. "Eat my Magical Recycled Bomb!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Why you!" Eggman angrily said.

The head was blown into pieces, and the red Chaos Emerald flew out from the explosion and into the air. Reimu caught it and then threw it to Sonic. "Here! The last one!"

"Okay! Aya! Throw me at the emerald! I'll catch it in midair!" Sonic told the tengu.

"You sure about this?" Aya asked.

"Just do it!"

"All right! Here goes!" Aya then threw Sonic at the emerald, and he caught it in midair.

Immediately after catching the emerald, it let out a glow, and then the other six emeralds appeared around Sonic and orbited him while giving off light and sparkles. "Oh no you don't!" Eggman shouted.

"Gray Explosion!" The Chaos Egg Destroyer fired several missiles at the transforming Sonic.

"Sonic! Watch out!" Sanae shouted, but the missiles struck Sonic.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

"Oh no!"

"SONIC!" Reisen gasped.

"Did I get him? Did I get him?" Eggman asked as he leaned close to the screen showing the explosions.

The girls watched in horror and silence at the mass of smoke left behind by the explosions. Suddenly, something golden shot out from the smoke and rammed the Chaos Egg Destroyer in where the nose should be and pushed it back several meters.

CRASH!

"What was that?" Nitori asked.

The girls look at the golden thing and saw that it was Sonic. Not only was his whole body golden and giving off light of the same color, but his spines where also slightly sticking upwards.

"Whoa… Amazing!" Cirno exclaimed.

"So that's what he meant when he used those emeralds to transform into Super Sonic!" Aya said. "Time for pictures!" And she took pictures of Super Sonic.

"Not bad looking," Remilia commented.

"Argh! Darn it!" Eggman angrily shouted as he pounded the control panel.

"You fail!" Cubot said in his chipmunk-like voice.

"Shut up!" Eggman shouted as he smacked the robot into the wall.

After hitting the wall, Cubot spoke with a different voice, "Ow! You didn't have to hit me, did you!"

"Why are you speaking in Sonic's voice!"

"Hey, you're right! This is Sonic's voice!"

"It would appear that Sonic's voice has been recorded before and is stored in the voice database," Orbot explained.

"I remember now… When creating a robotic version of Sonic for the first time, I implemented it with Sonic's voice, but then removed because it put me in a bad mood whenever I hear it… I can't believe it ended up in your voice system…"

"You should've thrown out the trash often," Cubot told him.

"Shut your mouth! If I hear that voice again…!" Eggman then turned back to the monitor. "I don't have time to mess with you! I have a bigger fish to deal with! Sonic! Don't get too cocky just because you have transformed into Super Sonic! The Chaos Egg Destroyer has the power of the Chaos Emeralds too, so you're basically fighting a super being as well!"

"Then let's see who is more super, Eggman!" Sonic said.

**BGM: Nega-Wisp Armor Phase 2 (Sonic Colors)**

"Take this! It's all you can eat!" Eggman shouted.

"Red Volcano! Yellow Thunderstorm!" The Chaos Egg Destroyer fired from two of its serpent arms. Despite the fact that the head of the one that was originally equipped with the red Chaos Emerald was destroyed, it was still able to shoot fire from its "neck".

Super Sonic dashed at the incoming elemental projectiles, and a golden aura appeared around him when he did. The golden hedgehog collided into the projectiles and was unharmed, and he was pushing against it as well. However, the combined force of the projectiles was so powerful that he wasn't able to move at top speed. "Ugh…! I have to admit that my head is burning…!" he said.

"Cyan Saber!" The Destroyer whipped out and swung its beam saber at Sonic from above while the fire and electricity was still being fired, and he was knocked out of the air.

"Whoa!"

"Sonic!" Reimu shouted.

Sonic came to a stop and then flew in the direction of the Destroyer. "I'm not done yet, Eggman!" he said.

"Green Hurricane!" The Destroyer fired a blast of wind at him, and he was instantly blown into the sea.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Tails and the others were watching the fight from the shore. "Even Super Sonic is having a hard time against Eggman!" Tails said in disbelief.

"I have to admit that the doctor really outdid himself this time," Rouge said. "Hope things end up well for Sonic…"

"Sonic!" Amy shouted out loud. "You can do it! Don't lose to Eggman!"

"Whoa! When did you get here, Amy?" Tails said, surprised by her sudden appearance.

Back above the sea, Nitori said, "Wait! Isn't Sonic afraid of water? I have to go and help him at once!" Suddenly, Sonic flew back out of the water. "Oh, he's safe!"

"Guess being super gives him the ability to swim as well," Marisa said.

"Red Volcano! Green Hurricane!" The mech combined its fire and wind attack to create a massive column of spiraling fire, and Sonic was pushed back by its intense force.

"Augh!" he cried, and he was pushed into the sea.

"Blue Tundra!" The mech then fired a beam at the sea to freeze a portion of it.

"Haha! How'd you like that?" Eggman asked.

Cirno and Nitori flew onto the surface of the mass of ice, and Nitori said, "Don't worry, Sonic! We'll get you out at once!"

"Cirno! Nitori! Watch out!" Reimu shouted.

They both looked up and saw the Destroyer firing another beam at them, but Aya quickly got in front of them and whipped up a tornado. "Maple Leaf Fan!" The beam was sucked up the tornado and merged with it to become a spinning column of ice and snow. When the tornado dissipated, ice particles flew in every direction.

"Wow! Looks beautiful!" Cirno commented.

"No time for comments like that!" Aya said to her. "Try to free Sonic from the ice while we try our best to take on Eggman!"

"Right! We need to free Sonic fast!" Nitori said.

"All right! Leave it to me! I'll smash it into pieces" Cirno said as she flew into the air, and then took out a spell card. "Ice Cube: Great Crusher!" The spell card transformed into a massive ice cube that fell on top of frozen sea.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Looks like it worked!" Nitori said. "Wait a minute… The ice cube is going to fall on top of Sonic and push him down into the sea! You're only making things…"

Suddenly, something shot out from the ice cube and into the air. "See? Sonic's free again!" Cirno said.

"Um… Yeah…"

Sonic turned back his head and said out loud to them, "Thanks for the help! I needed to be able to move a small part of my body in order to get out, and whatever you did allowed me to do so!" Then he turned to the Chaos Egg Destroyer. "All right, Eggman! You've been doing very well against me, but it's time to turn the tables!"

"Like that'll happen!" Eggman replied. "You won't win this time, Sonic! Not even with the power of the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Red Volcano! Yellow Thunderstorm!" The Destroyer attacked with both fire and electricity.

Sonic dodged the attacks while approaching the mech, but the mech quickly moved back to avoid getting hit by his charging attack.

"Gray Explosion!"

Sonic looked down to see the Destroyer firing missiles at him, and he flew in the direction of the missiles and avoided them as he tried to get up close to the mech.

"Cyan Saber!" The mech quickly unleashed its beam saber to swing at Sonic and was successful in batting him away.

"Ow!" Sonic came to a stop and rubbed his shoulder, and then he quickly got out of the way before he got hit by the saber again.

The mech tried to hit him with the saber again, but Youmu quickly blocked the attack with an enlarged Roukanken. "Rise from Delusion Slash!"

"Thanks a lot, Youmu!" Sonic said as flew in the direction of the Destroyer again.

"Purple Gravity!" The Destroyer opened the mouth of the arm at the top of its head to create a black hole, and Sonic felt himself being dragged towards it. However, a red chain suddenly wrapped itself around the mouth to force it close and stop the attack.

"What the!" Eggman said in shock.

"Keep that mouth shut!" Remilia, who was using the chain, said.

"I'll go for that one first! It's easily the most dangerous of the bunch!" Sonic thought as he charged at the serpent arm. "Here goes!" And he sped up his movement.

The serpent arm shook around to free itself from Remilia's chain, and then Sonic rammed it through the neck to tear it in two. Remilia let go of the mouth, and the serpent arm fell into the sea.

"Argh! Why you!" Eggman angrily said. He turned his attention to Remilia. "It's all your fault! Die!"

"Yellow Thunderstorm!" The Destroyer fired electricity in her direction, so she quickly closed her parasol and then flew out of the projectile's way.

She got underneath the mech and then threw a red spear at it to hit it from below. "Heart Break!"

BAAAAAAAAANG!

"Argh! You're all gonna pay for this!" Eggman angrily said, and then he saw Sonic charging in his direction. "Charging straight at me like that means coming to straight to your death! Eat this!" And he pressed a button that made the Chaos Egg Destroyer charge up the laser cannon in its mouth, and the laser hit Sonic.

"Ngh! This won't take me down!" Sonic said as he tried to push back the laser.

While Sonic was pushing the laser, the Destroyer fired several missiles at him. "Gray Explosion!" But Aya swung her fan at the missiles to send them flying into the distance.

"You're not messing with him!" she said.

"Tsk! Annoying girl!" Eggman angrily said.

"Uh?" Eggman saw that Sonic was actually pushing back the laser more and more. "Oh no!" He pressed the same button to increase the firepower.

Sonic was pushed back again. "I won't lose to you!" Sonic tried his best to push back the laser again.

"Accursed hedgehog! Die!"

"Give it up, Eggman! You may have the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but I have friends on my side!" Sonic shouted. "The power of teamwork and friends surpass what you have! YOU… WON'T… BEAT… ME! HRAAAAAAAAAAAH!" With a loud shout, Sonic pushed the laser all the way back to the Destroyer.

"NO! DON'T!" Eggman shouted as Sonic got closer and closer to his mech, and then the hedgehog went right through its mouth and out of the other side.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Yeah! He did it!" Aya exclaimed.

With a large hole made on it, the Chaos Egg Destroyer began to short-circuit and flail its arms around wildly. Inside, Eggman was madly pressing the buttons to try to get everything under control. "Argh! It's ruined! It's all ruined! RUINED!"

"See? I told ya it wouldn't make any difference," Cubot said.

"However, you have to admit that the boss really did try his best this time," Orbot said. "On the bright side, it's not like we're out of ideas. Remember the plan that involves making use the aliens called Wisps that we discovered some time back? We can go ahead with that plan now that this is one is apparently a failure."

"WOULD THE TWO OF YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!" Eggman yelled.

"C'mon, everyone!" Reimu shouted as she got out a spell card. "Time to give it the finishing blow!"

"Good idea-ze!" Marisa said. "A machine the size of that will surely go out with a really impressive bang!"

"Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon Orb!" Reimu fired a large yin-yang orb.

"Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa fired a huge laser beam.

"Spear the Gungnir!" Remilia threw a giant red spear.

"Hourai Doll!" Alice made her dolls fire laser beams from their palms.

"Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon!" Reisen fired a pair of eye beams that merged together to become a large beam.

"White Rose Cluster!" Cirno fired a large ball of ice.

"Kappa Missile!" Nitori fired several homing missiles.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T!" Eggman screamed. All the projectiles struck the Chaos Egg Destroyer at the same time.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Pieces of the mech flew in everywhere, and Eggman, still seated on his chair, and his two robot lackeys shot out of the explosion and soared across the sky until they could no longer be seen. The doctor also screamed all along the way. "!"

"Ha! How'd you like that?" Sonic called out in the direction they flew in. "Happy flight, Eggman!"

"Yes! We did it!" Cirno shouted, punching the air. The other girls also cheered in victory.

Back at the shore, everyone was also cheering in victory. "THEY DID IT!" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah! They won!" Tails exclaimed while jumping up and down.

"Hmph! I knew I didn't have to do anything," Shadow said. "It's a bit disappointing, but still, it's still feels good knowing that the doctor learned his lesson the hard way."

"Well, those girls sure are something!" Rouge said. "They really did help Sonic big time! If it weren't for them, I'm afraid that Sonic really wouldn't stand a chance this time!"

"Don't underestimate Sonic!" Amy told her. "Even without their help, he can still defeat Eggman!"

Back in the air, Sonic and the girls got together, and the hedgehog gave them a thump up. "Good job, everyone! Thanks for giving him the finishing blow! You really helped me a lot!"

"We did our best," Reimu said. "We're glad to be of help!"

"Yep! This is the power of teamwork and friends, just like you said-ze!" Marisa said while adjusting her hat.

"All right, let's get back to the shore. I'm afraid the power of the Chaos Emerald is about to run…" Before Sonic could finish speaking, he suddenly turned back to normal, and the Chaos Emeralds shot through the air in seven different directions until they could no longer be seen. "Yikes!" But Aya quickly caught him by the arms. "Phew! Thanks a lot, Aya!"

"No problem!" the tengu replied.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Working on this chapter turned out harder than I thought. I thought it would be longer as well. I guess it's best to keep things at a good length and not too dragged out.

I don't think this chapter's quality reached my expectation, but I still hope you enjoyed this arc's finale, not to mentioning the awesome final battle theme! Before Sonic Colors was released, I actually believed that Eggman would be the final boss in a 3D Sonic game for once, and I planned to use the final boss theme for the final battle of this arc. Guess what? Eggman really is the final boss (Wii version only, though)! However, I was expecting the final battle to involve Super Sonic, but still, it's nice to have Eggman being the final boss of a 3D Sonic game, and it also shows that Sonic can be awesome without going super!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: You Can Do Anything**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

I said that Mokou was planned to be one of the main characters of this story, the truth is that I instantly dismissed the idea of using her right off the bat due to her immortality. I only thought it was a good idea to use her in the story after I have already posted some of the chapters onto this site. Of course, it's already too late by then.


	90. You Can Do Anything

**Chapter 89  
You Can Do Anything**

* * *

M. Bison and Rez arrived at the room where the rest of the villains were and took their seats in front of the table. "Eggman turned out to be as competent as we thought after all," M. Bison said.

"It's no surprise given his record of failures in the past," the Emperor said. "But then, the same can be said for some of here as well. I'm being honest here, so I hope nobody is offended by that, even if they do not wish to have memories of their past defeats."

"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" Sigma said in an angry tone.

Rez looked around and asked, "Where is Mr. King?"

"He went to the world of one of our clients with the boss," the Emperor replied.

"So he finally decided to do things himself?" M. Bison asked.

"If the girls run into him, then perhaps he can give them the lesson that they deserve. It may or may not be a good thing. Some of here might have a score to settle with one of those girls by yourselves."

"I wouldn't mind as long the ones that are killed are ones who I have no interest in," Dracula said.

"He better kill every single one of them!" I.M. Meen angrily said. "Those girls have gone too far for their own good!"

"You're only saying that because you do not wish to eventually face them yourself," Exdeath said to him.

"Argh! If that is what the most of you here think about me, then I'll show that I am capable of taking out one of them all by myself! I'm going to show you for sure!"

* * *

On the night of the same day Eggman was defeated, Sonic, his friends, and the Gensokyo girls spent their time at Twinkle Park to celebrate their victory over the evil doctor. Needless to say, they were having a fun time.

Alice was playing with a claw crane, trying to get her hands on one of the stuffed animals inside, but like with most people, she was kept on failing. She growled with frustration and said, "This thing must be rigged! I've tried ten times already, and the claw released the stuffed animal all ten times whenever it stopped rising into the air!"

* * *

Tails took a peek from behind a pillar, and after making sure that there was nobody else, he quietly stepped out with a gun in his hand.

"There he is!" shouted a girl's voice.

"Yikes!" Tails quickly pointed his gun in the direction the voice came from to see Sanae and Nitori running towards him where firing laser beams at him constantly. Because the two girls were going trigger happy, Tails decided to take flight rather than fight, and the girls gave chase while firing mercilessly.

* * *

"Yeehaw!" Sonic shouted as he snaked his way down the racetrack while avoiding other racers.

"Geez! Even when driving, that guy is fast!" Aya said as she tried to catch up to Sonic in her kart.

Marisa suddenly caught up to her side. "What's wrong? The fastest in Gensokyo isn't living up to her name anymore-ze?"

"Shut your mouth!" Aya said in frustration as she tried to ram into Marisa's kart, but Marisa stepped on the brake to make Aya hit the side of the track instead. "Wha!"

"See ya!" Marisa said as she went on ahead of the tengu.

"Argh! I'm not going to lose here, at least not to that thieving witch!" Aya growled. "YA!" She was hit in the back by a random racer and thus sent spinning forward.

* * *

Reisen was playing game of target shooting, and she was able to shoot down all the targets. "Wow! You're very good, Miss Reisen!" Cream said, clapping her hands. "You passed every difficulty level!"

"Shooting is what I'm the best at!" she boasted.

* * *

Reimu and Cirno were walking together while eating ice-creams. "Amusement parks sure are a great place after all, don't you think, Cirno?" Reimu asked the ice fairy.

"Yep! This ice-cream is delicious too!" she replied.

"I've only saw and read about amusement parks of the outside world on publications found at Kourindou, and I actually wanted to go to those places to give them a try. It's nice to have my wish come true!"

Amy came to up to them and said, "Reimu! Cirno! Are you enjoying your time here?"

"You bet!"

"Twinkle Park is one of the most popular tourist attractions here, not to mention the best amusement park of this place! It would be a surprise if you don't find it enjoyable.

"I can imagine two possible people not enjoying it…" Reimu said as images of a certain poltergeist and a bridge princess appeared in her mind.

"By the way, have you seen Sonic? He ran away from me to enjoy by himself! That guy is so unromantic! I was hoping to ride the Ferris wheel with him! Imagine the Ferris wheel suddenly stopping while we are at the peak of it! Oh, how wonderful if something like that happens! Ferris wheels are without doubt attractions made for couples!"

"What is she talking about?" Cirno curiously asked.

"Stuff related to love… You'll know more when you grow older…" Reimu replied.

"Boy! That was fun!" said Sonic as he came out from a nearby building. "I won first place! But then, that's no surprise. I win first place every time I ride that."

"Unbreakable record, eh?" Aya said, sounding frustrated.

Marisa giggled and said, "Somebody's mad about not having a perfect record!"

"I can hear you!"

"Sonic!" Amy said as he rushed over to Sonic to grab his arm.

"Don't do that so suddenly!" Sonic said to her.

"You left me behind! I demand that you ride the Ferris wheel with me right now!" Then she dragged him across the place.

"Hey! Slow down! Don't be in such a rush!"

The girls watched the two hedgehog heading in the direction of a massive Ferris wheel visible in the distance, and Marisa said, "Couples are fun to look at, don't you think?"

* * *

On their way to the Ferris wheel, Amy and Sonic encountered a purple chameleon, a crocodile, and a bee came up to them. "Sonic! Amy!" the crocodile—Vector—said to them.

"Oh hi, Chaotix!" Sonic said. "What's up?"

"We heard that you were here, so we came to look for you," the chameleon—Espiom—said. "About our client… We are glad to tell her that we have found what she is looking for."

"Really? Wow! That was fast!"

"Of course we get things done fast!" Vector said. "Don't underestimate the mind of a detective, especially when there are three of them working together! Well, this one didn't do as much work." He pointed to the bee—Charmy—to show who he was referring too.

"Anyway, this is what she is looking for," Vector said as he took out a white ring with piece of black metal shaped like Sonic's head attached to the middle of it via short chains at the top and bottom.

"So this is the one, eh?" Sonic asked. "How'd you find it?"

"We simply looked into what she told us," Vector replied. "When you were in the Smash Brothers Tournament, an icon of your head was used to represent our world. First, we asked all the people from our world that went to Smash World before. After asking every possible people we know of and still did not get an answer, we started searching for all over for things that are shaped like your head. We even went onto the Internet to look for merchandises shaped like that.

"However, even though you are called a hero by many people in this world, products related to you are surprisingly few! We did find a bobble head modeled after you, not to mention a key chain. The key chain was actually modeled after our world's icon, though it had eyes, which the original icon didn't. Anyway, we had it delivered to our house. Luckily, the store selling it wasn't situated in a faraway place, so it came to us within an hour. The first thing we did when we got our hand on it was say World Light to see if it glittered, but to our surprise, it didn't! We came to the conclusion that this key chain isn't the one our client is looking for, so we looked on the Internet again."

"Can't we just tell him that it hanging on the wall of our living room the whole time?" Charmy said.

There was silence among them for several seconds, and then Sonic said, "Hanging on the wall of your living room the whole time…?"

"Precisely," Espio said. "Charmy told us that he saw it glittering when Vector said that phrase. That was when we remembered Master Hand giving it to us on the day we were returning from Smash World. He wanted to give it to you as a souvenir for visiting Smash World and participating in the tournament, but he had other business to deal with, so he gave it to us and told us to give it to you instead. However, we had a hard time tracking you down after coming back to this world since you're always running around the island, so we kept it with us until we can get in contact you. However… we completely forgot about it until now…"

"Geez… Thanks for remembering it now… Well, since Reimu and her friends are looking for this, I should be giving it to them, even though Master Hand wanted to give it to me. Thanks a bunch! I'll pay you!"

"Oh yeah, the cost is going to be higher than the original," Vector said.

"Why's that?"

"Because we went through the trouble of ordering that key chain."

"You know… You could've just gone to the store to check on it instead of ordering it to your house… That way, you don't have to pay for anything at all!"

Charmy slapped his forehead and said, "He's right! Why haven't we thought of that?" Vector and Espio were both silent with embarrassed looks on their face.

"Anyway, I'll go and show it to them now. We'll talk about the price later!" Then Sonic rushed back to where the girls were.

"Sonic! You're supposed to ride the Ferris wheel with me!" Amy shouted.

Charmy turned to Vector and said, "If it weren't for me, you guys would've never found out that the thing our client was looking for was in our house the whole time! And yet you said that I didn't do as much work as you two!"

"You weren't doing anything when Espio and I went around gathering information and looking up on the Internet, so I wasn't lying when I said you didn't do much," Vector said.

* * *

Around afternoon of the next morning, Knuckles was lying down in front of the Master Emerald's altar, watching the sky while humming a tune. Just then, he saw a group of people and a biplane flying in the sky, and they were getting ready to descend. "It must be them," he thought.

He got up and watched as the Gensokyo girls and the Tornado II made their landing, and then he approached them. "So you're done with whatever reason we came here for, I presume?" he asked them.

"Right; you better have fixed my shrine already," Reimu said to him.

"Why don't you go and check it out?"

Reimu quickly went up to her shrine and went inside to see some wooden planks nailed onto where the hole was. "I was hoping that you'd make it less obvious," she said.

"Hey! I did my best, and I'm not a carpenter!" Knuckles angrily said. "You should be thankful that I even got it done in a single try!"

"So you're saying that you might actually mess up and make a bigger hole?" Marisa asked him.

"Whatever… I'll have to fix it some other time myself, but thanks anyway," Reimu said.

"You don't sound so thankful…" Knuckles grumbled.

"So you're leaving now?" Sonic asked as he approached the shrine.

"We are," Sanae said to him.

"All right, then I wish you all a good trip! You only have one more essence to collect, right? I'm sure you can find it! You girls are very strong, so I'm sure you can do anything! Say hi to Master Hand and Crazy Hand for me when you get to Smash World!"

"We will! Huh? Crazy Hand?"

"That's Master Hand's younger brother."

"Oh, he has a younger brother?"

"Yeah, and that guy's quite a crazy fellow! You'll have to see him for yourself in order to understand."

"Okay… Thanks for the information!"

"C'mon, get inside," Reimu said to the girls. "We're leaving now."

The girls said good-bye to Sonic and his friends, and then they went inside the shrine. Reimu let the Light Essence float into the air before going inside, and like always, the essences circled above the Hakurei Shrine several times, and then a pillar of light appeared and engulfed the shrine. When the light disappeared, the shrine was no longer there.

"There they go," Tails said. "Let's hope they make it to the next world safely. I wonder what world they'll end up at."

"Whatever the world is, I'm sure they'll be able to fare well," Sonic said.

* * *

The Prismriver Sisters were inside their mansion, fiddling around with their instruments. "You know," Lyrica said, "that shrine maiden has been gone for quite a while already, and there's word that the Great Hakurei Barrier will disappear is drawing closer and closer. If that happens, the people of the outside will discover our existence and may come to disturb our peace."

"I'm sure she'll return in time," Merlin said. "Everything will definitely turn out all right!"

"Or maybe she won't be coming back again," Lunasa said in a depressing tone. "She's probably dead somewhere out there."

"Don't say such a pessimistic thing, Lunasa sis! If she's dead, then the barrier would instantly disappear! She and her friends are definitely all right out there somewhere! They'll definitely be back before the barrier disappears!"

"What if she doesn't? What if the barrier disappears and humans from the outside world comes here? They'll surely rob our mansion, and we'll be left homeless with nowhere to go."

"Don't worry; I've got it all covered!" Lyrica said as she took out some paper. "I have been looking at music catalogues from Kourindou. There are musical instrument stores in the outside world, and if we are forced out of our mansion, we can go and live in one of those stores. We will stay quiet during the day, and when night falls, we can play with the instruments there to our hearts content! That way, nobody in the outside world will ever know about our existence!"

"You're ready to give up already, aren't you…?" Merlin asked her.

"Not really, but it's important that you are always three steps ahead. You'll never know what the future may hold, so you have to be ready for whatever comes to you."

"What if the owner of the store finds out that we are living there?" Lunasa asked. "If we get spotted, he or she will throw us out, and we'll be left without a home again. Worst case scenario, he or she go and tells other stores about us in order to keep us from getting inside. That way, we'll really be left with nowhere to live."

"There's always the theater," Lyrica said. "They have musical instruments there, and unlike stores, those places are much larger, so there are more places for us to hide."

"And if…"

"Can you please lighten up the mood a little bit, Lunasa sis…" Merlin said to her. "We should be optimistic! Life should be lived happily!"

"All life comes to an end one day, and all the works and things done will not be taken to the grave," Lunasa said.

"Poltergeists don't have to worry about dying from old age, so we should cheer up even more!"

"But we can get exorcised."

"Look, sis, you're seriously thinking too negatively…"

"So… let's start packing!" Lyrica suggested. "That way, we can move the instant something bad happens to Gensokyo!"

"You really are giving up already, aren't you?"

* * *

A guard was standing in front of the entrance of the staircase leading to the dungeon, and he saw Roy coming over with Merlinus. He immediately saluted the young king. "Your Highness!"

"I'm just walking by. How's everything?"

"Everything is under control, Your Highness!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of what appeared to be gunfire coming from the dungeon, not to mention screaming. "What is that!" Roy said in shock.

They all quickly ran into the dungeon, and they saw Yukari standing outside the jail cell containing Big Boy and his men, and the bandits were lying charred on the floor. "Who are you?" the guard said to Yukari while pointing his spear at her. "And how did you get in here?"

Yukari turned around and looked at the spear. "You wouldn't point a spear at a lady, would you?"

"Don't get too acted up," Roy said to the guard. "I'll talk to her."

"Now that's a gentleman we have here!"

"Lady, may I…"

"You don't have to ask me the question. I already know what you want to ask."

"Speak to the king with respect!" Merlinus said to her.

"Oh, he's the king? No wonder he's dressed like one! Anyway, even though it may sound bizarre to you, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I come from another world to look for a group of eleven girls and a shrine. I asked those uncivilized men in there a while ago, and they only knew that some of them were imprisoned here for some time before getting taken away. After that, they wanted to mistreat me because I'm too beautiful." Yukari then let out a sigh and placed her hand against her cheek. "It looks like being too beautiful has its bad points after all. It can't be helped that I'm a lovely maiden of seventeen years old. No wonder men would fall in love with me at first sight!"

"Ahem… The girls that you are looking for, assuming that they are the one I have in mind, have already left this world in their shrine."

Yukari let out another sigh upon hearing this. "I figured as much… Oh well, thanks for the reply! By the way, you should teach your prisoners some manners. I just taught them one, but an educational one is more preferred."

"I'll look into that. Thank you for your… Um… suggestion…"

"Well then, I'll be gone! Good-bye!" With that, Yukari left the place through her gap.

Roy, Merlinus, and the guard stared in silence at where the gap originally was. "Merlinus," Roy suddenly said.

"Yes, Your Highness?" Merlinus replied.

"Giving prisoners educational sessions seem like a good idea if you ask me. It's better than to leave them here in prison where they seemingly have no hope for anything good in the future. We can use this opportunity to teach them the correct way of living as well as the fun in doing all sorts of recreational activities! That way, if some of them are to be released from prison, then he or she will be able to find something productive to do in life and not go back to a life of crime!"

"You seem to have a point there, Your Majesty!"

"Okay, go and appoint a time for a meeting about this."

"Right away, Your Majesty!"

* * *

The Hakurei Shrine, like always, was flying through a passage of white light. Inside, all the girls except for Meiling were in the living room, waiting for the shrine to arrive at the next world.

"Only one more left and we can finally go to Smash World," Aya said. "I can't wait to get there!"

"I demand that Master Hand give us an answer for why this happened to us," Reimu said. "If only this never have happened, the festival would've gone as planned…"

"Not that it's a bad thing, is it?" Marisa said. "I actually find this world-traveling stuff to be a lot more fun than the usual festival back in our world-ze!"

"I have to agree," Remilia said while drinking tea. "It's giving us a good opportunity to see the world outside of ours, not to mention giving me a chance to exercise my fighting skills against strong opponents."

"I'm really excited to know what kind of world we are going to arrive at next!" Sanae said with enthusiasm. "Perhaps there will be giant robots in the next world!"

"Thanks for your opinions on the festival…" Reimu grumbled.

The girls continued to chat about various stuff, and after several minutes, Reisen said, "Don't you think that it's taking a while already? Usually by this time, we are already at the next world."

"You're right," Youmu said. "It's been a while already, and we haven't arrived at the next world yet. Even arriving at Sonic's world didn't take that long."

"The shortest time it took for us to get to the next world was about six minutes, and that was from Mario to Wario's world," Aya said. "The other worlds took between ten to fifteen minutes. However, Sonic's world took about thirty minutes, and this time… We've been traveling for about forty-five minutes already! For the record, it took us about fifteen minutes to get from our world to Mario's world."

"You're right," Reimu said. "We are indeed taking longer than usual to get to the next world. I wonder why that is."

"Let's hope that we don't get trapped in this passage of light for eternity…" Marisa said in a scared tone. "Those bad guys better not have done something like that happen…"

"Speaking of those villains," Youmu said. "What are we going to do about them?"

"I don't know," Reimu said. "Maybe we should also tell Master Hand about this when we meet him. Perhaps we may have to consider defeating them first before returning to Gensokyo."

"I have to agree with that," Alice said. "They are looking for universal domination after all, so it's highly possible that Gensokyo will also be their target. Even if we pretend that they never existed and return to our own world, we are still not safe."

"I can see the next world!" shouted Meiling's voice.

"About time," Remilia said.

"Good! I was thinking that we'll never get there!" Marisa happily said.

* * *

With a burst of light, the Hakurei Shrine appeared on a rocky place. The girls came out from the shrine and saw that it was nighttime. "Well… You think we should wait until morning before going out?" Marisa asked.

"I perform better at night, so I suggest that we look for the Light Essence now," Remilia said.

"Just because you're nocturnal doesn't mean we are…" Reisen reminded her.

"At least we should survey this place first to make sure that it is safe to turn in for the night," Alice said.

"I don't feel sleepy at all!" Cirno said.

"I don't feel sleepy too," Aya said. "It was still morning when we left Sonic's world, and judging from the time we traveled, it's probably not even afternoon yet over there."

"Then let's take a look around this place first," Reimu suggested. "I see beams of light shining into the air in the distance, so why don't we go over and have a look?"

The girls walked down the path and headed in the direction of the beam of lights. After climbing down small cliff, traveling across rocks, and walking through bushes, they finally saw something worthy of notice.

"What is that place?" Marisa asked.

They saw a steel gate with wire fences on both sides, and top of the fences were barbed wires. Behind the door and the fences were several buildings, and the beam of lights were coming from spotlights. One could also see vehicles such as tanks and jeeps inside the place.

"This place looks like a military camp!" Sanae said.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And that's the end of the Sonic arc! I had fun doing that arc, and I'm sure I'll have fun with the next arc as well. The next arc should be very obvious for most people, I believe.

By the way, I'm going on a church retreat on Friday and won't be back until Monday.

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after the intro song for the Japanese and European version of Sonic CD.


	91. Encounter

**Chapter 90  
Encounter**

* * *

"What's a military camp?" Cirno asked.

"It's a camp for soldiers," Sanae replied. "It's not the kind of camp that people go to for leisure, however. Military camps are usually set up for war-related purposes. I hope we don't stumble into an actual war here..."

"Don't talk too loud," Reimu said to her. "There are people standing in front of the gate." Sure enough, there were two soldiers armed with guns standing at both sides of the gate.

"As long as they don't see us, it should be fine," Marisa said. "We can simply fly over the fence to get inside! Of course, this is assuming that we can already fly…"

"Um… You're floating into the air, Marisa…" Reisen said to her.

"What?" Marisa looked down and was surprised that she had rose above the bush. "Whoa! I can already fly!"

"Who goes there!" one of the soldiers shouted while pointing his gun at her.

"Yikes!" Marisa quickly dropped back down.

"Quick! Duck!" Reimu said, and then they all did as she said.

"Don't hide! I know you're there!" the soldier said as he approached the row of bushes.

"It's obvious that hiding won't do any good," Remilia said to Reimu. "They already saw Marisa."

"Well, I thought running wasn't a good idea, so I suggested this…" the shrine maiden replied.

"What do we do now?" Reisen asked.

"I say we fight back!" Cirno said.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Youmu said as she got ready to unsheathe the Roukanken.

"I can hear you talking!" the soldier said. "Show yourselves or I'll shoot!"

"Let's just stand up and reason with them first," Aya suggested. "Soldiers aren't necessary evil, right? Surely they will be kind enough to listen to us."

"Let's just hope that they don't think we are spies or something like that…" Sanae said.

They all stood up, with Sanae being the only one with her arms raised into the air. "We come in peace…" she said.

"What are you girls going here?" the soldier asked, still pointing his gun at them. "This is no place for the likes of you!"

The second soldier walked up to him and said, "Don't be so mean! They're just normal girls. How dangerous can they be?"

"I saw one of them floating into the air earlier!"

"You're probably seeing things."

"Now what?" Nitori asked Sanae as quietly as possible.

"Um… We'll leave quietly if we shouldn't be here…" Sanae said to the soldiers. "We're sorry for trespassing…"

Suddenly, the gate opened and another soldier came running out. "Wait! Do not shoot those girls!" he said. "The boss said to let them in!"

"The boss?" the soldier who spotted them said. "Why would he let them in? Does he know them?"

"He claims that he's been waiting for them to show up, so I think he knows them."

"Their boss wants to see us?" Marisa curiously said.

"But we don't even know who the boss is…" Reisen said.

"It might be at trap," Alice said.

The soldier who came out from the camp said to the girls, "We're sorry for frightening you. The boss wishes for you all to go inside, so please follow me."

"Now what?" Reimu asked.

"Maybe we should do as they saw for now…" Sanae said. "It's probably safer that way."

"I agree," Aya said with a nod. "Even if it's a trap like Alice said, we can still find our way out of it with little to no effort."

And so, the soldier led the girls into the camp. Inside, Nitori looked at the tanks and jeeps with great interest. "These vehicles are cool! I really wanna ride them!"

"Me too!" Cirno said.

"Do you even know how to use them?" Marisa asked her.

"I'm the strongest, so don't underestimate me!"

"Being strong doesn't necessary mean you can operate machines."

Sanae asked the soldier, "Excuse me… Is there a war going on around here? What is this military camp set up for?"

"I'm afraid that's classified information," he replied.

"Why does your boss want to see us?" Reimu asked. "We have never met or heard about each other, so why is he letting us in as if he knows us?"

"Unfortunately, I know nothing about this. He simply told me that you girls were coming and that I should go let you in. You will need to ask him for the answers yourselves."

The soldier eventually led them to a large empty square. "This is where the boss wants you to be. Please wait here for him to come." After that, he left the place.

The girls looked around the place and saw that there was nobody at all. "Gee uh… Kinda silent, don't you think?" Marisa asked. "Is a surprise party planned for us or what?"

"I'm expecting Kogasa to show up to surprise us," Reimu said. "Nah, just kidding. No way will she ever surprise anyone, at least not us."

The girls waited for about a minute, and then Remilia said, "Hmph! Those people should know better than to keep girls waiting! They should've at least prepared chairs and tea! I'm going to have a word with their boss regarding this when he finally shows up!"

Suddenly, several spotlights were focused on them, and then soldiers appeared at the sides of the square with guns aiming in their direction. "You're surrounded!" a voice shouted.

"What the!" Reisen said in shock.

"I knew it's a trap," Alice said, not looking surprised at all.

"I figured that it wouldn't be anything good either," Reimu said.

"Who's idea was it to come in here quietly in the first place?" Marisa said with her eyes looking in Sanae's direction. The shrine maiden was at a lost of words.

"We are given the order to shoot, so don't bother trying to do anything!" the soldier in lead said. "There is no way out for you all!"

"Something really should be said about this welcome party," Remilia said. "I find it to be very low quality, though unique. So… shall we fight?"

"What else should we do?" Reimu said as she took out a paper amulet. "Obviously, none of us are going to stand here and be easy targets for them. Just leave it to me."

"Fire!" the soldier shouted, and then all the soldiers fired from their guns.

Reimu quickly slapped the paper amulet onto the floor to form a barrier that protected her and the other girls from the bullets.

"What!"

Reimu removed the amulet from the ground, and the barrier changed into a shockwave that blew back the soldiers.

Immediately after this, Meiling rushed towards the nearest soldier to attack him. He pointed his gun at her, but before he could pull the trigger, Meiling pushed down his gun and then punched him in the face. A soldier at the side tried to shoot her, but she quickly yanked his gun away from him before punching him in the stomach. Another soldier fired at her from behind, but she ducked to avoid the bullet and then tossed herself at him to slam her arm into his stomach.

Some of the soldiers standing on top of buildings got ready to fire at them, but there were shot down by Reisen before they had the chance to do so. Reisen looked to the side to see some soldiers pointing their guns at her, so she released a burst of light from her eyes that blinded them. When the soldiers were able to see again, they saw a huge army of rabbits that charged at them. The soldiers tried to shoot down the rabbits, but when they saw that their bullets had no effect on them, they quickly ran. In reality, there were no rabbits at all; they were seeing a mirage.

Remilia flew towards some soldiers standing on top of a building, and before they had the chance to shoot her, she took them all out in a matter of seconds using her claws. Another soldier standing on a building across the place fired at her. She turned around the moment she heard the gunfire, just in time for the bullet to fly into her face. However, in what was without doubt an amazing feat, she caught the bullet with her teeth with no effort.

The soldier couldn't really tell what happened from where he was, and suddenly, an obvious mechanical arm came up in front of him, grabbed his face, and pulled him down to the ground.

Youmu deflected bullets that were constantly fired at her using her longer sword, and then she dashed at her attackers and took them out just like that.

The girls continued fighting the soldiers, and suddenly, a loud voice shouted, "CEASEFIRE!" Immediately, the gunfire stopped and the girls turned to the source of the voice.

"What happened?" Nitori asked.

"Something tells me that their boss is here," Remilia said.

There was the sound of clapping, and the girls watched as an old man in a cowboy getup without a hat stepped out from the shadows while clapping his hands. "You did well, girls!" he said. "In fact, you exceeded my expectations!"

"So you're saying that you set all this up?" Aya asked.

"Indeed! I wanted to see if you are strong warriors who are skilled in combat and self-defense, hence the sudden attack on you all. I have to say that I am really impressed with what I saw!"

"You better give a good explanation for this!" Remilia said, not sounding pleased at all. "Much as I enjoy fights, I do not appreciate the fact that you invited us inside just to try to kill us!"

"Please don't get so angry. I will make up for that kind of treatment just now. I should be introducing myself first. You may simply refer to me as Ocelot, Revolver Ocelot, and I am in charge of this place!"

"Since you said you were expecting us," Reimu asked, "then that means you have information on us, right?"

"Of course! There have been words about a group of eleven girls traveling from world to world in a shrine, and it is said that they are looking for objects called Light Essences so that they can go to Smash World. Am I right in saying that you are here to find the Light Essence?"

"Wow… You sure did your homework…" Aya said. "May I ask who told you all this?"

"That would be me!" said a new voice, and then the source of the voice came out from the shadows to reveal himself as Mr. King. "We meet again!"

"It's that guy from the Pokemon world!" Cirno said.

"It's you again!" Aya said. "Don't tell me that you're the one who told him everything!"

"To be precise, my boss did the explaining. I simply accompanied him to this world," Mr. King said. "I'm sure you have an idea on why he came to Revolver Ocelot."

"An invitation to join your organization?" Reimu said.

"Correct!" Ocelot said as he pointed his hands, which were folded into the shape of guns, at her. "I am now a member of their organization!"

"So you're our enemy, eh?" Marisa asked.

"I figured you wouldn't be anyone one good the moment I saw you…" Reimu said. "The fact that you ordered your men to kill us is obvious."

"I wanted to see if you really are as good as they, so I told my men to go all-out. However, I had the feeling that you would make it out alive, and it turns out that I'm right after all! You girls sure are strong!"

"Admittedly, the boss would prefer that you all survive a little longer," Mr. King said. "He has taken interest in you girls and wants to know your full potential."

"You can go back and tell your boss that we will survive longer than he thinks," Remilia said. "In fact, we're going to continue surviving even after we take him down."

"I'll be sure to tell him that, and I'm sure that he is willing to show himself to you all eventually!"

"This is assuming that you survive this," Ocelot said. "You are now surrounded! My men have you in their sights, so if you make a move, they will fire at once! I have been told that you all are capable of flight, so I made sure that the anti-air defense is at its strongest. Flying into the sky will result in you getting shot down like ducks during duck season!"

"Oh really? We're very good at dodging and grazing projectiles, so try your worst shooting us down-ze!" Marisa claimed.

"It's best not to, Marisa," Sanae told her. "Bullets fired from guns travel incredibly fast. Projectiles from danmaku are no match! With a large amount of bullets being fired at us, we will most definitely be shot down!"

"Right! You should listen to your friend!" Ocelot said. "My men do not have the shooting skills of Imperial Stormtroopers. Once they get a clear aim, you're dead!"

"What do we do…?" Reisen asked. "It looks like we really don't have a way out of here…"

"Then we'll just fight back," Remilia suggested while looking around. "I can tell that they're all humans, so taking them down will be easy."

"I suggest that we stay calm and look for an opportunity first," Alice suggested. "Going wild at a time like this will result in calamities. We have to come up with a strategy first." Suddenly, someone caught her arm from behind, and then a knife was placed next to her throat. "Wah!"

"Don't move!" said the black-haired man who caught her—Vamp. "Try something and blood pours out from your neck!" Suddenly, he felt a knife placed next to his neck, and he saw that it was Shanghai who was doing this.

"The same thing applies to you," Alice said, still looking calm and collected. "If you make me bleed, I'll also make you bleed." Suddenly, Shanghai was shot in the body by a bullet and fell to the ground. "Shanghai!"

"You won't be having your chance to do anything, my fair lady!" Ocelot said with a smoking gun pointed in the magician's direction.

The other girls looked at Vamp and Alice, now looking nervous, and were wondering how they could help her. "Hang in there, Alice!" Sanae told her. "We'll definitely save you!"

"Not a single one of you here are going be saved in the end!" Ocelot said. "Let's see how you get out of this alive!"

"The boss would appreciate it if you do not disappoint him," Mr. King said while playing around with a deck of cards. "Oh, by the way, I would like to let you girls know something regarding the Light Essence's location. It is currently in Ocelot's possession!"

"What!" Reimu said in surprise.

"Yes, it's with me at the moment!" Ocelot said. You want it? Too bad! Not only will you not be getting your hands on it, but you also won't be leaving this world! Your journey ends here!"

The girls watched as the soldiers got ready to pull their guns' triggers when suddenly a rocket shot across the air and blew up the bottom of a building.

KABOOOOOM!

"What the!" Ocelot said in shock.

Another rocket flew into the place and destroyed the top part of the same building, and the soldiers who happened to be there were either blown back or fell down screaming.

"What is happening!" Sanae said in surprise.

"Who's there? Show yourself at once!" Ocelot shouted while looking in the direction where the rockets came from, and then he saw a grenade hurled at him. "Yikes!" He and Mr. King quickly got away from it.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, there was the sound of gunfire, and several soldiers were shot and fell over. The girls were confused at what was happening, and they desperately looked around for whoever was doing this. Suddenly, three small cylinders were thrown into the scene, and then they exploded to release thick smoke that blotted out Ocelot and Mr. King's views, not to mention making them cough uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, Vamp still had his knife next to Alice's neck, but he was also desperately looking for the person doing this. Suddenly, he was shot right through the head by a bullet and fell back onto the ground.

"Yikes!" Nitori cried in shock at the sight of it.

"What on earth is happening!" Reimu said.

"There's somebody over there!" Aya said, pointing to a man waving at them from the shadows.

"Come over here quick!" he shouted.

"Who is he?" Reisen asked. "Is it all right to listen to him?"

"For now, let's do as he says," Reimu suggested. "It's better than to stay around here!" The other girls agreed, so they quickly ran towards the man.

"Follow me!" he said. "I'll get you all out of here! Don't get lost!" Then he led them down the place.

"Ack! Cough!" Ocelot ran out away from the smoke while constantly coughing. "Ugh! What in the world! That voice just now… It's him! So he came after all!"

* * *

The man led the girls through the camp, and luckily, there was nobody getting in their way, so things went smoothly for them. A soldier suddenly came out from behind a building corner and pointed his gun at them. "Halt!"

The man quickly threw himself at the soldier before he could pull the trigger and punched him in the face so hard that he instantly fainted, and then he continued leading the girls down the place. "He seems skilled," Youmu said.

"Whoever he is, he better not be an enemy," Reimu said.

The man led them to the corner of the camp and pointed to a hole at the bottom of the fence. "Crawl through here quick!" Then he crawled through the hole. When he stood back up, he saw the girls coming down in front of him. "What the! How did you…!"

"Just get us out of here first!" Reimu said. "Explanations come later."

"You have a point… Quick, continue following me! Our hiding place isn't too far from here." And he continued leading the way.

"I think this guy seems to be someone safe," Reisen said.

"Let's hope so," Nitori said.

They ran across the rocky terrain, and after a few minutes, they came to a large rock, and behind the rock was a RV. "Get inside," the man said, and then he knocked on the door. "Otacon, it's me!"

"Snake?" replied the voice inside. "You sure came back fast! What happened?"

"Just let us in!"

"Us? Okay, I'll open the door." Then door opened to reveal a man wearing eyeglasses. "Who are all those girls with you?"

"Let's just say that I rescued them from their demises," the man replied, and then he turned to the girls. "Get inside. You have a lot of explaining to do."

Everyone got into the RV, which was filled with computers and other kinds of high-tech equipments. "Look at all these junks!" Remilia said. "Can't you make more space for guests?"

"You should be happy that you have a place to hide at the moment," the man said to him.

"Thank you very much for rescuing us!" Sanae said to the man.

"That was nothing, though you made me mess up my plans. Anyway, I'm Solid Snake, but you can just call me Snake."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Snake!"

"All right, it's your turn to talk. Actually, I did hear Ocelot saying that you girls traveled from world to world looking for objects called Light Essences so that you can go to Smash World. Hearing Smash World really made me curious about you all."

"You've been there before?" Reimu asked.

"Yeah, been there, joined a tournament, did some fighting, and then came back."

"Wow! So you're a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament!" Marisa said. "We're so lucky to run into you! You sure saved our hide back there! Thanks a bunch, Mr. Snake!"

"So you girls came here using the World Light?" the man with glasses—Otacon—asked.

"Yeah, though we had no control over where we are going," Reimu said. "We were forcefully transported from our world and into various worlds. Turns out that the World Light is broken, so we cannot get to Smash World until we find eleven Light Essences."

"That's some story you have there," Snake commented.

"Mr. King claims that Ocelot has the Light Essence with him," Marisa said. "Looks like we'll have to go back to that place if we want to claim it…"

"That seems to be the case. Looks like I'll have to take you girls with me back there… I just hope that you won't be a burden to me."

"Don't look down on us," Aya told him. "We're strong! It's just that those bad guys had us in a tight spot. Actually, I believe that we could've been able to get out of that situation by ourselves even if you didn't show up."

"Oh really? I don't know what you girls are capable of, but seeing how must've been to several other worlds before coming here, you must be something to be able to survive this long. Of course, I don't know what worlds you went to or whether or not you ran into trouble, so I still can't say much about how strong you are."

"Trust us, we're much more capable than you think," Reimu said.

"Yeah! If we let ourselves go wild with our powers, then that place will most definitely be blown into pieces-ze!" Marisa said with confidence.

"Well, if you really are as strong as you claim, then it probably wouldn't hurt for you to go back there with me," Snake said.

"In that case, we'll have to come up with a new plan," Otacon said.

"Why are you going there anyway?" Aya asked. "The fact that you rescued us from that place must mean that you are against that guy named Ocelot. Am I correct in saying this?"

"You cannot be anymore correct than that," Snake replied. "I was actually there to assassinate Ocelot."

"Whoa… You're planning to kill that guy?" Marisa asked. "You must really hate him to want to kill him!"

"You can say that, though the actual reason is deeper than you think."

"Mind sharing it with us?" Aya asked as she got out her notebook and pencil.

"I can tell you if you want, though it won't have anything to do with you."

"Don't say that! We can help you out with your problems if you tell us! Consider this as a repayment for saving us back there and being willing to help us find the Light Essence!"

"That doesn't sound bad, Snake," Otacon said to him. "With their help, we may be able to take down Ocelot easier!"

"Well, if you say so," Snake said as he lighted up a cigarette. "Okay… Where do I start?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Congratulations for all the reviewers getting it correct! It's the Metal Gear arc! It's time for some tactical espionage action!

**Next chapter: Girls Use Stealth**

**Trivia:  
**1. When Ocelot said that his men do not have the shooting skills of Imperial Stormtroopers, he is referring to the trope known as Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. In the Star Wars series, Obi Wan says that the Stormtroopers are known for their marksmanship, but whenever they try to shoot the heroes, they never score a single shot.

2. This chapter's title is named after the well known theme of the same name in the Metal Gear series.


	92. Girls Use Stealth

I forgot to mention this in the previous chapter. This arc is based off Specter24's version of the same arc, but rest assure that there will be differences. By the way, I recommend that you read all the extra shows of this arc. Because this arc is based off Specter24's, I did the same kind of thing he did in his. Take a look to find out what it is!

**Chapter 91  
Girls Use Stealth**

* * *

"This is America!" Sanae said in surprise when Snake mentioned the country they were in.

"Just as I said earlier," Snake replied with a nod.

"So that mean we're back in our universe!"

"What are you talking about?" Reimu asked Sanae.

"America, or the United States of America, is an actual country in the outside world. Gensokyo is located in Japan, so if we manage to get to Japan, then we can return to Gensokyo from there! Home is very near already!"

"I wouldn't make things look so simple," Snake said to her. "Visiting Smash World made me realize that not only are there several universes and dimensions out there, but there are also different versions of the same world."

"To make it simple," Otacon said, "your Japan might not actually be the same Japan as the one in this world. Therefore, you probably won't find your homeland when you go back to Japan. In the same way, we probably don't exist in the version of your world."

"I see… You have a point there," Remilia said.

"You understood what he said?" Youmu asked.

"It's a very simple concept, and I'm not that surprised either. We've seen several strange things before, so different versions of the same world aren't something too farfetched if you ask me."

"Well, so much for thinking of get back to Gensokyo from here…" Reimu said, sounding disappointed.

"On the bright side, we still get to go on more adventures after this-ze!" Marisa said. "I actually want to see Smash World, so I would be disappointed if we are able to get back to Gensokyo so easily from here."

"Marisa has a point," Aya said. "The hype of Smash World has been built up for us for a while already, so I definitely do not want to miss the opportunity to see that world myself!"

"I'm sure you'll all like that place!" Otacon said. "I got to see a lot of cool stuff there!"

"Yeah, pretty much what he said, though I don't have interest in what he likes," Snake said.

"By the way, for Americans, you sure can speak Japanese fluently!" Sanae commented. "In fact, your Japanese sounds like your native language!"

"What are you talking about?" Snake asked. "We're speaking English."

"But you are speaking Japanese!"

"No, we really are speaking English," Otacon told her.

"Really…? But I really did hear you speaking Japanese…"

"Yeah, exactly what Sanae said," Aya said.

Snake and Otacon looked at each other for a while, and then Snake turned to them and said, "I got it now. It's the language feature of the World Light."

"The World Light's language feature?" Reimu curiously said.

"When we went to the Smash World, everyone spoke English fluently," Otacon explained. "Apparently, people who travel to other worlds using the World Light will be able to hear the inhabitants of all the others speak the languages that are native to them. Not only that, but the inhabitants will hear them speaking the languages that are native to them."

"To put it simple, we are now hearing you speak English," Snake said.

"What! We're actually speaking English?" Sanae said in surprise.

Otacon nodded. "Right; we hear you speaking English, but you hear us speaking Japanese. That's the World Light's language feature."

"Now that you said it," Reisen said, "we only heard Japanese being said wherever we went to."

"You're right!" Nitori said. "I simply assumed that Japanese is there native language. Now it makes me wonder what languages the others heard us speaking if their native languages aren't Japanese."

"I guess we should be thankful that the language feature isn't broken," Alice said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to understand what everyone we met was saying."

"All right, you want me to continue with my story or what?" Snake asked.

"Sure, go on," Aya said. "You said that America is being controlled by an organization called the Patriots, and Ocelot is a member of it."

"Right… Well, I guess that's all you need to know for now. By keeping an eye on Ocelot, we can surely find out more about the Patriots and put an end to them once and for all."

"I thought you wanted to assassinate him," Marisa asked.

"That's part of my mission as well. Of course, I'll need to try to get information out of him first; otherwise; all trails of the Patriots will be lost. Okay, I'm done with my story now. About time you tell me yours, don't you think?"

"I guess so…" Reimu said. And so, the girls introduced themselves to Snake and Otacon. After Meiling introduced herself, the duo was surprised.

"You're also called Meiling?" Otacon asked.

"Yep," Meiling said with a nod. "What's wrong?"

"We know someone called Mei Ling as well," Snake told her. "She's Chinese, and from the way you're dressed, you must be Chinese as well."

"Yes, I'm a demon from China. You know someone with the same name as me? Wow! What a coincidence!"

"Yeah… Anyway, carry on."

* * *

Ocelot, Mr. King, and a revived Vamp came into a gray-walled room that resembled an office. "So you're saying that what happened just now was the work of your archenemy, am I right?" Mr. King asked Ocelot.

"It's him, without a doubt," Ocelot said. "I knew he would show up sooner or later, but it just had to be at a time like this… Not like it's going to bother me or anything. Sure, he is as good as the legendary soldier himself, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with him. Let's see him trying to get through this!"

"What about those girls?" Vamp asked.

"Obviously, they're going to come back here again for the Light Essence," Ocelot said as he walked up to metal box placed on a desk. "Snake is surely going to help them as well. I wouldd say the chance they find this is much higher with him on their side. Therefore, we need to tighten the security around here. They will not get to see this thing alive!"

Suddenly, blue light appeared from in front of the desk. "I want to have a talk with one of them myself first," the source of the blue light said. "The red and white one is obviously the leader, so I would be pleased to have a conversation with her. Is asking for you or your men to capture her too hard of a task?"

"Nothing is too hard for me!" Ocelot said. "I'll give out orders for her to be captured! Just sit here and wait for your gift to come straight to you! Heheheh!"

* * *

Back in the RV, the girls had not only finished introducing themselves, but they also explained their abilities to Snake and Otacon. "What are you going to do now?" Reimu asked.

"We can't waste any time," Snake said. "I need to get back to Ocelot's base and stop him from doing whatever he has in mind. If you girls want to find the Light Essence, then you'll have to go back there with me."

"All right, let's go and blow up that place-ze!" Marisa suggested.

"How about we come up with a plan first and then sneak in there instead? It's possible that there are data related to the Patriots hidden there, and if we simply blow up the whole place, then those data will be lost, even the Light Essence!"

"This is going to be like something taken from spy movies!" Sanae thought with excitement.

Otacon handed Reimu a paper. "This is the map of that place. It's not detailed, however. We flew our helicopter over the place at an altitude that won't grab their attention, so we couldn't get a very clear look at it. At least we know the layout of outside and the locations of the buildings."

"Also, traveling together will only make us an easy target," Snake said, "so we should split into small groups. Perhaps we can split into groups according to each of your abilities… Reisen, are you good at sniping?"

"Sniping? Yeah, you can say that. I think my eyesight is pretty good."

"Then you come with me."

"Me?"

"Your sniping skills will surely be useful in trying to take out Ocelot from afar. Even your ability to drive people mad will be a big help."

"Well, if you say so…"

Snake then turned to Cirno and Nitori. "The two of you should go together."

"Why's that?" Nitori asked.

"You specialize in using water, and Cirno uses ice. Water and ice makes a good combination if you ask me."

"That's true, but I can't produce water myself. I can only make use of water from external sources."

"It's not like you're helpless without water, so pair up with her. Anyway, let's continue with the groupings. Reimu, Marisa, and Alice go together, Remilia, Meiling, and Sanae together, and Youmu and Aya together. There, that's that."

"Are there any logical reasoning behind those groups?" Youmu asked.

"Not really. Just try to get along with each other, which I'm sure you won't have any problem with since you're all friends."

"I think you simply came up with those groups at random, asides from your own and Nitori and Cirno's…" Marisa said.

Otacon opened a drawer and took out some small circular devices. "These are codecs used for communicating with each other. Place them in your ears, and when you hear a beeping sound, press the Select button… Wait, this is a fan fiction, not a game… Just push the codec to respond to the call. You will be able to communicate with each other. I only have a limited amount of them, but since these things aren't restricted to one-on-one communication, that shouldn't be a problem."

"Your codecs can only communicate with me," Snake told them. "Simply push the codec and you can talk to me. I, on the other hand, can use frequencies to choose who I want to talk to. Since I'm in charge of the operation here, it's important that I share information with you, not to mention you girls sharing your discoveries with me."

"You talk like you're our boss," Remilia said, not sounding very pleased.

"Who else knows about this place, or this world, better than you? Just do as I say if you want to make it through this night alive."

"Oh, rest assure that I will make it through this night alive. I'm the strongest during nighttime."

"I can imagine that…" Otacon said. "You're a vampire after all…" Then he turned to a copier. "I just made extra copies of the map. Each of the groups should take one for directions."

"All right, now that we're done, we should get going now," Snake said.

"Make sure to contact me from time to time, Snake," Otacon reminded him.

"I will," Snake said before leaving the RV with the girls.

The group headed in the direction of Ocelot's base. Snake told them to stay low in fear of getting spotted. They eventually returned to the place where there was a hole at the bottom of the fence, and Snake crawled through it while the girls simply flew over the fence. "Being able to fly around freely sure is useful, isn't it?" he asked as he stood back up.

"You bet!" Aya replied.

"All right, let's get on going." Snake led the way. They traveled in silence until they came into an alley. "Okay, we'll go separate ways from here. Remember to stick with each other often and report to me any interesting or important findings."

"Roger that!" Nitori said.

"And make sure not to attract unnecessary attention. This is a stealth mission; you are to keep yourselves out of the enemies' sight as much as possible. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you can go around yelling for people to come after you."

"Yes, yes, we know that already," Remilia said.

"Okay, now that you all got it, let's move out!" Snake then made sure that there was nobody outside the alley first before heading out with Reisen.

"Well, let's get started," Reimu said. "Marisa, Alice, let's go. Good luck, everyone." Then she left the place with her team. The other girls then traveled in separate directions with their own groups.

* * *

Snake and Reisen went into another alley. He looked out and focused his eye on the large building in front. "Let's sneak inside there," he said, and then he turned invisible. "Optical camouflage, don't be surprised."

"Nitori has one herself too," Reisen said.

"She does? That means she'll have a fine time sneaking around. Not sure about her partner, though… Speaking of which… You'll have to be careful not to get caught yourself."

"I'll be careful."

"Also, you can still see me thanks to your ability to manipulate wavelengths, right?"

"Yes, I can see you after manipulating it a little."

"Good, now you won't have to worry about losing track of me. All right, let's go!"

They made sure that there was nobody out there before running towards the building. Suddenly, they spotted a soldier coming out from the building. "Oh no!" Snake said. "Hide fast!"

"But there's no place to hide!" Reisen said in panic. "Wait, I know!" Just as the soldier was about to look in her direction, she quickly released a burst of light from her eyes.

When the soldier saw the burst of light, he was blinded temporarily, and he was able to see again, he had a headache. "What the…? What was that just now…? I feel sick… Guess I'll go take aspirin…" Then he went back inside.

"Well, you sure used your brain fast…" Snake said.

"Yeah…" Reisen said with relief.

"All right, let's go inside, but make sure to keep your eyes on your surroundings!"

Then they went into the building.

* * *

"Everything's going as plan so far," Aya said as she and Youmu came in front of a building with a large steel door.

"We don't even know where we should be going," Youmu said. "I don't even think we have a clear plan…"

"At least nobody spotted us yet."

"More like we knocked them out before they saw us."

Aya looked at the steel door and said, "How about we go in here? It's better than wandering around outside. The Light Essence has to be inside one of these buildings."

Suddenly, the steel door started to move upwards, and when it was fully opened, a large tank was seen inside the building. "What is that!" Youmu said in surprise.

The tank drove out of the building, and then a large dark-skinned man came out from the hatch. "You have come into forbidden territory!" he said. "The boss said you girls would be coming back sooner or later, so I have been waiting for this moment!"

"You talk as if you really want to meet us, but at the same time, you said we came to a place we shouldn't be coming to," Aya said. "It sounds as if you don't want to come here as well. Which one is it?"

"Perhaps I should let you figure out the answer yourself!" the man said. "I am Vulcan Raven! Get ready to meet your end!" Then he disappeared into the tank. The turret slowly angled downwards until it was pointing at them, and then it fired a cannon shell. Both the girls quickly jumped out of its way.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

The turret turned to the direction Youmu landed and fired another cannon shell at her. Instead of running from it, she swung down her larger sword to slice it in half. Both halves of the cannon shell flew in different directions and exploded.

"What the!" Raven said in shock from inside this tank.

Aya came down on top of the turret and stomped it really hard, and then she jumped down in front of the tank and made a face. "Bleh! Shoot me if you can!"

"You bet I will!" Raven said as he fired another cannon shell. However, the turret exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The top portion of the tank was taken along with it, and Raven jumped out from the burning remains of the tank with his body on fire. "AHHH! FIRE! PUT IT OUT!" he cried as he fell onto the ground and rolled around until it finally got put out. "Phew… Saved…"

"You lost your ride," Aya said to him. "Now what?"

Raven looked at her and asked, "What did you do!"

"I stomped the turret so hard that its exterior got bent inward, so when the projectile was fired, it came in contact with the bent part and exploded. It's a simple yet effective strategy! Do not underestimate the intelligence of crows!"

"Why you!" Raven growled as he got up to throw a punch at Aya, but she caught his fist with one hand. "What the!"

"You're pretty strong for a human!" she commented. "Normally, my hand wouldn't even get pushed back nor would it be trembling if I catch a punch thrown by a human at me, yet you're able to succeed in doing both!" Suddenly, she threw a punch into Raven's abdomen to send him flying inside the building.

CRAAAAAAASH!

"But I'm stronger!" the tengu said while dusting her hand.

Youmu went up to her and said, "That was fast."

"Right! Now let's go inside," Aya said. Both the girls went into the building and ignored the seemingly unconscious Vulcan Raven lying against the wall.

Shortly after they left, a raven flew into the building, landed on Raven's leg, and looked at his face. Raven opened his eyes and looked at the raven. "They're good… I was totally caught off guard… But this matters not… The next time we meet, we shall have a much worthier battle! My friend, go and keep an eye on them and tell me what you think of them."

The raven nodded and then took off into the air.

Raven continued to sit in the same place and thought to himself, "That girl… She's different… I can tell… She's no ordinary human being… She's more like… the ravens…"

* * *

"Ow!" a soldier cried after getting hit in the head by a yin-yang orb, and then he fainted.

"Good, the coast is clear," Reimu said while watching from behind a corner, and then she quickly ran across the place with Marisa and Alice.

"Nobody has seen us so far," Marisa said. "While I prefer causing a ruckus wherever I go, sneaking around quietly isn't that bad either! Perhaps I should consider using stealth to sneak into Scarlet Devil Mansion next time!"

Reimu looked at the map and said, "According to this map, there's a building up ahead. Whatever that building is, let's head inside it anyway. Maybe the Light Essence is hidden there!"

"Would be nice if we actually knew where we are supposed to go beforehand…" Alice said.

Suddenly, Reimu tripped and fell forward, and while her body was entirely the air, a bullet went underneath her just before she hit the ground. "Ow!"

"Who's there!" Alice said, turning to where the bullet came from. She turned her head to the side just in time to see someone moving in between two warehouses, but she wasn't able to tell who or what it was at all.

Marisa helped Reimu up and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "What was that just now?"

"It seems that someone was trying to shoot you from afar," Alice told her. "However, you tripped just before he pulled the trigger, and as the result, the shot missed. You're lucky."

"Really? No wonder I heard a loud sound just now. Guess someone is after us…"

"We have to be more careful about our surroundings," Alice said while looking around the place. "We should get inside a building fast. It's much safer that way."

* * *

A lone soldier was on top of a tower, scanning the place with a spotlight. Unknown to him, Meiling landed behind him and gave him a blow to the back of the neck to knock him out, and then she returned to the bottom. "He's out cold," she replied.

"I can see that," Remilia said.

"I hope nobody will find it suspicious that the spotlights aren't moving around any longer…" Sanae said. "Anyway, let's get inside quickly." So they quickly headed into the nearest building.

When they got inside, they looked around for signs of enemies before running down the hallway. Remilia suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Someone's around the corner!"

The three girls quickly pressed themselves against the wall and watched the floor for a shadow. They saw a shadow, but it stopped moving forward; instead, it 'sank' into the wall. They peeked out from around the corner and saw a door. "Guess he went inside," Sanae said.

The door opened again, so they quickly hid the second the time. Luckily for them, the soldier didn't go around the wall; he went in the direction he originally came from. After he was gone, they stepped out from their hiding place, if it could even be considered a hiding place. Curious about the room the soldier went into, Sanae opened the door and looked inside to find rows of lockers and army clothes hanging on the wall.

Seeing those clothes gave Sanae an idea. "I know! We can dress ourselves up as the soldiers of this place!"

"You sure about that?" Remilia asked.

"There's a saying that goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'. Therefore, we should dress up as soldiers in order to avoid getting caught!"

"I don't think that'll work very well," Meiling said. "There are no female soldiers here at all, so we'll still be found out easily."

"Um… You may have a point there…" Sanae said after thinking over what Meiling said. "Still, I think it's better than not trying… We can try wearing a hat." She then bunched up her hair, reached for a hat, and put it on. "See? Now my hair won't be seen! As long as nobody takes a close look at my face, they won't notice that I'm a girl! We will also avoid talking often, but if we are forced to talk, we can simply make our voices as deep as possible! What do you think?"

"You're making things look too simple," Remilia told her. "I doubt this will work at all."

"Well, we won't know until we try," Sanae said as went into the room to grab a set of clothes and then headed for the women's restroom nearby. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

Remilia and Meiling also stepped into the room and waited for a few minutes, and when Sanae came out, she was dressed in that set of clothes. She posed and asked, "How do I look?"

"Not bad! It actually looks very convincing!" Meiling commented. "Maybe I should also try it out!" So she got herself a set of clothes and then went into the restroom. She came back out when she was done. "How do I look?"

"Suits you nicely! You even hid your hair underneath the hat!" Sanae said.

Meiling looked at Remilia and asked her, "Do you want to try those clothes, Mistress Remilia?"

"I'm not sure if I want to wear the clothes of dirty men," she said.

"Don't say that. You don't have proof that these men are dirty."

"I think she's concerned about the fact that she's too short to fit into any of these clothes," Sanae said.

"Who said so!" Remilia angrily said.

"Wait a minute… I just noticed something…" Meiling said. "If there are no men here, then why is there a women's restroom here?"

"You're right!" Sanae said. "That proves this place has women! It's just that we haven't run into one yet."

* * *

Cirno and Nitori entered a building and came into a dark room. "Where's the light?" Cirno asked.

"It's probably better that we don't turn on the ligh, or else people will find out about us," Nitori said. "However, a flashlight probably wouldn't hurt." So she took out her flashlight. "Hope nobody is here…"

The duo walked around the place with Nitori shining her flashlight around the place, but she didn't dare to point it too high into the air in fear of someone seeing them. She then shined the light onto something resembling a head made of metal. "What's that?" she wondered.

She shined her flashlight around and saw that it was a large bipedal machine built in the likeliness of a winged dinosaur without lacking arms.

"Cool! A giant robot!"

Cirno then looked around the place and said, "There seems to be something else in this room."

Nitori shined her flashlight at where Cirno was looking and saw another kind of the same robot, and when she looked around, she saw several other identical robots.

"Wow! These things are mass produced!" the kappa said in surprise.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Since breaking the fourth wall is somewhat common in the Metal Gear series, don't be surprised to see more of those happening in the future chapters of this arc.

Also, the language solution is taken from a Spider-Man/Inuyasha crossover called The Fang and the Web. It's a great story for fans of those two series, so check it out if you want to. Sadly, it seems to be discontinued...

Admittedly, I wasn't thinking of the issue with language at all when I first made this story. I believe that it was after reading that crossover story did I realize that this might be problem for the Metal Gear arc. Most of the characters in the Metal Gear series are Americans, so it's obvious that they speak English, but the Gensokyo girls speak Japanese. Thanks to that crossover story, I was able to come up with a solution for this!

**Next chapter: Brother in Arm**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Reimu Hakurei**

Campbell: Snake, do you hear me?

Snake: Loud and clear, colonel.

Colonel: I am here to provide you with information regarding these girls from the land of Gensokyo.

Snake: Gensokyo? Where's that?"

Colonel: It's a place located in Japan, but almost nobody knows about its existence. It's a place where mythical creatures can be found.

Snake: Really, huh? I guess I'm not too surprised. I did meet quite a few strange people out there after all…

Campbell: Reimu is the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, the gateway from the outside to Gensokyo. She is in charge of holding up a barrier that keeps Gensokyo from being discovered by the outside world. Because of this, she is the most important person in that place. If she were to pass away, then the barrier will disappear. The shrine itself is also important in sustaining the barrier, but the shrine maiden herself is the most important.

Snake: What's wrong with that world being exposed to outsiders?

Campbell: I'm not sure about the exact reasons. One reason is that it is a place for mythical creatures to live in peace without being disturbed by humans of the outside world. After all, they aren't supposed to exist, so their existence in the outside world would attract a lot of attention. Another reason is to contain those creatures in a place where they will not cause trouble to outsiders. It is also Reimu's responsibility to keep the creatures under control. As a shrine maiden, her job is to exterminate demons that are causing trouble and resolve incidents happening in Gensokyo.

Snake: Seems to be tough work for her, I bet.

Campbell: Indeed. However, she is also known to not take her job seriously. As a result, her reputation among the inhabitants of Gensokyo is rather poor. Despite this, she gets the job done pretty well if she cares to do something. Unless the incident is a major one, she usually demands payment for requests given to her.

Snake: Working for money, eh?

Campbell: She is kind of poor. Her shrine doesn't get much guests and donations.

Snake: Maybe I should do the same to get myself some earnings.

Campbell: You're not the kind of person to work for money, Snake. I know you too well.

Snake: Just saying…

* * *

**Codec Transmission: Marisa Kirisame**

Snake: Otacon, judging by the way she's dressed… I'd say she's a witch.

Otacon: You're right about that, though she's simply a human being who specializes in magic.

Snake: That doesn't sound like what a simple human being can do…

Otacon: You can say that… But no matter how you put it, she's actually a fairly normal human in Gensokyo.

Snake: That is to say the majority of the inhabitants there are abnormal, isn't it?

Otacon: It's a land where demons exist, so it's obvious that not everyone there is normal. In fact, you need to be abnormal in some way if you want to blend in with the people there. There are still perfectly normal people, however.

Snake: I guess I'm not what you would call normal either. I should blend in very well there.

Otacon: Heheh… I get what you're talking about… Anyway, you should be careful that Marisa doesn't steal your properties. She's known to be a thief.

Snake: Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye on her movements if she shows up in front of me.

Otacon: Actually, you don't really have to worry that much about your equipments getting stolen. She usually targets only books.

Snake: Books? What? She can't afford her own books?

Otacon: Dunno… She simply likes to steal books, though she claims to be borrowing them for a lifetime.

Snake: What's the difference?

Otacon: She's a strange girl, that's that.

Snake: Okay…

Otacon: So… Anything else you would like to know?

Snake: Nothing, but maybe you should look after your books.

Otacon: Don't worry; they're all safe and sound. It's not like she's going to burst in here all of a sudden and…

CRASH!

Snake: Otacon! What was that sound?

Otacon: Oh no! She's here! She's taking my books! The ones about robots! She's stealing my precious things!

Snake: Otacon! Hang in there! I'll go over and help you at once! Wait a minute… I'm too far from you to get back in an instant! Otacon! Do you hear me? Otacon! Otacon! OTACOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!


	93. Brother in Arm

**Chapter 92  
Brother in Arm**

* * *

An invisible Snake stepped out from around a corner and looked at a guard standing in front of a door. He was going to sneak up to the guard when suddenly he heard the sound of grumbling. The guard held his hand over his stomach and then quickly left. "Oh… Not again…"

Reisen then looked out from around the corner and asked Snake, "Is it all right to come out now?"

"Yeah, though I didn't do anything…" he replied. Suddenly, he heard a beeping sound in his ear, so he pressed the codec and said, "This is Snake."

"It's me, Nitori!" said the kappa's voice.

"Nitori, what is it?"

"Cirno and I came into a large room filled with giant robots."

"Robots? What do they look like?"

"They all look the same. They look like… Um…"

"What do you think they look like?"

"I think they look like armless winged lizards."

"Armless winged lizards…" Snake tried to visualize a mechanical lizard with a pair of legs and a wing, and then something came to him. "Metal Gear RAY!"

"Metal Gear RAY?"

"Do you know the location of the room you're in?"

"I don't know… There doesn't seem to be any signs around here."

"Then which building on the map did you go into?"

Nitori looked at the map and said, "The one on the top left corner."

"Top left corner? It's not very from where we are. Okay, Reisen and I will be right there. As much as it would be a good idea to see those things destroyed, the both of you should just stay there and do nothing. Hide until we get there, and then I'll give further orders."

"Roger that!"

With that, Snake ended the call and said to Reisen, "C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

Reimu, Marisa, and Alice were inside a building, quietly sneaking through a room filled boxes and some pieces of furniture such as desks, chairs, and cabinets. Marisa opened a drawer and looked inside for something, but found nothing. "Looking for something to steal, aren't you?" Alice asked her.

"How'd you guess?" she replied.

"That question doesn't even need to be asked."

"Well, I thought the Light Essence might be in here, so…"

"I'm sure the enemies hid it somewhere harder to find. They wouldn't hide it somewhere that is easy for us to get our hands on."

"They might have tried something different and hid it in a random and unexpected place. You'll have to look around a lot if that really is the case."

Reimu saw a safe, so she immediately rushed over to it and tried to open it. Marisa and Alice saw her, and the former asked, "You and your lust for money again… I doubt there will be money in there. Why would someone hide money in a place where they store seemingly unused stuff?"

"And you where saying that these people might have hidden the Light Essence in a random and unexpected place…" Alice reminded her.

"Just hurry up and help me open this thing!" Reimu said. "There might be mon… I mean… The Light Essence might be in here!" She spun the dial and turned and pulled the handle several times to get the safe to open, but it never did. "Argh! Open up already!"

"You can't use brawn on these kinds of things," Alice said. "Even though I never used a safe before, I have read from books that they are built to be nearly indestructible.

"Well, whoever made them probably never witnessed my Master Spark!" Marisa said as she took out her hakkero. "Wanna try it out?"

"You'll cause unnecessary damage and attract attention."

Suddenly, the safe opened. "Yes!" Reimu exclaimed.

"Whoa! How'd you do that!" Marisa asked in surprise.

"I simply messed with the number combinations until it finally did. Guess I'm lucky!" Reimu looked inside, only to find nothing. "Geez… So much for wasting my time with this thing…"

"Figured as much…" Alice said.

"Then why did they have to lock it?" Reimu asked as she stood up.

BANG!

"YA!" Reimu screamed as she fell forward onto the safe.

"Wha! Reimu!" Marisa gasped as she quickly ran over to help her up.

Alice quickly turned around to find the attacker, and she saw that the window was broken. "The attacker shot from the outside!" Suddenly, Alice heard the sound of paper being stepped on.

"Your leg is shot!" Marisa said, looking at the wound at the back of the shrine maiden's right leg.

Suddenly, a pair of dolls holding a string charged at Marisa. They managed to catch something invisible using the string and then pulled back, and a cry was heard when they did. Marisa turned around just in time to see something materializing out of thin air. It was a person dressed from head to toe in a sleek armor. Even his face was covered, and a single eye in the center served as his method of sight. "Who is that!"

The armored man pulled the string away from his neck and then sliced both the dolls with his sword. Alice immediately sent more dolls after him, but another person wearing the exact same kind of armor suddenly appeared in front of the dolls and slashed them into pieces. "What the!" the magician said in shock.

Suddenly, a third person dressed in the same kind of armor appeared next to Marisa and gave her a kick to send her flying away from Reimu. "Ow!" The person gave a strong blow to the back of the shrine maiden to knock her out.

"Hey you!" Marisa shouted as she stood back up. "What are you doing to Reimu!"

The first man charged at Marisa and swung his sword at her, but she got out of his way and then used her hakkero to blast him with a beam. "Narrow Spark!"

The man fell back onto the floor, and the one who knocked out Reimu, now being carried over his shoulder, said to him, "The boss wants to hear from us fast, so let's go."

"You're not going anywhere!" Alice angrily said as she made several dolls surround the three armored men. Suddenly, bullets broke through the window and shot down some of the dolls. "What!"

The first man threw a smoke bomb onto the floor to blot out Marisa and Alice's view. "Ack! Cough! I can't see and breathe properly!" Marisa cried in between coughs.

As the three of them left the place, one of them left behind a device with a timer before exiting. Marisa and Alice continued to cough and find their way through the place while the timer on the machine went from ten seconds to zero.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

* * *

Nitori and Cirno suddenly heard footsteps. "Someone's coming!" Nitori said. "Hide!"

"I say let's get him!" Cirno suggested.

"But Snake told us not to do anything! Let's hide instead!" Nitori insisted as she pulled Cirno away by the hand. They quickly got behind one of the Metal Gear RAY's leg and took a peek from there. They saw Ocelot and Vamp walking through the place.

"You know?" Vamp said to Ocelot. "I've been wondering about those people who showed up… What was in your mind when you accepted their offer?"

"Why'd you ask?" Ocelot asked him.

"They seem suspicious to me…"

"Well, they do look suspicious. Who knows what they actually have in mind? However, if the Patriots approve of their universal domination, I don't see why it's a bad idea to accept their offer. Perhaps you're simply unhappy that they did not revive the woman you love?"

Vamp simply looked away as if he didn't want to answer that question, and then he noticed Sanae, Meiling, and Remilia entering the room. "Those two…"

Ocelot looked at the girls as well. "Good eyes, Vamp! How about we let things go their way for a while?"

Meiling, Sanae, and Remilia came into the same place, and they saw the two villains standing there. They had their heads turned away in order to pretend that they didn't notice them. "Uh oh! Hide!" Sanae said.

"But we're disguised as the soldiers of this place," Meiling reminded her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot…"

"Guess the hiding will apply to me," Remilia said, and then she looked up. "There are girders that I can stand on up there. I'll be there until it looks like I'm needed."

"Okay, but try not to get seen, Mistress Remilia," Meiling told her, and then the vampire flew onto one of the girders.

"Okay, let's go!" Sanae said. "Be sure to make your voice as deep as possible, and try to pretend that you know what they're talking about as well."

"Okay," Meiling said with a nod, and then they walked up to Ocelot and Vamp as casually as possible.

When Ocelot saw them, he said, "Ah, Screaming Mantis and Crying Wolf! It's quite a surprise that you are out of your usual costumes!"

"Eh?" Meiling curiously said.

"Um… Yes! We wanted to try something new for once!" Sanae nervously said in the deepest voice she could pull off.

Meiling also spoke in the deepest voice she could pull off. "Yeah! Our usual costumes are dirty, so we washed them!"

"I hope that you get back into your usual costumes soon. You'll need them to fight, you know," Ocelot told them.

"We will!" they both said.

Sanae then looked at the Metal Gear RAYs and asked Ocelot, "Um, excuse me… Would you mind telling us… what these are for?"

"You're curious? I believe I haven't told you about my plans yet. Since we are trusted and powerful members of my fighting force, I believe you have every right to know them. Very well, I will tell you!"

At the same time, Snake and Reisen showed up at the place, and they hid behind a large crate to avoid getting seen. Snake got his gun ready and then looked up from behind the crate. "After I shoot him in the leg, you shoot him anywhere until he falls over," Snake quietly said to Reisen. "Your shots are nonlethal, so he won't die, right?"

"As long as I don't use powerful projectiles, then he won't die," Reisen replied.

"These Metal Gear RAYs will be launched all over the place to cause havoc, and the citizens will be made to believe that it is a terrorist attack," Ocelot explained to Meiling and Sanae. Snake and the other girls hiding in the room were also listening to his explanation. "Because I have control over these RAYs, I can easily put a stop to them. After doing so, the citizens will be made to believe that I am their hero and savior, and this will give me the perfect opportunity to tell them about the Patriots.

"The Patriots are the ones responsible for controlling everything in the United States of America, but they also seek to gain control of the whole world. By making the citizens think that the Patriots are their saviors, we can obtain their trust and thus easily rule over them. After we have won over the United States, we will aim for the rest of the world. There, it's simple as that! Nothing too complicated about this!"

"That's a brilliant plan!" Meiling commented. "Don't you think so… Ah… Crying Wolf?"

"Yeah, it's a brilliant plan…!" Sanae said with a nod.

"Brilliant plan… Yeah right…" Snake grumbled.

"And now that you know about my plans…" Ocelot said as took out his gun and pointed it at Sanae's forehead.

"What the!" the shrine maiden said in shock.

"You may now die! Sorry, but your disguises simply aren't good enough, girls from another world!" Ocelot was about pull the trigger when Meiling quickly caught his arm and bent it to make him shoot upwards. "Gah!"

The bullets struck the part of the ceiling next to Remilia. In fact, it was only a centimeter away from scratching her cheek, and had it been any higher, it would've hit her earlobe.

Meiling then slammed her palm against Ocelot's chest to knock him back. When she ran towards him to continue attacking, Vamp suddenly got in front of her and swung a knife at her, but she quickly ducked and performed a leg sweep. Vamp was knocked down by it, but he quickly slammed one hand onto the floor to bounce back up on his feet.

"You… I thought you were shot in the head!" Meiling said. "A normal human shouldn't be able to survive that!"

"All it takes is a little sleep for me to come back to life again," Vamp told her. "I cannot die!"

"How is he still alive!" Reisen asked in shock.

"No idea," Snake replied. "That guy seems to be immortal. He always comes back to life whenever he gets killed, and even his wounds heal themselves."

"He's just like the princess and Mokou…"

Snake looked at Ocelot, who was holding his hand over his chest in pain, and pointed his gun at his feet. "This is my chance!" Suddenly, Ocelot pointed his gun at Snake and fired. Luckily, Snake reacted in time and ducked to avoid the shot. "Darn! He spotted me!"

"Stop hiding, Snake!" Ocelot said to him. "I know you're there!"

"Tsk! It's all or nothing now!" Snake said as he jumped up from behind the crate with his gun pointing at Ocelot.

When Cirno saw this, she said, "All right, let's go!"

"But he hasn't told us to do anything yet!" Nitori told her, but the ice fairy already ran out from her hiding place.

"Bring it, bad guys! I, the strongest, am here to take you down!" Cirno said as she flew towards Ocelot.

Ocelot turned to her and fired a shot, but Cirno managed to avoid it. However, she failed to avoid the second shot and was hit in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Rash little girl!" the villain said. He then quickly rolled to the side to avoid a shot by Snake, who aimed for his foot. While he was still in the air, he fired a few shots at Snake, but he avoided them by rolling out of the way.

Snake quickly got up and pointed his gun at Ocelot to fire again, but someone suddenly shouted, "Drop your gun!" He looked around to see several soldiers pointing their guns at not only him, but also the other girls.

"Great…" he grumbled.

"Haha! Looks like you're at the end of the road," Ocelot said to him. "You think you can get out of this alive?"

"Don't be so full of yourself!" Meiling said to him. "We can easily get out of this situation ourselves!"

"Is that so? How about we make a bet?" Ocelot asked her. Suddenly, he pointed his gun upwards and pulled the trigger. Remilia, who was going to swoop into him, was shot in the face, and then fell through the air and landed on top of a Metal Gear RAY.

"Mistress Remilia!" Meiling gasped.

Sanae got close to Meiling in fear while Reisen stood next Snake. Nitori was going to run to Cirno to help her up, but she didn't dare to move when some of the soldiers pointed their guns at her.

"Things really aren't looking good, eh?" Ocelot asked Snake and the girls.

"I can make the best out of every situation," Snake replied, not sounding daunted at all.

"What do we do…?" Reisen asked him.

"Stay calm. I'll definitely think of some way. If all else fails, then it's better to let ourselves become prisoners first."

"What…?"

Suddenly, there was the sound of soldiers screaming, and everyone turned and saw that two of the soldiers had knocked out several other soldiers. "What in the!" Ocelot said in shock. "What are you doing!"

"We just wanted to help our friends," one of the soldiers said he took his hat and shades to reveal himself as Aya. The other soldier removed his hat to reveal himself as Youmu.

"Yes! We're saved!" Reisen happily exclaimed.

"Argh! Get them!" Ocelot shouted. The soldiers fired at the two girls, but Youmu deflected the projectiles while Aya simply dodged them.

As Ocelot watched Snake and the girls take on the soldiers, Remilia suddenly flew down from the top of the Metal Gear RAY she fell on and swooped at him. The villain rolled to the side in the nick of time and then turned to look at her. "I thought I shot you right in the face!"

Remilia turned around and said, "I caught the bullet in my mouth, and that's the second time today. Good thing I have strong teeth; otherwise, some of them might have fallen off."

Suddenly, Ocelot's cell phone rang. When he looked at who called him, a smile appeared on his face, and then he set the cell phone to broadcast mode. "Yes?"

"We have captured that girl, boss," said the voice on the other side of the phone.

When Snake and the girls heard this, they immediately turned to him. "What!" Sanae said in shock. "Who got captured?"

"And the other two?" Ocelot asked.

"They are killed by the bomb. The entire building has been blown apart. It's doubtful that there would be any survivors."

"What! Who got killed?" Nitori said in shock.

"Good!" Ocelot said, sounding very pleased, and then he turned to the other girls. "You heard that? The girl in red and white has been captured while her two friends are dead!

"Reimu is captured! Marisa and Alice are dead!" Reisen gasped.

"This can't be true!" Sanae said in horror.

"But it's true! Didn't you hear what one of my men said just now?" Ocelot said.

"Why you!" Remilia angrily said.

"Don't you dare try anything silly, young vampire," Ocelot said to her. "Since one of your friends is taken captive, I can give out the order to kill her whenever I want to! If you dare do anything to me now, I can immediately give out such an order to my men!"

"What… What do we do…?" Reisen asked. "Reimu is in danger, and we can't do anything…"

"Ocelot! Let go of the girl at once!" Snake angrily shouted.

"You don't have to be so angry," Ocelot said to him. "The girl is safe and sound now. If you want to assure her safety, then be a good boy! I can put you all in the same prison room if you want to!"

"You won't be getting away with this!"

"Oh, but I'll be getting away with this for sure! Hahaha!" Ocelot laughed out loud for a few seconds, but all of a sudden, his right arm started shaking. "Gah! What the! Ngh! Ugh!"

"Wha…? What is happening to him?" Youmu asked.

"It's happening again…" Snake said, not looking surprised at all.

"Gah! No! Liquid! Stop it! Don't!" Ocelot cried as he held his left hand over his right arm. "Gaaaah!" Suddenly, he fell silent, and then a few seconds later, he looked up with a smirk on his face.

"Liquid…" Snake said.

"Well, brother! We meet again!" Ocelot said with a younger sounding voice. "I see that things aren't going very well for you and your friends, eh?"

"What's wrong with him?" Meiling asked. "His voice sounds different from before!"

"Liquid! Even though we're enemies, I do know that you are not on Ocelot's side," Snake said to Ocelot, now called Liquid. "Let go of that girl at once!"

"What good would it do to me?" Liquid replied. "I may not be on the same side as Ocelot, but that does not mean I should listen to what you say to me either!"

"Um… Boss…?" one of the soldiers asked him. He was confused as what was happening to his superior.

Ocelot looked at him and said, "What are you waiting for? Point your gun at them and shoot! All of you! Kill them! I am your superior, so listen to my orders!"

All the soldiers were confused, but nevertheless, they listened to Liquid and pointed their guns at Snake and the girls. "Well, looks like this is the end of the road for you, brother!" Liquid said to Snake. "Remember to say hello to father for me when you meet him!"

"You!" Snake angrily said.

Suddenly, Cirno whipped out a spell card and held it high into the air. "Freeze Sign: Perfect Freeze!" The card glowed with whitish-blue light and then created a blizzard that quickly filled up the place.

"What in the world!" Liquid said in shock just before getting snow in the face. "Gyah!"

"What the!" Snake cried while using his hands to shield his face from the snow.

"Cirno! You just had to use that, did you!" Aya shouted.

"Everyone! Get out of here fast!" Cirno shouted. "My spell card won't last forever! Bullets will eventually appear, so get out fast!"

Snake and the girls tried their best to find their way through the blizzard. They managed to get close to each other and then made it out of the room. Once they did, Nitori quickly shut the door behind them. "Phew… I was about to freeze to death in there…"

"YAAAAA!"

"WAAAAAAAA!"

"What the…?" Snake asked, curious about those screams.

"Bullets," Cirno replied. "Told ya that would happen."

"That was reckless of you!" Aya said while dusting snow off her shoulder. "But at least we managed to get out of there, so thanks anyway."

"C'mon, we better get out of this place and return to Otacon first," Snake suggested. "Things are a mess now."

"What about Reimu?" Sanae asked. "We can't just leave her here!"

"Her rescue can wait. We need to go back and then come up with a new plan first. Don't worry; I assure you that we will definitely rescue her."

"And Marisa and Alice…?" Nitori asked.

"We'll talk about them later as well. C'mon, let's go!"

The group quickly ran through the building interior until they finally made it ouside. As they ran through the place, they saw a burning building, and several soldiers were trying to put out the fire. "That must be the building…" Reisen said.

"Guess that explains the explosion we heard some time ago…" Aya said.

"Are Marisa and Alice really dead…?" Cirno asked.

"I don't know," Snake said. "Let's get out of here first. There's no point in standing here and waiting for them to see us. At least we know Reimu is still alive."

The girls continued to watch the building burn. Even though they tried to be as optimistic as possible, they still could not shake off the dreaded feeling that Marisa and Alice might no longer be alive. Snake called them again, so they quickly followed him.

* * *

The blizzard came to an end, and Liquid and Vamp came out from the snow. "Achoo! Darn that girl!" Liquid, who was now speaking with Ocelot's voice, said. "And curse that Liquid for taking over my mind at a time like this! I've got to do something about him!"

"It looks like they got away again," Vamp said to him. "Now what?"

"Don't worry; as long as one of their friends is still here, they'll definitely come back again. On the bright side, we got rid of two of them!"

"Are you sure they are dead?"

"Even if they are not dead, they are at least left in a bad condition. Therefore, we can easily get rid of them if we happen to come across them. Anyway, now that we captured that girl, I should be getting back to my room now. By the way, tell the soldiers to get rid of this snow now!"

* * *

Snake and the girls managed to make it back to the RV, and when they went inside, Otacon said to them, "You're back! Things didn't go very smooth, did it?"

"You can say that," Snake replied.

"Of course it didn't go smoothly!" Reisen said. "Reimu got taken by them! Marisa and Alice were blown up along with a building!"

"What!" Otacon said in shock.

"That's the truth," Snake said. "Looks like this is going to be troublesome…"

"You talk as if we're causing you trouble!" Sanae said to him in an angry voice.

"That's the truth to some extent. If it weren't for you girls, then my mission would've gone smoothly and probably ended faster."

Most of the girls were offended to hear this. "Listen! We offered to help you because you helped us back then, and that is what you think of us?" Aya said.

"Having lots of people in a stealth mission was never a good idea in the first place. The fact that this happened isn't a big surprise. You should be glad that you made it out alive. Stuff like this happens whether or not you like it, so deal with it."

"Why you!" Sanae growled.

"Um… Can we please not be angry at each other…?" Nitori asked. "This isn't a good time to do so because it will ruin our relationship… Reimu is captured, so we should focus on trying to rescue her at the moment… But there's also Marisa and Alice… We don't even know if they both are still alive…"

"You know? I think we should just go all-out and blow up that place now," Aya said. "That'll make things a lot easier!"

"You better not trying anything silly," Snake told her. "Even if you have nothing to do with this, it is a very important mission to me. You can say that the fate of this country, or perhaps the whole world, lies on the success of this mission. You may not be from this world, but will you really feel guiltless knowing that you caused the destruction of a world? Furthermore, wrecking that whole place can even cause the life of your friend."

"Reimu is strong, so she should survive even if we blow up that place. I'm sure Marisa and Alice are also still ali…"

"Don't give me that 'they are strong, so they will survive' kind of talk! People die, whether they are weak or strong. My father, one of the greatest soldiers known to mankind, was killed by my own hands!"

Hearing this, faces of shock appeared on the girls' face while Snake showed an expression implying that he said something that shouldn't be said. The silence was eventually broken when Sanae said, "You… killed your… father…?"

Snake lowered his head, looking as if he regretted ever saying that. However, he had to face the truth. Since it was already spilled out, he knew that there was no way he could pretend that he never said it nor was it made up. "Yeah, that's the truth," he admitted. Otacon, with a sad look on his face, turned his head to the side and looked down slightly.

There was silence among them again, and then Aya asked, "I'm sorry if I shouldn't be asking this… but… would you mind sharing with us a little? You don't have to force yourself if you don't have to…"

"It's all right. I'm not really the kind of person to hide anything from others. My father, Big Boss, is said to be one of the finest soldiers in the world. However, he formed a coup de tat against the government twice, and twice I was sent to stop him. I didn't know he was my father at first, but even after I found out the truth, I still went ahead and killed him."

"How can you do that…?" Cirno asked.

"Some people simply deserve to be killed. Besides, he wanted it."

"He asked you kill him?" Youmu asked.

"No, but I can tell that he wanted me to do so, so I gave him what he wanted."

"How can you do such a cruel thing…? You could've talked him out of it!" Sanae said.

"In a battlefield," Snake told her, "talking isn't necessary the solution to everything. Men born in battlefields are destined to fight for the rest of their lives. He once told me that the winner will have to continue fighting while the loser will be liberated from the battle. To put it simple, the losers are the true winner of wars; they no longer have to fight. The winners, on the other hand, will have to continue fighting and suffer for the rest of their life. I believed I could free myself from life on the battlefield by defeating him, but he was right… My fight… It will most likely never end… As long I still walk the world, I will continue to fight, whether or not I like it."

"Wow… Life must really stink to be soldier…" Aya commented.

"You can say that, but it's not like I had a choice. I was born a soldier, and being born as one pretty much means it's the only thing you'll ever be good at."

There was silence among them for the third time, and then Cirno raised her hand and asked, "That Ocelot guy is your brother, right?" Some of the girls were surprised to hear this.

"I'm also curious about that as well," Remilia said. "It's quite a surprise to hear him calling you brother all of a sudden, not to mention the change in voice."

"And he also looked like he was talking to himself. Is there a problem with his brain or what?"

"Ocelot isn't my brother," Snake replied," but Liquid is."

"Liquid?" Aya curiously said.

"Liquid Snake, to be precise. Both I and Liquid were clones created from Big Boss's cells."

"What! Clones?" Sanae said in shock. "But I thought human cloning is illegal!"

"True, but that didn't stop some people from working on it in secret. The both of us and another clone named Solidus were created from Big Boss's cells in order to create the most powerful artificial soldiers possible. Liquid became jealous of me because he believed that I had all the dominant genes while he had the recessive ones. He attempted to launch a nuclear attack once, but I was able to stop him."

"You killed him?" Meiling asked.

"No, he was killed by a virus, and I don't want to get into details. Anyway, Ocelot lost his right arm once, and he later had it replaced with Liquid's arm. However, this allowed Liquid to take over his mind. It seems to happen whenever I'm near Ocelot. Liquid is against the Patriots as well, so he chose Ocelot as his host so that he can get closer to them."

"You sure have quite a brother there," Remilia commented.

"Yeah, the relationship between all three of us brothers is really messed up. None of us like each other at all."

"And where's the third one? The one you called Solidus."

"My friend killed him. Solidus was one of those that deserve to be killed too."

"Your family, if you can even call it a family, sure is messed up…" Reisen commented.

"My whole life is a mess to begin with. Anyway, I'm sorry I offended you girls too much earlier."

"It's all right…" Sanae said. "It's normal for people to say things like those when they are in a bad mood."

"You should, however, be ready to accept the truth if Marisa and Alice are dead. This is the real world, and in the real world, people will die." The girls didn't say anything in reply. It was as if they agreed with what he said.

"Good news, everyone!" Otacon said all of a sudden. "I managed to hack into the base's computer and obtained a detailed map of the place! With this new map, you will be able to get a better understanding of the building interiors!"

"That's good to know!" Snake said to him. "All right; let's come up with a new plan."

* * *

Reimu slowly opened her eyes. "Ow… What happened…?" When she tried to move, she realized that she was bounded to a metal structure in a standing position. "What the! Why am I here?"

"So you're awake, young maiden!" said Ocelot.

Reimu angrily looked at him and said, "You! Let go of me at once!"

"Don't worry; I have been told to not do anything to you… just yet! There is someone who wants to meet you. I hope the both of you will have a good conversation!"

"Who?"

"Me!" Suddenly a burst of blue light appeared behind Ocelot.

"What the!"

Ocelot then walked away from the front of the person to let Reimu see who it was. It was a man lacking in any distinctive features other than having a body that was glowing with bright blue light.

"Who... Who are you…?"

"I am Tabuu, the leader of the organization that is bent on universal domination!" the man replied.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Perhaps some of you might have figured out who the leader is already. Ridley, Porky, and Dedede spoke as if they knew who he was, and then I mentioned blue light whenever he appeared. Yes, it's Tabuu, the main villain of Super Smash Bros. Brawl!

As for Marisa and Alice's fate... Well... Um... What do you think?

**Next chapter: Re-Infiltration**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is a reference to the video game series Brothers in Arms. It is referring to how Snake's brother, Liquid Snake, is now living on as Ocelot's arm. However, those who played Metal Gear Solid 4 should know the truth behind this. Ocelot was never possessed by Liquid; he was simply pretending to be Liquid the whole time using the help of hypnotherapy and nanomachines. He did have Liquid's hand in MGS2, but he replaced it with a cybernetic arm after that game because it was affecting his psyche. Remember that this arc takes place before MGS4, so Snake doesn't know the truth yet.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Youmu Konpaku**

Mei Ling: Snake, this is Youmu Konpanku, the half-phantom.

Snake: Half-phantom?

Mei Ling: Yes.

Snake: How is it possible to be a human and a phantom at once? She's basically alive and dead at the same time! Reminds me of zombies, but she doesn't reek of one…

Mei Ling: I don't really know how that works either, but I know for sure that she's not a zombie. Maybe you shouldn't be thinking too much about this. She's from Gensokyo after all, and you know how that place is full of strange beings.

Snake: Yeah, you have a point…

Mei Ling: She is very skilled swordswoman who fights with both swords at once. However, she uses only one most of the time and will only use both swords when performing certain attacks or when fighting a tough battle. Her skills are passed down to her by her former teacher, Youki.

Snake: She's pretty skilled for someone her age. I'd take a guess and say that she's about fifteen.

Mei Ling: She's actually older than she looks. I don't know her exact age, but she's believed to be not more than sixty.

Snake: Well, my point still stands…

Mei Ling: Do you see that white thing next to her? That's her phantom half. Everything it sees, hears, and senses will be transferred back to her, and she can even turn it into an identical copy of herself. Isn't that very useful?

Snake: Sounds useful all right; however, the fact that you said it will transfer whatever it senses back to her doesn't sound good to me. You mean that if it gets hurt, she will also feel the pain?

Mei Ling: Exactly.

Snake: Definitely not useful in combat if you ask me. She will be an easy target for her enemies.

Mei Ling: True, but it is because of this major weakness that pushes her to become stronger and more skilled in battle.

Snake: Indeed; if you cannot get rid of your own weakness, then you will have to become stronger in order to keep your weakness from getting in your way. I like the determination that she has, but honestly, I wouldn't want to have that kind of weakness…

* * *

**Codec Transmission: Alice Margatroid**

Otacon: That's Alice, Snake.

Snake: Commonly heard name, nothing else. Anything special about her?

Otacon: She's very skilled in doll manipulation. She controls her dolls using magical strings that are more or less invisible to the eyes. Being a magician, she can make the dolls do several things that puppeteers can't make puppets do, like doing the dishes, cleaning the house, carrying things… You get the point.

Snake: Sounds very useful if you need an extra hand.

Otacon: Since she lives alone, she usually has her dolls help her with housework. She also uses them in combat. The dolls are capable of firing projectiles and laser beams, and she also equips them with various kinds of weapons. She also fills certain dolls with gunpowder in order to use them as bombs. In short, she's very skilled with using dolls and is a huge lover of dolls herself.

Snake: If she loves dolls, then why does she use them as bombs? Using them to fight, I can understand, but bombs?

Otacon: That's what some of her friends are wondering as well…

Snake: Forget it… She basically has an army of her own, so taking on her must be the pain.

Otacon: That's quite true. She's very smart as well. In battles, she usually analyzes the situation first and then comes up with strategies to win. She's not the kind to use brute force and or go all-out, even when cornered. She does have a powerful trump card, however, and that is to summon a giant doll known as the Goliath Doll.

Snake: Looks like she's really someone tough to deal with after all.

Otacon: Therefore, it's important that one aim his or her attacks at her and not the dolls. That's the key to defeating her in a fight.

Snake: Got it, even though it's not like I'm going to fight her or anything like that…

Otacon: And on the side note, I wish that I'm able to control dolls like her. Instead of dolls, however, I want to control robot models. Imagine leading an army of robot models or having them help you with work! You great would that be!

Snake: Yeah, you and your obsession for robots…


	94. Re Infiltration

**SBS Time!  
KyoukochanHayate**: If Cirno were to die, wouldn't she be resurrected because she's a fairy?  
**Game2002: **That's true, but she hasn't died in this story yet, and I can't say I have plans to make that happen.

I forgot to put down the title of this chapter in the previous one. I added it already, though there's no point in going back to see it now that this chapter is already out…

Also, the full version Touhou 13: Ten Desires is out! Yay! Let's all give those girls a warm welcome (names are not put down here in case some people do not like spoilers)!

**Chapter 93  
Re-Infiltration**

* * *

After they were ready, Snake and the girls returned to Ocelot's base and went for where the hole was. After making sure that there was nobody on the other side, Snake crawled through the hole while the girls flew over the fence. "Okay, everyone know what they have to do?" Snake asked as he stood back up and dusted himself.

"As well as the back of my hand!" Aya said.

"Good, but let's go through everything again to make sure that nobody forgets. I'll be heading into the main building to deal with Ocelot and find information regarding the Patriots. Youmu, you head for the prison to rescue Reimu. It's located on the western side of the main building's highest floor. Reisen and Sanae, the both of you go to where the explosion took place and look for Marisa and Alice, assuming that they are still alive or if their bodies are still there. Since Sanae can make miracles happens, the both of you can only hope that one does happen when you get there.

"Remilia and Meiling, the both of you head back to where the Metal Gear RAYs are and use the C4s I gave you to destroy them. Remember to bomb the legs so that they will fall over, and if you want to, destroy the heads as well. That'll at least render them unable to see if they aren't destroyed and are later activated. Nitori and Cirno, the both of you head for the power supply located in the main building's basement and shut it off in order to keep the enemy from using their computers, which may be vital in executing their plan. Lastly, Aya will go to the treasury located inside the building at eastern side of the camp to look for the Light Essence. I don't know if it's hidden there or not, but checking it out is still a good idea.

"Remember, this is a stealth mission, so avoid getting seen as much as possible. Avoid causing ruckuses and unnecessary fights. Make sure to stay alive as well."

"Don't worry; we won't be dying anytime soon," Remilia said.

"All right, now move out!" Snake said, and then everyone went to accomplish their missions.

* * *

Within Ocelot's office, Reimu, still strapped to the metal structure, was face to face with the leader of the organization bent on taking over the universe, Tabuu. She listened to him as he told her his backstory, not to mention his plan. After he had finished speaking, Reimu asked, "So that's how you plan to take over the universe?"

"Exactly," the villain replied with a nod.

"Doesn't sound all that interesting to me… I guess villains usually don't come up with interesting motives…"

"The simplest ones are usually the most realistic and achievable ones. I may have failed once, but this time, the power of the Darkling is guaranteed to make things a success! There is no way you girls can defeat the embodiment of evil! Evil is a part of the universe. So long as life exists, evil exists!"

"I cannot deny that. Looks like things are going to be a lot tougher than we thought…"

"You sound as if you're giving up already!"

"I never said anything like that. We can't be sure until we try. It doesn't matter how you are you trying to take over the universe; we will do whatever it takes to stop you. You can count on that to happen."

"You sound confident yet unenthusiastic. I will let you live a little longer. Perhaps you will lose faith in defeating us once you witness your friends getting killed one by one!"

"My friends are strong; I have faith in them."

"Are you sure? Two of your friends are likely to be dead already."

"Yeah right… Like I'm going to fall for that…"

"We shall see."

"So… what do you want me to do to her now?" Ocelot asked Tabuu.

"Do whatever you want with her, but keep her alive for the meantime. However, I will allow you to give her a bit of torturing. Isn't that what you are skilled at?"

"If you want a little torturing, then I am willing to give her a little!"

"Good! I will go and see how the other girls are faring. Make sure not to go overboard with torturing her!" With that, Tabuu disappeared.

Ocelot looked at Reimu with a wicked smile, and the shrine maiden said, "What are you going to do to me?"

"Don't worry; I'll make sure that you live through this!" Ocelot said as he approached a control panel while a nervous look appeared on Reimu's face. "How about a bit of electrotherapy? They say it can treat your body!"

"That would be nice. My leg still hurts from getting shot earlier."

"Don't worry; that wound is already treated, though I think it might heal at a faster rate after this!" Then the villain pressed a button that caused Reimu to be electrocuted from head to toe.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

After a few seconds, Ocelot turned off the electricity and looked at the slightly charred shrine maiden. "How'd you like that? Feeling better?"

"Worse!" she angrily replied.

"Then I'll give you more!" And he pressed the button again.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"KYAAAAAAAH! STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Ocelot turned it off and looked at her. Her hair was now sticking out to the sides, though mostly straight up. "How about now?" he asked her.

"I'll get you… for this…!" she angrily growled.

* * *

Meiling, who was carrying a bag of C4s, and Remilia returned to the room where the Metal Gear RAYs were. "Okay, time for some massive destruction," Remilia said. "Flandre is really going to like it if she's here."

"Too bad she isn't," Meiling said, and then she noticed something. "Those things! They're all gone!" Sure enough, none of the Metal Gear RAYs were in the room anymore.

"It seems that they were expecting us," Remilia said as she continued walking through the room while looking around. "Not a single one of those things are in sight. They must've hidden them somewhere."

"But how? Those things are big!"

"Snake did say that those things are capable of moving by themselves, so they probably went somewhere after being activated."

"What do we do now?"

"They couldn't have gone far yet. Beside, their size should make them easy to find. Maybe we'll have to ask somehow for information."

Meiling yawned and then said, "I was hoping to get some exercise out of this to liven myself up. I feel sleepy…"

Unknown to her, someone was hiding behind some crates. Taking advantage of her tiredness, the person took aim of her head and then threw a knife. However, Meiling spun around at the last second and caught the knife by its blade in between her fingers. Dropping the bag and flinging the knife away, she ran towards the crates with her arm pulled back. "Spiral Light Step!" And she delivered a rainbow-powered punch that caused all the crates to burst into pieces, but the person hiding behind them, Vamp, jumped back into the air to avoid getting hit. "It's you again!"

"You've wasted your time in coming here," Vamp told her. "The Metal Gear RAYs have been relocated somewhere else."

"You're here at the right time," Remilia said to him. "You better tell us where they are."

"And if I don't?"

Remilia looked at Meiling and said to her, "Meiling, make him speak."

"I will, Mistress Remilia!" she replied.

Vamp got out a knife and slowly licked its blade. "I'll be happy to make your trip here worthwhile!"

* * *

Sanae and Reisen arrived at the wreckage of the building that got blown up. The fire had already been put out, and there was no one around the place. "Let's dig through this place until we find someone!" Sanae said. "They have to be in there somewhere!"

"I have a feeling that this won't be easy…" Reisen said.

"Reisen, blow up the debris with your danmaku, preferably using Psycho Missile!"

"Are you kidding me! If Marisa and Alice happen to still be alive underneath that debris, then they would get injured!"

"You're right… How come I didn't think of that just now…? But what else can we do? We're not strong enough to remove the pieces of the debris using our bare hands… Maybe if we have tools…"

"Hey you!" shouted a voice. The girls turned around to see a soldier pointing his gun at them. "Don't move!" Acting quick, Reisen raised her arm and fired a bullet that struck him in the forehead to make him flinch, and then Sanae followed up with an exploding amulet that blasted him onto the ground. "Yaaa!"

Sanae and Reisen then approached the fallen soldier, and the shrine maiden said to him, "Please don't pass out now! You must answer us something! When you came to put out the fire here, did you find anyone buried underneath the debris?"

"Dunno…" the soldier weakly replied. "We only put out the fire…"

"Are there anything we can use for removing them?"

"There are digging tools somewhere inside the main building…"

"Okay, thanks for the info!"

"I can't believe that he told us all those so easily…" Reisen said.

"A miracle, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot… You make miracles happen wherever you go, so I guess this isn't too surprising…"

"I'm worried that he will get back up and tell other people that he saw us. There's the possibility that when we come back here after getting the digging tools, there will be more soldiers waiting for us! That'll make rescuing Marisa and Alice harder!"

"You may be right. Maybe we should hide him somewhere or bound him up."

"We don't have any ropes. How about you stay here and keep an eye on him? The main building isn't very far from here. I'll quickly head over there and find those digging tools. Hope they aren't too hard to find…"

"Are you sure? That doesn't seem safe… It's best to go together."

"Remember that Snake is inside that building somewhere. I might run into him. I have the codec with me, so I'll contact him when I need help. Don't worry; I'll be fine! Remember, I make miracles happen, so everything will definitely be all right!"

"Okay… Then good luck."

"Good luck to you too!" Sanae said before running towards the building not too far in the distance

Reisen then looked around the place and said to herself, "Please… don't let anyone show up… I can deal with them if they do, but I still hope that nothing happens…" Suddenly, she noticed someone in the distance looking at her from behind a rock on the other side of the fence. That person wasn't just looking at her; it was also pointing something at her.

BANG!

Luckily, Reisen dodged fast, so the bullet fired only scraped her face. She quickly pointed her finger at the attacker and fired, but she could tell that he avoided it. The attacker ran out from behind the rock to reveal itself as a quadruple machine. The machine ran towards the fence and leaped over it before running in Reisen's direction. Reisen quickly got out of the way, but the unfortunate soldier was stepped on. "GAH!"

"What is that!" the lunar rabbit said in shock.

The machine came to a stop and turned around, and then the top part of its body opened and a person covered from head to toe in a skintight suit came out—Crying Wolf.

"Wha…! Who are you?" Reisen said while pointing her finger at.

"Show me your tears!" Crying Wolf said in a monstrous, digitalized voice. "Cry! Cry for me! I want to see your tears! Cry!"

* * *

Nitori and Cirno looked out from around the corner of a warehouse for signs of enemies, and they saw a lone soldier standing not too far away with his back turned towards them. "Okay, let's sneak past here as quietly as possible," Nitori said.

Cirno nodded, and then the two of them tiptoed past the soldier's back and quickly got around the corner at the other side of the warehouse. "Phew! That was close!" Nitori said. "Good thing he never turned around!"

"Couldn't you just use your invisibility trick?" Cirno asked her. "That way, at least one of us won't have to worry about getting caught."

"How come I never thought of this…?" Nitori said in her head.

"Geez, you're dumb."

"Let's just keep on going, okay…? Heheh…" Nitori turned around and headed forward, only to bump into something. "Ow! What's this?" They both looked up and found themselves looking at what appeared to be a bipedal machine. "Wha… What… is… this…?"

The machine suddenly let out a loud cry similar to that of a cow's, and then it gave Nitori a kick so powerful that she soared through the air like a soccer ball. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The soldier, surprised by her cry, looked into the air to see her.

"NITORI!" Cirno gasped. The machine in front of her then leaped over her and landed several feet away before running after Nitori, who landed somewhere in the distance"Oh no! I have to go save her from that monster at once!"

Suddenly, there was another loud cow-like cry. Cirno looked around for the source of the cry when something jumped in from the side and landed in front of her. "Wha! It's the same kind of monster!"

The mechanical monster—Gekko—raised its leg and attempted to stomp Cirno, but she quickly flew out of the way.

* * *

Aya pushed open the massive door leading into a building filled with nothing but large metal crates. She looked around as she walked through the place and said, "So this is the treasury. I was expecting to see more valuable stuff… Maybe they're inside these crates. I wonder which off these crates contain the Light Essence. Looks like it's going to be hard to find…"

As she scanned the area, ravens suddenly showed up in large numbers and flew around her. "Whoa! What's with all these crows!" she said in surprise. "Wait a minute, they're not crows…"

"We meet again!" said a familiar voice. She looked up front and saw Vulcan Raven, carrying a large gun in his hand and a cylinder on his back, stepping out from behind a large crate.

"Oh, it's you," Aya replied. "The beating back then wasn't enough for you?"

"I have wanted to meet you again, girl with the scent of crows," he said to her.

"Oh? You actually know that I'm a tengu?"

"Indeed; I can tell that you do not have the spirit of normal humans, but rather, one that is similar to that of ravens. In case you didn't know, you were being spied on by the ravens while you were in the place, and they reported to me what they found out about you. They told me… that you are considered one of them."

* * *

Reimu, charred from head to toe, was carried by her arms by two soldiers out of an elevator and then down the hallway before reaching a room containing prison cells. They opened the door of one of the empty cells and threw her inside. One of the soldiers locked the door and then said to the other one, "Johnny, you keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't attempt to escape."

"But she's no longer in the condition to try to get out," the soldier named Johnny replied.

"The boss said that she's no minor character, so it's best to be careful. Make sure nothing happens here."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on her."

Then the soldier left, and Johnny stood by the prison door to keep watch. Inside, Reimu rolled over and lied on her back. She stared at the ceiling and grumbled, "What a horrible day…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I can't say that I've done well with this chapter. It's pretty much nothing but a setup for the next chapter. I apologize to you all if it is too short and unexciting. I promise I'll make the next action-packed, though you probably now that it will be like that already.

I think I better tell you this right now. Only two members of the Beauty and the Beast Unit are showing up, so don't get your hopes too high. By the way, I'm not sure if "digitalized" is a good way to describe their voice… It would be nice if someone can come up with a better term.

**Next chapter: Combat Girls**

**Trivia:  
**1. The appearances of each of the members of the Beauty and the Beast Units are modeled after actual women.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Meiling Hong**

Snake: Mei Ling, it would appear that this girl shares the same name as you! In pronunciation, at least…

Mei Ling: You're right! In Chinese, however, it is written using the exact same characters, so it is the same name.

Snake: Since the both of you are Chinese, I suppose you can relate yourself to each her very well. Tell me what you know about her.

Mei Ling: She's the gatekeeper of Scarlet Devil Mansion. Watch out, however, she's not your average gatekeeper. She's good at her job.

Snake: She hasn't met me before.

Mei Ling: A misconception about her is that she tends to fall asleep on her job, so she is very easy to sneak by. However, that is far from the truth. It is true, however, that she falls asleep on her job, but she instantly wakes up the moment she senses someone trying to sneak pass her.

Snake: So slithering pass her like a snake won't help, eh?

Mei Ling: I don't think so. Trying to fly pass her without waking her up is impossible as well. She is very skilled in close ranged combat, so it's best not to get into a close ranged fight with her.

Snake: It's not like I don't have skills in close ranged combats, but I'll take your advice anyway. By the way, for a gatekeeper, she's pretty… cute.

Mei Ling: Heehee! You said the same thing to me when we first talked to each other on the codec! You sure know a cute girl when you see one!

* * *

**Codec Transmission: Nitori Kawashiro**

Snake: This is Snake.

Slippy: Hello, Snake! We meet again!

Snake: That voice! You're that frog!

Slippy: Surprised to see me, eh?

Snake: What do you want?

Slippy: Please don't sound like I'm here to antagonize you. I gave you helpful information about Falco last time, so I'm doing the same here.

Snake: You're right… Well, tell me what you know this girl named Nitori.

Slippy: Okay! For starters, she's a kappa, a Japanese water imp. They're supposed to resemble turtles.

Snake: She looks nothing like a turtle to me, much less an imp…

Slippy: She's a scientific genius. When it comes to machines, she has a large amount of knowledge and is always curious to find out more about machines she has never seen before. She has invented quite a few things that can help her in combat, such as laser turrets, extending mechanical arms, a reflector, and a cloaking device.

Snake: I guess that explains the size of her backpack… Now that I think of it, that backpack is supposed to resemble a turtle shell. She is some sort of a turtle, right?

Slippy: You're right! Also, she has the ability to manipulate water. Since kappas live in water, it's only natural that she would have that kind of ability. You better not underestimate her swimming skills either! When it comes to fighting, she's at her strongest when fighting in water.

Snake: So avoid getting into a fight with her anywhere near water… Got it!

Slippy: You probably won't have to worry about getting into a fight with her. She's rather shy around people, so she'll probably run when she sees you.

Snake: Okay… By the way, how good of a swimmer are you?

Slippy: Average… I'm a toad after all, not a frog. Why'd you ask?

Snake: Just curious…


	95. Combat Girls

According to a friend of mine, Phan Phan from the Kirby arc is female, so I went ahead and changed that elephant's gender.

**Chapter 94  
Combat Girls**

* * *

Sanae managed to sneak through the interior of the main building without getting caught, though there were a few times where she accidentally aroused the attention of soldiers, but she managed to avoid getting seen in the end.

She eventually came to a door with a sign with the words _Supply Room _written on it. "Sup… plee… room…" Sanae read. Evidently from her pronunciation, her English skills weren't top notch. "What does the first word mean…? I remember seeing this word back in the outside world, but I can't remember what it means very well… Maybe it's the supply room." So she opened the door and went inside.

She thought of turning on the light at first, but then decided against it when she thought it might attract the attention of guards. After her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she used her arms to feel her way through the room until she touched something. "Looks like a box or a chest…" She felt around it until she found a handle, so she lifted open the chest and felt around inside it. "I can't really tell what these are, but they don't feel like digging tools." She closed the chest as quietly as possible and then searched the room again.

After a few minutes of looking around the place and still finding nothing, she sighed with frustration and said, "Looks like this place doesn't have what I want to find… I wonder where they store the digging tools. Maybe they're not in this room. Guess I'll go look somewhere else…" So she left the room, but unknown to her, a soldier was standing right next to the door. When she came out, the soldier struck her in the back of the head with the back of his gun. "AH!" The shrine maiden fell forward and passed out.

The soldier pointed his gun at her and waited to see if she got back up, but she never did. Another soldier came up to him and saw the unconscious shrine maiden. "Isn't this one of the girls that we are supposed to be on a watch out for?"

"Yeah," the soldier who struck her replied. "I saw her going into the supply room, so I waited for her to come back out before knocking her out. What do we do with her?"

"Since the boss wants us to capture them, let's take her to him first."

"Good idea. C'mon, let's pick her up."

The two soldiers then carried her by each of her arms and went down the hallway.

* * *

**BGM: Gekko (Metal Gear Solid 4: Gun of the Patriots)**

"Whoa!" Nitori cried as the mechanical monstrosity known as the Gekko fell down from the air with a mighty stomp that left behind footprints on the ground. "What is this thing!"

The Gekko cried in its usual bovine-like sound, and then it let loose a stream of bullets from machine gun mounted in the front part of its head. Nitori crawled back as fast as she could to avoid the bullets and then quickly turned over to run away on all fours. She eventually got back on her feet and then floated into the air just before the bullets touched her. Hovering a foot above ground, she let loose a plethora of missiles from her backpack. "Kappa Missile!"

As the missile closed in on the Gekko from both sides, the bipedal machine performed an amazingly high jump, and the missiles ended up colliding into each other. Nitori looked up as the machine fell back down in her direction, but she got out of the way the last second. "Whoa!"

The Gekko let its mounted gatling gun rip again, this time firing in her direction. Nitori quickly dodged the bullets and moved back through the air while shooting missiles nonstop. The Gekko ran after her and moved left and right to avoid the missiles, however, it was struck in the back by the missiles when they returned to it, and as the bipedal machine fell forward onto the ground.

"Ha! Bet you didn't know they were homing missiles, eh?" Nitori asked, but she was surprised when the Gekko stood back up as if nothing happened to it. "Whoa… Quite durable, aren't you…?"

The Gekko let out its usual cry before running towards her and delivering kick, but she moved to the side in time. The Gekko immediately turned to her and released a claw-tipped whip from its body. Nitori avoided the whip as it swung through the air in an attempt to strike her. "I can do something like this too!" she said as released one of her mechanical arms to grab the whip.

As the Gekko shook its whip around to pull it back, it fired its gatling gun at Nitori, who quickly pulled out a turtle shell-like device. "Kappa Reflector!" A force field formed in front of the shell and deflected the bullets back to the Gekko, but its tough exterior protected it from the homecoming shots. With a powerful yank of the mechanical arm, Nitori tore the whip. The Gekko retracted the remainder of the whip into its body before firing more shots at Nitori, but her Kappa Reflector continued to deflect the shots.

"Kappa Missile!" As Nitori held up the reflector, several missiles come out from her backpack and towards the Gekko from both sides, but once again, the machine leaped into the air to escape them.

Nitori watched as the Gekko reached the peak of its jump, but as she didn't want to bother seeing it falling back down, she turned and ran for the nearest building. "I can much better if there is water around here!" she thought. "Let's hope there is water in there!" She opened the door and went inside, where she was immediately greeted with some soldiers.

They pointed their guns at them, and one of them asked in a loud voice, "Who goes there!" The Gekko followed the kappa into the building, creating a "larger door" in the process, and freaked out the soldiers.

"It's a Gekko!" one of them gasped. "What's it doing here!"

"Relax! It's on our side!" another soldier told him. "You don't have to act like it's an enemy!" However, when the Gekko attempted to shoot Nitori with its gatling gun, it ended up shooting the soldiers. "WAAAAAA!"

Nitori ran as fast as she could to avoid the bullets while looking around desperately for sources of water, and she eventually laid her eyes upon a water cooler. "Yes! Water!" She quickly rushed over to the water cooler and lifted its bottle into the air, and as water poured out from the opening of the water, she grabbed the stream of water and pulled it back. Using the extracted water like a whip, Nitori struck the side of the Gekko's body with it to send it crashing into the wall. She then caught the machine by its legs as it tried to stand back up and then flung it out of the building.

The Gekko stood back up outside, and then Nitori came out from the building and hurled the entire glob of water at him. "Water Cannonball!" It struck the Gekko with a force equivalent to an actual cannonball, and pieces of the bipedal machine's exterior flew everywhere as a result of the impact.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Gekko, lying broken on the ground, flailed its leg against the air. The flailing eventually became twitching, and after one last bovine-like cry, the twitching came to an end. Nitori walked up to the fallen machine to make sure that it had completely ceased from functioning, and it was. "Phew… That's that…" she said with a sigh of relief. "Whatever this thing is, it sure is pretty good! Are machines in our version of the outside world this advanced too? I better go and look for Cirno now, wherever she is or whatever she's doing…" She began to leave, but then stopped and turned back her head slightly to look at the Gekko. "Hmmm… Maybe Cirno can wait a bit… I simply can't help but… taking a look inside that thing…"

* * *

"Icicle Gatling gun!" Cirno shouted as she fired a series of icicles at the Gekko that appeared before her, but the mechanical monstrosity leaped into the air and in her direction, so the ice fairy quickly got out of the way before she got crushed. "Ice Saber!" She then formed an ice sword and rushed at the Gekko, but it kicked her away. "Ya!"

When Cirno fell onto the ground, the Gekko fired its gatling gun at her, but she rolled out of the bullets' way in time and then flew across the air a few inches above the ground, all the while firing icicles at it. The Gekko bent its legs a bit when they got hit, and then it ran towards Cirno in an attempt to kick her, but she managed to dodge it. The Gekko then turned its body to her to fire from its gatling gun again, and this time, Cirno formed a wall of ice to block the bullets.

Though the wall of ice managed to protect her from the bullets, it was slowly getting chipped away by rapid pelting. Cirno quickly formed another layer of ice behind the wall, and then she formed and hurled an ice ball into the air. "Ice Catapult!" The ice ball fell onto the Gekko's head with a bonk that caused it to stop firing.

The Gekko let out its trademark cry as if it was angry, and then it ran to the wall of ice and shattered it with a powerful kick, but the ice fairy was no longer behind it. The Gekko looked around for signs of the ice fairy when suddenly its feet were frozen to the ground by a pair of icy beams. "Now you can't move!" Cirno said as she formed an ice sword. "I'm going to cut off your legs now! Ice Saber!" And she rushed at the immobile machine.

The Gekko was far from immobile, however; it broke the ice with ease by simply lifting its leg, and then with a mighty kick, the ice fairy was sent flying back through the air. "Ah! My lower jaw… I think it must have been dislocated…" Cirno cried after getting back up from hitting the ground. She looked up and saw the Gekko running in her direction, so she quickly got out of the way before it ran into her.

The Gekko immediately unleashed a claw-tipped whip that caught her by the right leg. The ice fairy fell onto the ground due to the sudden halt from the whip limiting her flight distance, and then the Gekko pulled her towards itself. "Let go of me!" Cirno cried as she tried to crawl away, but to no avail. Since trying to crawl away wasn't any help, she formed an ice sword and used it to the cut the whip, a method that proved to be successful. She then stood up and slammed her hands onto the ground. "Frost Pillars!"

Massive icicles came out from the ground and in the direction of the Gekko, sending it back into the air when it came out from underneath it. Its body was knocked back slightly by another icicle that grew out underneath it, and then the bipedal machine found itself sitting in between two icicles. Cirno flew above it and threw a card into the air. "Ice Cube: Great Crusher!" The card transformed into a giant ice cube that crushed the Gekko and the icicles near it.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Cirno landed in front of the ice cube with crossed arms and laughed out loud. "Hahahahaha! This is what you get if you mess with the strongest! You deserve it!" But she was shocked when she saw the ice cube starting to crack. "What the!" To her horror, the ice cube shattered to reveal the Gekko in a perfect condition. "It can't be! How is it still not flattened yet!"

Or so it seems; the Gekko let out a weak cry as it took a few steps forward, and then it fell on one knee before falling forward entirely. Cirno slowly approached the seemingly defeated Gekko to see if it was down for the count, but the machine suddenly let out another weak cry. Cirno cried in shock as she jumped back, and acting seemingly on instinct, she formed an ice hammer to strike it with.

WHACK!

The ice hammer shattered, and the Gekko fell silent again. Cirno stared at the Gekko for several seconds, and when it didn't do anything at all, she laughed out loud. "Hahahahaha! I'm the strongest! I win!"

Meanwhile, the same soldier from before saw the entire fight from behind a jeep. "Whoa… That little girl managed to take down that Gekko using ice… How did she do that…? She's celebrating her victory… Should I use this opportunity to take her down…? But what if I lost…?"

"I wonder how Nitori is," Cirno wondered. "Maybe she needs my help in taking out that monster. I better go help her! She went that way!" So she ran in the direction Nitori was in, but then she noticed the jeep the soldier was hiding behind.

"She's coming in this direction!" the soldier said in his head as he got down low. "Calm down… She's just a little girl! I can easily capture her! I'll just wait for her to come near and then pop up to shoot her! This is my chance to prove myself useful to the boss! I'm going to…" Suddenly, the jeep froze over, much to the surprise of the soldier. "YIKES!"

"Oh, didn't know there was someone hiding behind it," Cirno said. "I saw a frog flattened against the side of this… thingamajig, so I froze it." She pointed at sticker of a frog on the jeep's door.

The soldier pointed his gun at her while trembling violently. "I have a gun, and I'll shoot you if you do anything!"

"I'm not afraid of you! I just took down that monster!" she fearlessly said. "Try and shoot me if you can! I'll just graze your bullets!"

"I'm serious! I'll shoot you for real!" Suddenly, something caught his head from behind and flung him away. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Cirno!" Nitori said as she approached the frozen tank while retracting her mechanical arm back into her backpack. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, you're all right, Nitori!" Cirno said. "I was thinking of going over to help you. Did you defeat that monster by yourself?"

"Yeah, I dealt with that thing by myself."

"I was thinking that you needed my help…"

* * *

Youmu looked back. She was very sure that there were people following her. However, she saw no one at all. Despite this, she moved forward with extreme cautiousness. She looked at her map and said, "The tiny room that takes one to different floors of a building is up ahead. From there, I can find the room where Reimu is possibly imprisoned in."

As she approached the elevator at the end of the hallway, a soldier suddenly showed up from the right. He pointed his gun at her and said, "Halt!" Before he could realize it, Youmu unsheathed and sheathed the Roukanken in a moment's notice, and then he passed out.

"Don't feel like making anyone bleed at the moment, so I used the back of my sword," she said to no one in particular. She walked up to the front of the elevator, pressed the button, and waited. When the elevator door finally opened, she walked inside and waited for it to take her to the top floor.

All of a sudden, the elevator stopped moving, but the lights were still on. She was surprised at first, but then remained calm and looked around the place. "I know you're here, and you also have done something to make this room stop moving," she said. "Show yourselves at once!"

**BGM: Killers (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake)**

Suddenly, a voice spoke up, "Incredible… So you know we're here?"

"Perhaps you knew that we were following you the whole time, which is the reason you constantly stopped to look back," said another voice.

"We are cyborg ninjas. Our suits greatly enhance our strength and speed," said the third voice. "As you can see, it also allows us to become invisible."

"We are unmatched when it comes to close range combat and combat within confined spaces! There are four of us here, so you are outnumbered!" said the fourth voice.

"Outnumbered? Like that was ever a problem to me," Youmu calmly said as she unsheathed the Roukanken.

Still with their cloaking device activated, the cyborg ninjas unsheathed their swords and attacked her from all sides, but Youmu performed a 360-degree spinning attack with her sword that forced them into the wall. This turned off their cloaking device as well. "Ugh! You're very good to be able to counter attacks coming from four directions at once!" one of them said. "But you won't last long! We're going to fill this elevator with your blood soon enough!"

"Perhaps I should be saying that kind of thing to the four of you," Youmu said with a serious expression. One of the cyborg ninjas swung his sword at her, but she managed to block it. When another one attempted to hit her from behind, she quickly pulled out the Hakurouken to block it. Youmu then performed a spin that pushed both ninjas into the wall. When the third ninja swung down his sword on her, she blocked it with her smaller sword.

Before the fourth ninja managed to swing his sword at her, Youmu swung her larger sword at him and slashed him across the body. "Gya!" She then thrust her elbow against the third ninja to knock him into the wall. When he hit the wall, the elevator shook and started moving again.

"Wow… Did I fix it?" Youmu wondered.

"Ugh… She's tougher than we thought…" one of the ninjas groaned.

When the elevator reached the top floor, the door opened, and the four ninjas immediately rushed outside, shortly followed by Youmu. The ninjas ran to the center of the large room and got into fighting stances. "If fighting you in a confined space won't do, then we'll take on you in a larger space!" one of the ninjas said.

"It won't make any difference to me at all," Youmu said with an uninterested look.

"Our plan was to knock you out while she stopped the elevator from moving and then hand you over to her," another one of the ninjas said, "but even though the original plan has been messed up, we can still knock you out here!"

"Prepare yourself! You shall become a part of her collection!" another ninja said before running and jumping at her with his sword raised into the air.

"Phosphorus Slash!" Youmu shouted as she swung her swords to fire pink energy rings that knocked the ninja out of the air, and just before he touched the floor, Youmu slashed him across the chest.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAAAAAAAA!" the ninja screamed as the slash sent him spinning once through the air before falling face first onto the floor.

"You'll pay for this!" another ninja said before turning invisible, and the other two also turned invisible.

Youmu looked around with cautiousness for signs of her enemies. Suddenly, three shurikens appeared out of thin air and flew at her from the side, but she deflected them with her smaller sword before rushing in the direction they came from and swung her sword, but she struck nothing. More shurikens appeared behind her, but she countered it by firing a pair of sword beams. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

The sword beams not only knocked away the shurikens, but they also struck something invisible. The cyborg ninja cried as he became visible again and fell back onto the floor. When he sat back up, Youmu dashed at him and slashed him to make him scream one more time before falling on his back.

Youmu then brought her swords to the side and managed to use their flat sides to block the other two ninjas' sword thrusting attack. "Don't think that you have the upper hand just because you're invisible," Youmu said to them. "I can simply sense your presence to tell where you are." She then spun once to push back both the ninjas before dashing at the one to her right.

The two of them clashed blades several times, and then Youmu jumped into the air when the ninja behind her attempted to slash her. Both the ninjas turned to see her landing, and then she fired a pair of sword beams at them. "Lotus Stance Cut!"

One of the ninjas managed to cancel out the projectiles with his sword. The other ninja jumped high over his head and threw several shurikens at Youmu while in air, and while she was deflecting the projectiles, he thrust his sword at her head as he fell in her direction. However, she quickly countered with a jumping slash attack. "Crescent Moon Slash!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GYAAAAAAA!" the ninja screamed as he fell back onto the floor with a large gash on his body.

"Why you!" the last ninja growled. "You'll pay!" Then he turned invisible.

"I told you already it's useless," Youmu said. "Even if I do not know your exact location, I still know the general direction as long as you breathe or make a movement."

Suddenly, a burst of smoke appeared on the floor and slowly filled up a portion of the place, much to Youmu's surprise. She eventually found herself lost within the mass of smoke, but she had one hand over her nose to keep herself from breathing it in. While doing so, she looked around for the ninja, and then she sensed a presence behind her, so she avoided an invisible sword slash by jumping forward and turning around in midair. She quickly dashed in that direction and swung her sword, but she only cleaved through the smoke.

"I have to get out of this smoke first!" she thought. "The smell is starting to get into my nose as well!" So she escaped from the smoke by flying into the air.

"What!" the ninja said in shock when he saw what happened. He came out from the mass of smoke, still invisible, and looked at the flying half-phantom. "How did she do that!"

Youmu heard him talking, so she turned her eyes to the direction the sound came from and fired energy rings there. "Phosphorus Slash!"

The ninja quickly jumped out of its way, but Youmu took notice of the sound of him landing and then charged in his direction. The ninja quickly clashed swords with her, and despite her opponent being invisible, Youmu was able to tell where he was swinging the sword from. In the midst of sword clashing, Youmu managed cut the ninja's arm. He let out a cry and became visible again, and then Youmu used this opportunity to dash past him. "Human Sign: Slash of Present!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

There was silence for a while after Youmu came to a stop, and after sheathing the Roukanken, the ninja let out a cry before falling over on his face.

Youmu looked back at her fallen opponent and then at the other three fallen cyborg ninjas lying around the room. She scanned the room for signs of more possible enemies, but there was none. "None of you have good enough skills," Youmu commented as she sheathed her swords, only to find that she couldn't move her arms from their current positions. "Uh? She tried moving her arms again, but it was as if something was holding onto her. "What happened! Why can't I move my arms!"

She tried her hardest to move them, but the harder she did so, the larger pain she felt in certain parts of her arms. It was the kind of pain here something sharp was trying to cut through one's skin, and she didn't dare to move any longer. She looked around for what could possibly be keeping her from moving her arms, and then she heard a monstrous, digitalized laughter. "Hahahahaha! Do you feel like screaming? Did you enjoy hearing the screams of your opponents being defeated?"

Youmu looked around for the source of the voice and asked, "Who? Where? Show yourself at once! What have you done to me?" Suddenly, her right arm moved by itself and stabbed the left arm with the Hakurouken. "KYAAAA!"

"Yes! Scream!" said the voice. "I want to hear your scream! You will scream, scream, and SCREAM! Scream for me! Let me hear you scream again! Scream! Keep on screaming! Hahahahahahaha!"

* * *

"Hmmm… It's been locked for a while already…" a soldier said as he tried to open the door to the clinic. "The medic shouldn't be gone from the clinic for that long… Something must've happened inside… But even so, the door shouldn't be locked…"

"May I help you?" a man in doctor's garb said as he approached the soldier from behind.

"Oh, medic! I was wondering where you went to you," the soldier said to him.

"I went to grab something to eat. What's the matter? Need treatment?"

"It's nothing big; just a cut. Accidentally cut myself while sharpening my combat knife… I came here about fifteen minutes ago, only to find the door locked, so I waited for you to return."

"Sorry for being gone too long… Wait a minute; did you just say that the door is locked?"

"Yes, you locked the door when you left, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't lock the door at all when I left."

"Then how come it's locked now?"

Inside the clinic, Marisa has her ear placed against the door, and she heard everything they said. "Uh oh… Seems like they're suspecting now…" she said as quietly as possible, and then she turned to Alice, who was sitting on a bed. "Alice! We need to get out of here now!"

"Got it," she said. "It's obvious that we can't stay here forever. Now that we managed to treat our injuries ourselves, it's time we go find the others, wherever they are."

"Right, let's go!" Marisa said as she quickly ran to the window to open it. After making sure that there was nobody outside, she jumped out the window, shortly followed by Alice, who closed the window afterwards.

As the two girls ran through the place, a helicopter that was surveying the area caught sight of them. Because they weren't wearing uniforms like everyone else here was wearing, the pilot immediately knew that there were not from this place. The two girls were surprised when light shined down on them from behind, and they turned around to see the helicopter. "Halt! You're not from around here, are you?" the pilot said.

"Oh no! We've been spotted!" Marisa said in shock.

"You must be the girls that the boss told us to keep an eye on! Surrender yourselves at once!"

"Like we'll listen to you!" Marisa said before escaping with Alice.

"You're not getting away!" the pilot said as he went after them. He fired from the helicopters mounted gatling gun. Marisa escaped into the air on her broom while Alice rolled to the side and then watched as the helicopter chased down her friend.

**BGM: Man vs. Machine 2 (Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes)**

Marisa moved left and right constantly to avoid the bullets fired at her, and then the pilot eventually pressed a button that fired a pair of missiles at her. "Let's see you how you like this!" Marisa saw the missiles heading towards her when she looked back, so she quickly moved out of the way to avoid them. They kept on flying until they hit a mountain visible far in the distance and destroyed a portion of it.

"That's scary…! I can even see the explosion from here!" Marisa said in shock. "Thanks goodness I managed too… KYA!" She was shot in the left shoulder by a bullet and lost control of her flight, and she fell onto the roof of the main building. "Ow! Ugh…! I got too focused on that explosion that I forgot to watch my own back…!"

The pilot shined the helicopter's light on her and said, "Surrender now! You're injured! We are given orders to either kill or take you back alive! If you want to live, then be attentive!" Suddenly, several dolls appeared from the side and latched onto the windshield. "What the!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The dolls' self-destruction took out the windshield entirely, but the helicopter was still in a functional state, and the pilot wasn't badly harmed either. "What was that!" Then Alice showed up several feet in front of the helicopter.

"Artful Sacrifice!" Alice said as she flung a doll at the helicopter. Thinking that the doll would explode like the previous ones, the pilot quickly steered the helicopter out of the way. The doll struck its side and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

"You'll pay for messing with his Hind D!" the pilot angrily said as he steered the helicopter in Alice's direction again. He shined the lights at her to blind her and then opened fire with its gatling guns.

Alice managed to avoid the gatling guns by getting onto the rooftop, and then the helicopter fired a pair of missiles at her.

Seeing the missiles heading in her direction, Alice quickly turned and ran for the door. The missiles were catching up with her when she got close to it, but she made it inside and ran to the side in time. The missile followed her inside and hit the wall.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion blew up the architecture, leaving behind a pile of rubbles that appeared to be covering up a hole. "Alice!" Marisa cried.

Inside the building, Alice was safe. However, there was no way back to the surface. "I'm all right!" she shouted as loud as she could. Though Marisa couldn't make out what she was saying clearly, she could at least hear sound coming from underneath the pile of rubbles. She was sure that Alice was at least alive, though she wasn't sure if she was safe.

Suddenly, light shined onto Marisa from behind, and that's when she remembered that she had her own business to deal with. She quickly took off into the air before the gatling gun's bullets struck her. "You'll pay for almost killing my friend!" she angrily said while looking back.

Back down there, Alice decided to go deeper into the building instead. Perhaps she could find a window or an exit and then make her way back outside to help Marisa. She went down a couple of staircases and then came into a massive room, and there in the center of the room was someone she knew well. "Youmu!" she said in surprise.

Back outside, Marisa moved around in the air constantly to avoid the bullets fired at her. She eventually dropped altitude, slowed down to let the helicopter go past her, got behind it, and then got out her hakkero and a spell card. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" The helicopter was blasted in the back by a powerful beam, and the entire thing shook and started to smoke in the back as a result.

"Oh no! Critical damage has been dealt!" the pilot cried. "I'm starting to lose control!"

As the pilot struggled to keep the helicopter moving properly, Marisa got high above it and pointed her hakkero and spell card at it. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" And she fired a massive beam that pushed the helicopter all the way the ground, where a massive explosion occurred.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion grabbed the attention of everyone in the place, and soldiers who were walking around outside quickly ran over to it to see what happened. From the air, Marisa watched the burning remains of the helicopter while the soldiers gathered around it, some of them trying to put out the fire. "Well, how do you like that?" Marisa asked. "That's what I call going out with a bang! I do admit that this is a more than I asked for, however… I didn't really intend to… kill you…" Then she turned to the building where she and Alice were on. "I hope Alice is all right…"

* * *

Back inside the warehouse, Aya and Vulcan Raven were staring at each other from their positions without moving an inch, and ravens were flying all around them. The dark-skinned man pointed his finger at the tengu and said, "The ravens have told me that you are a worthy opponent, one that will offer an exciting fight."

"I wouldn't deny that fact that I'm a strong fighter," Aya replied. "I do enjoy a good fight myself too."

"This fight is different, for I am fighting one that is similar to that of a raven. Crows and ravens… They are cousins… Similar yet different… Ravens are considered signs of ill omen. Crows, on the other hand, are considered signs of luck in certain parts of East Asia. Blood of the east flow through yours veins. Is your appearance in this fight a sign that I will have the better luck and win against you? Or will it be the other way round?"

"You sure are quite knowledgeable about crows!" Aya said. "I have nothing against ravens nor am I interested in trying to prove which the superior one is, but if it's a fight you want, I'll gladly accept your challenge!"

"This will be a fight to remember! I shall gladly burn it into my head, no matter what the outcome is! Let's see if you are up to the challenge!"

**BGM: Snake vs. Shaman (Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes)**

Raven flexed his left arm once and then grabbed the corner of a nearby crate. Aya watched with curiosity as he let out a loud grunt, and then to her amazement, the man slowly lifted the crate into the air using only one hand. "Whoa! You're really strong for a human!"

"Ha!" Raven cried as he hurled the crate in her direction, and it traveled quite fast through the air despite being thrown using only one arm. Aya quickly flew into the air to avoid the crate as it slammed onto where she originally was standing on. Raven aimed his gun at the air and started shooting rapidly, but she moved through the air at a fast speed to avoid getting shot.

Aya landed behind Raven and then dashed at him very fast. He turned around just in time to see her ramming straight into him, and he was pushed across the place until he hit the door. "Ugh!"

Aya then moved back a bit of distance before swinging her fan rapidly to fire wind blades. "Gale Fan!"

Raven held up one arm to protect himself from the projectiles and said, "I grew up in Alaska, where the blizzard is much harsher and more dangerous than mere wind! Your wind, even if it can inflict wounds, is nothing compared to the environment I grew up in!" He moved his arm away and then fired from his gun again.

Aya escaped into the air and then dived at Raven, but he quickly ran forward to avoid getting hit. When Aya was close to the door, she turned around, planted her feet against it, and then kicked off it and towards Raven. However, Raven turned around at the last second and swung his fist at her head.

POW!

The powerful and unexpected punch sent the tengu tumbling across the floor. "Ow… I think I might have dislocated my neck from that punch…" she cried after coming to a stop. When Raven tried to shoot her again, she quickly rolled behind a crate.

"You can't hide! The ravens will tell me where you are!" Raven said as he approached the crate she was hiding behind. A raven standing on top of that crate crowed, and then Raven turned around the exact moment Aya appeared behind him and pulled the trigger. She managed to roll out of the way in time before firing a wind blade at him, but he dodged it by moving his body aside.

Aya then charged at him and threw a punch at him, but Raven caught her fist. Due to her strength, however, Raven's hand was pushed back until it hit the crate. Aya then kneed him in the abdomen to push his entire body against the crate as well. She backed off from the dark-skinned man as he fell on his knees with his hands on his abdomen, groaning in pain. "Ugh… Ow… You're strong… It is something unlikely judging from your appearance… Perhaps I have underestimated the strength of a mythical Japanese demon…"

"You're right when you said that! Tengus have superhuman strength!" Aya said.

Raven stared at her for a while, and then he placed his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. Immediately, the ravens started to gather around Aya and pecked and flapped their wings at her. The tengu tried to defend herself and said, "Hey! Get lost! What are you doing!"

"Since you have unnatural strength, it is only fair that I obtain help from my friends," Raven told her. "Do you feel comfortable fighting one that is similar to your kind? Battles and rivalries between creatures of the same species are common in this world. Only the strongest will survive in the end! Will you be the crow to survive in the end, or will it be the ravens that are victorious?"

"You want to witness a battle between species?" Aya asked as she jumped back out from the flock of crows. "Then I'll show you one!" And she got out a spell card. "Crow Sign: Daymare in the Night!" The card glowed with white light, and then…

There was silence… The only sound that could be heard was the flapping of the ravens' wings.

Nothing happened…

A confused look appeared on Aya's face as she looked at her spell card. "What the! Why isn't this working? Don't tell me that there are no crows at all in this area!"

"Correct, crows are not found in the wilderness like this place," Raven told her. "The same goes for ravens. They are only here because of me. I assume that you were going to call on the assists of crows. Unfortunately, you will not be finding a single one around this place."

Aya put the spell card away and said, "Well, then I'm in this one all by myself. I'll show you that a single crow is more than enough to take on a flock of ravens!"

"Haha! You have confidence in your words! Let me see if you can truly live up to what you said! Get her, my friends!"

As the ravens charged at Aya, she jumped up slightly and spun to make a barrier of wind appear around herself. "Wind Sickle Bering!" And she dashed at the ravens to knock them away with the barrier of wind. Feathers filled the air when the birds were hit.

Raven quickly fired from his gun when Aya got close to him, but she quickly ducked down and then knocked the gun out of his hand with the back of her hand. She then threw a punch at his face, but Raven caught her fist and mustered all his strength into keeping it away from himself. "Wow! You're strong!" Aya commented.

"This is the result of training in a harsh environment," Raven told her.

The two of them then locked their hands against each other and tested each other's strength in a wrestling duel of sorts. Despite being a human, Raven was able to keep up with Aya's strength, and neither side seems to be getting the upper hand. Suddenly, Raven gave Aya a nasty headbutt to the face that broke her nose.

CRACK!

The tengu moved back several steps and placed her hands over her bleeding nose. "Ya! My nose!" Raven used this opportunity to get his gun again and shoot her, but Aya quickly leaped to the side. However, she bumped into the side of a crate, and as she quickly turned around to run behind said crate, Raven managed to score a few hits on her back. "Ah!"

"You are now injured, bird lady," Raven said as he approached that crate. "Can a bird who is injured still take flight?"

Aya quickly moved to another side of the crate to avoid getting seen by Raven. "Ow… That guy is tougher than I thought…"

"You can't run from me, crow girl!" Raven said as he walked around the crate while Aya kept on moving from place to place to avoid being seen. "The ravens will tell me where you are. As long as you are still inside this warehouse, I will always be able to find you! You may be able to evade me if you go out, but that will only prove that you do not have the courage to face me!"

Aya was offended to hear this. "If he thinks I'm a coward, then I'll prove him wrong!" Then she looked at the crate she was hiding behind.

Raven continued to look for Aya, and suddenly, he saw something rising from behind another crate. When he went over to see what was happening, he was shocked to see Aya lifting a crate into the air by its corner using only one hand. "What the!"

"If a mere human like you can do something like that," Aya said to him, "then a tengu like me should be able to do the same too! Admittedly, it's not as easy as I thought it was… Grrrr!" Aya mustered every inch of her strength into her arm and eventually raised the crate high into the air. "Take this!" And she hurled it at him.

Raven quickly ran from the crate, which slid across the floor when it landed. He came to a stop in front of another crate, and when he turned around, he saw the one thrown by Aya sliding in his direction. He quickly raised his arms and used all his strength to keep the crate from coming any further, something which he succeeded in doing so, though not before getting pushed against the crate behind himself first.

Aya then showed up from the side and charged at him to push him out of the place. "Argh! Don't get too full of yourself!" And he slammed his fist onto Aya's head from above.

SMASH!

Aya fell flat onto the floor, and then he stomped her head and pointed his gun at her body. Grabbing hold of his foot, Aya shoved it aside to make him lose his balance, and then she quickly stood up and slashed his body with her fan. "Wind of the Tengu Path!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Not only was Raven fatally slashed diagonally across the body, but the horizontal tornado created from the attack also sent him spinning backwards until he hit the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Aya breathed heavily as she watched Raven fall over on his face, and then she lowered her arms and sighed. "Phew… That should take care of him, I think…" But to her surprise, she saw Raven slowly getting back up. "Whoa! He sure is a hardy one!"

Raven almost fell over after fully standing back up, but then he maintained a slightly hunchbacked position. "It seems like… bringing me back into this world… isn't a good idea… after all…"

"Oh, so you're saying that you were originally dead, but then those villains from that organization resurrected you?"

"It is… as you… said… All life will come to an end someday… and those who meet such a fate… are supposed to be cut off from the world… forever…"

"In my world, however, it's no big deal if a dead person remains in the world as a spirit."

"Your world may be different from this world… As you can see with me… I died once… but was resurrected… Now my second death proves that this world no longer needs me…"

"Maybe things will be different if you're from my world."

"Indeed… Perhaps my life will be different… if I were to be someone from your world… but this is fate… I am born in this world… and forever will I have to follow the laws of this world… However, being dead does not mean that one is gone forever…" As he continued to speak, the ravens watched him from the edges of the crates. "I will now… join my friends in the sky… I will be watching you and your friends from above… until you leave this world…"

Aya looked at the ravens, and since she was able to relate herself to them, so could tell what they were thinking. "You don't mean…? Do you have to do that…? Do they even want to do that…?"

"Humans are made from dirt… and to dirt they will return," Raven told her. "My body will become one with the ravens… and then it will eventually return to the earth… That is the way of life… Do not cry for me…"

"Well… I can tell that your friends are willing to do this, and being a bird of the similar kind myself, I am willing to accept their way of doing things… Crows and ravens are scavengers after all, and it is part of their duty to return living things to the earth."

"One last thing before I go… You come here to seek the Light Essence, am I right?"

"It's just as you said. So it's here after all?"

"Unfortunately… it is the opposite… The Light Essence is not here… You have wasted your time in coming here…"

"Duh… So much for coming all the way here… At least I got some exercise here."

As Raven continued to speak, the ravens started gathering around him to pick off bits of his flesh. "I will… however… tell you that what you are looking… for is inside the main building… That is all I will tell you… Consider it a prize given to the winner… the crow."

"Okay, I'll accept that prize," Aya said with a serious expression while watching what was happening before her eyes.

"As for your captured friend… fear not… she is still alive… You can be sure about your other two friends as well… The ravens have told me that they are still alive."

"Oh really? Great to know that Marisa and Alice are still alive!"

"You have a long way ahead of you… you and your friends… You will eventually face the kind of horror that no life can hope to prevail against… I know what those people are up to… and they may very well succeed…"

"We'll see about that," Aya said as she turned around to leave the place.

"You may be optimistic… but that optimism may not necessary be the key to prevailing against evil…" Raven said as the ravens covered him entirely. "Perhaps you can stop that evil from spreading… but you cannot prevail against evil itself. Evil… is… and will always be… a part… of the world…"

The ravens eventually scattered into the air, and there was nothing left of Raven, save for some drops of blood on where he originally was. When Aya opened the door leading outside, the ravens all flew out and disappeared into the darkness of the night. The tengu looked up into the sky to watch the ravens fly away and said, "Well, take care of yourself with your friends in the sky!" Then she walked off.

* * *

Reimu looked out the barred opening of the prison's door and asked Johnny, "Can you please let me out? It's boring in here… There's not even a window to let you look outside for crying out loud!"

"I'm sorry, little girl," Johnny replied. "I've been given orders to keep you confined in there. I'm very sorry. As for why there are no windows, it is to keep prisoners from escaping through them."

"Do I look like a dangerous and terrifying criminal to you? You wouldn't imprison a cute girl like me, would you?"

Johnny turned to look at Reimu, who was looking at him with a sad expression and cute, sparkling puppy eyes. One felt like pitying her and letting her out just by seeing that kind of face. It looks as if she was indeed innocent and had absolutely no reason for being imprisoned in there. Johnny was mesmerized by her face, but then he shook his head and said, "No! I'm not going to fall tears of women! You're trying to trick me into letting you out! I'm going to get into trouble with my superiors if that happens! No way am I going to fall for that!"

"How can be so cruel to a beauty like me!" Reimu said in an angry voice that sounded sad at the same time. "How can you be so coldhearted? Is that what your mother taught you? To be cold towards beautiful girls?"

"I'm taught to do my duties as a soldier, no matter what it is! Sorry, but I can let you out no matter what! Also, you're too young for my liking! I already have… I already have… someone else in mind! Sorry!"

Reimu puffed up her cheeks and then sat down on the floor. "Tsk! And I thought I could use my cute charm to get myself out of here…"

"If you want to," Johnny said to her, "I can chat with you to keep you from being bored. Wanna chat?"

"I guess that's better than having nothing to do…"

* * *

Snake looked out from around the corner to make sure that there was nobody in the hallway, and when he saw that there was indeed none, he quietly tiptoed to the door at the end of the place. The moment he touched the doorknob, he received a codec. "This is Snake," he replied after pressing it.

"It's Otacon," said the voice on the other side.

"Otacon, what is it?"

"It's about time to change discs."

"Change discs? Okay, got it." Snake then looked through his inventory for the disc. "Hmmm… Where is it? I don't have it here with me, Otacon."

"Strange… You should have it with you… Maybe you left it here with me?" Suddenly, something came to Otacon, and then he burst out into laughter. "Oh my! Hahahahaha! I forgot!"

Confused, Snake asked, "What's so funny, Otacon?"

Otacon tried to stop himself from laughing. "Haha! Ha! Ha! It's just… that… I forgot… that we're not in a video game… We're in a fan fiction! There's no need to change discs! Wahahahaha! We only need to… Yahahaha! Wait for the next chapter to be uploaded! Hahahahaha!"

Hearing this, Snake remained silent for several seconds, and then he angrily said, "Otacon, get a grip!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Sorry that this chapter took so long to come out… I got hooked up to Kirby: Mass Attack (Japanese version). It's a great and game, and hard too (more like frustrating)! You should check it out if you like Kirby games, even if it does not play like the traditional ones!

Sometimes I got too lazy to work on this chapter, or there were some other things that I had to be busy with.

Ice Cube: Great Crusher was called Ice **Mass**: Great Crusher in chapter 48, The Chimera of Ultimate Viciousness. It's been changed to the former now. No big deal; just felt like bringing it up… There might be more changes regarding attack names, though I can't remember them any longer. Feel free to ignore what I said if you never remember everything in the story with great detail…

**Next chapter: Girls of War**

**Trivia:  
**1. The fourth wall breaking scene at the end of the chapter is based off a similar scene in Metal Gear Solid 4 where Otacon tells you to change discs when you reach a certain part of Shadow Moses Island, only to realize that discs for the Playstation 3 are powerful enough to hold an entire game, unlike the original Playstation's discs.

2. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid have several similarties to the point where one can say that Metal Gear Solid is a 3D remake of Metal Gear 2. Some examples include battles against four opponents inside elevators, items that changes shape depending on temperature, and women disguising themselves as male soldiers.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Cirno**

Snake: That's Cirno, right?

Campbell: Yes, she's that idiotic ice fairy.

Snake: That isn't very vice.

Campbell: That is the truth, Snake. She is without doubt one of the dumbest living things in the world.

Snake: Isn't that a bit too exaggerating? It's true that she's not the brightest of the bunch, but that's mainly because she is still young. I'd say that she's more of childish rather than mentally challenged.

Campbell: There's no need to defend a brain-dead fairy like her, Snake. All she ever thinks of is freezing frogs. She claims to be the strongest when she clearly isn't.

Snake: Enough of this, colonel! What's wrong with you!

Campbell: La Li Lu Le Lo, La Li Lu Le Lo, La Li Lu Le Lo, La Li Lu Le Lo. I'm the strongest! La Li Lu Le Lo, La Li Lu Le Lo, La Li Lu Le Lo, La Li Lu Le Lo! Frog!

Snake: Colonel! What's wrong with you! Snap out of it, colonel! Colonel! Colonel! COLONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!

* * *

**Codec Transmission: Reisen Udongein Inaba**

Snake: This is Snake. I need information regarding this girl named Reisen.

Raiden: Look into my eyes, Snake. Look into my eyes…

Snake: That voice! Is that you, Raiden?

Raiden: Snake, you are now feeling very sleepy… You are now suffering from a headache…

Snake: What's wrong with you, Raiden?

Raiden: The headache will not go away until you agree to hand over to me the position of the main character… Hand over the position to me…

Snake: Raiden! Are you out of your mind!

Raiden: Feel sleepy and get a headache already, Snake!

Snake: Are you crazy, Raiden!

Raiden: Argh! Why isn't it working!

Snake: What's wrong with you, Raiden? And what's with your eyes? Why are they red?

Raiden: I'm wearing colored contact lens, that's all. I was hoping to hypnotize you into giving me the position of the main character of the series.

Snake: Hypnotism? Why'd go through the trouble of learning that just to become the main character.

Raiden: Because I'm more awesome and much better-looking than you! I deserve to become the star of the series instead of you!

Snake: Okay… How about we get into the topic of this girl named Reisen instead?

Raiden: Fine… It's after learning about her abilities did I thought of taking up hypnotism, not to mention wearing those contact lens, thinking they'll help… She is a lunar rabbit who has the ability to control wavelengths and drive people made by simply looking into their eyes. It will also make them see things that aren't there.

Snake: Making them see illusions, am I right?

Raiden: Right. They say she's quite a gunslinger as well, what with being able to fire bullets out of her finger.

Snake: That sounds like a useful ability.

Raiden: I would agree, though her bullets are nonfatal. Anyway, that's really all I know about her.

Snake: Thanks for the information, Raiden. And by the way, about handing over the position of the main character to you…

Raiden: Yes? Will you let me be the main character instead?

Snake: Wait for Metal Gear Solid: Rising to be released… You'll get your chance to shine there


	96. Girls of War

A small portion of the 85th chapter, Speed vs. Speed, has been changed due to criticism. It's the part where Meiling got stabbed by a piece of Spikerator after it was destroyed. What she said has been altered. It's nothing major, though you'll probably want to check it out if you're curious.

**Chapter 95  
Girls of War**

* * *

"What happened to my jeep!" a soldier gasped in horror. He had every reason to be shocked. After all, his jeep was now inside a block of ice.

"This is your jeep?" his fellow soldier asked him. "How do you know this is your jeep? Every single one of them here looks exactly the same as each other."

"Because I parked it here, and if that isn't enough proof, I even put a sticker of a frog named Wart on the door!"

"Okay…"

* * *

**BGM: Yell Dead Cell (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty)**

A battle was taking place inside the hangar where the Metal Gear RAYs originally were, a battle between Meiling and Vamp.

The Chinese demon and the seemingly immortal man charged at each other, the former throwing a straight punch while the latter stabbing straight ahead with a knife. Both of them moved their heads to their sides when they were about to strike each other in the face, but then Meiling moved her arm into Vamp's head with enough strength to knock him onto his side. Vamp immediately rolled away to a safer distance before standing back to see Meiling running towards him.

He threw his knife at her, but she ducked down and then launched at her really fast. Vamp reacted just as fast, however. He jumped to the side and threw a couple of knives, but Meiling, with quick arm movements, caught the knives by their blades before they touched her. She flung the knives aside and then ran to Vamp to attack with punches and kicks, but he moved his body around in a way that could be described as graceful to avoid every single one of the blows given to him. He then bent down and swung a newly produced knife at her legs, but she jumped back and performed a single vertical spin before landing.

"Not bad!" Vamp commented. "This fight will surely be satisfying!"

"I have no time to stick around in this fight for that long," Meiling said as she got ready to make a move again. "I'll finish you up as soon as possible!"

"Then at least make it exciting," Vamp said as he got out another knife, and then he threw them both at her. Meiling ran forward and ducked underneath the knives, but when she got close to him, Vamp jumped back into the air and threw more knives at her, this time more than two. Meiling managed to avoid them by jumping back. Upon landing, Vamp produced and threw even more knives at her, but Meiling managed to dodge them all by jumping over them.

From the air, she fell towards Vamp with a dive kick, but he raised his leg and countered it by planting the bottom of his shoe against hers. The force of shoes hitting each other caused Vamp to skid back a little while Meiling fell back onto the floor in a crouched position. Vamp then produced more knives to throw at her. As she dodged the incoming knives by jumping to the side, she said in her head, "Where does he get all those knives? But then, Sakuya also has a seemingly endless supply of knives, and I never questioned her about it…"

Vamp then ran towards her and swung his knife at her, but she quickly ducked down and then threw an uppercut that struck him in the chin to send him flying back through the air, but he spun once before landing in a slightly crouched position. "A common form of counterattack, eh?" he asked while rubbing his chin. "Can't believe I fell for that…"

"Throw anything at me and I'll counter them all!" Meiling said as she got into a fighting stance.

"If you want to take to me down in a short amount of time, then you'll have to take the offensive route!" Vamp said as he ran towards her and started swinging his knife at her, but she managed to dodge them with quick and skillful movements. In the midst of swinging his knives, Vamp produced a second blade in his other hand, but Meiling was still able to avoid getting hit.

Eventually, Meiling stopped Vamp's arm by its side using the back of her arm and then punched him in the abdomen. However, Vamp managed to counter in time; he quickly brought his other hand in front of the fist, and the tip of the knife went in between Meiling's middle finger and ring finger and then out of the back of her hand. Despite this, her punch still had enough strength to push his fist against his abdomen with such a force that he felt pain. Meiling pulled back her fist and cried in pain while Vamp fell on his knees while groaning in pain.

However, it didn't take more than ten seconds for Vamp to recover from his pain, and he looked up to see Meiling looking at her injured hand. Using this opportunity, he threw a knife straight at her forehead. Luckily, Meiling saw the knife coming in time; she quickly bent back her body to avoid it. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to react in time when her body returned to its normal position and saw Vamp rushing at her. The immortal man stabbed her in the abdomen.

Forcefully bringing the knife diagonally upwards, Vamp left behind a large gash on Meiling's body. In too much of a pain to scream, Meiling took some steps backwards with a horrified look, and Vamp saw this as the perfect chance to move in for the kill. Just as he was about to swing his knife at her neck, however, Remilia interfered. She forcefully moved the arm with the knife out of the way before slashing Vamp across the face with her claws.

SLASH!

"Agh!" the villain cried as he took several steps back with one hand on his face.

While he was in pain, Remilia turned to Meiling and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"It'll heal soon…" the gatekeeper weakly said. "Thank you… Mistress Remilia… Thank you very much… for saving me… I'm sorry that I had to… make you come out to protect me…"

"There's no need for an apology. Remember that you're not alone in this fight. I simply wanted to sit back and see if I really am needed in this fight, though I always had the intention to jump in to help you if you really need it." Then the young vampire turned around to face Vamp, whose face had fully healed. "Well, looks like he has the ability to regenerate. That most likely explains how he survived getting shot in the head back then."

"I am immortal," Vamp said. "If you kill me, I'll just ake a little sleep and then come back to life. There is nothing you can do to kill me."

"Then I'll make you wish that you aren't immortal," Remilia said with an evil-looking grin. "I'm going to make you suffer the kind of pain that makes you go crying for death!"

**BGM: Sin (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)**

Vamp raised his knife in front of his face and said, "Then show me what you've got, little girl!" Suddenly, Remilia seemingly disappeared and reappeared in front of Vamp with her claws thrust into his abdomen. "What the! She's fast!" The villain was pushed through the air until he struck the wall.

BANG!

The young vampire moved back and then formed a ball of energy in her hands to fire at him. "Red Magic!" The villain was engulfed by the projectile's explosion before he had the chance to do anything.

KABOOOOOOOM!

However, Vamp rolled from the explosion with a charred body, and the wound on his abdomen was beginning to heal. "Argh! I underestimated you!" he growled. "This time I'm not going to…" But Remilia suddenly appeared in front of his face.

"You'll regret ever calling me a little girl!" she said in threatening tone. She grabbed his neck and gripped her fingers with such a force that one could hear a sickening snap, and then she flung him across the place.

The villain tumbled onto the floor violently and lied motionlessly when he came to a stop, but a few seconds later, he stood back up and adjusted his neck. "That hurt quite a bit, but it's not enough to put an end to me. Nice try, however!"

"You'll be begging for me to stop once I get even more serious!" Remilia said as she flew at him really fast, but Vamp jumped over her when she was about to hit him, and while in the air, he turned around and threw four knives at her. Remilia turned around and caught them by their blades in between her fingers, however, and then threw them at him the moment he landed

Vamp quickly got out another knife to use it to deflect the ones thrown at him, and then he threw that one at her. Remilia caught it by its handle and then charged at Vamp to use it against him, but he got out yet again another knife to block the attack. The both of them swung the knives at each other, the blades striking each other with each swing.

After clashing blades with him enough times, Remilia backed off and threw the knife at Vamp, but he easily knocked it out of the air with his blade before catching it by the handle. "Servant Flier!" Remilia shouted as she summoned and sent bats made of red energy at Vamp, but he managed to cut them down with little effort.

Remilia then went over him and remained in the air, and there, she formed a red spear to throw at him. "Heart Break!" Vamp quickly jumped forward and then spun around just before he landed to throw a knife at her, but it missed.

Moving really fast, Remilia got behind Vamp without him fully realizing it, and by the time he turned his head around to see her, she slammed her claws into his back with such a force that he was sent flying forward and into a lever on the wall. When he fell onto the floor, his hand unintentionally pulled down the lever, and in doing so, the ceiling started to open.

"Whoa!" Meiling exclaimed.

Remilia observed the opening ceiling and came to a conclusion. "I see… So that is how those robots left this place. They flew outside after the ceiling opened."

"The boss knew that it was part of Snake's plan to destroy the Metal Gear RAYs, so he evacuated them all somewhere," Vamp said as he stood back up to face Remilia. "There is no way I'm going to tell you where they went, though. You will, however, know everything in due time."

"At least that's one mystery solved," Remilia said to him. "And just so you know, two of our friends are trying to shut down the source of electricity of this place. Robots run on electricity, right? Once the electricity is gone, they'll be nothing but scrap metal."

Vamp laughed when he heard this. "Hahaha! Either you live in a primitive world or you have a primitive way of thinking! Technology is far more advanced than you think! Do you think that those things run on simply nothing but electricity? Do not put Metal Gear RAYs in the same league as normal electrical appliances!"

"Admittedly, what I know about them is only as much as what Snake told me, and he didn't go into details either. We'll see in due time. For now, I'm going to focus on defeating you!"

"This battle has been pretty fun so far, so let's increase its intensity!"

"You'll regret it if the intensity is increase, I'm warning you."

Vamp got out a knife and then ran towards her, but all of a sudden, Meiling rushed into him and landed a kick to his side. "Ugh!" Vamp fell to the side, and when he got up and turned to face her, she was in front of him.

"Supreme Color: Colorful Light Chaotic Dance!" she shouted as she performed a spinning attack that not only created a rainbow-colored whirlwind around her, but she also went up into the air. Because Vamp was caught in the attack, he was carried into the air by it as well.

Remilia watched as the both of them kept on rising into the air until they were outside, and that was where Meiling stopped spinning. She did not stop attacking, however; she placed her fist in front of Vamp's abdomen and shouted, "Scarlet Inch Punch!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

A burst of red energy came out from her fist and sent Vamp shooting backwards until he eventually crashed somewhere outside the military camp.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Remilia watched from below and could tell that Meiling was excited over her victory. "That's my gatekeeper," the young vampire said. "She could've asked first before finishing the fight herself, however. Eh, whatever… It's no fun if I win a fight so easily myself…"

* * *

Reisen quickly ran for her life behind a tank. She sat down and panted. It was obvious that she had been running for some time. "She's still after me… Isn't she…?" she wondered. "What do I do…? I can fight her, but she keeps on hiding and striking me from places that makes her hard to find… By the time I noticed her, she's already trying to shoot me, so I don't have time to counterattack… If only I can spot her before she spots me…"

Unknown to her, Crying Wolf already knew that she was hiding behind the tank. While she could move to a place where she could shoot her, she went for a more 'forceful' method this time. Aligning herself in front of the tank, the sniper fitted inside the mechanical wolf ran at top speed and collided with the tank with such a force that the entire thing was pushed forward. Reisen, sitting in front of tank, was obviously pushed by the tank as well. "WHAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Crying Wolf then stopped running, and the tank slid forward a few feet before coming to a stop. Reisen was badly freaked out by what happened just now. Just as she was about to look out from behind the tank, she noticed the military vehicle starting to tilt over onto her. "Yikes!" Knowing that she couldn't stay around behind it any longer, the lunar rabbit scurried away as fast as she could before the tank fell upside-down on top of her and crush her.

CRASH!

She ran a bit of distance before turning around to face Crying Wolf, who had just used the strength of her armor to tilt the tank over. "That does it! I'm not going to run this time!" Reisen angrily said as she pointed her finger at her attacker. "It doesn't matter how you're going to fight me, I'm going to fight back no matter what and win!"

**BGM: Crying Wolf (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots)**

Crying Wolf let out a long howl, and then it ran off at a fast speed behind a building. "You're not getting away!" Reisen shouted as she gave chase, but by the time she got to where Crying Wolf ran to, the sniper was no longer in sight. "Where'd she go?" Holding up her hand as if holding up a gun, she walked forward while looking around with extreme caution of her surrounding.

Crying Wolf appeared from around the corner behind her. As it turned out, the sniper had ran all around the building. The top of the armor opened for Crying Wolf herself to come out and aim at the back of Reisen's head. However, Reisen managed to catch the sound of footsteps when the wolf-like armor stepped out from around the corner, not to mention its back opening. She spun around and fired without hesitation, and the shot struck Crying Wolf right in the forehead.

"Gah!" the sniper cried. Reisen fired another shot, but the sniper returned into her armor in time to avoid it, and then she ran around the corner again.

"You're not getting away this time!" Reisen said as she gave chase. She ran around the corner just in time to see Crying Wolf running around the corner at the other side, so she quickly headed in the other direction, thinking that she could surprise her from the front.

Reisen then heard something. It was like the sound of a metal wall being broken through. She didn't give much though into it, however. She ran around the building in search for her enemy, but the only notable thing she could find was a large hole on the wall. "Don't tell me that she went inside…?" she said as she observed the edges of the hole. "She must be hoping to lure me inside and then snipe me from somewhere in there, but I'm not going to fall for it!"

Despite saying that, Reisen poked her head into the hole and looked around the place, but it was pitch black, so she could barely make out anything other than the outline of what appeared to be crates and vehicles. She quietly stepped inside the warehouse, and suddenly, she went trigger-happy all over the place, hoping to hit Crying Wolf.

Energy bullets soared throughout the place and struck various things, and sounds of either metal being struck or crates being shattered were heard. There was no sound implying that someone was shot at all, however. Reisen eventually stopped firing, and she was thinking to herself that what she did earlier probably wasn't a good idea after all. In fact, it made her look like a fool.

She quietly walked deeper into the warehouse with her finger ready at all times to shoot. Due to the darkness, she was unable to tell what was on the floor, so she tripped on the front part of a forklift, but the moment she fell down, a bullet zipped through the air a few centimeters above her ears. She quickly looked around with shock, and she was also relieved that she fell down. Had she not tripped earlier, a clean hole marking the end of her life would've been seen on the sides of her head.

She turned to the direction the sound came from and fired. While she didn't hit anything, she was able to tell that there was something running out from behind some crates. As her eyes were now adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the shape of Crying Wolf's armor running around the place, going through and knocking down some crates in the process. She tried her best to aim at the running wolf-like armor and then fired, but even if her shots did hit it, they merely bounced off its tough exterior.

Crying Wolf then headed in Reisen's direction, so she quickly threw herself to the side while the wolf-like armor ran out the same hole it came in through. As Reisen turned to leave through the same place, Crying Wolf suddenly burst in through the part of the wall right next to the hole and ran into her. "Ya!" The wolf-like armor carried the lunar rabbit in front of its head and went through several crates until it went through the wall at the other side. Needless to say, Reisen suffered intense pain from getting her body crushed against the crates and the walls.

Once outside, the wolf-like armor tossed its head upward to hurl the lunar rabbit high into the air. Crying Wolf then emerged from her armor to take aim at the lunar rabbit as she was in the air. Reisen came back to her senses in time, and she quickly fired a pair of eye beams at her opponent. "Illusionary Blast!" The beam struck Crying Wolf and made her drop her sniper rifle.

Reisen landed not too far in front of Crying Wolf, and while the latter was still attempting to recover from the blast, she fired an energy missile at her. "Psycho Missile!" The missile struck the head of the wolf-like armor and sent it flying back through the air.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAA!" Crying Wolf cried as she was thrown out of her armor and onto the ground. When she got up, she saw Reisen running in her direction, and before she had the chance to do anything, the lunar rabbit grabbed her shoulders and placed her eyes close to her eyes, which weren't visible due to her mask.

"Weak Heart: Demotivation!" Reisen shouted, and then a burst of light accompanied by red triangles and yellow squares came out from her eyes.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Crying Wolf cried as the attack, which was fired at point blank, nearly blinded her and sent her tumbling backwards until she came to a stop. Reisen panted heavily while looking at her seemingly motionless enemy, and then she sighed with relief, knowing that she won the fight.

"Phew… I did it…" she said.

* * *

"Youmu, I didn't expect you to be here," Alice said as she approached Youmu, who was standing in the middle of the room with her head lowered. "Youmu, did you hear me? You look… strange… What's wrong with?" She went up close to her, and upon closer inspection, she saw cuts on certain parts of the half-phantom's body. "Youmu! What happened! Did you get into a tough battle?"

Youmu slowly lifted her head and looked at Alice with half-opened eyes and weakly said, "Stay… away… from… me…"

"What?"

Suddenly, Youmu swung the Roukanken at her, but Alice reacted in time and jumped back. "What are you doing, Youmu!" Alice asked in shock.

"Alice… Get away… from me…" Youmu weakly said as she got into a fighting stance. "I have no control… over myself…"

"What?" Alice asked in confusion.

Youmu suddenly charged at Alice and swung her sword at her, but the magician managed to dodge it. When Youmu tried to strike her again, Shanghai, equipped with a shield magically popped out of thin air, blocked the blow for her master. Alice quickly moved all the way to the side of the room to allow herself a better chance to observe Youmu, and that was when she noticed something up in the air, close to the ceiling. "What the…?"

What she saw was a person covered in head to toe in a skintight suit equipped with three pairs of artificial arms, thus giving her the appearance of having eight arms. "Does it question you why your friend is attacking you?" the person—Screaming Mantis—said in a monstrous, digitalized voice. "Now you know why! Do you want to scream that you are now being attacked by your friend? Yes! Scream! Let me hear your scream! You shall scream as I use you friend to make you bleed! Scream until you breathe your last! Scream! Scream for me! SCREAM!"

"What sort of monster is that!" Alice wondered. "That person must be responsible for Youmu's movements. It must be puppetry that's controlling her."

"Alice… Get away at once…!" Youmu said as she ran towards Alice against her will with her sword pointing at her. Alice quickly got out of the way, and then she summoned some dolls armed with swords to get ready to fight.

**BGM: Screaming Mantis (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)**

Screaming Mantis made Youmu run at Alice to attack with her sword again, but the dolls, under the control of Alice, clashed blades with the Roukanken while Alice herself quickly moved as far as she could from Youmu. She looked at Screaming Mantis and thought, "I'll have to take her down! There's no point in fighting Youmu!" So she summoned more dolls, this time armed with spears, and sent them after the controller herself.

However, one of Screaming Mantis's artificial arms pointed at the dolls, and when the hand flicked, the dolls' path suddenly swerved. Alice felt her fingers being pulled forward, and then the magical strings that were connecting her fingers to the dolls got disconnected. The moment that happened, however, the dolls fell limp, but they remained floating in air as if they were hanging onto something invisible. Screaming Mantis wasn't expecting this, and when she saw that she wasn't able to turn them against their masters, she angrily said, "Useless!" With a swing of the artificial arm, the dolls were sent flying into the wall and broke into pieces.

Suddenly, Alice heard the sound of things falling onto the floor, so she turned to the side to see that Youmu had cut up all the dolls she used for fighting her. Alice quickly threw herself forward to avoid being cut and then ran all the way to the other side of the room before summoning more dolls. "I'm not against fighting a friend," Alice said in her head, "but this is a different situation… Youmu can still move due to being controlled by that person even if I knock her out… I need to cut the strings that are connecting her to that person first!"

When Youmu charged at Alice to attack her, Alice made the dolls fight her with their swords. While the dolls were holding back the half-phantom, Alice summoned more dolls and then sent them at Screaming Mantis. Seeing this, Screaming Mantis used one of her artificial arms to fire and latch invisible strings onto the dolls and attempted to remove them from Alice's control, but before she had the chance to do so, the magician said out loud, "Hourai Doll!" The dolls fired pink laser beams from their hands at the villainous puppeteer, who screamed loudly when hit.

Moving her hands with great dexterity, she switched positions of the dolls holding back Youmu and the ones firing at Screaming Mantis. The half-phantom was blown by the beams while the invisible strings were cut by the swords. "Sorry…" Alice said to Youmu.

"Argh! Why you!" Screaming Mantis angrily said.

"Quick! Youmu's strings!" Alice thought. She immediately sent the sword-wielding dolls towards Youmu, but Screaming Mantis pulled back Youmu before they had the chance to get close to her.

"Try sending out a large amount of dolls at once, Alice!" Youmu said to her. "That way, she'll have a hard time trying to keep a watch on the strings controlling me!"

"I actually thought of that just now, but thanks for the advice anyway!" Alice said as she got out a spell card to summon a large amount of dolls.

"It won't make a difference!" Screaming Mantis said. Under the control of Alice, the dolls spread out all over the place and then charged at Youmu from various directions. Screaming Mantis made Youmu swing her sword around like a madman to cut down the dolls, and while the half-phantom was being force to do so, three dolls got behind her, ready to cut the strings with their swords. "Oh no you don't!" Screaming Mantis quickly moved the artificial arm controlling Youmu in such a way that not only the half-phantom stepped out from the mass of dolls, but the strings were also moved away from the swords' reach.

Screaming Mantis then pulled Youmu slightly underneath her, and then she made her place her sword against her neck. "If you really insist on rescuing my friend," she said, "then I might as well kill her right this instant!"

"You dare!" Alice angrily said.

"I dare!" Screaming Mantis said as she made Youmu press the sword against her neck with a force enough to make her cry in pain.

A look of desperation appeared on Alice's face as she wondered what to do next. However, as she lowered her face to look as if she was giving up hope, she grinned. Suddenly, Screaming Mantis felt something grabbing onto the top of her head, and then she noticed dolls grabbing onto each of her artificial arms. It was also a doll that was grabbing onto the top of her head. "What! What the!"

"Artful Sacrifice!" Alice said without raising her head.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Screaming Mantis screamed as the explosion engulfed her and destroyed her artificial arms. The strings connecting Youmu to one of the arms was severed as a result, and so the half-phantom fell on one knee.

Alice quickly rushed up to her and placed her arm on her shoulder. "Are you all right, Youmu?"

"Thanks…" the half-phantom replied. "I'm fine… So you actually were ready beforehand…"

"You should know very well that I prefer using tactical methods during battles more than anything else. For people like me who don't excel in strength or skill, brainpower is the best option."

Screaming Mantis fell onto the floor with a crash, but then she slowly got back up. "You…! Why you!"

"Still not down for the count yet?" Alice asked. "Return Animate!" And she threw a doll at her that caused a massive explosion that nearly filled up the room. In fact, the explosion was so powerful that both Alice and Youmu were blown back out of the room.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Youmu sat back up and asked, "You just had to use that, didn't you…?"

"Well, I was mad at her for using you like a puppet…" Alice sheepishly replied.

* * *

"And that is why I became a soldier," Johnny said to Reimu. "Hey, are you listening?"

Behind the prison door, Reimu was sitting against the door, bored out of her mind. "Yeah, yeah, yeah… I heard everything…" she said, not sounding interested at all.

"You don't seem to be very interested… Oh, by the way, are you hungry?"

The moment Johnny said this, Reimu's stomach growled. Her face slightly turned red as she said, "What do you think…?"

"Even though I asked you this, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give foods to prisoners…"

"Thank you so much for nothing…"

Just then, the door opened, and a soldier came in with a paper bag. "I've a couple of burgers here, Johnny. They're leftovers, and since I don't feel like eating, you can have them both."

Johnny went over and happily accepted the paper bag from him. "Thanks a bunch! I was thinking of going to grab something to eat!"

"Are you keeping a watch on the girl?"

"I am."

"Good! Keep it up!" With that, his fellow soldier left.

Johnny looked into the bag and spotted two hamburgers wrapped in paper, not to mention two ketchup packets. He took out one of the burgers and ketchup and then slipped them in between the prison's bars. "Here, you can have one!"

"Thanks," Reimu said as she took the food from him.

"Well then, I hope you enjoy!" Johnny said as he started removing the wrapping from his burger, but all of a sudden, the sound of growling was heard coming from his stomach. "Uh oh… It's happening again…" Quickly placing the burger back into the paper bag, he left the bag on the floor and then headed for the door. "Please excuse me for a while!"

Reimu watched with a confused look as he left the room, but then she shrugged and ate the burger after removing its wrapping.

* * *

Ocelot came face to face with two of his soldiers, the ones carrying Sanae in between them by her arms. He looked at the unconscious shrine maiden with curiosity and asked, "What do we have here? It seems that you have successfully caught one of those girls!"

"I found her going into the supply room, boss," one of the soldiers said. "I knocked her out when she came out, and then we thought of bringing her to you to see what you want to do with her."

"You did a great job! For now, just throw her into the cell along with that other girl. No, wait… Throw her into a different cell. Who knows what they may come up with if they are in the same cell?"

"Yes, boss," the second soldier said.

The two soldiers went past Ocelot to go for the prison room while he watched them. At this moment, Sanae slowly opened her eyes, and when she fully came to her senses, she was surprised about her current condition. "What the! Why am I captured!"

"She's awake! Keep your hands on her!" one of the soldiers said.

"Let go of me!" the shrine maiden angrily said as she struggled to free herself, but her strength was no match for the two soldiers.

"You're not going anywhere, young lady!" the other soldier, the one who knocked her out, said. "You're coming with us quietly!"

"No way am I going to go with you!" Sanae angrily shouted back as she continued to struggle. In the midst of her struggling, she slammed the side of her head into the face of the soldier who knocked her out. The soldier cried as he let go of Sanae, and then she desperately threw a punch into the other soldier's abdomen to make him let go of her.

The shrine maiden ran forward and then got out a spell card to fire snake-like missiles at them. "Sky Serpent!" The projectiles blew the soldier back onto the floor, where they lied unconsciously and charred. "Phew… I made it out of their grasp… I'm safe…" Then she looked up and saw Ocelot. "Not quite…"

"Well, you sure did put up a small show for me!" Ocelot said to her while clapping his hands. "You girls sure don't fail to amuse me!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Admittedly, I found out that Screaming Mantis can only control people who have nanomachines injected into their bodies while working on this chapter. However, since this arc takes place before Metal Gear Solid 4, let's assume that she doesn't have the ability to control people through their nanomachines yet, only through strings. This is the reason her Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow dolls are absent, as they are used for controlling people with nanomachines. I apologize for not realizing this mistake when doing the previous chapter…

Also, I originally intended for a soldier to be playing Super Mario Advance on a GBA, and when Cirno saw him playing it (without him noticing, of course), he was fighting the final boss, Wart. Since Wart is a frog, well… You get the point. Admittedly, I forgot about that when doing the frog sticker part, and also, since after the events of MGS2, the year is ahead of our time, so it would probably be out-of-place for someone to still playing a primitive handheld gaming device. Now that I think of it, I can make him play it on a DS… Anyway, what's done is done.

**Trivia:  
**1. Raiden was created because of a fan letter stating that the addresser didn't like to "play a story with an old man" (obviously referring to Snake, who is more of a middle-aged man at that time). His reception has been both positive and negative. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the series, says that Raiden is his favorite character in MGS2.

2. The chapter title is named after both God of War and Gears of War.

**Next chapter: Wind Priestess vs. Gunslinger**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Remilia Scarlet**

Campbell: Snake, listen carefully. This girl's name is Remilia Scarlet, and despite her appearance, she is five hundred years old.

Snake: Five hundred years old! Are you kidding me!

Campbell: I'm not kidding. This is possible because she is a vampire.

Snake: That makes even less sense! Are you trying to tell me that vampires exist?

Campbell: But this is the truth. She is not to be underestimated, Snake. Despite her appearance, she is very powerful. She is not to be underestimated in a battle.

Snake: I've been through all sorts of odds and ends, so this battle shouldn't be that tough once I get enough information on her. You know what they say: knowing your enemy is the quickest way to victory. Being a vampire, I'm sure I already know what her weaknesses are.

Campbell: You may be right, but that doesn't mean you can be careless. She has the ability to manipulate fate. You may go into the battle well prepared, but she can alter fate so that you will still lose no matter what in the end.

Snake: That sounds unfair…

Campbell: Gensokyo is full of beings with seemingly unfair powers. However, it seems that she almost never uses that ability, at least during battles, so rest assure that you still have a chance of victory if you ever fight her.

Snake: Manipulation of fate, huh? Maybe she can change my life so that it's not as messed up as it currently is. Living a peaceful life in Alaska for the rest of my life would be nice…

Campbell: Maybe my life can be also changed so that I can live happily with Meryl as a family! But in the end, we are born to be soldiers, Snake, so this is what we are destined to do until the end of our lives.

Snake: The loser will be liberated from the battlefield, and the survivor will live out the rest of his days as a soldier… That's what Big Boss said…

**Codec Transmission: Aya Shameimaru**

* * *

Otacon: This is Aya Shameimaru, Snake. She is a tengu who is the fastest in Gensokyo. She can travel at a speed close to Mach 1.

Snake: That's insanely fast!

Otacon: To top it all, she even has superhuman strength. She's definitely not someone you want to mess with.

Snake: I'm sure I can take on anyone if I find out their weaknesses.

Otacon: Speaking of which, she has a fear of seeing birds being eaten. If you do get into a fight with her, then you can use something like fried chicken to distract her first before striking her down.

Snake: Using food, eh? Got it!

Otacon: You see the camera she's carrying? She's a photographer as well. To be precise, she a news reporter, so she travels around gathering information and interviewing people for her news press, Bunbunmaru Newspaper. They say that she's someone annoying to deal with if one were to get interrogated. She likes to bombard you with lots of questions and goes as far as trying to pry into your personal lives. If you don't cooperate with her, then it's likely that she'll take the offensive route.

Snake: I can imagine how annoying it is getting asked lots of questions by news reporters… By the way, Otacon, are you eating something? You sound as if you're talking with a mouthful.

Otacon: Yeah, I'm eating chicken. Want some? Oh right… We're not in the same place…

Snake: Actually, I'm currently roasting a chicken that I caught out in the wild…


	97. Wind Priestess vs Gunslinger

**SBS Time!  
****Rakuro Kamigama of SkyBreaker****: **Snake only made an appearance at the end of the chapter at the omake! Where is he? Is he too stealthy for you to write down?  
**Game2002: **Yes, he's too stealthy for me to write down, especially when he's hiding inside a cardboard box.

Sorry for the wait… I had a hard time trying to type this out this chapter's battle, and there's also procrastination…

I made a mistake in the previous chapter about the title of this chapter. It's supposed to be Wind Priestess vs. Gunslinger, not Wind Priestess vs. Sniper. It's been corrected now, though it's not like it matters anymore… Please check the trivia at the end of this chapter to find out the reason for this change.

**Chapter 96  
Wind Priestess vs. Gunslinger**

* * *

Not counting the two soldiers whom were just knocked out, Sanae and Ocelot were looking at each other face to face by themselves. "Now that I've run into you," Sanae angrily said to the old man, "I'm going to strike you down! I won't allow you to control the world or do anything like that!"

"So you want to stop me, young lady?" Ocelot said to him, sounding amused rather than daunted. "Hahaha! I applaud you for having that kind of courage and determination! However, don't you think that it's too fast for you to be jumping to conclusions? What is wrong with controlling the world? If you think on the bright side, it's actually a good thing! If the Patriots gain control of the whole world, then the world will be a better place, don't you think?"

"Well, it depends on to what extent they control the world and what exactly they are trying to control…"

"What the world needs is a good leader, a leader that can lead them to a better future. As you know, the world is full of corruption, be it coming from the government or crime. Don't you think it will be good if such things come to an end? By controlling what each and everyone in this world does, there will be no more fear of wars, political corruption, and crimes! Won't that make this world a perfect place to live in? That is the kind of world the Patriots dream of!"

"While it is a good idea to end the world's corruptions, controlling everyone's life doesn't sound pleasing. People are supposed to have freedom in what they do as long as they don't abuse it. If Snake is desperate to stop you, then that means the Patriots are thinking of more than just controlling this world. Furthermore, you said you were going to use those robots that you called Metal Gear RAYs to make people trust the Patriots. Using them to cause destruction in order to do so is not a good method at all! If the Patriots really do care for the goodwill of everyone, then they would never use such a method! They should be coming out the public and showing everyone what can do in a more acceptable way! Causing destruction that one came up with and then resolving it to make people think that they are the savior is not a good method!"

"You are young, so you do not understand. There are some things that cannot be done unless a more violent approach is enforced."

"Violence is not the way for getting what you want! I won't allow you to use those Metal Gear RAYs! Two of my friends are on their way to destroy them, and another two of my friends are attempting to shut down the power source of this place to mess with your plans!"

"Well, then I have to say that the ones going after the Metal Gear RAYs are wasting their time in doing so. As for the ones going after the power source… Well, I didn't expect Snake to come up with a plan like that, assuming that it is his idea in the first place. I can go and stop them now, but seeing how you're not going to let go of me so easily…" As he talked, Ocelot took out a gun from underneath his coat. Sanae nervously took a step back when she saw the gun.

"Right! I won't let you go so easily!" she said as she tried to overcome her fear. "I will fight and defeat you here! You're not stopping Snake's plan as well as whatever my friends are doing! I'm going to avenge for two of my fallen friends as well, even though I think they may still be alive."

"Don't worry; I'll make you join them soon!" Ocelot said as he spun the gun around with skill in his hand. "Heheh! You should be honored to be killed by the greatest handgun ever made, the Colt Single Action Army!" Then he pointed it at the shrine maiden. "I shall now show you why they call me… Revolver!"

Trying her best to not get intimidated by the gun, Sanae courageously said, "Then I will show you the power of a wind priestess and also the power to bring forth miracles! I am the descendant of a goddess!"

"Is that so? Then I'll take great pleasure in taking down a descendant of a goddess! Draw!" With that, Ocelot pulled the trigger, but Sanae managed to step aside in time.

"Most people from my world are skilled in dodging projectiles. Even if it's from a real gun, I can still dodge its bullets with ease! Behold my grazing skills and tremble!"

"I have to say that I am surprised that you are able to dodge the bullet from this kind of range!" Ocelot said. "But miracles won't always happen! You're going to drop dead before you know it or least walk away from this fight with holes all over your body, though it's more likely that you won't ever be walking away from this fight alive!" Ocelot fired again, but Sanae once again jumped to the side, this time going through a door that wasn't entirely closed, so she went into the room behind it and hit a railing.

"Ow!" Sanae cried. She stood back up properly and then looked around the place to see that she had came into what appeared to be a parking lot, as there were jeeps and trucks parked around the place. Ocelot appeared in front of her, so she quickly ran down the stairs.

"You can't run from me, girl!" he said to her. "I may be old, but I still retain all the skills from my youth!"

**BGM: Ocelot Youth (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)**

The aged gunslinger went down the staircase and watched as Sanae ran behind a truck. He smirked as he approached the vehicle, and then Sanae appeared from the other side of it and threw paper amulets at him, but he easily dodged them. The amulets hit a truck at the other side of the parking lot and blew it up.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

Ocelot looked at what happened with a surprised face, and then he turned to her. "Impressive! I should be glad that I avoided those. I wouldn't want to waste my bullets on things that can be dodged."

Sanae appeared from behind the truck again, this time using a spell card to fire snake-like projectiles at him. "Sky Serpent!"

Ocelot tried to dodge them, but they followed him and latched onto his arms before exploding and blasting him backwards. He managed to remain on his feet, albeit in a crouched position. "Well, that I didn't expect… Perhaps I should have observed you more carefully when you and your friends battled my men when you first came to this place."

"It's your downfall for not learning more about your opponents first!" Sanae said from behind the truck.

"You can't hide there forever, little girl," Ocelot said as he got back up and pointed his gun at the truck. "Even if you do hide there forever, you are still not safe from my bullets! I can try to locate your position from your voice!" And he pulled the trigger.

The bullet whizzed out right next to Sanae's face, and she was shocked by how close it was to hitting her. Fearing that another bullet might appear from behind her head, she quickly ducked and then ran out from behind the truck, throwing some paper amulets at Ocelot upon doing so.

Ocelot once again dodged the amulets before firing another shot at Sanae, but she jumped up and threw a packet at him. "Fortune Bomb!" He ran from the packet, which exploded like a firework, but then Sanae fired a red star-shaped projectile at him. Again, he managed to avoid it and then quickly ran behind a pillar. "So it's your turn to hide, eh? You can't hide forever, you coward!"

"Hiding does not necessary mean cowardice," Ocelot replied. "It is also a good way for coming up with a strategy, preparing oneself, or looking for an opportunity to counterattack. I am doing the latter."

"Fortune Bomb!" Sanae threw another packet, and it landed next to Ocelot, who quickly ran out from behind the pillar before it exploded. He then pointed his gun at Sanae and fired a single shot, but she rolled to the side and then threw paper amulets at him. He easily dodged them by moving his body aside, and the amulets up a portion of the wall behind him.

"You'll pay for the damage you've caused!" he said.

"Like I care!" she replied.

Ocelot suddenly rushed at Sanae and, with his finger ready to pull the trigger, pointed his gun at her forehead. She quickly moved to the side, but Ocelot pulled a surprising move of not pulling the trigger right away; instead, he quickly changed the aim to her leg and fired. The shrine maiden cried in sheer pain as she fell to the floor with an injured right leg. "AH!"

"Surprised, eh?" Ocelot asked her.

"How dare you pull off such a trickery!" she angrily said.

"There are no rules to this fight, so I can do whatever I want, even using deceptive techniques," Ocelot said as he got out some bullets to reload his gun. While he was doing so, Sanae used this opportunity to attack.

"Cobalt Spread!" Sanae shouted as she forcefully threw a packet onto the floor. It created a blue energy ripple that moved in Ocelot's direction, so he quickly jumped up to avoid it. However, he did not expect frogs made of energy to leap out from the shockwave. He was struck in the feet and then fell down on his back.

"Ugh!" he cried

"Falling Stars!" Sanae shouted as she raised a spell card into the air. A white portal appeared in the air, and then shooting stars came flying out of it and towards Ocelot, who quickly held his arms over his head before getting up to run for his life, but he was struck in the back by a shooting star and fell on his face.

"Ah! My back! I think I broke my back!" Ocelot cried in pain after the shooting stars stopped coming down.

Sanae approached him and said, "That is what you deserve! Now you can't do anything! I win!"

"Yes, you've won!" Ocelot said as he turned around and sat down. "Please have mercy on me! Please spare an old man, please! Please take me to the medic! My back really hurts!"

"Are you sure you're not playing tricks on me?"

"I'm an old man, so breaking my back is something common, especially after getting hit right in that spot."

"And you were saying that you still retain all your skills from your youth. From what I know, you may be bluffing."

"Whether or not I'm bluffing, I admit defeat. After all, you are capable of performing attacks that nobody in this world is capable of performing, so I am obviously no match for you. Please have mercy on me… I truly do admit defeat!"

"If you say so…" Sanae said with a doubtful look, and then she reached out her hand to him. "Give me your gun first. This is to make sure that you do not do anything silly when I either help you up or leave you alone."

"Yes, take it," Ocelot said as he handed his gun to her. "See? I'm honest! I really do not have the intention to fight anymore. Do you believe me now?"

"You seem to be telling the truth after all," Sanae said after taking the gun from him. "Sorry for doubting you…" Then she reached out her other hand. "Need a hand in getting up?"

"Of course; I am old and cannot get up so easily by myself after breaking my back," Ocelot said as he grabbed Sanae's hand to allow her to help him up. The moment he stood back up, he punched Sanae right in the abdomen. Before the shrine maiden flew back, he quickly grabbed the hand holding the gun and then took the gun from her before shooting her in the area just above the abdomen.

BANG!

Not making a single sound, the shrine maiden's eyes turned blank as she fell back onto the floor and lied there motionlessly. "You're too naïve, girl!" Ocelot said to her. "Haven't your mother ever taught you not to take candies from strangers? This is the same concept! It's your downfall for believing your enemy so easily! You should be happy that I actually showed a bit of mercy on you; otherwise, I would've blown off your brain! You can say that I couldn't bring myself to instantly kill such a young and beautiful girl!"

Sanae remained lying on the floor, seemingly dead. Ocelot stared at her for a few more seconds, and then he turned around to leave, "Whatever… You probably can't fight any longer, so I'm off to do something about the friends of yours who are heading for the power source of this place. They better not have gotten there yet."

When he got to the stairs and placed his foot onto the first step, he heard Sanae weakly calling out to him, "Wait…!" He turned to her and was surprised to see her slowly helping herself get back up. "I… will… not… allow… you… to… leave… yet… I can… still… fight… Ugh… Ack!" She quickly placed her hands over her mouth as she coughed out blood.

"My! You're still alive! That's unbelievable!" Ocelot said.

"It's a miracle…" Sanae said as she tried her best to stand back up. "I'm a descendant… of a goddess… after all… so don't think… that you can kill me… so… easily…"

* * *

"Phew, much better!" Johnny said as he came back into the prison room while patting his stomach. "Are you finished eating yet?" He turned to Reimu's prison and was shocked to see the shrine maiden lying on the floor with wide open eyes and mouth and a bleeding forehead. He let out a cry and then ran up to the prison and shook the bars. "Hey girl! What happened to you! Are you all right! Answer me! Answer me quick!" There was absolutely no reply or movement from Reimu, however.

Johnny desperately got out the keys for the prison door to unlock it, and then he ran to Reimu and picked her up by the shoulders. "Girl! Are you all right?" he asked her while shaking her over and over. "What happened to you! Who did this to you! Answer me! Are you still alive! Answer me!"

Suddenly, Reimu headbutted him in the head so hard that Johnny fell back and instantly passed out, though it's more accurate to say that he lost his mind, as he was still making sounds. "Guuuuh… You're all right… girl…"

"Ow… That hurts… I wonder how Keine is able to shrug off headbutts so easily…?" the shrine maiden said while rubbing her forehead, and then she looked at the 'blood' that got onto her hand. "Thanks to that red sauce, I was able to come up with this trick, and it worked!" She headed for the prison door, but then turned around to look at Johnny one last time. "You're not a bad guy after all, so I won't lock the door. Also, thanks for the food!" Then she ran out of the prison room.

Shortly after Reimu left, the sound of wet fart could be heard coming from the unconscious Johnny.

* * *

The door leading into Ocelot's office opened, and Snake poked his head in from behind it to make sure that there was nobody inside. After making sure that there was indeed nobody, he went inside and quietly closed and locked the door before looking around the room. He spotted a few things that were worthy of notice: the papers on the desks, a safe, and a computer that was turned on.

He headed over to one of the desks and looked at the papers there, hoping to find useful information. After quickly scanning through each of the pages, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing worth reading on them, so he put it back onto the desk before heading over to another set of paper placed on another desk.

When he was done scanning through them, he thought to himself, "It's going to take all day if I try to find information from these papers… Ocelot probably wouldn't put important information in places that are easy for others to find…" He looked around the room and laid his eyes on the safe and then the computer. "It's either of those two now…"

Thinking that safe would be tougher to deal with, he headed over to the computer and sat down in front of it. "Good thing it's turned on! Saves me a lot of time!" He looked through the files of the computer in search for important information, and after a while of searching, he came upon a file that was named _MGR Attack Plans_. He opened the file and read what was inside, and it immediately came to him that this was indeed something important.

He quickly pressed the codec in his ear and waited for a reply, and when it finally came, he said, "Otacon! I found out the exact time Ocelot is planning to launch those Metal Gear RAYs!"

"When is it?" Otacon asked. "And where?"

"At 3 A.M.! And the destination is New York City!"

"3 A.M.! It's 2:50 already! There's only ten more minutes! We don't have time to lose!"

"Stay calm! Nitori and Cirno should be disabling the power source by now. There has to be a control source somewhere that will command the RAYs to go to that place, and with the power source shut down, I bet the control source won't work as well. That way, the RAYs won't be going anywhere when the time has arrived."

"Right… I almost forgot that those are heading for the power source."

"But they sure are taking their time… If they don't get the job done fast, then…" While Snake was still speaking, the lights suddenly went out, not to mention the computer turning off. "Huh?"

"What happened, Snake?"

"The electricity went out! That can only mean one thing!"

* * *

Nitori and Cirno had managed to make their way into the basement, where they found the power source of the place. It was nothing more than a normal electric box.

Nitori, looking at the electric box with her flashlight, said, "That was too easy! I thought I had to cut wires, mess with the screws, or something like that! All I had to do was flick the switches! They sure don't look after their power sources here!"

"And now to destroy it!" Cirno suggested as she formed an icicle in her hand. "That'll keep the electricity from coming back!"

"Right! I'll give you the privilege of doing that! Go ahead, Cirno!"

"I'm the strongest! Take this, power source!" Cirno said as she flung the icicle like a javelin at the electric box to impale and destroy it.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Hahaha! No power source is strong enough to stand against me!" Cirno boasted.

"All right, now that we're done, let's get out of here and find the others," Nitori said.

* * *

"Guess there's no more point in hanging around here," Snake thought as he got up from the seat in front of the computer. "Maybe I can still find information regarding the Patriots here, but in the darkness like this, it's going to be near impossible to find it…" As he about to leave, he suddenly remembered about the safe. "Maybe I can find something in there…" So he quickly went over to it. Luckily, the moonlight helped lit up the place, so the room wasn't entirely pitch black.

He bent down in front of the safe and saw that it had an electronic lock that required a three-digit password. He messed around with it for a while, and when none of the number combinations he tried worked, he stopped to ponder what it might be. "Let's see… Ocelot's birthday? I don't know his birthday… This room's number? I don't remember seeing a number at the top of this room's door… What might it be?"

Since he couldn't figure out what the password was, he contacted Otacon. "Otacon, I'm trying to figure out the password to a lock I found. I believe it might contain something important."

"A password lock?" Otacon replied. "If I can somehow get in touch with the lock, then I can try to hack into it to get it to open…"

"I'm not a pro at hacking locks myself. Furthermore, I don't have the correct tools for getting the job done."

"Think, Snake. Is there anything Ocelot might be obsessed with? Perhaps the password is related to something he likes."

"How would I know what he's obsessed with? Guns, maybe… But I don't think I can get number out of a gun."

"True… Hmmm… Maybe we can try out established three-digit numbers."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean three-digit numbers that are well known, like 007 or 911. How about this? Try 573. That number is related to the video game company Konami due to the fact that the name sounds like those three numbers in Japan.

"Okay, I'll try that one," Snake said as he inputted the numbers 5, 7, and 3. Miraculously, the safe was unlocked when that number combination was entered. "Whoa! It worked!"

"Really? Wow! That was really lucky! Somehow, I was convinced that it would work…"

Snake opened the safe and saw a metal box inside, not to mention a stack of cards, a stack of paper amulets, and a gohei. "Wait a minute… This stick belongs to Reimu! Ocelot must've confiscated them from her when she got captured."

"Great job, Snake!" Otacon said. "You should take it to her at once!"

"I'll take everything inside. Perhaps they'll all come in handy."

* * *

As soon as Sanae finished speaking, the lights went out, thus making the parking lot become pitch black. "Darn it!" Ocelot angrily cursed. "I was too busy fighting you that I totally forgot about the power source! Argh! Now the Metal Gear RAYs won't be able to take off at the correct time!" However, the emergency light lit up shortly afterwards to allow him to get a better look at the place. "Thanks goodness for that! Since the electricity is already gone, I might as well…" Ocelot turned his head from the emergency light to Sanae as he was speaking, only to find that the shrine maiden was already gone. "Huh? Where'd she go?"

He slowly walked forward while looking around the place for signs of her. "So you want to play hide and seek in the darkness, eh? I'll be glad to play with you!"

**BGM: Spy vs. Gunslinger (Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes)**

Suddenly, paper amulets flew in from the darkness at the side, and seeing them coming, Ocelot quickly rolled to the side before he got hit. He quickly fired in the direction they came from, but due to the lack of cries, it was obvious that it didn't hit anyone. However, Ocelot could see Sanae, even if unclear, running deeper in the parking lot, so he took aim and fired.

Sanae knew well that running in a straight line would easily put one in a gun's aim, so she moved diagonally left and right as she ran, and this method of running proved to be a successful, as the bullets went past her twice. She then came to a stop and used a spell card to fire snake-like projectiles at Ocelot. "Sky Serpent!"

Ocelot quickly moved back until his back touched the wall, and when the projectiles were about to hit him, he quickly rolled to the side. The projectiles ended up hitting the wall because they did not turn to the side in time.

Because there was another emergency light near where Sanae was, Ocelot was able to see her from where he was. He tried to shoot her, but she dodged it by moving aside. Suddenly, the leg that was shot not too long ago started to hurt again. She let out a cry as the pain forced her to bend down a little, and then she was shot again the same leg, in the area just above the original wound. "AH!"

"Got you now!" Ocelot said as he fired another shot.

Acting quick, Sanae lifted her gohei into the air to make a burst of wind appear around herself. "Create Wind!" The wind caused the bullet to swerve past her.

"Tsk! That was so close!" Ocelot growled. "Trying to shoot her from afar won't do; I'll have to get up close to her first! I'll finish her off with just one bullet!" Ocelot then ran towards Sanae, who attacked by throwing paper amulets, but he dodged them by moving left and right, all the while running forward.

When he got close, Sanae quickly threw a packet onto the floor. "Cobalt Wave!" An energy ripple was sent forth, but Ocelot, knowing what this move was already, rolled to the side instead and pointed his gun at Sanae. Before he could pull the trigger, though, Sanae threw a paper amulet at him. Ocelot quickly ducked underneath it, but because he was very close to the wall, the explosion created by the amulet sent him flying forward.

"Revitalizing Wind!" Sanae shouted as she raised her gohei to make a burst of wind around herself that blew Ocelot away, and then she sent several paper amulets flying at high speeds towards him. "Protect the Prosperous Business!"

Ocelot recovered from the getting tossed aside by the wind, but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to avoid the incoming projectiles in time. In his desperation, he pulled the trigger, and the bullets went past the paper amulets and struck Sanae just below the neck. Ocelot was then blown back by the amulets.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The gunslinger was sent hurtling backwards until he hit the back of his head against the side of a jeep. He let out a loud cry and then sat up and angrily looked at the shrine maiden. "Ugh…! Argh…! Darn it! I didn't expect you to be this good…!"

Sanae, in between heavy panting, said, "Now you've seen for yourself… the power of the descendant… of a goddess… It was your mistake… to underestimate me…"

"I'm not going to bother wasting my energy against you here anymore! There's no point in wasting my breath when I can instead retreat and think of what steps I should take next!" Ocelot said as he got into the jeep. "I'll let you go this time! Remember this!" The key was conveniently there, so he used it to start the engine and then drove towards the exit not too far away.

"You're not getting away!" Sanae said as she gave chase, but her wounds caused her to fall on her knees. "Ugh…! I'm losing too much blood… But he's getting… away… I… No… I must… find treatment… first…" She slowly and painfully crawled back towards the door that led into this place, but with every inch of movement, she felt herself getting weaker and weaker, not to mention the wounds hurting even more.

Eventually, she became so weak that she could no longer move. She fell down, and she when tried to get back up, she found herself too weak to do so. "Am… I… going to… die… here…?" she wondered. "Everyone… I'm… sorry…" With those last words, she closed her eyes and fell silent.

* * *

Reimu flew out from one of the windows of the main building and landed at the empty square. She then turned around to look at the building and said, "Okay… Now that I'm out here, what do I do next? Where are the others anyway? I didn't run into any of them while in there, and I'm too lazy to search the entire building…"

Just as she wondering what to do next, the sound of vehicle moving could be heard. Reimu turned her head to the source of the sound and saw a jeep speeding out of the parking lot. The jeep came to a stop in the square, and Ocelot looked at his watch and angrily said, "Argh! It's past the time already! Thanks to those girls, the RAYs are probably still under the sea!"

"Hey! It's you!" Reimu said. Ocelot looked up and was surprised to see her.

"What! What are you doing out here?" he asked. "You're supposed to be in prison!"

"I escaped," she replied.

"How did you escape?"

"Don't feel like telling you."

"Hmph! Fine! It's not like I really want to know anyway! You're pretty good to be able to escape from prison, young maiden!" Ocelot said as he stepped down from his jeep.

"I'll gladly accept your compliment. By the way, why is it so dark here? Where are all the lights?"

"Your friends did a fine job turning off the power source of this place, and thanks to that, my plans to launch an attack on New York City is foiled! Do you understand you angry I am over this?"

"Oh, my friends did this? I don't know what your plans are, but I doubt it's anything good."

Ocelot took out his gun and said, "Perhaps I should show them the consequences of messing with me! Your dead body will be sufficient for getting this done!" Without saying anything else, he fired at Reimu, but the shrine maiden did nothing but more than tilting her head to the side to avoid it.

"You miss," she casually said.

Knowing that the gun was now out of bullets, he reached into his coat to get more, only to make a shocking discovery. "Darn it! Out of a bullets!"

"So what are you going to do now?" Reimu asked him. "You seem to have lost your method of attacking."

"Bah! It's not like I rely on my gun to fight!" Ocelot angrily said as he put his gun back into his coat, and then he took off his coat and his shirt before getting into a fighting stance. "You shall see for yourself just how hard I can swing my fists!"

"Want to go physical? I guess it's only fair…" Reimu said as she spun her shoulders and stretched her arms. "You confiscated all my equipments, and I have yet to find them, so I guess I have no choice but to fight you empty-handed."

"So you can fight empty-handed, eh? You don't strike me as someone who can!"

"Demon exterminating and incident solving are not simple tasks, so I need to keep my body fit at all times. Compared to fighting with projectiles, I'm not as good when it comes to fighting at close range, but that doesn't mean I my skills are simply average."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Yes, Reimu is going to fight with her fists next chapter, and I'm going to have fun typing it!

I apologize if the finishing blow given to Ocelot isn't spectacular. That's pretty much the best I can think of, but I hope you still enjoyed the fight.

By the way, the 911 is referring to the emergency phone number and not the 911 incident.

Cobalt Spread originally wasn't correctly depicted back in Chapter 5: Testudines Terror. It's now been corrected.

Also, Sanae's Create Waves has been changed back Revitalizing Wave. The latter sounds better, and that's supposed to be the "official" fan translation given to it as well. I can't remember all the chapters where that move was used, so I'll change the remaining ones if I ever remember or found them. This, of course, is nothing big, so feel free to ignore it if you want to, but you can also help me point out some of the chapters where that move is used. Thanks in advance!

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after the soundtrack heard when fighting Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Spy vs. Gunslinger.

2. The numbers 5 (_go)_, 7 (_nana_), and 3 (_mittsu_) are used for representing Konami due to their pronunciations being used in wordplay. It is found in various high scores of Konami games and Konami phone numbers.

3. Using the Konami number to open the lock can be considered using the power of 4th wall breaking. It's not something unfamiliar to the Metal Gear series; in MGS, Kenneth Baker told you to look at the back of the game's CD case to find out the codec used for contacting Meryl.

**Next chapter: A Shrine Maiden's Iron Fist**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Sanae Kochiya**

Snake: This is Snake. Colonel, do you read me? I need information on this girl named Sanae.

Suwako: This is Suwako speaking! Ribbit, ribbit!

Snake: What the! Am I talking to a frog?

Suwako: I'm the goddess of mountains, and I like frogs!

Snake: Goddess of mountains? Stop playing with me, little girl! How did you intercept my codec?

Suwako: But it's true, I'm the goddess of mountains.

Snake: Answer my question!

Suwako: You're one rude mortal! You should show more respect to a goddess! But then, I guess I can't convince you to believe me if you don't believe that goddesses exist.

Snake: Whatever…

Suwako: I was playing around a walkie-talkie Nitori made, and then I unintentionally reached you. You were saying that you want information on the girl named Sanae, right? She's my descendant, so I can tell you something about her if you want to.

Snake: Descendant? Right… I'll pretend that you're making that up… So what do you know about Sanae.

Suwako: She works as both a shrine maiden and a wind priestess at my… I mean… Kanako's shrine, and she has the power to make miracle happens.

Snake: Like?

Suwako: You should know what miracles mean. Believe in them and miracles will surely happen no matter what situation you're in!

Snake: So when I'm losing a battle, she can automatically make me win?

Suwako: Exactly! Sanae is a good girl, so I'm sure she'll help you!

Snake: That sounds too convenient to be true…

Suwako: It's hard to convince you, isn't it?

Snake: Say whatever you want… If that's all you can tell me, then I'm ending the conversation here.

Suwako: All right; it was no fun talking to you anyway. Good-bye! Ribbit, ribbit!

Snake: Hrrrngh…

**Note: The above is supposed to be the sound of grumbling, but I don't really know how to type it out in words.**

* * *

**Codec Transmission: Sakuya Izayoi**

Snake: Otacon, what do you know about this girl? From her clothing, she must be a maid.

Otacon: Indeed, she's a maid, but she's also a very skilled fighter. She excels in throwing knives and has the ability to control time. They say she can also control space.

Snake: Throwing knives, I can accept, but controlling time and space?

Otacon: But that's the truth. What's even harder to believe is that she's human. At least that's what she claims…

Snake: Well, I've met strange people in my life, though this one is probably one of the strangest…

Otacon: There's a running joke in the real world, the world where the people reading this story live, about her not being playable in a Touhou game, the series she is from, for a while. There are several fan arts on the Internet depicting her getting mad or sad over this.

Snake: Okay…

Otacon: She's a very popular character who has been playable before, but now, her spotlight is diminishing more and more, despite the fandom wanting her to become playable again. Also, she's even absent from this story, just like how she hasn't been playable lately! I can picture her throwing a fit over…

Snake: Otacon? Otacon? What happened, Otacon? Why did you stop talking all of a sudden? Otacon? Do you read me? Hmmm… Strange… Why do I have the feeling that something happened to Otacon…?


	98. A Shrine Maiden's Iron Fist

**SBS Time!  
****Rakuro Kamigama of SkyBreaker****:** Why did Snake call Otacon Ocelot?  
**Game2002: **Thanks for pointing out that mistake for me! God bless you!

Please note that the first BGM you come across carries over to the fight in the next part.

Sorry for the wait… Coming up with this chapter wasn't easy after all. I hope you enjoy what you are about to read!

**Chapter 97  
A Shrine Maiden's Iron Fist**

* * *

Snake opened the door and looked left and right at the dark hallway for signs of enemies. After making sure that there was none, he quietly walked out of the room with the metal box and Reimu's gohei under his arm. However, it didn't take him more than four steps before light shined onto him from behind. He turned around in shock and saw a soldier shining his flashlight at him. "Who's there!" the soldier shouted. "Stand still at once!"

**BGM: Encounter (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)**

"Darn it!" Snake angrily cursed before making a run down the opposite direction.

"You're not running!" the soldier shouted as he gave chase.

As Snake ran down the hallway, another soldier walked in from around the corner, but Snake tackled him with his shoulder and then continued past him. He came across another soldier, who quickly pointed his gun at him. Snake bent down low as he ran towards the soldier, and he used his free hand to grab and push his gun downwards before kicking him in the leg to knock him onto the floor. He continued running down the hallway with the soldier who first spotted him chasing him.

"Don't run! I'll shoot!" the soldier shouted. While still running, Snake turned around and fired his gun at his leg to make him fall over. "Ah!" Before moving on, Snake picked up that soldier's flashlight so that he could make his way through the without getting lost in the darkness.

As he was running down a staircase, he suddenly received a call from his codec. "This is Snake! I'm busy, so whoever you are, make it short and simple!"

"It's me, Nitori!" said the voice of the kappa. "Cirno and I managed to shut down and destroy the power source!"

"Yes, I know that already! Now hurry up and get outside so that we can meet there and think of what to do next!"

"You sound as if you're in a hurry. What's wrong?"

"Chased by enemies, that's what's wrong!"

"Oh… Where are you right now?"

"Let's just meet outside, okay?"

"Okay, okay… I was thinking that the both of us can go over and help you… Oh well, wish you luck!" Then the call ended.

"What a pointless call…" Snake grumbled as he continued to find the exit.

* * *

Out in the square, Ocelot and Reimu, both in fighting stances, were facing each other in silence. After staring at each other for several seconds, Reimu made the first move of dashing at him at a fast speed. Ocelot, however, caught her movement in his eyes and so quickly stepped to the side to make the shrine maiden miss her palm thrust attack. He immediately attempted to strike her in the back of the head with his arm, but Reimu brought one arm to the back and caught it, much to his surprise. She then spun around and slammed her palm against his abdomen with such a force that it made him take several steps back in pain.

"Oof! Not bad!" Ocelot said as he recovered from the blow. "I didn't expect you to be able to hit this hard!"

"Don't judge a person by his or her looks, especially women," Reimu told him.

"I'll remember to keep that in my head! Thanks for the lesson! Now it's time for me to fight back!" Ocelot said as he approached Reimu and threw a punch. Reimu quickly ducked down and thought of striking him in the abdomen again, but she did not expect Ocelot to swing his fist into her face right after she ducked down. The shrine maiden was knocked back by the blow but remained standing.

"If you're thinking of using that very common form of counterattack, don't bother!" Ocelot told her as he ran towards her to attack again. Reimu stepped to the side to avoid a dashing punch, but the moment she did so, Ocelot swung his arm at her. However, she quickly ducked and then jumped back. "You move fast!"

"I told you not to judge someone by his or her looks!" she replied. "Plus, I'm not the kind of person to fall for similar techniques." Then she ran at him and quickly jumped over him. As she was falling behind him, she spun around to deliver a roundhouse kick to his head, but Ocelot caught her leg and slammed her onto the ground, and then he attempted to punch her in the face, but Reimu quickly moved her head to the side, so Ocelot ended up hurting his fist from punching the ground.

"Ow!" he cried.

"Hiya!" Reimu shouted as she delivered an uppercut to Ocelot's chin to knock him back onto his feet. Ocelot recovered from the blow and then threw several punches at Reimu, all of which she avoided by moving left and right. Reimu swiftly moved behind him to deliver a horizontal karate chop to his waist, but Ocelot quickly turned around to catch her arm and then tried to punch her in the head using his other hand. Reimu ducked underneath it, and then she raised her leg to kick the arm that was grabbing her to make Ocelot let loose his grip, and then she delivered a powerful palm thrust to his abdomen.

"Ugh!" Ocelot cried as he took some steps back from the same kind of blow. Reimu dashed at him with one arm pulled back, and then a blue aura appeared around her fist as she threw a punch at his abdomen, but Ocelot quickly brought his hands there to catch the fist. A burst of blue light resulted when her fist coming in contact with his hands, and Ocelot was blown back by it and fell on his back. "Ah! What the!"

"For your information, I just powered up that punch with spiritual energy," Reimu explained. "That adds extra power to my physical attacks."

"You sure are surprising, girl! Looks like this fight will be a lot more fun than I thought!" Ocelot said as he got back up as if he didn't suffer from the blow at all.

"You can still say something like that? You won't be having a smug look on your face once I knock the lights out of you!"

Ocelot let out a cry as he ran towards Reimu and threw a punch at her, but the shrine maiden jumped into the air and behind him to attack him with a roundhouse kick to the head. Ocelot quickly spun around and slammed his arm against her leg to knock her out of the air, and Reimu landed in a crouched position. The both of them immediately ran at each other afterwards, and Reimu performed a back flip to kick him in the chin. "Ascension Kick!"

Ocelot was knocked back slightly by the kick, but he recovered and reached out to grab Reimu by the collar the moment she landed from the back flip, and then he lifted her over his shoulder and slammed her head against the ground with force enough to shatter one's head. Ocelot then kicked her in the abdomen to send her tumbling backwards, and she eventually came to a stop face first on the ground. "How'd you like that?" Ocelot asked her.

"Ugh… Gah… It… hurts… a… lot…" Reimu cried as she slowly got back up and turned around with her hands on her head. The powerful impact to the head also messed with her vision; when she looked at Ocelot, she saw him as two blurry figures that were "merging and separating constantly".

Ocelot rushed up to the shrine maiden and uppercut her in the chin to knock her into the air, and then he punched her in the abdomen really hard to send her shooting backwards until she hit a metal pole. Not planning to give her a break, Ocelot ran towards her, ready to throw another punch. Reimu, yet to fully recover from the previous blows, mustered her strength to stand back up and fight. When Ocelot was close to her, she quickly jumped over him and planted feet against the back of his head to make it hit the pole. "Ow!"

When Ocelot turned around with his hands holding the forehead in pain, Reimu slammed her elbow against his abdomen, and then she thrust her other hand at the fist to send spiritual traveling down the arm and out of the elbow. "Dream Piercer!"

BAAAAAAAAANG!

The burst of energy basically crushed Ocelot against the pole, and had it not been for that that, he would've rocketed backwards at a high speed. The old man cried in pain as he slowly slid down the side of the pole and sat down in front of it. Reimu took some steps back and sighed. "Phew… Be glad that I'm not able to perform a more powerful version without the help of my amulets. Ugh…! The blood trickling down from my head got into my eyes...!"

As Reimu wiped the blood of her face, Ocelot got back up and glared at her, and taking advantage of what she was doing at the moment, he charged at her with his arm pulled back, ready to punch her, and punch her in the face he did.

SOCK!

* * *

Back inside the parking lot, Sanae remained unconscious on the floor, and the Mr. King approached her on his flying throne and observed the seemingly dead shrine maiden. "Poor girl," he said. "You fought well, but this is where things come to an end for you. Ocelot failed to put an end to your life, so I will be the one to do that!" Then he took out a card and readied to throw it at her neck, but he stopped when someone shouted at him.

"Hey you! Stop!"

He turned around to see that it was Youmu and Alice who were running towards him. The half-phantom, with the Roukanken unsheathed, dashed at Mr. King at a fast speed, so fast that he wasn't able to get out of the way entirely. The side of his throne as well as a bit of his arm was cut. "Gah! How dare you!"

"Shanghai Doll!" Alice shouted as she made Shanghai fire a beam at Mr. King's body to blast him and his throne back through the air.

"Gah!"

Youmu then picked up Sanae and asked her, "Sanae! Are you all right?"

Mr. King recovered from the attack and got out a remote control. "Accursed girls! Just when I thought I could get rid of one of you!"

"You won't be taking down any of us!" Alice said to him with her dolls around her, ready to attack.

"I'll let you go this time! Don't think you'll get away with it the next time we meet!" Mr. King said before pressing the remote to make a door appear in front of him, effectively hiding him from the girls.

"You're not getting away!" Alice said as she quickly ran behind the door, but by the time she got there, Mr. King had already gone inside, and the door was just about to fully close. "Too late…" And it disappeared.

"It's not the time to worry about him," Youmu desperately told her, "we need to get treatment for Sanae at once! She's losing lots of blood! If we don't hurry, she'll surely die!"

"Right! Quick! The exit is over there! We should at least rush her back to the shrine first and get her medical aids! Hope we run into Reisen as well…"

The two girls picked up the unconscious shrine maiden and flew towards the exit.

* * *

As the battle between Reimu and Ocelot raged on under the moonlight, Reisen came into the scene from behind a building while Aya landed from the sky on the opposite direction of her, and the both of them witnessed the battle. "Reimu!" Reisen said with eyes open wide in surprise when she saw the shrine maiden.

"Look who escaped from captivity!" Aya said. "I knew I didn't have to worry about her!"

"Aya!" shouted the voice of someone familiar to her, and then Marisa landed next to the tengu. "Good to see you, Aya!"

Aya was surprised to see Marisa, so surprised that she jumped back with eyes wide open. "Marisa! You're still alive!"

"You make it sound as if it's a bad thing…" Marisa commented. "Yeah, I'm still alive. What? Did you expect me to die so easily from that explosion? I may be human, but that doesn't mean I go down as easily as other humans-ze!"

"You have a point. You're definitely on a different league than most humans. Still, it's good to know that you're in a good condition! Where's Alice?"

"I got separated from her while fighting a giant flying piece of machinery, but I'm sure she's all right, though." And then she turned to the fight between Reimu and Ocelot. "So… should we go help her?"

Before Aya could reply, Snake, Nitori, and Cirno came running out of the main building behind them, and Snake said out loud, "Over there! Girls!"

When Nitori and Cirno saw Marisa, they were very surprised. "Marisa! You're alive!" Nitori exclaimed.

"So you all really think I'm dead…?" Marisa asked, not sounding happy.

"Where's Alice?" Cirno asked, and then a worried look appeared on her face. "Don't tell me…"

"She's alive and well, but I got separate from her. She's actually inside the building you just came out from."

As they were talking about this, Remilia and Meiling eventually showed up and joined them. The latter was surprised to see that Marisa was still alive and commented about it, a statement that annoyed the witch, while Remilia said she knew that she wouldn't die so easily. Snake was going to ask the duo about their objective when suddenly Youmu and Alice showed up with Sanae. "What happened to Sanae!" Nitori asked in shock upon seeing the injuries on the shrine maiden.

"She's badly injured and is in dire need of treatment!" Youmu said. "We need to act fast! Where's Reisen?"

"Here I am!" the lunar rabbit said as she quickly ran over to them. "C'mon, we have to take her back to the shrine at once! Eirin's medicines are all back there!"

"I'll go back there with you," Alice said as Youmu allowed Reisen to carry Sanae's arm over her shoulder.

"Go ahead and get her treatment at once! There may still be hope!" Snake told them. "Leave everything here to us!" The two girls nodded, and then they carried the unconscious shrine maiden into the night sky.

By this time, Ocelot had already noticed that Snake and the rest of the girls had arrived at the scene. "All of you ganging up on me, eh?" he asked as he looked around the place. "You call that fair?"

"You had your men outnumber us before, so it's only fair that we outnumber you this time-ze!" Marisa replied.

"So it's payback, eh? If you seriously think that I'm outnumbered, then you should seriously think twice! Why don't you take a good look around you?"

Snake and the girls looked around the place to see several soldiers pointing their guns at them. Because there was no light, save for the moonlight, it was hard to see them at first. "You're surrounded!" one of the soldiers said out loud. "Do something and we'll shoot!"

"Like that's a problem to us," Remilia said, undaunted.

"Why don't we call this the final battle?" Ocelot asked. "Feel free to go all-out! Let's see who makes it out of this battlefield alive tonight!"

"If it's a fight you want," Snake told him, "then you're getting one! This time, I'll put an end to you and the Patriots for real!"

"Ha! Show me that you are capable of doing that, Snake! After all, you're Big Boss's clone!" Ocelot said, and then he turned to Reimu. "Have fun playing with my men! Right now, I'm more in the mood to deal with her!"

"You better not regret it!" Reimu said as she got into a fighting stance.

**BGM: Tanker Incident (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)**

"If no ones going to make the first move," Aya said as she crouched down slightly and revealed her wings, "then I'm going to!" Then she flew straight into the sky at a fast speed, an action that made the soldiers look up and fire at her. However, she easily dodged their bullets and then charged in the direction of some soldiers to knock them down with her wings before swooping up into the air.

Remilia immediately turned to another direction that had two soldiers and charged straight at them at a blinding speed. She pushed the two soldiers back through the air a bit of distance before grabbing them by their necks and throwing them at two other soldiers who were standing opposite to each other.

Youmu dashed at another group of soldiers while swinging her larger sword really fast with skill to deflect the bullets fired at her. "Our guns aren't working, and she's getting closer to us!" one of the them shouted. "Run!" But they never got the chance to run; Youmu dashed past them, and they immediately fell down after crying in pain.

Meiling moved in the direction a soldier who kept on firing at her, but despite the lack of bright light, she was still able to see the bullets, which she avoided by moving left and right. She made it in front of soldier and placed her fist in front of his body. "Scarlet Inch Punch!" A burst of energy came out from her hand and sent him shooting backwards.

Marisa jumped out of the way of some bullets flying towards her and then stood back up after rolling once. "Star Sign: Gravity Beat!" She twirled her broom in the air for about a second and then slammed the back end of it onto the ground to shoot an energy ball into the air, and it fell on top of the soldiers who tried to shoot her.

Nitori leaped back into the air to avoid the bullets fired at her, and upon landing, she pulled her out her reflector. "Kappa Reflector!" The bullets bounced back to the soldiers, injuring some and also claiming the lives of some.

Cirno fired an ice beam at a soldier, and the bullet that was on its way to hit her was frozen in place and fell to the ground and shattered. The beam continued to move through the air until it hit the soldier and froze him from to toe.

Several soldiers tried to shoot Snake from the top of a nearby building, so he ran as he could to avoid the shots, and then he quickly leaped behind a tank for safety. Getting out his gun and making sure that it was loaded, he waited for the right moment to stick his hand and head out from behind the tank to shoot the soldiers. While the soldiers wasted several bullets on hitting nothing but the ground, Snake didn't waste a single bullet on anything; each of the shots struck each of the soldiers and either sent them falling backwards or off the building.

Ocelot delivered a powerful punch across Reimu's face, so hard that it almost made her head turn to the side more than ninety degrees. Angrily gritting her teeth, the shrine maiden returned the favor of giving the old man a spiritually-powered punch to the face.

The old man let out a cry of anger as he raised both his arms into the air and then brought them down like a hammer onto her head with such a force that she was made to "eat dirt". While lying on the ground, Reimu grabbed Ocelot's leg and forced it into the air to make him fall over, but he forcefully swung his leg to the side to make the shrine maiden go airborne, but she gripped tightly onto it.

"Let go!" Ocelot said in frustration as he continued to swing his leg. Reimu eventually planted her feet against the ground and then lifted up Ocelot's leg again to finally make him fall on his back, and then she jumped onto his body to begin pummeling him in the face mercilessly. Ocelot received several blows to his face, but as they were not spiritually-charged, they were not as powerful. After having enough of this, he caught Reimu's fists, and then he brought up his head to headbutt her in the nose.

CRACK!

"GYAAAA!" Reimu cried as she stood back up with her hands holding over her nose, which was more or less broken by the headbutt.

"Hiya!" Ocelot shouted as he punched Reimu across the face to send her spinning backwards and onto the ground.

The shrine maiden slowly and painfully pushed herself back up, but she did not have that much strength left to get back on her feet. Ocelot approached her and said, "Looks like you're starting to reach your limit. Unfortunately for you, I still have lots of energy to keep on fighting! Don't think that old age necessary means lesser stamina! I do admit that you sure can throw some very powerful punches!" The shrine maiden simply glared at him with gritted teeth.

As Snake continued to shoot down his attackers, he turned to look at Reimu and Ocelot and saw the weakened shrine maiden. "Oh no… It doesn't look like she's going to make it… Maybe I should go help her! Wait! I almost forgot!" He looked at the metal box and the gohei that he was carrying around the whole time and then threw them both in Ocelot's direction.

The metal box struck Ocelot in the head and almost knocked him out. Reimu looked at both the metal box and the gohei onto the ground, and then she turned to Snake, who told her to open the box. "My amulets and spell cards!" she said in surprise when she opened it and saw the things inside.

"Don't think throwing stuff at me like that is enough take me down, Snake! I'll deal with you once I'm done with her!" Ocelot angrily said to Snake while rubbing his head.

Acting fast, Reimu slapped one of the amulets onto the back of her hand, and then she rushed at Ocelot and slammed her elbow against his abdomen while he was looking at Snake, and then using the hand that had the amulet at the back of it, she punched the palm of her other hand. "Dream Piercer!" A shockwave larger than the first time she used this move was resulted, and Ocelot was sent shooting backwards really fast until he hit the same pillar. This time, the part of the pillar that he hit actually bent back from the impact.

"Gah… Ugh…" Ocelot painfully cried as he tried to remain standing. "Darn… it…!" When he looked up, he saw the shrine maiden running towards him. He swung his fist at her when she got close, but she moved back a bit, just enough for the fist to whiz past a centimeter in front of her nose, and then she delivered a spiritually-powered punch to Ocelot's abdomen with an incredible force.

"Rising…" Then she followed up with a spiritually-powered punch to his chin, one that was further enhanced by the paper amulet on the back of her hand. The amulet glowed with blue light as her fist pressed itself Ocelot's chin with such a force that it appeared as if the chin was getting pushed inwards. "Dream Punch!" And a powerful shockwave that sent Ocelot shooting high into the air was created as Reimu jumped up while performing this move.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The sound of the shockwave made everyone turn to look at the air, and they were all surprised to see the silhouette of a man appearing in front of the full moon. "Wow! This is totally picture worthy!" Aya said as she quickly snapped a picture of it.

Reimu landed from her jumping uppercut, and shortly afterwards, Ocelot hit the ground on his back.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The soldiers were all shocked to see that their boss had been defeated by a girl while the Gensokyo girls all looked happy. Snake, while not showing any form of expression on his face, was just as shocked as the soldiers, though not for the same reason. He was surprised at the strength Reimu possessed and the fact that Ocelot lost to her. Thinking back, he never actually defeated Ocelot in a fight himself. "That girl's got skills," he commented.

"The boss is defeated…" one of the soldiers said in horror. All the soldiers took steps back in fear, and one bye one, they dropped their weapons and ran with great panic, as they believed that there was no hope for them now that their boss was defeated.

"Haha! Look at them run!" Cirno commented. "Obviously, they fear my great powers! Hahahaha!"

"Cowards," Remilia commented.

Marisa and Snake went up to the exhausted Reimu, and the witch patted her on the back. "Great job, Reimu! I believe this is the first time I've seen you fighting so intensely without your usual stuff!"

"I'd rather not… go through something… like this… again…" the shrine maiden weakly said.

"You sure surprised me there!" Snake said to her. "I didn't actually think you would win!"

"You better believe that Reimu is capable of winning all the time! Okay, not always… There are at least three fights that I remember she lost."

Unknown to everyone, the supposedly unconscious Ocelot slowly reached into his pocket and took out a device with a single button, which he then pressed.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

For those of you who are curious, Reimu canonically lost to Suika, Yorihime, and if I remember correctly, Tenshi.

As you can see, this chapter is following the same formula in Sonic arc… or is it? You'll find out soon enough!

Lastly, for those of you who are looking for the MGS4 version of the Tanker Incident theme on Youtube, you'll have to look for the video entitled Liquid Ocelot's Final Boss Theme (All 4 Stages). As far as I know, that theme isn't available as a standalone track; it can only be found as a part of the aforementioned video.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Ray of Destruction**

**Trivia:  
**1. Both Dream Piercer and Rising Dream Punch are based off Ibuki's Yoroitoshi (Armor Piercer) and Ryu's Metsu Shoryuken (Surging Rising Dragon Punch) from the Street Fighter series respectively.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Keine Kamishirasawa**

Snake: This is Snake.

Raiden: Raiden here.

Snake: I need information on this woman named Keine.

Raiden: I gathered information on her and found out that she is a were-hakutaku.

Snake: Were-hakutaku? What's that?

Raiden: It's a mythical creature resembling a bovine. From the "were" part, you can probably tell that she's something like a werewolf.

Snake: So she transforms into a cow-like monster during full moon nights?

Raiden: I heard that she still resembles her human form, just with a pair of horns, a tail, and a change of color in hair and clothing.

Snake: Okay… Guess I'll have to get some silver bullets ready, assuming that she is exactly like a werewolf.

Raiden: I don't know. I can't find anything regarding her weaknesses. She has the power to manipulate history. In her human form, she can erase history, and in her hakutaku form, she can create history.

Snake: Manipulation of history?

Raiden: She doesn't make physical changes in altering the history, however. I'd say it's something like memory manipulation. For example, she can erase the history of someone existing. That person won't disappear all of sudden; he still exists, but people will not know that he exists. The same thing goes for the creation of history.

Snake: So she makes you think that something happened when in reality it never did, right?

Raiden: Correct; it can actually be very scary ability if you ask me. Also, she likes to fight with her head… literally.

Snake: As in using headbutts? You don't see that coming from a woman everyday…

Raiden: I agree…

Snake: Manipulation of history… Let's hope it's not as broken as I think…

Raiden: It would be cool if she changes history so that I become the main character of the series and not you.

Snake: Still talking about that? For crying out loud! Just wait for Metal Gear Solid: Rising to be released!

* * *

**Codec Transmission: Fujiwara no Mokou**

Mei Ling: Snake, this is Mokou, the immortal girl.

Snake: Immortal? Like Vamp?

Mei Ling: I'm not sure if Vamp is exactly like her. Mokou was once a normal human who drank a potion known as the Hourai Elixir to gain immortality. Not only is she locked in the same age for 1,300 years, but she can also instantly heal herself from any kinds of injuries, no matter how fatal it is.

Snake: Just like Vamp…

Mei Ling: To put it simple, she cannot die. Never ever! She can still feel pain, however, so she gives up a fight when she can no longer tolerate the pain.

Snake: You said she's been alive for 1,300 years, right? It must be sad for her since all her family members and friends from back then are now dead.

Mei Ling: Indeed; immortality is not a good thing after all. Imagine the people around you dying one by one and eventually leaving you all alone…

Snake: What was in her head when she drank that potion anyway?

Mei Ling: It was to get revenge on someone. A girl named Kaguya humiliated her father, who wanted to marry her. Because Kaguya came from the moon and returned there, Mokou drank the potion to become immortal in hope of meeting her again someday so that she can get her revenge on her.

Snake: Revenge, I see… It's something that some people really would do anything for…

Mei Ling: However, Kaguya also drank the Hourai Elixir, so the both of them have been fighting for several years, none of them ever succeeding in killing each other for obvious reasons. It's a hatred and rivalry that will never come to an end.

Snake: …

Mei Ling: Sad story, isn't it? I doubt you're going to feel bad for her or anything. As a soldier, sadness is something that one has to get used when in the battlefield. Anyway, she also has the ability to manipulate fire. How she does that, I don't know.

Snake: Pyrokinesis?

Mei Ling: You can say that…

Snake: Okay, I got it. I'm signing off.

Mei Ling: Good luck!


	99. Ray of Destruction

I sincerely apologize for making you all wait for more than ten days for this chapter. Asides from having writer's block, I also spent too much time playing Touhoumon games.

**Chapter 98  
Ray of Destruction**

* * *

The square was now clear of soldiers, and the only people that seem to be left are Snake, the Gensokyo girls, and an unconscious Ocelot. As the girls were talking to each other, Snake turned on his codec. "Otacon, it's me."

"I can hear you, Snake," Otacon replied over the codec. "How's everything?"

"We're done here, I think…"

"That's good to hear! I was worried for a moment! Want me to go over and pick you all up?"

"I don't see why not."

"Okay! I'll be there soon!" With that, Otacon ended the call.

"Okay," Snake said as he walked in Ocelot's direction, "time to get him to spit out some stuff."

Suddenly, everyone heard the loud sound of stomping, and the more they listened to it, the more they could tell that it was heading to where they currently were. "What's that…?" Aya wondered.

"It sounds like something big is approaching…" Meiling said.

"Seems like it," Marisa said with a nod.

As they continued to listen to the sound of stomping, they suddenly saw massive figures on the other side of the fence in the distance, and these figures easily tore through the fence by walking through it. Snake realized what they were and shouted, "Metal Gear RAYs!"

Sure enough; an army of Metal Gear RAYs stomped their way from the outside of the military camp and into the square. Like predators forming a circle around their preys, the RAYs did the same to Snake and the girls, some of them crying in "mechanical voices" while doing so. "I thought Remilia and Meiling destroyed them all already!" Youmu said.

"They weren't there when we went back to the room they are supposed to be in!" Meiling said. "That immortal guy told us that they had these things moved somewhere else because they knew we might be trying to destroy them!"

"Should've thought that things wouldn't be that easy, especially when Ocelot involved!" Snake said.

"That's right!" said the voice of Ocelot. Everyone turned to the old man to see him back on his feet and standing in front of one of the RAYs. "Things are never easy to deal with when I'm in charge! You should have known that I plan things very carefully, Snake! You wanted to destroy the RAYs, right? Too bad I commanded them all to go into the sea to hide from you!"

"The sea?" Reimu asked.

"Yes, this base is actually very close to a cliff with the sea at the bottom. I had them all standing on the seafloor, and they were supposed to automatically head over to New York City once the clock struck three in the morning, but you girls just had to mess with the power supply to keep the antenna at the top of the main building from giving off the signal at the correct moment!"

"Then how are these things here?" Nitori asked.

"Simple!" Ocelot showed them the remote control he pressed. "Using this, I can easily summon the RAYs from anywhere! Handy, isn't it? Now that you have already ruined my plan, I might as well use them to destroy you all! There are twenty of them here! Do you think you have the strength to take them all down?"

"As long as we don't give up, there is the possibility," Snake replied.

"Haha! You talk as if you can surely win! Heroes don't always win, Snake! It's pointless saying that to you since you don't see yourself as a hero anyway."

"Even if I'm no hero, that doesn't mean you're going to win, Ocelot! As they say, evil never wins!"

"But if I were to say that there is no such thing as good and evil in this world? It's all a matter of beliefs that people have! A person who does not agree with another person's view may see him or her as evil, and that person may think the same about him or her as well! The Patriots are doing this for the good of the world! If anything, you are the ones who are evil!"

"Don't bother trying to reason with him," Remilia said to Snake. "This kind of person can only be taught a lesson the hard way."

"I agree," Marisa said with a nod. "It looks like the blows Reimu gave him haven't cleared his head yet, so let's make sure that it really is cleared this time!"

"Geez… I was hoping that you would stay down and that this would end already…" Reimu grumbled. "Looks like it's going to be a while before I can rest…"

The RAY behind Ocelot lowered its head, and then a section of the top of its head opened to reveal that it could seat someone inside. "The one behind me is the original while the rest are copies; therefore, it is more powerful and durable than the others!" Ocelot explained. "Even if you managed destroy the rest, you cannot hope to destroy this one that easily! More like unable to destroy it at all!"

Just as he was about to jump onto the head, however, his arm started shaking violently. The frightened Ocelot grabbed his arm and screamed, "No! Not again! Liquid!"

"Look at him! It's happening again, right?" Cirno asked.

"What? What's happening to him?" Marisa asked, confused at the way Ocelot was behaving and what Cirno just said.

Ocelot screamed as he tightly gripped his arm in hope of stopping Liquid's mind from taking over, going as far as biting it, but he ultimately failed. Ocelot turned around to face Snake and the girls and said in Liquid's voice, "Not the best situation to be in, don't you think so, brother?"

"What?" Reimu curiously asked. "Why is he calling you brother? And did his voice just change?"

"I'm not sure if this is something that can be easily explained…" Aya said.

"Liquid!" Snake angrily said to the possessed old man.

"This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of you and those female friends of yours, Snake!" Liquid said to him. "I guess I should thank Ocelot for setting all this up! You're going to join your old man soon, Snake! You should thank me for that!" With that, he jumped onto the RAY's head and went inside it to take control of bipedal machine. The mechanical beast raised its body back into the air and let out a loud cry, and all the other RAYs cried as well.

"Tsk! What a time to face enemies like these!" Snake grumbled. "A time when I didn't bring weapons useful for taking these down… I do have some grenades and C4s, but a rocket launcher will be more useful …"

"We still have these things that you call C4 here," Remilia told him. "Want us to make use of them now?"

"And it's not like you have to worry much about firepower," Marisa told him. "As long as we're here, you can be sure that there's going to lots of flashy and destructive firepower-ze!"

A shadow loomed over them, and when they looked up, they saw one of the RAYs falling towards them. "Watch out!" Snake shouted. Everyone except for Aya ran, and when the RAY came down to crush her with its foot, she raised her arms to keep it from coming down on top of her.

**BGM: Vs. Mass Produced RAYs (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty)**

"Aya!" Marisa shouted.

"Don't worry about me!" Aya replied. "I can handle this by myself! Hiya!" She pushed the RAY's foot up and then quickly got out of the way before it came down again. From the air, she fired several wind blades at the RAY. "Gale Fan!"

The girls then went separate ways to find themselves a RAY to fight, and Snake called out to Meiling, "Quick! Pass me the C4s!"

"Okay!" Meiling said she threw the backpack that she was carrying on her back the whole time at him.

Snake caught the backpack, and when a RAY approached him from behind, he quickly rolled out of the way before it crushed him with its foot. Snake quickly reached into the backpack, took out a C4, and flung it at the RAY's head. The moment the plastic explosive touched the tip of the mech's mouth, Snake pressed the button on a remote control also found inside the backpack to detonate it. The explosion not only made the RAY took a large step back, but it also blew off a chunk of its face. With a portion of its head blown off, the RAY trashed around violently before finally falling down and malfunctioning.

"Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa shouted as she used the combination of her hakkero and a spell card to fire a massive beam at a RAY. The beam pushed the RAY back through the air and sent it crashing into another RAY, and then the both of them crashed into a building and fell over. "Heheh! How'd you like that-ze?"

As Reimu was looking at the sight of her friends fighting the mechanical monstrosities and also looking for one she can fight against, she was suddenly caught from behind, and a knife placed next to her neck. "What the!"

Aya heard her cry, and when she turned to her, she saw that it was Vamp who caught her. "It's you again!"

"I'm not going to show any mercy this time!" Vamp angrily said. "This is as far as you girls go in humiliating me and messing with our plan! Even though it's not her that I have a vendetta against, I'm still going to slit her throat right now to lessen the amount of fighting forces in your group!" Vamp then felt someone grabbing his hand, the one that was holding the knife next to Reimu's neck. "What the!"

The invisible force was much stronger than him, so his hand was easily pulled away and then disarmed of the knife. Seeing this as the opportunity, Reimu used the back of her foot to kick him in the leg to make him let go, and then she quickly got away from him before turning around to face him. "That's you, right, Nitori? Thanks!"

"No problem!" the kappa replied as she turned off her cloaking device next to Reimu.

"Don't you dare mess with me!" Vamp angrily said as he got another knife.

Meanwhile, Otacon drove the RV in front of the fence, and from there, he could see what was happening inside. "Uh oh… Looks like they're having problems…" he said. "Look at all those RAYs…" Then he caught notice of Vamp standing among the chaos, and seeing him instantly reminded of the death of his younger sister, which made his blood boil. "It's him, Vamp… How can such a person still be alive…? He should've been dead already… He should die… He should die for killing Emma!" Filled with rage, he moved the RV back from the fence quite a bit of a distance, and he stepped on the gas pedal all the way to the end to speed the vehicle back to the base at a fast speed, a speed that allowed it go through the fence easily like poking a hole in a paper.

As Vamp stood facing the Reimu and Nitori, he suddenly heard the sound of car engine approaching him, and when he turned around, a look of shock appeared on his face as Otacon's RV headed towards him. However, he was too late to escape; the RV collided into him and pushed him forward in front of it. Snake turned to look at the RV when he noticed what happened. "Otacon!"

Blinded with rage, Otacon continued to drive the RV across the square, but at the same time, he had a clear enough mind to avoid running into the legs of any RAYs that he came across. Vamp managed to flip himself over so that he was looking through the windshield and at Otacon. "How dare you!" the immortal man angrily said before trying to punch through the windshield.

Otacon saw that he was going to crash into the main building if he kept on moving forward, and as much as he wanted to try to crush Vamp against the wall, he didn't want to take the risk of possibly putting himself in danger, so he made a sharp turn to the side and headed for the fence, going through it with ease like earlier.

"I'll get you for this!" Vamp growled as he punched even harder, and then cracks started to appear on the windshield.

Otacon looked to the side and noticed the cliff, and then an idea came to him, so he instantly steered in its direction. By this time, Vamp had punched a hole through the windshield, but it was only big enough for his arm to go through. Otacon quickly undid his seatbelt, open the door, and threw himself outside, curling up before he hit the ground in order to make the landing less fatal.

Vamp was curious as why he did that, and when he looked back, he was horrified to see the RV getting closer and closer to the cliff. Once again, he was too late to react; Vamp screamed at the top of his voice as both he and RV went off the cliff and into the sea.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

Otacon approached the cliff and looked down to see the miniature waves created by the RV falling into the sea, and then he said out loud, "Yeah! Take that! That's what you get for killing Emma! Stay dead this time! Hahaha!"

One of the RAYs fired several missiles from its back at Remilia. The vampire soared in the direction of the projectiles and grazed by them with ease, and as she was going past the missile in the farthest back, she caught it and then flung it at the RAY's body, blasting it. The missiles turned around to follow her. She swooped into the air when she was close to RAY, and from the back, she formed and threw a red spear at its head. "Heart Break!" Not only did the energy spear plowed through the missiles, but the impact from it forced the RAY to fall forward onto the ground, and the explosion was enough to blast a hole that revealed the circuits inside on the back of its head.

Meiling jumped left and right as she approached a RAY that was firing bullets from its kneecap at her. She managed to make it close enough to the mech to roundhouse kick it in the leg, and despite the size difference, the kick was still strong enough to make the RAY almost lose its footing. Meiling got underneath the RAY and then leaped straight up to deliver a powerful rainbow-powered uppercut to its chin. "Rising Rainbow Punch!"

She went higher than the RAY's head and then spun in air once before falling down onto it with one leg sticking out to smash it with a drop kick. "Flower Overhead Slam!" The force of the kick made it fall over onto the ground. The gatekeeper landed in front of the mech and moved back a few feet from it. The mech suddenly got back up again, so the gatekeeper got ready for the second round, but then she heard the sound of stomping coming from behind, not to mention a mechanical roar. When she turned around, she saw another RAY standing there.

The second RAY's kneecap opened to get ready to shoot her, but before it had the chance to do so, Youmu dashed past it and slashed both its kneecaps. While she didn't slice off the legs, the missiles pods located in the kneecaps were damaged and thus became useless. As the RAY moved back while making a sound that could be described as a cry of pain, Youmu turned around and noticed that the one Meiling was originally facing had its kneecaps opened and ready to fire, so she quickly shouted for Meiling to get out of the way. The gatekeeper did as Youmu said, and then the half-phantom dashed at the RAY while slicing the missiles using both swords and slashed the pods in both its kneecaps when close to it.

Meiling ran towards the other RAY in front and held up her hands to fire a red energy ball right into its face. "Scarlet Cannon!" The RAY lifted its head upon getting blasted and then took a step back. Meiling then jumped at its body and delivered a powerful rainbow-powered punch that actually made it jump back slightly into the air.

The RAY angrily let out a roar and then fired several missiles from its wing-like structures on its sides, but she managed to dodge them. The missile headed for Youmu, who was standing in front of her opponent. Knowing that the missiles were approaching due to Myon looking back the whole time, Youmu quickly got out of the way, and the missiles ended up hitting its own comrade.

As the RAY cried from getting blasted the missiles, Youmu jumped at it from the side and raised her sword over her head. "Rise from Delusion Slash!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The powerful slash from the "supersized" sword split the RAY's body into two.

Meanwhile, Meiling charged at the other RAY and raised her arms underneath it to fire a red energy ball at its face. "Scarlet Cannon!" After the RAY took the blast to the face, she jumped at the mech and gave it a powerful rainbow-powered punch to the body, one that was powerful enough to force it to a large step back. Immediately after landing, Meiling jumped at its left leg and attacked the joint with a rainbow-powered roundhouse kick that actually managed to bend the leg sideways.

The RAY cried out loud as it tried to maintain its balance with an oddly positioned leg, and while it was doing so, the gatekeeper flew above its head and then slammed the top of it with her fist. The mech trashed around violently because the fist went straight to its central processing unit, and then it fell forward with a mighty crash. Meiling, who had backed off into the air, said with a sigh, "Phew… I did it!"

* * *

"Ice Barricade!" Cirno shouted as she slammed her hands onto the ground to freeze a portion of it, and then a large wall of ice instantly shot up from the frozen part just in time before a barrage of missiles fired by a RAY struck her. However, the missiles' destructive power easily blown the wall into pieces, but Cirno was protected from harm. "Whoa! That thing is strong!"

Gatling gun pods located on the wing-like extensions at the sides of the RAY fired at the ice fairy, but she quickly took off into the air and fired icicles at its head. "Icicle Machine Gun!" The RAY was unfazed by the icicles, and then it fired more missiles at her from the missile pod on its back. Before the missiles reached Cirno, Nitori quickly got in front of her with her Kappa Reflector activated. The missiles bounced back in the direction of the RAY, some of them exploding upon hitting it while some touching the ground and bouncing one or two times before exploding.

"Thanks for the cover, Nitori!" Cirno said to her. "Even though I could've dodged them myself…"

"Don't be too full of yourself!" Nitori told her. "These things are definitely pushovers! Unless you are as powerful as the likes of Reimu, Marisa, or Remilia, it's best that you get help from others to take these down."

All this time, Liquid was watching the battle between the girls and the RAYs inside his own mech. "Those girls are tougher than I thought!" Liquid commented. "However, it won't be long before they all get crushed, especially when I take on them using this original RAY!" Suddenly, his ride was struck in the side by something explosive, but thanks to the harness around him, he was prevented from tossed around. "What the!" He turned to the source of his attacker and saw that it was a tank. "Who's there?"

Inside the tank was none other than Snake himself. "I'll have to make do with this," he thought as he fired another cannon shell at the RAY, but this time, the mech swiftly moved to the side, a movement that was rather surprising for its size.

"It must be you, Snake! Do you seriously think that a mere tank is enough to take on a far more superior weapon of destruction? Take this!" Liquid shouted as he made the RAY fire missiles at the tank.

"Oh no!" Snake gasped. He thought of quickly evacuating the tank to escape the missiles since it was obvious he couldn't move the tank away in time. However, Reimu appeared in front of the tank and created a wall that protected both her and the tank from the missiles. "Phew… Safe…"

"I'll cover for you, Snake!" Reimu said to him, and then she threw several paper amulets at the mech.

"You're going down, little girl!" Liquid said as he made the wings shoot down the amulets, but some of them managed to slip by the bullets and hit the RAY, though it didn't do any visible damage. "Haha! What were those supposed to be?"

Meanwhile, Marisa and Remilia each flew high into the air on both sides of the RAY, and then they got out their spell cards to get ready to perform powerful attacks. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa shouted as she unleashed her signature beam attack.

"Spear the Gungnir!" Remilia shouted as she threw a massive spear made of red energy.

Liquid knew the attacks were coming, however, and just before both attacks struck the RAY, it shot up straight into the air, so the attacks ended up hitting the floor and creating an explosion that caused a large amount of smoke to be created. Marisa was surprised when the RAY reached the same altitude as Remilia and her. "What!"

"The RAYs may not have true flight capabilities, but their jet propulsions can allow them to move through the air as if they really are flying!" Liquid explained. "Don't think that you girls have the upper hand just because you can fly!"

Using the help of its wings, the propulsion devices, the RAY boosted forward through the air and then spun around to fire homing missiles from its back at the two girls. "Watch out!" Marisa shouted as she and Remilia quickly escaped from the incoming missiles.

The RAY fell down on top of a warehouse and through it, but then its propulsion devices kicked in again to shoot it into the air in an arc. As Reimu looked up at the airborne mech, the RAY's mouth opened and fired a burst of what appeared to be blue laser, so she quickly jumped out of the way. When she noticed the effect of the laser hitting the floor, she curiously said, "Water?"

The RAY went over her and landed with a powerful stomp in front of the main building and among a small group of RAYs. "This is the RAYs' most powerful armament! By storing water in their internal tanks, the RAYs can attack with a powerful water cutter that is strong enough to cut through steel!" Liquid explained.

"Water that can cut through steel!" Nitori said in surprise. "I have the ability to manipulate water, but I've never heard of that before!"

"You better believe it! I'll show you right now!" Liquid said as he made the RAY shoot water from its mouth again, aiming for some of the girls on the ground. They quickly got out of its way, and they saw that it actually managed to carve a trail on the ground.

"Incredible…!" Youmu commented.

"Who needs a sword when you have something like this?" Liquid said as he fired the water cutter in the half-phantom's direction.

"Netherworld Reflection Slash!" Youmu shouted as she crossed her swords to form a reflector that deflected the water cutter. It went over to Nitori, who used her Kappa Reflector to once again deflect it, this time heading the direction of a random RAY. The RAY was forced back through the main building's wall with a hole made on its body, and it cried one last time before breaking down.

"Whoa… The force of the water is really strong…!" Nitori commented. "My Kappa Reflector is actually starting to malfunction after it got it!"

"I admit that I got pushed back quite a bit from the force as well…" Youmu said. "That attack is something is definitely something we have to avoid getting hit by…"

**BGM: REX vs. RAY (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)**

Aiming the tank's turret at Liquid's RAY, Snake fired a cannon shell at it, but the RAY moved out of the way at a fast speed and then sped towards the tank. Youmu quickly got in front of the charging mech and swung her sword at it, and the RAY countered her by spinning around and striking her with its tail. The blade of the Roukanken and the mech's tail came in contact with each other with a mighty clash that stopped Youmu in midair, much to her surprise. "What! I can't cut through it!" And with a mighty push from the tail, she was forced back through the air.

"Die!" Liquid loudly said as the RAY ran towards her in an attempt to stomp her, but she got out of its way.

"Tengu Downburst!" Aya suddenly gave the RAY a powerful stomp to the head from above, and then she flipped forward into the air and attacked with a horizontal tornado. "Wind of the Tengu Path!" The tornado struck the RAY in the chest, but combined weight of the RAY and its feet planting themselves firmly against the ground kept it from being pushed back.

"A little wind is nothing to me!" Liquid said as the back of the RAY fired homing missiles at the tengu, who easily destroyed them with Gale Fan.

Aya then noticed another RAY approaching her from the side, so she quickly got out of the way when it attempted to jump into her. The RAY landed and then turned to her to attack with its water cutter, but the tengu flew higher into the air to dodge it. Snake aimed the tank's turret at that RAY and blasted it in the side of the head and took off a chunk of it.

"Having fun with your toy, Snake?" Liquid asked as he made his RAY face the tank and then fired the water cutter at it.

Reimu got in front of the incoming water and set up a wall that managed to block the attack, but the intense force of the water actually made it shake, and eventually, cracks appeared on it, much to Reimu's surprise. "Whoa… Such power…! The wall can't hold up any longer!"

While Reimu was trying her best to keep the wall up for as long as possible, Snake moved the tank to side and then fired at the RAY, but another RAY got in the way, seemingly on purpose in order to protect its leader, and took the shot.

Meiling ran to the Liquid's RAY and jumped at the neck to uppercut it, an action that caused it to stop the water cutter attack. "Why you!" Liquid angrily said as he attempted to stomp her with the RAY's foot, but she jumped out of the way before attacking the leg with a rainbow-powered punch. The RAY wasn't fazed by this, however, and then it attempted to kick her away, only to miss.

"Heart Break!" Remilia shouted as she threw a red spear at the RAY from above. The spear struck the RAY and pushed it back through the wall of the main building.

"Did we get it?" Nitori asked, and her question was answered when the RAY walked back out seemingly unharmed.

"The original is much more durable than the mass produced ones!" Liquid said. "It won't be falling apart any time soon!"

"Well, then let's see how you like a more powerful version of the same move!" Remilia said as she used the help of a spell card to create a larger spear. "Spear the Gungnir!"

Liquid's RAY jumped into the air to avoid the attack, and the explosion created by the spear hitting the ground was so big that two of the RAYs standing not too far away were knocked off their feet by the force of the explosion. Liquid's RAY, on the other, was entirely safe and landed on top of the main building.

"I'll show you the power that I possess when it is midnight!" Remilia said as she stretched out her arms to fire a rapid burst of red energy balls. "Queen of Midnight!" The RAY countered by firing missiles from its back, but the shots easily plowed through the missiles and struck it in the body.

"Those are nothing to me!" Liquid angrily said as he activated the propulsion devices to make the RAY shoot forward and ram Remilia with its head. The vampire pressed her arms against the mech to try to stop it. Suddenly, the mouth opened to unleash the water cutter, but the vampire acted fast and got above the head before it came out. "Heart Break!" She quickly formed a spear in her hand and smashed it onto the head. The RAY crashed onto the ground and crushed some jeeps, but it managed to land on its feet. When it turned around, it was instantly greeted by a cannon shell to the face.

Snake wasted no time in firing another cannon shell at it, and it was another successful hit. "Enough of this!" Liquid angrily said as he made the RAY slide in his direction using the help of its propulsion devices. Snake quickly fired another shot at it, but the RAY, despite getting hit, kept on sliding forward until it rammed into the tank and pushed it back.

"Gah!" Snake cried as he was thrown around slightly. The RAY then gave the turret a kick to bend it, and then it placed its foot on top of the tank and began to press down on it. "Darn it!"

"This is where you will die, brother!" Liquid said as he made the RAY pressed its leg harder and harder against the tank.

"Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa shouted as she fired a huge beam at the RAY, blasting it in the face and pushing it back through the air.

"GAH!" Liquid cried.

The beam pushed the RAY all the way across the military camp until it went through the fence and out of the camp. The beam disappeared there, and then the RAY returned to the camp again at a fast speed. It tried to ram into Marisa, but she got out of the way. "Geez… This thing is tough!" she said. "The others went down easily with a single Master Spark, but not this!"

Meanwhile, Snake came out from the tank because its turret was bent to the side. "I'll have to save some C4s for Liquid," he thought. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over him from behind, and when he looked back, he saw that it was one of the mass produced RAYs. The RAY let out a cry before lifting its leg over him, but he quickly placed a C4 on top of the tank before getting out of the way. When the leg came down on top of the tank, Snake pressed the remote control after having moved far enough from the tank to detonate the plastic explosive. The RAY was blown back by the explosion and also lost its leg from it.

As Snake was thinking of what to do next, Otacon called out to him from behind, so he turned around to meet him. "Snake! Use this!" Otacon said as he came running up to him with a rocket launcher in his arms.

"Where'd you get that?" Snake asked.

"I searched in one of the warehouses, thinking that there might be weapons you can use against those RAYs, and this is the best I could find."

"This should do! Thanks a lot, Otacon!" Snake said as he took the rocket launcher from him. "It's best to take down the mass produced RAYs first before concentrating on Liquid." Snake took aim at one of the random RAYs, and after making sure that he had locked onto the head, he fired the rocket launcher and was successful in blowing it off.

"Great aim, Snake!" Otacon said. "Wow! It worked better than I thought."

"The shells are designed for armor piercing, it seems," Snake said.

"Watch out behind you!" Nitori shouted at them all of sudden. Otacon and Snake turned around and were shocked to see another RAY standing behind them. Before it could attack, it was struck by several Kappa Missiles fired by Nitori. The kappa then flew at the mech at a fast speed and slammed her drill into its mouth. The RAY quickly pulled back to avoid further damage, but then Snake blasted it in the head with his rocket launcher to take it down for good.

BAAAAAAAANG!

"Another one down," Snake said. "How many are left?"

"Only two or three more, I think," Nitori said. "This isn't counting the one Liquid is in."

"Not bad… You girls are something to be able to take down that many RAYs in a short amount of time! Let's take them all down and then concentrate on Liquid together!"

* * *

"Ice Cube: Great Crusher!" Cirno shouted as she used a spell card to make a giant mass of ice fall on top of the RAY. Though the mech was forced to bend down a little by the impact, the ice cube ended up shattering into pieces, each of them flying all over the place. The RAY, on the other hand, didn't seem to be damaged at all. "What! But it worked against that two-legged thing monster from before!"

Suddenly, bright light shined down from the sky and made everyone look up to see what it was, and as Liquid was looking at it, rays of light suddenly came down like meteor and struck the RAY. "Gah! What in the world!"

"That attack! It's Sanae!" Marisa said.

"Everyone!" shouted the voice of the Moriya Shrine's shrine maiden as she came into the place.

"Sanae! What are you doing here?" Reimu asked her. "Aren't you injured?"

"I feel better already," she replied. "Not quite in perfect condition, but at least I'm able to get up and fight again."

"You should be staying in the shrine and recuperating yourself!" Aya said to her. "Being able to move again doesn't mean you can fight! It's not good for your body!"

"Sorry, but I simply can't sit back and do nothing knowing that that my friends are fighting for their lives and the world!"

"Where are Reisen and Alice?" Remilia asked.

"I think we may have the answer to the latter…" Marisa said, looking at the RAY, which had dolls latched all over it.

From the inside, Liquid could see the dolls planting their faces against the screen which served as his way of looking at the outside. "What are these dolls!"

"Artful Sacrifice!" shouted the voice of Alice, and then the dolls exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The RAY moved back from the explosion, but shortly after it did, it was greeted by a large red beam from the air. "NOW WHAT!" Liquid yelled. It was Reisen attacking it with Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon.

The forced the RAY to take several steps back until it fell on its back just in front of the main building. The moment Liquid made it stand back up again, Meiling attacked it with a rainbow-powered dive kick to the part of the head where the entrance to the cockpit was and then bounced back into the air. Youmu then dashed across its body and left behind a gash there. Aya then gave the mech a powerful kick to the side of the body that almost made it fall over on its side.

"How can they be this powerful!" Liquid said in disbelief. When he looked around the place, he was surprised to see that the remaining RAYs had all been destroyed. "I don't believe it…! All the mass produced ones have been destroyed!" The RAY was immediately struck by Nitori's Kappa Missiles, and then Reimu followed up with Spirit Sign: Fantasy Orb. Not too long after receiving those attacks, it received a rocket to the face from Snake. Snake looked at the RAY's face after the smoke had cleared and said, "Even the armor piercer can't make a hole on it… The original RAY sure is durable!"

"Argh!" Liquid angrily growled as he looked at the girls, Snake, and Otacon, all of whom were standing before him. "It looks like I've underestimated you all! Much as I hate to admit it, it won't do me any good if I continue this battle! Snake! Consider yourself lucky this time! We shall meet again!" With that, the RAY turned and then used its jet propulsions to leap onto the top of the building and then disappeared from the scene.

"I'm not letting you get away!" Reimu said as she gave chase.

"Me too!" Marisa said as she went after the RAY as well.

"Get back here!" Snake called out to them. "There's no point in doing that!"

"It's all right," Remilia said to him. "You can be sure that they will return with good news. Isn't it better if they chase down your enemy and strike him down so that you do not have worry about him any longer?"

"You have a point…"

* * *

The RAY landed outside the camp and then made a run for the cliff not very far in the distance, and behind it were Reimu and Marisa, flying as fast as they could. "It's heading for the sea!" Reimu said.

"If it really wants to go for a swim, then let's send it off with a bang-ze!" Marisa said.

"Almost there!" Liquid said as the RAY got closer and closer to the cliff, and when it did, it made a dive for the sea below.

"Marisa! Now!" Reimu shouted as she took out a spell card.

"Got it-ze!" Marisa said as she took out a spell card and her hakkero.

"Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!" Reimu shouted as she used the spell card to fire a large energy orb.

"Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" Marisa shouted as she combined her hakkero with the spell card to fire a huge laser beam diagonally downwards. The beam hit the orb from behind and pushed it towards the RAY at a fast speed, and then the mech was struck in the back.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! CURSE IT ALL!" Liquid angrily shouted as the mech got pushed closer and closer towards the water surface.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Marisa eventually ended the attack, and both the girls watched the waves that were created by the Metal Gear RAY being pushed into the sea by the energy orb and beam combo. When the water surface finally settled down, Reimu said, "Well, I guess that's that."

"Whether or not he's still alive after this, there's no way we can go after him now," Marisa said while adjusting her hat. "Nitori can go after him, but I don't think there's a need to go through all the trouble of doing so."

Under the sea, the RAY slowly sank towards the ocean depths, and inside, Liquid was still in a conscious state. "Argh! Accursed girls!" he angrily said. "At least I managed to escape! Thanks goodness the RAY is still functional! I'm out of here!" And the mech swam off into the distance.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Admittedly, I took out some parts in order to rush out this chapter, but I don't think that it really affected the quality and length of this chapter that much. Those parts could be regarded as filler anyway; it's just the girls fighting the mass produced RAYs and dealing more hits to the one Liquid is piloting. There's really no need in showing all the mass produced RAYs getting destroyed, and I don't think there's a need in dragging the battle against Liquid for too long either.

Once again, I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I really do hope that you enjoy it, even though I think it could've been better. I will try my best to get the next chapter up in the shortest time possible.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Mission Accomplished**

**Trivia:  
**1. Vs. Mass Produced RAYs sounds identical to Father and Son, the final boss theme of MGS2. There might be differences in the tones, basses, etc., but since I'm not knowledgeable in music, I wouldn't know. **  
**


	100. Mission Accomplished

**Chapter 99  
Mission Accomplished**

* * *

Reimu and Marisa returned the square after dealing with Liquid, and Snake, Otacon, and the girls immediately went to talk to them about what happened to the villain. Unknown to them, Tabuu and Mr. King were both on top of the main building. "They managed to prove themselves once again," Tabuu said. "Truly, these girls possess powers that should not be underestimated!"

"However, such power is useless in the face of the Darkling," Mr. King said. "When they finally come to Dark City, they will find themselves helpless and hopeless against the embodiment of evil!"

"Precisely! It's not long before they realize that they can no longer be full of their own powers. With the Light Essence of this world collected, they will be able to access Smash World. However, there is always the possibility that the Hand there provide them with the power to fight against the Darkling. Nevertheless, let us welcome them to Dark City when the time finally comes!"

"What about Ocelot? He seems to have forgotten about us."

"Leave him be. He does not seem to the kind to work with us. Now let us return to the others. The time for evil to spread throughout the world draws near…"

After they were done talking, Mr. King summoned the large door so that they could leave the world through it. Aya looked up after the door disappeared, and Alice asked her, "What is it?"

"I'm very sure that I heard someone talking about there, not to mention the sound of door closing. Whoever they are, they're gone, it seems…"

"Maybe it's those villains," Marisa said. "They're definitely spying on us…"

"Whatever the case it, it looks like we're ready to go to Smash World now," Reimu said.

Nitori opened the metal box that Snake took from the safe inside the main building and showed everyone the green emblem with a symbol of a blue fox with lightning-like legs inside. "It's a good thing that Snake found the Light Essence for us! Saves us a lot of time!"

"I figured it might be the one you're looking for," Snake said. "Based on the description of the previous essences, I believe that this must the one considering its appearance. The fox symbol on the emblem is the symbol used to represent my world."

"Plus, it glittered when we said World Light to it," Youmu said.

Reisen then let out a yawn and said, "I feel tired… We went through all these in a single night…"

"Yeah, we really did go through a lot this single night," Marisa said. "No surprise that we're tired in the end… I'm also hungry… How about we go back to the shrine now and grab something to eat before turning in for the night?"

"I was thinking of that," Reimu said, and then she turned to the two men. "Want to come along? There are extra rooms in the shrine for the both of you to stay in."

"As long as it won't bother you girls, then we'll accept your offer," Otacon said. "Thanks!"

* * *

Tabuu and Mr. King returned to the room where the rest of the villains were. Mr. King took his place in front of the table while Tabuu went in front of the window to look at the scenery outside. "Things are getting interesting," Tabuu said. "Our plan is soon to be completed, and the girls are soon on their way to Smash World. It is only a time before they learn exactly what happened and then come here to meet us."

"Well? Do you regret not getting rid of them sooner now?" I.M. Meen asked him. "You should know better than to leave your enemies out there and let them do what they want without trying seriously to stop them! If they end up here and our plan goes to naught, then it's your fault!"

"Are you implying that we're seriously going to lose to those girls?" M. Bison asked him. "Just because they managed to stay alive this long doesn't mean they're strong! Their enemies happen to be weaklings! No way are we going to get defeated by them!"

"Now that things have come to this," the Emperor said, "there's no more use crying over it. We might as well do as what Tabuu wants and let them come here. Remember: no matter how powerful they are, they are still powerless in the face of the Darkling."

"Correct," Tabuu said, still looking out the window. "Furthermore, I do not wish to keep him bored. He has been here for who knows how many centuries already, and I'm very sure that he is dying to find someone that is breathing and killable. We shall satisfy his desire by letting them come here."

"This is just like one big movie cliché," Rez said. "The villain clearly has the opportunity to kill the protagonist, yet refuses to do so for either entertainment or various other reasons."

* * *

The next morning, Snake and Otacon were standing outside the Hakurei Shrine while the girls were at the front door. "Guess this is good-bye," Snake said. "You're going to Smash World next, right?"

"I think so," Reimu said. "We've found all eleven Light Essences, so unless there is somewhere else we need to go first, we're sure to be heading to Smash World next."

"I'm sure that place is safe, at least currently."

"What do you mean?" Aya asked. "That place isn't always safe?"

"When I was there, it was once invaded by enemies, but it's been resolved. I'm sure nothing is happening there at the moment, I hope…"

"I'm sure that if we run into one, we can solve it-ze," Marisa said.

"All right, be on your way now. I'm sure you're all anxious to get there already, so we won't be bothering you any longer."

The girls said good-bye to the two men and wished them success on their mission of hunting down the Patriots, and all of them except Reimu went inside. The shrine maiden allowed the Light Essence to float into the air to join the rest of the essences that appeared, and the usual thing happened as the pillar of light caused the shrine to disappear. When the two men were able to open their eyes again, Otacon said, "There they go. Let's wish them a good luck!"

"I'm sure they will," Snake said before turning to a jeep that that they took from the military camp. "All right, let's go. We still have work involving the Patriots to deal with."

They both got onto the jeep and then drove off into the distance.

* * *

On an island not too far from the coast of South Island, construction was taking place. In the midst of the girders, robots, and construction machines, Eggman, wearing a hardhat, was viewing the blueprints that detailed the design of his latest creation while Orbot and Cubot watched the construction going on.

"How long do you think this will take, boss?" Orbot asked the egg-shaped scientist.

"If things go on smoothly without anyone interferance, then it's possible that it will be completed by the end of this year, or perhaps early next year," Eggman replied without taking his eyes off the blueprint. "In any case, construction is indeed going smoothly, and Sonic hasn't noticed what I'm doing yet."

"It's not long before he finds out what you're doing," Cubot told him.

"I'll just come up with a good excuse, such as I'm building this as an act of atonement for my past crimes. And do something about your voice… You make me think that I have a twin brother speaking to me…"

"But your voice seems to fit me pretty well! I'm your creation after all, so it only makes sense for me to speak like you! I can now be considered a miniature version of you!"

"The last thing I need after an annoying blue hedgehog is a mini-me!"

"You speak as if that's a bad thing, and I don't see how that's a bad thing."

"Forget it…"

As Eggman continued to view the blueprints, a gap appeared next to the steel girder that was standing upright behind him, and Yukari popped out from it. However, she bumped her head against it. When hit, the girder slowly tilted to the side until it finally fell over and hit another steel girder that was supporting a part of the architecture's frame. That girder was knocked down, and what happened afterwards was a chain effect consisting of girders falling down on top of one another, and it was obvious that Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot had already noticed what was happening, and they remained silent as they watch the disaster taking place before their eyes. The same could be said about Yukari.

Robots that were standing on high places fell down, and Egg Pawns panicked at the sights of the whole place falling apart. Some of them either fell from high places and shattered or got crushed by the girders.

The chaos eventually ended a second before it was one minute. After that was several seconds of silence as Eggman, his two lackeys, and Yukari watched as the ruin. Something had to be said about them being completely safe even though the destruction happened so close to them. Eventually, Yukari broke the silence. "Sorry…"

Eggman and his two lackeys turned to look at the demon of boundaries, and Eggman's face slowly turned from expressionless to rage, and then he tore his blueprints and angrily jumped up and down on the scraps while screaming at the top of his voice, "I HATE GIRLS! THEY RUINED MY PREVIOUS PLAN, AND NOW ANOTHER GIRL RUINED MY CURRENT PLAN! CURSE ALL GIRLS! CURSE THEM ALL! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

While Cubot was trying to comfort Eggman, only to be kicked away, Orbot turned to Yukari and said to her, "Now see what you've done!" However, she was nowhere in sight. "Huh? Where'd she go?" A small gap appeared next to him, and a small sheet of paper and a box came out from it. "What's this?"

On that paper was a message that said:

_I'm truly sorry for the destruction I've caused. Much as I wish to help you, I'm afraid that I have urgent business myself, so I cannot stay around for too long. I myself do not have any money of this world that I can compensate with, so the most I can do as an act of apology is to offer you a box of treats from my world. Once again, I am truly sorry for what I have done…_

_Yours truly,  
_

_Yukari Yakumo_

"Well, at least she apologized," Cubot said after reading the letter and looking at the box. Meanwhile, Eggman was still jumping around and screaming with rage.

Within the gap, Yukari said to herself, "I heard that man screaming that his previous plan got ruined by girls… Is he talking about them? Should I look around more in this world? I should at least try to sense for Reimu's spiritual energy before jumping to a conclusion."

So she opened another gap and stepped out through it, this time arriving at the streets. However, immediately after she came out, a blue blur ran into her, and the both of them ended up inside the gap. Cries were heard coming from the inside of it, and then a conversation went on.

A few minutes later, Sonic stepped back out from the gap, which then disappeared. "What a weird place…" Sonic commented as he looked back at where the gap once was. "Anyway, I hope she finds Reimu and the others fast. Speaking of which… Gotta go fast!" Then he ran off at a high speed in the direction he was running in earlier.

* * *

Nazrin returned to the place she called home, the Myoren Temple. When she went inside, she was instantly greeted by her superior, Byakuren. "How goes the search, Nazrin?" the magician asked her.

"I still cannot find them," the mouse demon reported to her. "I think it's better to say that my pendulum was never able to track down their location… It's as if they are no longer in Gensokyo…"

Byakuren let out a sigh and then said, "I think it's obvious that no matter how hard we search, we'll never be able to find them…"

"I'm sorry… If only my tracking skills are better…"

Byakuren petted her with a smile on her face. "It's not your fault. Furthermore, everyone has his or her own limits, so there is no need to blame yourself for not being able to find them."

After that, Byakuren went outside the temple and was immediately greeted by Shou. "Ms. Hijiri," the tiger demon said to her. "What are we to do if the Hakurei shrine maiden does not return? I fear that it is not long before the Great Hakurei Barrier disappears."

"The humans of the outside world have never heard of this place, and very few believe in the existence of demons and such," Byakuren said. "It will be no surprise if they discover this place and become scared by our presence. Worst case scenario, they may even organize a mass extermination of us all."

"Then what do we do…? Do we have to take off in the Palanquin Ship and move to somewhere else?"

"Let us not worry. Our goal is to create peace and harmony between humans and demons. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to spread our message to the humans of the outside if they ever show up here. They are afraid of us because they are not familiar with us, but once they do, they will realize that we have various similarities to them. Unfamiliarity brings misunderstanding and fear, but familiarity brings harmony and unity."

Shou smiled upon hearing her reply and said, "As expected of Ms. Hijiri, full of love and the passion to create peace and unity among humans and demons!"

"Of course, there's always the option to take off in the Palanquin Ship in search of a safer place if that doesn't work!"

"Heheh…"

Suddenly, a loud cry could be heard coming from a cliff visible in the distance, and almost immediately afterwards, an echo was heard coming from the hill opposite of it. "Ah, the work of the yamabiko!" Byakuren commented.

"But I heard that echoes are the result of sound waves bouncing off solid surfaces and not the work of a yamabiko. In fact, some people say that yamabikos don't exist," Shou said. Somewhere on the hill, a yamabiko named Kyouko sneezed when Shou said that statement.

* * *

As the Hakurei Shrine flew down the passage of light, all the girls except for Meiling were once again gathered in the living room, waiting for the shrine to reach its destination. Cirno, like a little kid unable to contain his or her excitement, was shaking her legs while seated in front of the table. "I can't wait! I can't wait! Smash World! Here we come!"

"Calm down, will you?" Reimu said to her. "And stop moving your legs like that! You're making the table tremble when they hit the bottom of it!"

"The hype of Smash World is too much for her, it seems," Marisa said. "No surprise since we've been told about it for a long time already, and that's the place we're all aiming for. Honestly saying, I'm anticipating the arrival to that place as well!"

"Good thing my camera can still take quite a few shots!" Aya said. "I'm going to make sure to snap pictures of everything interesting I see there! I hope we get there soon!"

"So what are we going to say to Master Hand when we meet him?" Remilia asked.

"I'm sure he is aware of us," Reisen said. "Otherwise, why would the World Light bring us out of Gensokyo all of a sudden?"

"Maybe it was an accident?" Nitori said.

"I doubt that…"

"He better have a good explanation what happened to us," Reimu said. "He ruined the festival that was supposed to take place, and the Great Hakurei Barrier is in danger of disappearing due to the lack of the shrine's presence! Heck, even my presence in Gensokyo is very important!"

"Perhaps that evil organization is the reason Master Hand sent us to all those worlds?" Youmu asked. "He must've realized that he is no match for them, and thus he tried to summon us to help. However, something happened, like the villains tried to stop him, and this resulted in the summoning process going wrong, so we never ended up in Smash World."

"That sounds like the most logical explanation," Remilia said.

"But why doesn't he call the ones who participated in the tournament for help isntead?" Marisa asked. "I'm sure they have better experiences with this sort of thing."

"It's all a mystery until we get there and speak to him," Reimu said.

They girls continue to chat with each other as they wait for the shrine to arrive at its destination, and when they ran out of things to talk, they quieted down and waited patiently.

Time passed, and after about an hour of traveling, Meiling called out to them, "Everybody! Something strange is happening!"

"Are we finally there?" Aya asked as she stood up.

"Hooray! We're there at last!" Cirno exclaimed.

"Let's go and look," Reimu said, so everyone quickly rushed to the front door, where they saw a surprised Meiling.

"Look!" the gatekeeper said while pointing at the sight of the eleven Light Essences moving in front of the shrine.

"What's happening to those essences?" Marisa asked. "Was it always like this?"

"No, this never happened before. It's the first time I'm seeing this!"

"Could this be because we're arriving at Smash World?" Youmu asked.

"Well, the Light Essences are required to fix the World Light so that we can go there after all," Reisen said.

The girls watched with curiosity at the Light Essences, and suddenly, the shrine stopped moving while the Light Essences started moving in circles, and as they did, a wormhole suddenly appeared in the midst of them and started to expand. The girls continued to watch with curiosity and anticipation of what was going to happen next.

When the wormhole finally stopped growing, they could see some sort of architecture outside, but what happened next surprised them. Each of the Light Essences turned into balls of light that flew to their hands.

The essence of Mario's world went to Reimu, the one from Wario's world went to Marisa, Link's went to Youmu, the Pokemon world's went to Alice, Captain Falcon's went to Meiling, Lucas's went to Nitori, Samus's went to Cirno, Kirby's went to Reisen, Roy's went to Remilia, Sonic's went to Aya, and Snake's went to Sanae's.

The girls looked at the balls of light on their palms as they shrunk in size, and when the light disappeared, rainbow-colored spheres with a cross-shaped pattern on them were left in place of the essences. "What is this…?" Sanae curiously asked.

"I don't know, but whatever they are, we better keep them with us for the meantime," Reimu said. "I'm sure Master Hand can explain everything when we show these to him."

Suddenly, the Hakurei Shrine moved forward by itself and went through the wormhole, and then they were all blinded by bright light.

* * *

With a burst of light, the Hakurei Shrine appeared in the middle of a dirt road that had grass along the side. The first thing that grabbed the girls' attention when they arrived was a large fortified city with a few buildings higher than the wall itself, and in front of them was a large gate made of iron bars.

Above the gate was a rectangular sign that wrote _SMASH WORLD_.

"Wow… So this is Smash World…!" Marisa said in awe.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Just so you know: this is not the 100th chapter. It only looks like the 100th chapter because of the prologue. The next chapter is the 100th chapter, not to mention the chapter where the Smash World arc truly begins!

Look forward to it!

God bless you!

**Next chapter: A Smashing Memory**

**Trivia:  
**1. The opening for the English dub of Sonic X is called Gotta Go Fast. Why did I mention this? Because Sonic said "gotta go fast" in this chapter.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

**Codec Transmission: Gensokyo**

Otacon: What do you think about the girls from Gensokyo, Snake?

Snake: Well… They're powerful all right.

Otacon: They sure are, but their power levels are actually quite tame compared to the top tier ones from their world. It would appear that women are the dominant gender of that world, but that's not to say that there are no powerful men there.

Snake: Okay, a world where there are lots of thorny roses… I got it…

Otacon: Yeah, you probably won't be able to last long if you do not have grazing skills.

Snake: Grazing?

Otacon: No, I'm talking about eating grass like a cow. I'm talking about dodging projectiles. Fighting with projectiles is the main attraction of Gensokyo, and while getting hit may hurt, it is mostly a nonfatal battle. By the way, there's also the danger of getting eaten by demons there, and they take up a large amount of the population.

Snake: Doesn't sound like a pleasant place after all…

Otacon: I agree. Technology is incredibly outdated there. I'm not sure if I want to live in a place where I cannot watch TV or use the computer…

Snake: I understand… Anyway, if there nothing else to talk about, I'm signing out.

Otacon: Okay, good luck, Snake!


	101. A Smashing Memory

**SBS Time!  
Sotnosen: **So did you plan to have the 100th start the Smash World "arc" or was it coincidence?

**Game2002: **No, it is a coincidence.

**Rakuro Kamigama of SkyBreaker****: **You seem to have planned for it to smart on the 100th chapter.  
**Game2002:** See above, and thanks for pointing out the error! It has been corrected.

Now this is the 100th chapter. The content is a fitting one as well! Enjoy!

**Chapter 100  
A Smashing Memory**

* * *

The girls stared in awe at the architecture before their eyes, especially at the sign above the gate. "So this is it…" Reimu said. "We're finally here…"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go inside quick!" Marisa suggested.

"Shouldn't we wait for someone to come out and meet us?" Reisen asked. "Assuming that there will be someone coming out to meet us…"

The girls approached the gate, and Sanae looked around for anything resembling a doorbell. "There doesn't seem to be anything used for contacting the people inside…" she said when she found none. "How are we going to go inside?"

Reimu walked up to the gate and gave it a push and found that it wasn't locked, but because of its weight, she couldn't push it open easily. "Mind giving me a hand?" she asked.

"Give her a hand, Meiling," Remilia said to the gatekeeper, who nodded and went over to help Reimu push open the door. It was an easy task for her thanks to her strength. She opened the gate wide enough just so they could all go, and went inside they did.

Behind the gate, they were greeted with the sight of a street traveling down in between normal-looking buildings. It was the kind of sight that looked familiar to Sanae. "Reminds me of the outside world!" Sanae said. "Even the appearance of the buildings looks 21st century!"

"Doesn't look all that different from places like Diamond City and the Pokemon world if you ask me," Aya said while looking for things worthy of being pictured. "I was hoping that this place would look a bit more… spectacular…"

The girls traveled down the empty street and looked through the glasses of the buildings. All the buildings appeared to be shops or places that offered services of some kind, such as a massage parlor, a barber shop, and a clinic. There was nobody else besides them, however.

"Where is everybody?" Marisa asked. "I find it hard to believe that there is no one out here at all!"

"Strange indeed…" Youmu commented. "It's simply not normal for a place like this to be devoid of people."

Cirno looked around and noticed a red button on the side of a streetlamp. She went up to it and tried to read the words above the button, but it was written in a language that she didn't understand. Nevertheless, she pressed the button without care of the consequences. The girls were still looking around the place when suddenly several people popped out of nowhere all around them. "Whoa! What in the world!" Reisen said in surprise.

"Where did all these people pop out from all of a sudden!" Nitori asked.

"Hey! It's Mario!" Marisa said, pointing to the sight of the Italian plumber walking down the sidewalk and towards them. "Hey, Mario! Nice to meet you! Didn't expect seeing you here!" However, Mario did not respond to her at all. He continued walking forward and past her. "Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"I'm noticing something wrong here," Alice said. "These people are walking around without trying to avoid us. They keep on walking in our direction despite seeing us standing in their way."

"And they're not responding when we call out to them as well," Sanae said. "I saw Link standing across the street and so called out to him, but he didn't reply at all."

Cirno looked around and saw an anthropomorphic toad walking along the sideway on the other side of the street with a group of anthropomorphic animals consisting of a fox, a hare, and a bird with blue feathers. "Frog!" the ice fairy happily exclaimed as she wasted no time in firing an ice beam at him.

"Cirno!" Reimu yelled at her, and then she looked at the toad. "Mister! Get out of the way fast!" But the toad didn't hear her. Much to the surprise of the girls, however, the ice beam went through the toad as if it didn't hit anything and froze a part of the building next to him.

"What! I missed!" Cirno said. "I'm going to try again!"

"Enough!" Reimu said as she bonked her on top the head with her gohei.

"Ow! What did you do that for!"

"Did you see that just now?" Nitori asked. "Cirno's beam went through that frog!"

"How is that possible!" Reisen asked.

Suddenly, the people all disappeared, thus leaving the girls all themselves once again. "Hey! Where did everybody go!" Aya said in shock.

"This is strange…" Alice commented. "Those people popped out nowhere, they seem to be unaware of us, Cirno's beam went through that frog, and they all disappeared as suddenly as they came… Was all that an illusion or what?"

Something immediately came to Cirno. "I think I got it! I pressed that red button on the side of the metal pole just now, and that's when all these people appeared! Maybe that's the cause behind this?"

"What red button?" Aya asked her.

The ice fairy showed the girls the red button she found, and when she pressed it again, all the people immediately showed up the second time. "Wow! So it's really the trick of this button!" Marisa said in surprise.

Remilia read the words that were above the button and then said, "This is written in English, my native language."

"What does it say?" Reimu asked.

"It says: _Relive the memory of the days during the Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament! Press this to witness a memory burst of a random day and time of this surrounding area!_"

"Memory burst?" Sanae asked. "I think I may know what this is. In certain movies, there are scenes where the characters suddenly find themselves in a different place, but it is actually an illusion of sorts that is making them see things that happened in the past, and they cannot interact with it because there are not actually there."

"So basically, pressing this button causes a certain scene from during the days of the tournament to appear?" Reimu asked.

"That would explain why nobody interacted with us," Alice said, finally understanding what happened.

"Wow! This is very cool!" Aya commented. "We can use this to see how it was like during the tournament days!"

Remilia noticed a large building not too far away and also saw a sign above the entrance saying _Cheap 'n' Luxurious Restaurant_. "Why don't we check out that place? Restaurants should always have people, at least the chefs and workers," she suggested. The girls thought it was a good idea, so they headed over to it.

The interior of the restaurant was very luxurious-looking; however, there was nobody at all. "Nice place!" Marisa commented.

"There should at least be someone in the kitchen," Sanae thought. "I'll go and check." As she headed in that direction, Aya noticed a button on the wall, and seeing that it was same kind found on the side of the street light back outside, she decided to press it to see if something similar would happen.

Sure enough, the restaurant suddenly became bustling with people, much to the surprise of the other girls until Aya told them what she did. The girls watched the activities that went on in the memory burst of a certain time period in this restaurant, and they did get a good chuckle at some of the sights.

They saw Kirby dining with Dedede, both of them appearing to be on good terms with each other, which is a sight that one wouldn't see everyday. Kirby then went to the restroom, and Dedede, snickering maliciously, used this as the opportunity to pour an entire bottle of chili sauce into his soup. Suddenly, he felt the urge to use the restroom as well.

After Dedede headed to over the restroom, a soccer ball went underneath the table, and then a young boy dressed in red with the number "1" on his shirt went to pick it up. However, he accidentally stood back up while still underneath the table and shook it. When he got out and looked at the surface of the table, he saw that some of contents from both the bowls had been spilt. He desperately grabbed a tissue to wipe the surface and then properly placed the bowls before leaving, and he was oblivious of the fact that he switched the positions of Kirby and Dedede's bowl with each other.

Kirby and Dedede came back from the restroom together, and then they both took their seats to dine on the soup. Dedede was still snickering when he drank from his, but after drinking it, his whole head turned red and then he opened his mouth to "breathe fire", a sight that made Kirby wonder what happened.

"Heheh! That guy got what he deserves-ze!" Marisa said.

"Hey, don't you think that guy looks like Link?" asked Nitori, pointing at the sight of a bearded man dressed in yellow royal clothing and a person who appeared to be an older version of the Link they met at the Great Sea.

The man, who appeared to a king, had his finger placed near the side of his head and appeared to be deep in thought, and then he asked, "I wonder what's for dinner?"

The Link lookalike then said, "I'm so hungry, I could eat an Octorok!"

"Maybe… or maybe not…" Youmu said. "He did say that there was another version of him from another timeline participating in the tournament as well, so maybe this is the one."

Suddenly, the door slammed open and everyone turned to see Ganondorf coming in. The girls were shocked and immediately got ready to defend themselves, but Remilia said to them, "Are you all forgetting that all these are not real?"

"Oh… You're right…" Reimu said. "It happened so suddenly that we actually thought it was real Ganondorf…"

"Plus, everyone in this memory burst is looking at him," Reisen said.

Ganondorf looked around with a stern expression, and he could tell that everyone was either nervous or scared just by looking at him. A smile appeared on his face because he was pleased at being so feared by everyone, and then he took a step forward, only to slip on a banana peel and fall flat on his back with his legs sticking high into the air. Everyone in the memory burst immediately burst out laughing, some even falling onto the floor because of uncontrollable laughter. The girls had a good laugh out of this as well. After this, the memory burst ended, and so the restaurant became devoid of people again.

"Boy! That was way too funny!" Marisa said, still laughing a bit.

"Good thing I took a shot of it!" Aya said. "Now we can look at it all day and laugh at that hilarious sight!"

Sanae came back to them and said, "I looked into the kitchen and didn't see anyone at all." Since it was clear that there was nobody in the restaurant, they exited it.

"It's eerie how there isn't a single soul in this place…" Reimu said. "What could have happened that made this place empty?"

"Maybe this place is always like this when there is no tournament?" Alice asked. "Maybe we should split up and look around the place."

"Not a bad idea," Marisa said.

"Okay, then let's meet again in this spot after having explored this place for a while," Reimu said. And so, the girls split into groups and then went in different directions.

* * *

Marisa, Reimu, and Alice looked through the glass on the door of a store, and then the former poked her head inside to take a better look before going in, followed by the latter. The only things that were in the store were cupboards and racks for placing merchandises, not to mention the counter at the end of the place. They looked around the place as they approached the counter, and then Reimu noticed a red button on the wall next to it. Thinking that it was one of those buttons that creates memory bursts, she gave it a push, and sure enough, the cupboards and racks were suddenly filled with merchandises. Link also popped out next to her, and a fat shopkeeper dressed mostly in orange was seen behind the counter.

"Lamp oil, rope, bombs, you want it?" the shopkeeper asked Link. "It's yours, my friend, as long as you have enough money!"

"Some bombs would be good," Link said as he looked into his wallet. "Oops, only a single coin left…"

"Sorry, Link, I can't give credit," the shopkeeper said to him when he heard what he said. "Come back when you're a little… mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… richer!" After this, the memory burst ended.

The girls remained silent for several seconds, thinking about what they just saw. "I don't know why, but…" Marisa said, "that sight actually makes me want to laugh, even though there isn't supposed to be anything funny about it…"

* * *

Sanae, Youmu, and Reisen arrived at a playground, and seeing such a place suddenly filled Sanae with nostalgia. "Wow! It really takes me back to the olden days!" she said. "I used to play in playgrounds when I was younger and lived in the outside world. Even after becoming a teenager, I still walk by them and take a look at the things that I enjoyed playing with so much!"

Reisen turned and saw a button on the side of a streetlight. "Let's press that one to see what it was like during the days of the tournament," she suggested as she went over to press it. When pressed, the playground became filled with people, most of them being children.

As Sanae watched the sight of the children playing in the sandbox, slide, swings, and seesaw and riding around on tricycles and bicycles, an even larger feeling of nostalgia came to her. Her mind started to wander as she began to daydream of her childhood days in the outside world. Youmu and Reisen watched the children play with delight. Because there were no such places like playgrounds in Gensokyo, and combined with the fact that they weren't exactly the most social beings to begin with, they never saw so many innocent-looking children playing so cheerfully before. Seeing such a sight put a smile on their face.

However, such an atmosphere was ruined by an evil laughter. All eyes turned to the top of jungle gym, and on top of it stood Bowser Jr. "I'm the king of this playground! Anyone who opposes me shall suffer!" he proclaimed. "To show that I am serious, I'm going to do this!" Then he spit a fireball at a Jigglypuff. The Jigglypuff screamed as she rushed over to the fountain not too far away and jumped into it to douse herself. Such a sight made the other children tremble in fear, and the adults were saying to each other about whose kid this was and how he could be so horrible.

"It's that turtle from Bowser's castle…" Youmu said. "What is he doing here?"

"I remember that Bowser joined the tournament," Reisen said. "No surprise if he tagged along with him…"

"Hahaha! Now you know that I'm serious!" Bowser Jr. laughed. "My father is the king of the Koopas! He will not forgive anyone who dares lays a hand on…" Suddenly, Waluigi jumped onto the top of the jungle gym and kicked him off.

With a tennis racket in his hand, the skinny man raised his arms into the air and loudly said, "I am the king of this place! Anyone who dares defy me shall eat my shoes, and I'm serious about this!"

"Hey! I'm the king of this place, not you!" Bowser Jr. said as he jumped back onto the top of the jungle gym.

"Get lost, brat!" Waluigi said as he swung his leg at him, only to have to young Koopa bite him in the foot. "YEOW! LET GO OF ME!" The skinny man hopped down from the jungle gym and then continued hopping away from the place while constantly shaking his leg to get Bowser Jr. off his foot.

Wario showed up and watched from behind, saying, "That Waluigi… Trying to take out his anger on little kids after having lost to Luigi in a tennis match and then to a Toad afterwards…" After this, the memory burst ended.

"Well… I'm glad that things got resolved by themselves," Sanae said.

* * *

Remilia and Meiling went together into a gym, as evident of all the workout equipments they saw the moment they stepped inside the building. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Meiling called out, but there was no reply at all.

"Looks like it's the same," Remilia said. The two girls walked around the place to look at the workout equipments, and when Meiling saw a 330-pound weight, she decided to give it a try in lifting it into the air, and so she did it using only one hand.

"Look, Mistress Remilia!" Meiling said to her mistress. "I'm strong, aren't I?"

"Cool," the vampire commented, not looking impressed at all, and then she turned to look at a 550-pound weight, which she kicked into the air before catching it with one hand and held it up with no effort. "I'm no slacker myself too."

"You're really strong too, Mistress Remilia!"

"Flandre can do better," Remilia claimed as she placed the weight back onto the floor, and then she saw the memory burst button on the wall near the door with the sign _Staff Only _written on it. "Oh look, it's that memory burst button. Why don't you go and press it to see if we can have anything interesting to look at."

"Okay!" Meiling said as she went over to the button to press it, and then the gym was instantly filled with several people working out using the various workout equipments. While most of the people were unknown to them, they did see a few who they met before, such as Captain Falcon, who was running like crazy on a treadmill.

They also saw Wario and a gorilla with a red necktie lifting the same weights they previously lifted. "Ha! How'd you like this?" Wario said with the 550-pound weight lifted over his head. "My muscles aren't for looks! And don't think that my fat is for looks either!"

"Try beating this, then!" the gorilla said as held up the 330-pound weight using only one hand while using the other hand to pick up another equally heavy weight. "I can carry one in each hand with no problem!"

"You think that's cool? Let me show you what I'm capable of!" Wario placed his weight on top of a 600-pound weight in a crisscross formation and then lifted the both of them into the air by the center of their poles. "Ha! Now beat this!"

"You think you guys are cool?" said a voice all of a sudden, and then Bowser walked up to them. He was carrying with him a total of four 550-pound weights, two in each hand. "If you call yourself men with muscles, then try doing this!"

"No, no, no," said another voice, and then Luigi came over to them. "You guys are doing it wrong! This is what real men with real muscles should be doing!"

"Get lost, you bag of bones," Wario said to him. "You should try lifting an 8-pound dumbbell instead."

"Underestimate me, will you? I will show you my hidden strength! You will be thankful that I never unleashed my true strength in battle! Watch and tremble!" Luigi said as he took two of Bowser's weight and lifted them into the air by the weights on the sides and not the poles. Such a sight made Wario, Bowser, and the gorilla widen their eyes in shock. "Now do you believe me?"

"I didn't know you're that strong!" the gorilla said.

"And that's not all!" Luigi said as he took all of Bowser's weight and then started jumping up and down with two of them held in each hand by their poles. "I can jump at my normal height without being hindered at all!"

"I have to be dreaming…" Wario said, and then he pinched himself.

"There's got to be a trick behind this!" Bowser said. "A skinny person like you can't be this strong!"

"Trust me! There is no trick behind this!" Luigi said while continuing to jump up and down. "I train myself everyday. It's just that you never saw me do it! The only trick behind this is keeping my muscles a secret from people, and I'm not going to tell any of you how I did it!" After jumping and down several times, the part of the floor underneath him suddenly broke when he landed due to the combined weight of the weights and the constant jumping. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Several people immediately gathered around the hole and looked down it. Meanwhile, in the locker room, a taller and more matured-looking Link was searching for something inside his locker. "Where are those Power Bracelets? Toon Link isn't going to be happy if I lost them…"

Suddenly, the memory burst ended. "Well, that was interesting," Remilia said. "I'm very sure that there is a trick behind Luigi lifting up those weights. Anyway, let's go, Meiling." She was turning to leave, but then she saw her gatekeeper heading to the weights again. "What are you doing, Meiling?"

Meiling placed the 550-pound weight on top of the 600-pound weight in a crisscrossed position and then lifted them into the air by the center of the poles using only one hand. "A bit heavy, but it's still nothing too difficult for me!"

* * *

Nitori, Cirno, and Aya arrived at a garage that was empty, except for the tools and machines lying around the place. "Looks like my kind place!" Nitori commented as she went deeper into the place while looking at the various machines.

Aya looked around and noticed the memory burst button on the wall, so she headed over to it to press it. When pressed, three futuristic tanks appeared, and the same anthropomorphic fox and blue-feathered bird they saw at the street's memory burst were standing in front of them. Nitori's eye shined brightly the moment she saw those tanks. Even though it wasn't her first time seeing war machines like these, it was without doubt the first time she saw ones looking so different.

"I'd never thought that you would want to use a Landmaster as your Final Smash, Falco," the fox said to the bird.

"I prefer using the Arwing," Falco said, "but Master Hand claims that infinite flight and the ability to carry things on top of it make it too easy to take people to the blast line at the top of the arenas. Since the Landmaster's hovering ability is limited, it's not as big of a problem. The best I could do to differentiate it from yours is to increase its hovering capabilities."

"I can understand why he said that. Unlike Yoshi, Diddy Kong, and Sonic, they cannot carry people around with their Final Smashes, even though they involve flight. Your Final Smash can indeed be very cheap with infinite flight and the ability to carry things on top of it."

"Speaking of which…" the bird named Falco said as he turned to the third tank, which looked identical in structure to the other two, but had red parts rather than blue. "Why on earth is Wolf using a Landmaster…? And how did he get his hand on one to begin with?"

"Slippy said that the Landmaster blueprint went missing a day after we came here. I can only imagine who stole it and what he did with it…"

Nearby, Wario was tingling around with his motorcycle. After he was done working on it, he got onto it and started the engine, but the moment the engine started, the front wheel detached itself and rolled out of the garage. "Hey! Get back here!" Wario shouted as he got off of his bike to go after it. That was when the memory burst ended, and Nitori was seen standing in a sitting position at where one of the tanks with blue parts used to be.

Aya looked at her and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Pretending that I was riding and controlling the tank…" Nitori replied with a blushing face. "You could actually see the inside of it!"

* * *

After the girls had explored the place for a while, they met up with each other and shared each other where they went, and all of them had the same conclusion: there was not a single soul anywhere. "What do we do now?" Reisen asked. "With nobody in this place, we really have no idea what to do…"

"Great… We went through all the trouble of coming to this place, and there's seemingly nothing we can do here…" Reimu grumbled. "Don't tell that we came to a dead end…"

"There's got to be at least one person here," Marisa said. "Master Hand has to be somewhere around this place, right? We should try looking for the place he lives in. I'm very sure he's there at the moment."

"But we don't know where he lives," Sanae said.

Aya thought she saw something in the distance, and upon taking a closer look, she did indeed see something there. "I see a lone house way over there." The girls looked into the distance, and while they couldn't see as far as Aya, they could still make out a building visible on top of a hill.

"There really is a house there!" Nitori said. "But why is it built so far away from here?"

"Perhaps it's Master Hand's house?" Alice said. "If he's the master of this world, then it makes sense for him to build his house somewhere high."

"You may be onto something there, Alice," Reimu said. "Let's head over there and see." Everyone agreed that this was a good idea, so they walked down the sidewalk and in the direction of the house in the distance.

* * *

After several minutes of walking, the girls finally arrived at the gate of the large mansion. Sanae looked at the mansion through the gate and noticed how majestic its appearance was, not to mention the garden. "Wow! Life must be great living in a place like this!"

"I hope the people in there are kind enough to let us in, though," Marisa commented. "You think Master Hand lives there?"

"He must be very rich to live in a mansion like that," Remilia said. "Much as I hate to admit it, my mansion can't be compared to this…"

Reimu observed the gate and then tried to push it open. "Either this gate is really heavy or it's locked from the inside."

"I think it's better that we ask for permission to go inside first," Sanae suggested when she noticed the doorbell next to the gate. "Press that and we'll be able to contact the people inside."

"This one?" Nitori asked as she pressed the doorbell. After pressing the bell, the girls waited and waited, but nothing happened.

"So… what was that supposed to be about?" Reimu asked, looking at Sanae.

"Maybe nobody's home?" Sanae wondered. "Try pressing it again."

"Okay," Nitori nodded as she moved her finger towards the doorbell for the second time, but all of a sudden, a loud voice came out from the speaker underneath it and scared her. "Whoa!"

"Who's there?" asked the voice.

"So there is somebody home after all!" Aya said.

"Excuse me, we're new around here… and we're wondering… if you can let us in… We have a lot to talk about with you… We wish to see… Master Hand…" Sanae nervously replied.

"What do you want with him? Smash World is currently closed, so begone! How did you get in here anyway?" asked the voice.

"The main gate isn't locked," Reimu replied.

"What! Who didn't lock the main gate! Oh wait, it was me… Silly me! Well, can't blame ya for coming inside since it's my fault for not locking the gate… Wait… Maybe I can still blame you for coming in without knocking first! I'm not sure if knocking on the gate is something people usually do, and even if you did, I won't be able to hear it from here too. My hearing isn't that good, you know. Heheh…"

"Um… So are you going to let us in?" Sanae asked. "At least come out to meet us if you won't let us in. We went through a long way to get here, so there are several things that we really want to know about."

"Right! You better give a good explanation for why you pulled us out of our world and into this mess!" Reimu said, not sounding too happy.

* * *

What was happening outside was seen by a person inside the mansion through a monitor on a controller that appeared to control the things related to the gate. "Hmmm… Should I let them in?" the person wondered. "Maybe it's not a good idea considering what happened that time… Wait… They didn't come through the gate that time, but what is to stop me from thinking that this time they are sending troublemakers through the gate in an attempt to fool us? Right! That has to be it! I'm not going to fall for it! You messed us up bad enough last time, especially my big brother! Hmmm… Wait a minute… That's it!"

* * *

Back outside, the person said to them, "Okay, I'll let you girls in."

"Thank you very much!" Sanae politely said.

With that, the conversation ended, and then the gate automatically opened. "Yay! We can go in at last!" Cirno happily said.

The girls stepped inside and took a better look at the massive and beautiful garden, and then they headed for the mansion in the distance. While on their way their, Marisa said, "Whose idea was it to build the mansion far away from the gate…? This is as bad as the stairs leading to Hakugyokuro!"

"Not unless you fly to the top of it," Youmu said.

"The distance is the same whether you walk or fly…"

While they were only halfway towards the mansion, certain spots of the ground around them suddenly gave off light. 'What's happening!" Reisen said in surprise.

More and more parts of the ground gave off light, and when the lights disappeared, there were pink, polygonal beings standing in place of where they used to be. "What are these!" Nitori said in shock.

* * *

Inside the mansion, the person said with a malicious-sounding voice as he watched what happened through the monitor. "Heehee! You think I'm going to let you get to mansion so easily? Die, troublemakers sent by Tabuu! Face the power of the Fighting Polygon Team!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Admittedly, this chapter was supposed to have more contents than what you read, but I rushed it out in the end. Still, I hope it was enjoyable enough for you.

Yes, you did see CD-i Zelda characters in this chapter. Also, the kid who went underneath the table to pick up the ball is a random kid from the Animal Crossing series.

**Next chapter: Multi-Man Danmaku**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

More of my favorite themes from the series!

**Centennial Festival of Magical Girls:** This one is totally awesome! One of the best extra stage themes! There are lots of awesome remixes of it that I recommend you all to check out!

**Old Distant Hermit: **Also known as Old Yuanshen (which translates into the former), Seiga has a great theme that reminds me of the boss theme from Mega Man Zero 4! This is one of the best boss themes in Touhou 13: Ten Desires!

**UFO Romance in the Night Sky: **I find this theme somewhat unique and different from other extra stage themes. I don't know how to put it; it just has that kind of different feeling. The theme may not start out all that good, but it eventually becomes really awesome! The laughter thrown into it is a neat touch as well!


	102. Multi Man Danmaku

**SBS Time!  
masterart: **I got Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. Maybe you can make the next story a Donkey Kong County Returns crossover. That will be cool!  
**Game2002: **If you're referring to a sequel of this story, then I should let you know that I have no plans for a sequel to this story. I have no plans to make a Donkey Kong crossover anytime as well, unless you consider my Super Smash Bros. series a Donkey Kong crossover…

For those of you who are aware of the flood in Thailand, you don't have to worry about me. It's all right where I live… for now. The flood is expected to get worse and go on for about four more weeks. However, my family has no fear of anything happening because God has made a promise to us in the Bible that He will never again destroy the world with a flood and that there is a boundary between the coast and the water—there is a limit as to how far the water can cross over into the land.

Let us all pray that the worst flood in the history of Thailand will come to an end eventually and that everyone will be safe! Amen!

**Chapter 101  
Multi-Man Danmaku**

* * *

The strange polygonal beings gathered around the girls as if they were ready to attack them, and the girls were gathered together back to back and in fighting positions. "What are these things?" Nitori asked. "Why are they attacking us?"

"Either it's the organization that sent them after us, or whoever is inside sent them after us," Alice said.

"But why would the person in there, who might be Master Hand, attack us?" Reisen asked.

"Perhaps he thinks we are enemies, so he actually allowed us inside in an attempt to eliminate us," Remilia said.

"Why would he see us as enemies?" Cirno asked. "We didn't do anything wrong to him or this place at all! Plus, wasn't he the one who brought us out of our world in the first place?"

"Whatever the reason is, it's not the time for thinking about that now," Reimu said. "These things don't look friendly at all."

**BGM: Fighting Polygon Team (Super Smash Bros.)**

One of the polygonal beings, which resembled a dinosaur, charged at Reimu with his head lowered, but the shrine maiden raised her leg and kicked him away. A polygon armed with what appeared to be a sword and a shield charged at Youmu. She easily blocked his attack with her Roukanken and then disarmed him before stabbing him in the stomach. The polygon exploded in a burst of white light that caused the girls to go flying back. "What the!" Youmu said in shock.

"I think it's best that we don't get too close to them when dealing the finishing blow," Alice said.

A large, bulky polygon ran towards Meiling and slammed down his arm at her, but she quickly moved aside and then slammed her palm into his side to send it flying into two other polygons. He exploded and took out the polygons that he flew into.

A polygon with a somewhat pointy head charged at Remilia while flailing his arms, but the vampire stopped it by placing her hand against his forehead. Another polygon of the same kind jumped at her from behind in an attempt to kick her, but she spun around and flung the previous polygon into him to knock them both out of the air.

Another similar polygon ran to her from the side and tried to swing a polygon bat at her, but with a swing of her claws, she shattered the bat into pieces before thrusting her hand against the polygon's forehead and pushing him back through the air and into other polygons.

Finally, with a swing of her claws, which created streaks of red energy in the air, the polygons were all shredded into pieces before exploding. Because they flew back through the air after getting hit, Remilia wasn't hit by the explosion.

Several polygons stood around Alice, and then they all jumped at her in an attempt to pile onto her. The magician immediately summoned several dolls armed with swords in a split second and had them spin in circles all around her to slice the polygons when they got they fell towards her. The severed pieces of the polygons fell back through the air and exploded before they hit the ground.

"Eat my ice beam!" Cirno shouted as she froze the incoming polygons. "Ice Saber!" She formed an ice blade in her hand and then dashed past those frozen polygons to cleave them in two, and then they all exploded.

* * *

The person inside the mansion watched in awe as the girls easily dealt with the Fighting Polygon Team, and after a few minutes had passed, all the polygons were defeated. "I don't believe it!" he said. "They're just a bunch of girls! How can they be so strong! Well, there was Samus, but she has a good reason… Argh! They're not going to get away with this so easily! If the Fighting Polygon Team can't take them down, the Fighting Wireframe Team can!" And he pressed a button on the controller.

* * *

Back outside, Reimu had just finished dealing with the last of the polygons, and then she looked around to make sure that there was indeed no more. "They're all gone, right?"

"Yep, they're all dealt with," Marisa said. "They're too easy! What a bunch of weaklings!" As soon as she said this, light shined from various parts of the ground once again. "Eh! Again?"

This time, wireframe beings of both male and female variety appeared rather than polygons. "Here they come again!" Youmu said as she got ready for the second round.

"They look different from before," Reisen commented. "Let's hope they're just as easy to deal with."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Remilia said.

**BGM: Multi-Man Melee 1 (Super Smash Bros. Melee)**

One of the male wireframes ran at Marisa, but she pulled out her hakkero and blasted him away with a Narrow Spark. Like with the polygons, the wireframe exploded after receiving an attack that was considered fatal to him.

Reimu, Sanae, and Reisen attacked the incoming wireframes with their projectiles. Aya moved in circles around some wireframes really fast. The wireframes looked around and tried to focus their eyes on her, and then Aya dashed into them unexpectedly and sent them all flying into the air. They fell back down and exploded shortly after hitting the ground.

Nitori used her mechanical arm to grab the face of a female wireframe and then used the other arm to punch her away in the stomach. A male wireframe hurled himself at her from the side and managed to catch her, but Nitori easily flung him across the air, and while he was still in the air, Cirno flew at him and took him out with her Ice Saber. The kappa gave her a thumb up for a job well done, to which the ice fairy boasted about how good she was.

Meiling punched and kicked away the wireframes around her, and then turned to see a male wireframe jumping at her, trying to hit her in the face with his knee, but she brought her hands in front of her face to block the attack. The male wireframe fell onto the ground and was then destroyed by a punch to the face.

A male wireframe threw punches and kicks at Marisa, but she was able to avoid them with no effort. "C'mon! Try to hit me! What's the matter? Got a bad aim?" she taunted while constantly moving around without straying too far from her current position to avoid his attacks. "Is that really all you've got? Let me show you how it's done-ze!" And she smacked him away in the head with her broom. "There! Simple as that-ze!"

A female wireframe ran up to her from behind, but she thrust the back end of her broom backward to knock her away in the abdomen. "Next time, run softly so that your target doesn't hear you," the witch told her without looking back.

The person inside the mansion couldn't believe that he was looking at the Fighting Wireframe Team getting pulverized as easily as the Fighting Polygon Team. "What is this I don't…! Sure, the wireframes aren't the best fighters of the bunch, but they should be able to at least wear out them with numbers! They clearly outnumbered them! Well, the polygons failed even though they outnumbered them… Looks like those girls are much tougher than I thought… Tabuu sure found himself some really powerful fighting forces… Femme fatales, to be precise…"

After the last of the wireframes was taken out, the person became mad. "That does it! If this doesn't work, I'm handling things myself! Get'em, Fighting Alloy Team! Cruel Brawl difficulty!" And he pressed another button on the controller.

* * *

Reimu gave the last wireframe a kick to the face to destroy him, and then she looked around, saying, "That's the last of them, right?"

"They're as easy as the previous ones," Marisa commented. "I wish they were tougher to deal with."

"I don't think this is the time for wanting to fight tougher opponents," Reisen said. "We have no idea what these things are and why they attacked us. We need to get into that mansion and find Master Hand quick! He might actually be in danger, and these things were sent by that organization to stop us from rescuing him!"

"You may have a point, but let us not jump to conclusions just yet," Alice said. "Like what Remilia said earlier, it could be because Master Hand mistook us for intruders, so he is sending these things to fight us."

"Then let's go inside quick!" Aya suggested. "We better let him know that we are not his enemies." After she said this, light came out from various spots on the ground once again. "Oh no! Not again!"

"Geez! He's really hard bent on believing that we are intruders, isn't he?" Marisa said. "Let's hope they're actually more challenging this time."

**BGM: Cruel Brawl (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

When the light disappeared, there stood beings that appeared to be made out of metal. They came in four different varieties, each with different colors—the Fighting Alloy Team. One of the alloys, a blue masculine humanoid resembling the male wireframe, charged at Marisa, who took out her hakkero to use Narrow Spark on him. Much to her surprise, the alloy swiftly stepped to the side and then got close to her to punch her in the abdomen. "Oof!" Marisa took a few steps back, and when she looked up, the alloy delivered a right swing to her face, followed by a left swing and then another punch to the abdomen.

Marisa fell back onto the ground in pain, but the alloy wasn't done with her yet. He attempted to stomp her in the body, but Meiling quickly charged at him and kicked his leg. The alloy quickly jumped to the side as Meiling proceeded to run towards him and attacked with Sky Dragon Kick, but the alloy managed to stop her with a kick of seemingly equal power.

"Ow… These guys are actually strong…" Marisa said as she slowly got back up. "Guess my wish came true…"

Meanwhile, Reimu was trying to hit a short, green alloy with a circular body using needles and amulets, but he kept on jumping all over the place, so the shrine maiden's attack kept on missing. "Geez! Quit moving around!" Reimu said in annoyance. "If you won't stop moving, then taste my homing amulets!" So she threw paper amulets that went after the alloy, and they were successful in knocking him down.

However, the alloy wasn't taken out. It got back up and jumped toward Reimu to attack her with a drilling kick. Reimu was going to jump out of the way when suddenly a blue alloy caught her by the shoulders from behind. "Hey!" She was unable to break free from his grasp in time, so the green alloy's attack struck her face.

After "drilling" against the shrine maiden's face for a few seconds, the green alloy hopped back onto the ground, and then the blue alloy pushed her into him, and he performed a flipping kick to send her flying into the air. From there, a yellow alloy with bullhorns on his head jumped at her. Reimu quickly crossed her arms in front of her face to block a punch he threw at her, and it sent her shooting to the ground very fast.

CRASH!

"Ugh…" Reimu cried as she slowly sat back up. "They guys are tough…"

A blue alloy threw several punches at Remilia, but she either dodged them or blocked them with her hands. When the alloy attempted to hit her with an elbow thrust, she caught his elbow and then slashed him across the face to send him flying aside. "Heart Break!" She quickly formed and threw a red spear at him to destroy him. After that, the vampire quickly picked up her parasol to shade herself from the sunlight. "I have to give it to you for forcing me to put down my parasol in order to fight you."

Cirno fired icicles at an approaching yellow alloy rapidly, but he managed to dodge the shots while closing in on her. Cirno quickly produced an ice sword to attack him with when he got close, but he ducked down and caught her legs. "Hey! Let go of my… Wah!" The yellow alloy pulled her legs off the ground and started spinning in circles several times—an obvious act of attempting to flung her through the air.

However, when the alloy finally threw ice fairy away, he went flying into the air with her. As it turned out, his hands became frozen to her legs from touching them too long.

Meanwhile, a blue alloy was strangling Reisen from behind, and the lunar rabbit, almost running out of breath, was trying with futile to get her hands off her neck. She was saved when Cirno came flying headfirst into the back of the blue alloy's head, which made her let go of Reisen.

Cirno sat up and angrily looked at the yellow alloy. "I told you to go of me! Ice Saber!" She formed an ice blade and stabbed him in the head, thus causing him to explode and blast her backwards. The ice fairy got back up and dusted herself. "Haha! Your suicidal attack failed to take me down! I'm too strong to be taken out by some explosion!" Suddenly, a red alloy threw a powerful punch to the side of her face and sent her tumbling across the ground.

The blue alloy who got knocked down by Cirno earlier was blasted in the face by Reisen the moment she pushed herself back up from the ground. The lunar rabbit fired nonstop at the alloy until she finally met her end. "This is for almost strangling the life out of me earlier!" Reisen angrily said, and then she turned to see the same red alloy who punched Cirno running in her direction, so she fired energy bullets at him.

The red alloy bent down slightly and moved left and right while avoiding the shots, and then it attempted to hit her with an uppercut. Reisen managed to avoid it in time by taking a step back, and the fist passed by in front a nose a few millimeters. Quickly pointing her fingers at the alloy's stomach, she fired shots that caused him to fall back, and then she proceeded to blast him mercilessly like with the blue alloy until he was destroyed.

Youmu dashed at a blue alloy and swung her larger sword at her, but the alloy bent back to avoid the hit and then spun on one foot in an attempt to kick Youmu in the back of the leg. The half-phantom, acting fast, leaped forward and spun once, and she turned around the moment she landed to fire a sword beam at the alloy to take her out in a single hit.

A yellow alloy jumped at her from behind, ready to punch her across the head, but Youmu quickly jumped over him using a back flip and landed behind him. Shortly after landing, the yellow alloy's body split apart vertically and blew up. The half-phantom had actually cut through him from above when she performed that back flip.

A red alloy ran towards her, so she quickly brought down her sword at him, only to have its blade caught in between his hands with no effort, much to her surprise. Suddenly, Youmu felt something striking her head over and over from above, even though nothing was hitting her at all. Nearby, a green alloy was seen on top of Myon, pummeling it over and over. "Ow! Stop it!" Youmu cried as she turned to look at her phantom half being attacked, and then the red alloy threw a punch to her abdomen really hard before proceeding to attack her mercilessly.

Alice made her dolls swing their swords at a yellow alloy, but he kept on jumping around to avoid the hits. One of the dolls was about to land a hit on him, but he quickly swat the doll from the side to knock it away before running in the magician's direction. Alice quickly sent a doll flying straight toward his face, but he swatted the doll onto the ground while continuing toward her. Seeing that the alloy was close, Alice quickly brought the remaining dolls in front of herself to serve as shields, but the alloy jumped over her.

Alice kept her eyes on the yellow alloy as he landed and turned to him along with her dolls to continue using them as offensive shields. The dolls moved toward the alloy and attacked with their blades, but the alloy managed to dodge every single strike. "He's agile!" Alice thought. She was too focused on trying to hit the yellow alloy, and this gave a green alloy the opportunity to kick her in the back of the head. "Ah!"

This caused her to lose control of her dolls, so they fell onto the ground. The green alloy pushed her onto the ground, pinned her down by the neck, and then pulled up her head by the hair to allow the yellow alloy to kick her in the face over and over.

"Alice!" Nitori shouted when she saw the magician being ganged up on by the two alloys. A blue alloy saw this as the perfect chance to close in her hand on her and grab the back of her head, but the kappa quickly turned her face to her and caught her arm before knocking her away with a palm thrust to the abdomen, and then she ran to help the magician. Several green alloys appeared in front of her to stop her from proceeding forward, and then they all jumped at her. The kappa quickly thrust her palms rapidly against the air like a sumo do to knock them away.

Once the green alloys were knocked away, she continued running to Alice. The yellow alloy kicking her turned to Nitori and threw a punch at her, but she caught his fist and then headbutted him in the head really hard. "Get off her!" Nitori shouted as she swung her hand at the green alloy pulling Alice's hair, but the green alloy jumped into the air and then attacked with a dive kick. She was able to block it her arms, and then her mechanicals arms caught him from both sides and hurl him away.

The green alloys that were previously knocked away by Nitori's palm thrusting attack came back, and they all jumped at her the moment she flung that alloy away. Because she had no time to counter, she was pinned onto the ground. "Get off me!" Due to her strength being stronger than those alloys combined, she was able to shake them off with ease and then get back up.

The yellow alloy from earlier ran and jumped at her, but a doll suddenly appeared in front of him and latched onto his face. "Artful Sacrifice!" Alice said as snapped her fingers to make the doll explode, taking the alloy along with it.

"Are you all right?" Nitori asked her.

"I'm all right. Thanks for helping me just now!"

"No problem!"

Aya swung her fan at a red alloy to slash it with her fan, but the alloy quickly ducked down and attempted to punch her in the abdomen. She managed to catch his fist and then forcefully shoved him aside before firing a wind blade at him. The alloy wasn't taken out in a single hit, however. A yellow alloy jumped at her from behind to punch her, but she knew that he was closing in on her by hearing the sound of him jumping off the ground alone, so she quickly moved out of the way and then kicked the alloy in the back of the head to send in flying in the red alloy's direction.

The red alloy swatted his own comrade out of the way before running toward the tengu to attack, but with a swing of her fan, he was blown back by fierce wind. "Let it be known that coming at me directly is suicide!" Aya proclaimed.

"Ya! Ah! Stop it! Somebody! Help!" shouted the voice of Sanae. Aya turned to the Moriya shrine maiden and saw several alloys ganging up on her. She was bent down on the ground with her hands over head while the alloys punched, kicked, and stomped nonstop.

"Hey you! Leave her alone at once!" Aya shouted as she flew over to help. One of the alloys, a blue one, turned around when the tengu got close and thrust forth both her arms, but she moved down her head and rammed her in the abdomen instead. The other alloys were forced to pull back when Aya pushed the blue alloy over Sanae, and then the tengu turned around to face them. The alloys ran at her, so she whipped up a large tornado that sent them all spinning into the air. "Maple Wind Leaf!"

As the tornado slowly moved forward, Aya quickly flew over to Sanae to pull her out of the way before it caught her in it. "Are you all right?" she asked the injured shrine maiden.

"Thanks…" she replied. "I got careless… I didn't expect them to be this tough to deal with…"

"Yeah, I have to agree that they really are a challenge, though I'm still able to take them out easily. Guess I'm simply too strong for them…"

"Dream Sign: Demon Binding Circle!" Reimu shouted as she quickly slapped a spell card onto the ground. A pillar of energy appeared around her and instantly blew away the large amount of alloys who were attempting to pile up on her from all sides. "Geez…! What with these strange beings? The first two groups were complete pushovers, but this third group actually has no problem overpowering us!"

"Not that tough for me to deal with, though," Remilia, who was standing nearby, said as she flung a blue alloy away. "Still, I do admit that they are more challenging than the previous two groups. I don't mind a little challenge, however."

"It's not an issue if there are a limited number of them. The problem is that more and more keep on showing up to replace the defeated ones!"

"So whoever is behind this is planning to wear us out?" Remilia said as clawed the previous blue alloy in the face. "Guess there's no point in continuing the fight, then."

Marisa attempted to hit a green alloy using her magically-enhanced broom, but he rolled back and then leaped forward very fast to hit her in the abdomen. She cried in pain and fell back onto the ground, and then the green alloy jumped at her and kicked her across the face. "Ow! Why you!" Marisa angrily said as she brought down her broom to hit him, but he avoided it by jumping aside and then attacked her with a flying kick. She managed to avoid it by ducking down, and then she got up and moved away from him. "I can't believe I'm having a hard time trying to take down someone much shorter than me!"

The green alloy jumped at her again, but she quickly flew straight up. "Radial Strike!" she shouted as she used her broom to shoot the green alloy, but he kept on "bouncing" all over the place to avoid getting shot. "Stay still, would you! Whoa!" She suddenly felt someone grabbing onto her legs, and when she looked down, she saw that it was a red alloy. "Let go of me!"

The red alloy pulled down hard and caused her to fall off her broom and onto the ground with a thud, and the glowing sphere that she and the other girls obtained before they entered this world fell out onto the ground.

* * *

The person was watching with delight at the girls having a hard time dealing with the Fighting Alloy Team! "Haha! How'd you like that? Should've thought of doing this with the Fighting Wireframe Team! No matter how strong they are, they won't be lasting long in the Cruel Brawl difficulty! There's an endless amount of them, and even the strongest fighter in the tournament worn himself out after fighting for several minutes and eventually lost! I'd like to see how long you can last! I don't have to go out there and deal with them myself any longer!"

As he watched the fight going on, he suddenly noticed the glowing sphere next to Marisa. Curious about what it was, he zoomed in on the object to get a better look, and he was surprised at what he saw. "That's… That's… That's the Smash Ball! No… The size isn't the same; this one is smaller. There's only one thing I can think of that looks identical to Smash Balls but is smaller in size… Smash Essences! What is it doing there! Did they have it with them the whole time? How did they get that in the first place?" Wanting to get to the bottom of this, he quickly pressed another button on the controller.

Back outside, the alloys suddenly stopped moving and stood still, and the girls were curious at such a sight. "What happened to them?" Aya wondered. Light came out from underneath each of the alloys, and then they all disappeared the same way they appeared.

"What the…? They all left!" Reisen said.

"I don't know why they left, but I'm glad that we don't have to fight anymore… I think…" said a tired Marisa. "Guess I should be more careful with what I wish for next time…"

Aya heard the sound of door opening, so she turned to the mansion and saw someone at the balcony, so she told the others to look. "Who…? What…? Who is that!" Nitori asked in surprise.

She had a reason to be surprised because it was not a human being nor was it anything humanoid in appearance at the balcony. Rather, it was a hand, a large, white disembodied hand. The giant hand flew down from the balcony and came in front of the surprised girls, who took some steps back and got into defensive stances in case it was going to attack them. "Can this be Master Hand…?" Reisen asked. "I mean… this thing is a giant hand…"

"All right," the hand said in a loud voice that had an echoing effect. "You girls have a lot of explaining do here, and I want you to tell me everything if you want to live!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I thought some parts could be better and perhaps stretched out a bit, but I either I didn't feel like it or I don't know how to make them all that descriptive, so this chapter got shorted somewhat. Still, I hope it's a good enough chapter.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: History of the Great Melee **

**Trivia:  
**1. Even though this is obvious to people who played the original Smash Bros., I still feel like bringing this up. The polygon versions of Mario, Luigi, and Ness are hard to distinguish from each other in terms of appearance. However, you can easily tell who is who by their attacks and the way the move.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

This isn't anything big. I just want to let you know the positions of the Chaos Egg Destroyer's snake-like arms starting from the bottom right and then moving upwards until the one on the bottom left. It's in this order:

Red Volcano, Blue Tundra, Green Hurricane, Purple Gravity, Yellow Thunderstorm, Cyan Saber, Gray Explosion

Hope that helps with your visualization of the mech somewhat…

On the side note, Sonic Generation is shaping up to be one of the best Sonic games ever!


	103. History of the Great Melee

**Chapter 102  
History of the Great Melee**

* * *

The door to the grand living room of the mansion opened as the large hand allowed the girls to go in. "Please make yourself comfortable here!" he said to them. "I'll go and get you some drinks!"

"Thanks!" Marisa said.

The hand then left, so the girls went over to the sofa and took their seats there. Remilia looked around the place and said, "Not a bad place. It's more or less on par with mines."

"Don't you think it's a bit strange that he believed us so easily?" Reisen asked. "If he really did think that we are intruders, then why would he believe us just like that? Could he be up to something?"

"You're worrying a bit too much there," Aya told her, and then she took out the glowing orb. "Obviously, it's because of these that he became convinced. Noticed how his attitude changed when we explained to him how we got these."

"You have a point, but still… it makes me worried…"

Cirno noticed something on the wall, so she told the others to look, and they saw a large portrait showing various people on it, most of which being ones that they met on their way to this world. "Wow! So those are all the people who participated in the tournament, eh?" Marisa asked.

"It's neat to see them all being together! I better take a picture of it!" Aya said before snapping a photo of it. Not too long after that, the hand returned, carrying on his palm a platter of drinks.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" he said. "Here, have something to quench your thirst with! Please accept them as an act of apology for treating you as enemies earlier!" He placed the platter onto the table, and each of the girls reached forward to get their own glass of juice.

"Thank you very much!" Nitori cheerfully said before taking a sip.

"So…" Reimu said after taking a sip, "I take that there are things you would like to explain to us, right?"

"True, other than apologizing for treating you as enemies…" the hand replied. "Can't be helped that I became paranoid due to what happened before… Anyway, I haven't introduced myself yet. You can call my Crazy Hand. Guess why I'm called that? Bet you don't know! Haha!"

"I think I may an idea already…" Marisa said.

"Um… May I ask why you believed us so easily?" Reisen asked Crazy Hand. "Earlier, you doubted us, but then you suddenly became convinced when we brought up these glowing orbs… What are these anyway?"

"I have every reason to believe that you are good girls and not troublemakers because of those Smash Essences," Crazy Hand replied.

"Smash Essences?"

"Yes, that's what they are called. They are transformed from Light Essences, and that only happens to good people. If you girls are evildoers, then such a thing would never happen. That alone is more than enough to convince me. Your story about traveling to various worlds and fighting villains also convinced me as well. So… how was it traveling throughout various worlds and seeing all sorts of never-seen-before stuff?"

"It was pretty exciting!" Sanae replied.

"Yeah, it was nice seeing stuff that we have never seen before in our life, not to mention all sorts of different people," Reimu said with a nod. "However, it's tiring the fact that we constantly got ourselves into businesses that aren't supposed to have anything to do with us…"

"But the fact that we more or less became heroines of those worlds after doing so paid off, don't you think so?" Marisa said to her.

"I never cared about being a heroine… I only solved incidents in Gensokyo because it's my job. Plus, I wouldn't want to live in a place that's been messed up by someone who got bored and decided to fill the place with red mist or something, or someone causing geysers pop out from various places due to wanting to take over the world…"

"In the end, you made it through all sorts of odds and ends," Crazy Hand said. "Doesn't it feel great that you finally made it to your destination? I bet the sight of Smash World must've made you very satisfied!"

"Sure did!" Aya said. "I've been looking forward to coming to this place, and I'm sure am glad that all the trouble we went through is worth it! Though honestly saying, I was expecting this place to be more populated…"

"That's because there's no tournament held currently. During tournament days, the city is crowded with people from various different worlds. It's a great site to see them all interacting with each other!"

"Yeah, we did get an idea on how it was like during the tournament days thanks to those red buttons that create illusions," Youmu said.

"The Memory Burster, eh? Glad that you pressed that! Whenever I need a laugh, I would go to the Cheap 'n' Luxurious Restaurant to watch the memory burst of Ganondorf slipping on a banana peel! Hahaha! It makes me laugh just thinking of that!"

"That sure was a funny scene! Hahaha!" Cirno said, laughing as well.

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Hohoho! Hahahah!"

"Wahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Muahahahahaha!"

"Wahahahaha! Yahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha! Muahahahaha!"

"Okay… So are the two of you enjoying your laughing session…?" Reimu asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

Crazy Hand managed to stop himself from laughing. "Oh boy… It's way too funny… I'm glad that sight was recorded in the Memory Burster! Sorry for being unable to control my laughter earlier…"

"It's all right," Aya said. "By the way, I'm curious as to why this tournament started in the first place? Do you mind sharing with us a bit of this place's history?"

"I don't mind! In fact, I'm more than happy to share with you the history of this place! Let's see… It all started with Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach going to the Dinosaur Island… Wait, that's not it… It all started when Master Hand was bored one day, and since he has great knowledge all various worlds and dimensions, he decided to gather together some people who he thought are great fighters to have them fight each other."

"That's all? He gathered people and made them fight each other just because he's bored?" Alice asked. "That doesn't sound very humane if you ask me."

"Well, it's not like he gave them no option. They all thought it was a good idea to test their own skills and see how they match up with people from other worlds. However, I heard that Luigi entered the first tournament because my brother misheard him as wanting to enter it when he actually didn't want to."

"And he wasn't given the option to resign?" Reisen asked.

"It was too late; by the time he got the chance to explain to Master Hand, he was already taken to Smash World. Not many people went to Smash World that time, so Luigi decided to fight in the tournament because there were not much people to interact with there, not to mention having very little else to do. Please bear in mind that this place wasn't as bustling back then. It's more like a small village…"

"Oh yeah, speaking of Master Hand…" Reimu said, but Crazy Hand spoke again before she could finish.

"There's a photo album of all the tournaments! I'll go get it for you!" he said as he went over to a drawer nearby to get a photo album. "Here it is!" He placed it on the table and opened it for them to see. They all leaned forward to look at it.

"Wow! So those twelve people in that large picture are all the contestants?" Sanae asked.

"Yep, we only had a little back then," Crazy Hand said. "However, twelve people are considered a lot for fighting contests back then. Even fighting games back then usually have around eight to twelve characters. Our tournament basically evolved in the same way fighting games evolved!"

"This one's hilarious!" Cirno said, pointing at the picture of an anthropomorphic fox, Captain Falcon, and a Pikachu running in panic from Mario, who was going after them with a large hammer.

"That hammer was greatly feared by everyone back then. Anyone who got his or her hands on it is pretty much invincible, so we nerfed it starting with the second tournament so that the hammerhead may randomly fall off. That didn't stop him or her from whacking people using the handle, however… The drawback is that you can't double jump or grab unto ledges. It's unfortunate if he or she encounters someone brave enough to knock him or her off the arena. The wielder would go down with a CRASH!"

"You didn't have to shout that loud!" Reimu said, frightened by the sudden change in volume.

"Sorry… Force of habit… I have a tendency to do things in exaggerated ways…"

"We heard that there were three tournaments," Remilia said. "How did the second one come about?"

"Good question! I'm even happier to talk about that because I actually got a part in that tournament!" Crazy Hand said. "You see, Master Hand played a role in the first tournament as the final opponent the strongest fighter has to face. He intentionally held back in order to give Mario, the strongest fighter back then, a chance. Had he not held back, Mario would've been taken out as fast as you can blink your eye."

"Master Hand is that powerful?" Youmu asked.

"Of course! He's really powerful! I wouldn't say that he's the most powerful being in the universe, however, but it's true that he's easily a thousand times more powerful than everyone in the tournament combined. So about the second tournament… Because the first tournament was well received, despite there being very little media coverage about it, a second one was held not too long afterwards. This time, a total of twenty-five people joined the tournament… or twenty-six if you consider the Ice Climbers being two people rather than one."

"Who?" Cirno asked.

"The Ice Climbers. They're a pair of Eskimos who fight alongside each other. Despite being a pair, they are considered one contestant, so it was actually possible to have a total of five people fighting at once. We only allow four fighters at max, mind you, but like I said earlier, they act as one contestant, so despite there being five people on the arena, it was considered only four." Some of the girls nodded in reply after hearing this.

"Is this the picture of the contestants in the second tournament?" Alice asked when she came across a particular picture on the album.

Crazy Hand looked at it and said, "Yeah! That's the one! All the previous contestants returned, and you can tell that there were a lot of new ones as well!"

"It's funny to see the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf standing alongside the others," Aya said. "I mean, when we met them, they were evil people. It looks as if they have no problem getting along with everyone else."

"Oh, trust me when I tell you that Master Hand is able to make them look like good boys! They learned their lesson the hard way when they tried to act the way they do back in their worlds! Heheh!"

The girls continued to turn the pages and look at the various pictures of the second tournament, sometimes having a good chuckle at some of the more hilarious pictures. They eventually came to a page that started showing pictures of what appeared to be the third tournament. "So these are all the characters in the third tournament, am I right?" Remilia asked.

"Yep!" Crazy Hand replied. "This is the latest tournament, and it actually took a while for it to be held! This time, we had a total of thirty-five characters! Not everyone from the previous tournament returned, however. Actually, you can say that there is more than that if you take into the account that a certain contestant functioned as three contestants in one."

"That would be Red, am I right?" Reimu asked.

"Yes! The Pokemon Trainer!"

"He said that his name was mistaken for his favorite color, so his occupation was used as his name instead."

"Hey, don't blame me for thinking that! Who names their son after a color anyway? That is as dumb as naming a fox Fox and a wolf Wolf!"

"So it was you who put down his name as Pokemon Trainer…" Reisen said.

"Anyway, this tournament was also special in the way that we invited two people who live in universes that aren't within the same boundary as our universe."

"What do you mean?" Nitori asked.

"Think of universes something like galaxies. You know how there are multiple galaxies in outer space, right? Each galaxy has its own planets and such. This is the same thing for universes and dimensions. Each universe exists in its own galaxy."

"I get it!" Sanae said.

"Smart girl! Remind me to give a cookie afterwards! So anyway, Snake and Sonic were two contestants who live in different universes, or galaxies. Because they are very well known in their respective universes, we decided to invite them over to our universe to see if they are strong enough to take on the people of our universe. They both actually proved to be very powerful and formidable fighters!"

"I guess this explains why it took longer than usual to reach their worlds," Alice said. "Snake and Sonic's worlds do not exist in the same universe like the other worlds we've been too."

"Sounds like a logical explanation to me," Youmu said in agreement.

"By the time of the third tournament," Crazy Hand continued, "the Smash Brothers Tournament had become very well known and popular among several people, so tons of people came to Smash World during the third one. This place was filled with people back during the third tournament! You girls really should've been there at that time!"

"I can imagine how it was like thanks to the memory bursts," Sanae said.

"I guarantee that it feels much more different if you actually experienced things firsthand! Anyway, the third tournament was loved by many people, but it also criticized quite a bit. Some of the contestants weren't happy with the way we altered the physics for the fights… Too floaty and too much tripping…"

Suddenly, Marisa remembered something. "Oh yeah! Snake told us that there was an invasion once during the third tournament. What happened?"

Hearing this, Crazy Hand, while having no visible face, suddenly had a change in expression. "The invasion… Well… He's right… An invasion happened once… and it was a terrible experience…"

The atmosphere became what could be described as gloomy when the hand said that, and there was silence for several seconds before Aya said something. "Forgive me my curiosity… but would you mind…?"

Crazy Hand spoke up before she finished. "It's all right. I'll share with you what happened. Furthermore, the invasion can actually be related to why you girls were taken out of your world all of a sudden…"

"What!" Reimu said in surprise upon hearing this. The other girls were equally surprised, though Remilia didn't show any change in expression.

"Surprised, eh? If only we had made sure that he was dead for good back then, then none of this would have happened…"

"Who?" Remilia asked.

"Tabuu, the leader of the Subspace Army."

"Tabuu… The same person who is now leading the organization bent on taking over the universe…"

"I know about his current organization as well… You're looking for my older brother, Master Hand, right? I'm afraid that he's not in the condition to speak with you girls right now…"

"Why? What happened to him?" Nitori asked.

Crazy Hand let out a sigh before continuing. "Before we get into that, I'll tell you about the incident that we called the Subspace Invasion…"

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

The air was filled with cheering and roars of excitement. There was everyone reason for the excitement, because a fight was going to happen within a stadium filled with people, all of them cheering for their favorite fighters. Crazy Hand, seated within the broadcasting room, spoke out loud through the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen! Anthropomorphic animals and whatever! Welcome to another match of the Smash Brothers Tournament! We are now going to start the match between Mario and Kirby!"

The audience cheered even louder upon hearing that announcement, and not too long afterwards, two people came out from each of the gates opposite to each other. Mario came out from one and Kirby came out from another one. "Thank you very much!" Mario said to his fans while waving at them. "I am vely glad that-a you all support-a me!"

"Booooooooooooo!" cried a loud voice from among the audience that sounded familiar to him.

Kirby stood on the tip of his feet and waved at the crowd with both hands. "Hi, everyone! Nice of you all to cheer for me!"

"Boooooooooo!" Like with Mario, a voice that sounded familiar to Kirby cried out from among the crowd.

Also sitting among the audiences were Princess Peach and Princess Zelda, and the former was cheering for the Italian plumber. "You can do it, Mario! I'm rooting for you!"

"Even though I'm not really cheering for anyone here," Zelda said, "I'm still inclined to thinking that Mario will win."

"It's obvious why you would think that. Mario has been among the top fighters since the first tournament was held! Kirby isn't bad either; he's also ranked among the top!"

Mario and Kirby walked to the middle of the arena while the audience continued to cheered, and both the contestants shook hands. "Let-a theez be a good-a match!" Mario said to him. "A fair and square one!"

"No problem!" Kirby happily said. "I'm looking forward to having a fair fight with you as well! Don't hold back!"

"I won't!"

"Now if both contestants are ready to fight, would the both of you each go to one end of the arena?" Crazy Hand asked, and then both the contestants did as he said and got into fighting stances. "Okay! It looks like the both of you are ready for some brawling! If that's the case, then go crazy once the countdown reaches zero! Three! Two! One! Zero! Brawl!" And so, Mario and Kirby charged at each other.

As the two contestants battled each other, the audience went wild cheering for their favorite fighters, though occasional trash talks could also be heard.

Meanwhile, flying high in the air some distance away from the stadium, a large battleship was seen approaching. Little do the people currently in Smash World know that they were all in for the worst experience of their lifetime…

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As you can see, we are now entering a flashback that talks about the Subspace Emissary. Don't worry; I do not plan on making everything about that, since everyone who played SSBB should know the details of that incident already. The flashback will mainly be from Crazy Hand's POV, and his inclusion in the incident should be enough to let you know that things won't be entirely the same as the original, so rest assure that you won't exactly be reading a novelized version of the Subspace Emissary starting with this chapter!

Another thing that I want to let you all know is that while this story was planned to be a Negima crossover, I intended for it to be sequel to my own novelization of the Subspace Emissary, The Subspace Emissary: Remixed. However, that story uses characterization from my Super Smash Bros. series, and because I decided that I want the characters to be closer to their canon counterparts, that idea was dropped.

I hope you look forward to the next chapter!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Violet Invasion**

**Trivia:  
**1. The reason this chapter's title has words Great Melee in it is because the Japanese title for the series is called "Nintendo All Star! Great Melee Smash Brothers".


	104. Violet Invasion

**Chapter 103  
Violet Invasion**

* * *

With a thrust from his palm that created a burst of fire, Mario sent Kirby shooting bafck through the air and out of the arena. The pink puffball flailed his stubby limbs in an attempt to stop the momentum, but he failed and thus went through an invisible boundary. Of course, he didn't know that he went through the boundary, but Crazy Hand knew very well where tfhe boundary was, and he said out loud through his microphone, "Kirby has gone out of the boundary! He's KO'ed!"

The part of audience that was rooting for Mario roared with excitement upon learning that he had won the match. "Yes! Mario won!" Peach happily exclaimed while clapping her hands really fast.

"I knew he would win!" Zelda said. "However, Kirby put up a good fight as well! It was still a close match!"

Despite losing the fight, Kirby still had a cheerful look on his face as he walked back to the arena and shook hands with Mario. "Congratulations! You've won!"

"That-a wuz a great fight!" Mario said to him. "You fought-a well!"

"You fought well too! It's no surprise since you've always been one of the top fighters in the history of this tournament!"

"Don't forget that-a you're also one of da top-a fightas as well!"

Suddenly, Kirby noticed something appearing over the stadium. "Hey look!"

"Huh?" Mario curiously turned around to see what the puffball was pointing at, and he was surprised to see a giant battleship approaching. "Mamamia! Eezn't that-a da Halberd?"

"It is! What is it doing here?"

Everyone in the stadium looked up with awe and curiosity at the massive battleship flying through the air, and then it stopped and remained hovering in place. "What'sthis?" Crazy Hand said while looking at the battleship. "It appears the famed battleship belonging to Meta Knight has suddenly appeared over the arena! Maybe I didn't need to say the last part of that phrase due to its obviousness… Heheh…"

A small portion of the bottom of the Halberd opened, and everyone watched with curiosity at the strange purple particles that fell out of it and onto various parts of the arena. Mario and Kirby took a step back while continuing to keep their eyes on it. "What are theez?" the Italian plumber wondered.

The purple particles gathered together into several piles, and from each of the piles, strange beings consisting of gray bodies and black heads appeared. Not knowing that they were, Mario and Kirby got into defensive stances in case they were dangerous. "I have a bad feeling about this…" Kirby said in a worried tone.

Once all the purple pile of particles had transformed into the same strange beings, they all charged at the duo while flailing their arms at them in a threatening manner. Mario and Kirby didn't have time to think of anything else; they immediately got ready to fight these strange beings.

One of the strange beings threw a punch at Mario, but the plumber easily dodged it before swinging his fist into his face to knock him away. The strange being disintegrated into the purple particles that it transformed from shortly after falling onto the ground. "What are they!" Mario asked. "And why are they attacking uz!"

"I don't know!" Kirby said as he attacked another one of the strange beings with a roundhouse kick. "Meta Knight never told me about having these stored in the Halberd! Plus, unleashing them at us doesn't look like something he would do!"

Some of the audiences actually believed that this was part of the tournament, and thus they cheered for both Mario and Kirby. Even the ones who didn't think that this was part of the tournament cheered for them, knowing that would be able to defeat these mysterious intruders. "You can do it, Mario!" Peach shouted. "Show those… those… weird people a lesson!"

Sitting among the crowd was Wario, who was neither cheering o booing. Instead, he had a malicious look on his face, the kind of the look that implied either he was glad with what he was seeing or this is something that he planned all along.

Sitting in another part of the stadium was Dedede, who was staring with wide open eyes at what was happening. "This… This…! So this was what they stole the Halberd for?"

"What do we do now, Your Majesty?" the Waddle Dee with a blue bandana asked him.

"If only I have known that things would turn out like this, I would've told Master Hand or whoever is in charge of this world about it! Looks like it's my fault that all this is happening… I thought that if I ignore it, nothing bad would happen…"

"It was a wrong decision after all."

"You don't have to remind me that! Anyway, let's get out of here first!"

"Why?"

"Just do as I say!" Dedede then stood up and left with the Waddle Dee, who took one last worried look at the arena before leaving.

Meanwhile, Crazy Hand was shouting in the direction of the Halberd. "Hey you, Meta Knight or whoever is currently in there! You better give a good explanation for this! I wasn't told of any surprise happening in this match! You're breaking the rules by doing this, do you hear me?" He didn't get any reply, however. "DID YOU HEAR ME!"

Back in the arena, Mario and Kirby were still taking on the strange beings, and though there were several of them, they were all too weak to take down the two powerful fighters. Not too long afterwards, all the strange beings were defeated. "Is that-a all?" Mario asked while looking around.

"Seems so," Kirby said, and then he looked up and saw something. "Hey, there's someone coming out from the Halberd!"

Mario looked up and saw someone covered in head to toe in clothing flying toward the arena, and carried underneath him was a large metal ball. "Doesn't look like-a anyone I know," Mario said. "Hey you! Who are you and why are you doing theez?"

The mysterious person didn't give any reply, however. All he did was drop the metal ball he was carrying onto the floor, and then two robots showed up from behind the ball and stuck their hands into the slots that were at both sides of it. "Those are Robotic Operating Buddies!" Kirby said.

The Robotic Operating Buddies, or R.O.B's for short, opened up the metal ball by pulling back, and inside it was a device that resembled a clock due the LCD timer on it. "That-a looks like a bomb!" Mario said, and then he looked at the flying person. "You're planning on blowing up theez place, aren't you?" The person didn't give any reply. He gave one last look at the two R.O.B's before flying back to the Halberd. "Hey! Answer me!"

"Mario! We better do something about that bomb, assuming that it is one!" Kirby said in panic.

"Okey-dokey! Leave eet to me!" Mario said as he ran in the direction of the bomb, but all of a sudden, a cannonball was shot in his direction from behind. By the time Mario turned around to look at it, he was struck in the body and sent flying very high into the air until he was no longer in sight. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"MARIO!" Kirby asked. "But how on earth did he fly that far? Oh yeah, we're still in the arena, where the physic used for the tournament is activated!" Suddenly, there was the sound of screaming coming from the audience, and he turned and saw a monstrous plant standing among them. "Whoa! What the!"

Everyone screamed and ran for his or her lives at the sight of the plant monster with a massive head. Peach and Zelda, who were standing the closest to him, moved back in shock, and the former recognized him. "Petey Piranha!"

The plant monster, Petey Piranha, slammed down a pair of cages he was holding in each of his leaf-like hands onto the two princesses, and the bottom of the cages were immediately magically sealed up to keep them inside. "What the!" Zelda said in shock.

"Hey! Let go of us!" Peach shouted while pulling the iron bars.

Kirby ran in the direction of Petey, who then jumped down from into the arena to face him. "Hey you! Pick on someone who actually knows how to fight!" he angrily said to the plant monster.

"Is that implying that we don't know how to fight?" Zelda asked, a bit offended by what she just heard.

"Um… Well… You don't really fight as well as me…"

Petey let out a roar that made Kirby jump back, but then the pink puffball angrily stepped forward with a hammer in his hand. "I'll make you let go of them if you…" Before he could finish speaking, Crazy Hand went flying into Petey in the form of a fist and punched the plant monster so hard that he dropped both the cages and went shooting backwards.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

When the cages hit the ground, their doors swung open, so both the princesses were freed. "Thanks a lot, Crazy Hand!" Peach said to the giant flying hand.

"No problem! A guess this is worth a kiss, huh?" Crazy Hand said.

"No time for kisses and all!" Zelda said to him. "That bomb is about to reach zero!" The others turned to the bomb and saw that it was just like Zelda said.

"Uh oh… We better get out of here fast!" Crazy Hand suggested. "Everyone else has already escaped, so we better do the same." The other three nodded in agreement, but the moment they made a move, a black arrow suddenly struck Peach from behind.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed.

"PEACH!" Zelda and Kirby gasped.

The princess of Mushroom Kingdom glowed with bright yellow light after getting hit by the arrow, and when the light disappeared, she became immobile and was standing on a golden disk. As the other three watched in horror, Wario suddenly showed up next to the frozen Peach and picked her up with ease. "Hahaha! Surprise, eh?"

"Wario! What did you do to her!" Crazy Hand angrily asked him.

The fat man showed him a large black gun that he was holding. "This is the Dark Cannon! Using this, I can turn people into lifeless trophies!"

"How can you do that!" Kirby angrily asked him.

"Go talk to my superior if you want to know why I did this!" Wario said as he turned around to get ready to leave. "If you don't plan on getting caught in the bomb's explosion, then you better make a run for it! I'm sure as heck getting out of here right now!"

"The bomb! We almost forgot about it!" Crazy Hand as he turned to the bomb to discover that there was only about ten seconds left."

"See ya!" Wario said as he made a really fast dash for the door at the side of the arena.

"Peach!" Zelda shouted as she gave chase, but Crazy Hand stopped her.

"Forget about her for the moment! We've got to save ourselves first!" he said in panic. "But if you insist on going after him, then I'm out of here first!" After saying that, the hand flew into the air by himself.

"Hey! Don't leave us behind!" Kirby shouted at him. Because it was obvious that the hand wouldn't come back for them, and there was no time left, the puffball quickly got out a cell phone and dialed a number combination on it. Immediately after the dialing, a warp star came flying in his direction from the air, and he hopped onto it. "C'mon, Zelda! Grab hold of my arm!" The princess quickly caught Kirby's arm and was carried into the air by him the moment the timer on the bomb reached zero.

When that happened, a massive purple explosion occurred and slowly engulfed the entire stadium. Crazy Hand, after getting far enough from the stadium, turned around and saw the massive explosion that swallowed the stadium whole. "Whoa… What in the…! I can't believe it…!" When the explosion stopped growing in size, it remained there in the form of a purple dome. The hand looked at it for several seconds, but it never went away. "Okay… So I take that it's either going to stay there forever or last for a while… I don't have time for staying around here! I should go and tell Master Hand about this first!" So he quickly flew off.

As he was flying through the air, he noticed the Halberd flying over the city built for the people who came to Smash World, and it was releasing the purple particles all over the place. When he looked down at the city, he saw the people there running for their lives from the strange beings that were created from the purple particles. There were also other kinds of strange beings, some organic in nature and some mechanical, that he never saw before.

"Oh my god… What is all this about…!" Crazy Hand said in disbelief when he saw the sight.

Down below, screams and cries for help were heard throughout the place as the people scrambled all over the place in panic. Some ran out of the city while some ran indoors. Some even tried to defend themselves in whatever they way they could. Though there were some people who were capable of defending themselves, they ultimately fell to the Dark Cannons that some of the strange humanoid beings were carrying. Transformed into lifeless trophies, the strange beings picked them up and headed in random directions.

"Hoa! I'm under attack by evil forces!" a king dressed in yellow cried out loud. "Link! Save me!"

The Link lookalike standing next to him cried in a rough voice that seemed to suit someone like Ganondorf more, "No!" Then he ran.

"Hoa! Link! You fail!" the king cried in disappointment, and then he was shot from behind by a Dark Cannon.

The more Crazy Hand saw the chaos going on, the more he couldn't tolerate it. "That does it! I don't care who's inside the Halberd at the moment!" he angrily sad. "I'm going to destroy it!" So he flew in the direction of the battleship. "Meta Knight or whoever is inside! Get ready to pay for your troublemaking!"

As he got closer to the Halberd, he noticed Kirby and Zelda standing on its deck and was surprised by the sight of it. The two of them were running in the direction of the large cannon seen on the deck, but then they suddenly looked into the air to see the sight of four Arwings flying in their direction. "It's Fox and his team!" Kirby said.

"Star Fox! Good! A bit of help is always nice!" Crazy Hand thought.

Inside one of the Arwings, Fox contacted his comrades. "Everyone! We do not know who is controlling the Halberd. Whoever is inside, we should interrogate him or her first before striking it down, so be careful that you don't destroy it!"

"I prefer taking it out right away, but I'll do as you say," Falco said.

"Roger that, Fox!" Slippy replied.

"Don't worry, Fox! We won't take it down right away!" Krystal replied.

The four Arwings then went in separate directions and started shooting the battleship in various parts, and the cannons that were attached to the sides of it fired back, but they either dodged them or deflected them with barrel rolls. Fox flew his Arwing in the direction of the largest cannon on the deck while shooting it constantly. "I should take out that one first!" he thought.

As he got closer to the cannon, a mechanical arm built at the side of it suddenly launched itself at the approaching jet. Because it was fired so suddenly and also moved really fast through the air, Fox was caught off guard by it. Luckily, he responded fast enough to avoid a direct hit, but his Arwing's wing was unfortunate enough to get torn off by it. The Arwing spun through the air with one side giving off fire and smoke while descending downwards. "FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOX!" his comrades gasped in horror upon seeing what happened.

"Oh no! Fox is in trouble!" Kirby gasped. However, the puffball and the Hylian princess could do nothing but watch the Arwing fall through the sky in the distance.

"Fox! I'm here to rescue you!" Crazy Hand shouted as he flew towards the Arwing, but all of a sudden, something appeared and forcefully pushed him back. "Hey! What's the big idea!" He looked up and saw that it was Ridley.

"Wouldn't it be more fun to see if he survives the crash?" the Space Pirate leader asked. "I'm hoping that he doesn't! Heheh!"

"Ridley! What are you doing here? Master Hand never resurrected you or brought you to this world!" Crazy Hand said in shock. He then looked at the Arwing and saw that he was too late; it had already struck the ground. Luckily, there was no explosion, so there was hope that Fox might still be alive. "Let's hope he's all right… Okay, now you've got some explanations to do!"

"Let's just say that someone far more powerful than Master Hand brought me to this place!"

"And who can that be?"

Before Ridley could reply, an explosion was heard. Crazy Hand turned around to see a purple dome expanding and swallowing the city, just like what happened with the stadium. "What the!" The dome eventually stopped growing in size and stayed there.

"If you want to know who brought me here, fly in there," Ridley told him. "There's a chance that you'll run into him right away."

Crazy Hand turned to him and said, "You're just trying to make me fly to my death! No way am I going to fall for that!"

"Don't you want to find out who the person stronger than Master Hand is? It's all right if you don't want to. I can kill you here right now so that you'll never get the chance to see him!"

"Ha! Like you can actually kill me! However, I don't want to miss the chance to see who that guy is, so I'm going in there!" After saying that, Crazy Hand turned around and flew into the purple dome.

Ridley stared at where Crazy Hand disappeared into for a few seconds and then said, "Reverse psychology works all the time, eh…?"

* * *

After flying into the purple dome, Crazy Hand found himself flying through an eerie place that could be described as a black void. The ground was made from unknown substances that gave off pinkish-purple light.

"What is this place…? It gives me the creeps…" Crazy Hand said as he flew through the air. After a bit of flying around, he saw a man glowing with blue light hovering high above him. "Who are you?" the hand asked him.

"I am the man responsible for all that is happening at the moment!" the man replied. "You may call me Tabuu! You should consider yourself lucky to know about me because only a few people know that I am behind this. Ridley, for example! Wario, on the hand, has no idea who he really is working for!"

"So you're the one responsible for those time bombs, eh? How kind of you! Not! Just what are you thinking of doing? And what about the Halberd? Did you managed to convince Meta Knight to join you as well? I doubt he's the kind of person to do evil!"

"It is as you said: Meta Knight is not the kind of person to do evil. Indeed, he has nothing to do with this. We simply stole the Halberd from him in order to carry out our plan!"

"Hijacking someone else's battleship is soooooo fun, isn't it? And just what is your plan? Blowing up stuff and creating giant purple domes? What are you trying to do? Crowd this world with those things?"

"I am a being who can only exist in Subspace, the place we are in now. Therefore, I plan to bring pieces of the outside world to this place and fit them together to create an ideal world where I am the ruler! Those time bombs are Subspace Bombs; they are used for creating explosions that will bring whatever gets caught in it into Subspace. You should probably know that already when you flew into it and came here."

"Well, that explains a lot! So in summary: you can't go outside, so you plan to bring stuff in here so you can take over the world, eh? That's like forcing the ice-cream man to come into your house so that you can buy ice-cream from him because you're too lazy to go outside! At least you have a good reason for not going outside to rule the world yourself… Anyway, what you said doesn't make me happy. Taking over the world is so clichéd! Since we don't allow that kind of activity around here, I'm going to beat you up right now! I probably don't even need to ask older brother for help!"

"By older brother, do you mean him?" Tabuu said as he raised his arm, and then another hand was pulled up in front of him. Crazy Hand was shocked when he saw him.

"What! Master Hand! What is my brother doing here?"

"Why don't you try to figure out yourself? It shouldn't be too hard!" Tabuu said as he moved his hands to make Master Hand charged at Crazy Hand to attack him.

Crazy Hand avoided him and said, "Hey! What are you doing? Why are you attacking me?" Master Hand did not reply, however; he turned around to try to punch Crazy Hand, but he once again avoided him. "Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"Shouldn't you have figured it by now?" Tabuu said as he moved his hands in a way that made Master Hand fold himself into a gun and fire bullets at him.

Crazy Hand dodged them and then came to a conclusion. "I got it now! You're controlling him, aren't you?"

"Exactly as you said!" Tabuu said, and then golden energy strings connecting from his fingers to Master Hand's back appeared.

"So you are controlling him after all! Let go of my brother at once!"

"But he's helping me accomplish my plan! Wario is one of those people who think Master Hand is behind everything, but Ridley is one of those who know that I'm actually the one!"

"How dare you use my brother like a puppet! Don't you dare go ruining his image! I'll make you regret it!"

"Then try to free him if you can!"

"You bet I will! I'm actually more powerful than my brother, and I'm going to prove it to you right now!" Crazy Hand angrily shouted as he charged at Tabuu, who continued to use Master Hand to fight.

* * *

After a fight that lasted for several minutes, Crazy Hand crashed onto solid ground and tumbled down a lengthy staircase. The hand grunted in pain as he slowly floated a few centimeters in the air. "Ugh… That blue guy… He's strong…!"

Tabuu said to him from the top of the staircase. "You claim to be stronger than you older brother, but I do not see that much of a difference. Perhaps a bit stronger than him, but such a difference is not enough to stop me! My power is above the both of you!"

"Curse you!"

"Since you are badly injured, I have no use for you! In order to assure that you do not go around doing things that may ruin my plan, I shall turn you into a trophy! Rest in peace like with all the other victims that were brought here by the Subspace Bomb!" Then purple butterfly-like wings appeared behind Tabuu and released shockwaves at him.

The hand cried loudly as the shockwave blasted him back through the air, and then with a burst of light, he was transformed into a lifeless trophy while the villain laughed loudly and evilly.

* * *

Crazy Hand opened his eyes and looked around with a blurry vision, and he could make out several people in front of him. When his vision finally cleared, he saw that it was Mario and most of the participants of the Smash Brothers Tournament. "What happened…?" the hand asked. "And you guys…? Mario! What are you all doing here? How did you get here anyway? In fact, what is everybody doing here?"

"We just turned you back-a to normal," Mario said to him. "We worked togetha to get-a here. We've also learned about-a Tabuu."

"Right," a teenager-looking Link said. "Even Ganondorf, Bowser, and Wario are helping us after having learned that they were tricked by Tabuu all along."

"I see…" Crazy Hand said. "Oh yeah, what about Master Hand? Since you know about Tabuu now, you should have met Master Hand as well."

"He's over there," Captain Falcon said, pointing to the unconscious hand not lying too far away.

"Brother!" Crazy Hand said in shock as he quickly rushed over to see him. "Brother! Are you all right? Speak to me quick!"

"He's all right," Peach said to him. "He's just unconscious. I'm sure he'll return to consciousness soon."

"All right, if all of you are ready, then let's go and teach that Tabuu guy a lesson!" Wario angrily said. "All this time, I've been made silly by Master Hand when he said that he was going to give me lotsa cash for helping him! That blue guy will pay using him to trick me! Though admittedly, I did get a kick out of picking on some of you here and turning you into trophies." This made his former victims give him glares.

"Right, let us go now," Fox said. "He managed to take away quite a bit of this world into Subspace already, so we must stop him before it's too late!"

"He shall pay!" Crazy Hand angrily said. "Not only for messing with our world and this tournament, but also for using my brother as a puppet!"

"You look afta Masta Hand," Mario said as he adjusted his hat. "We'll deal with Tabuu." With that, the participants, known as Smashers, went up the staircase to face the battle that would determine the fate of the world.

* * *

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tabuu cried in pain as he clutched his hands over his chest. After a long battle against the Smashers, his body finally reached its limit from all the attacks he received. "NOOOOOOOOOOO! I WAS SO CLOSE! I CAN'T…! I CAN'T… LOSE… HERE…! GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The Smashers shielded their eyes with their arms as a burst of light came out from Tabuu's body, and then the entire place started shaking violently. "This place must be falling apart!" Sonic said. "We need to get out of here fast!"

"But how?" Luigi asked.

Tabuu continued to scream and trash around in pain as his body released even more light. With one final scream, his body disintegrated entirely, and then spheres containing the worlds that were taken into Subspace floated out from the mass of light that stood where he originally was. The Smashers, despite the shaking, couldn't help but glue theirs to the sight that was happening before them.

Suddenly, rays of light pierced through Subspace's dark atmosphere. More and more rays of light poured down into the place until the Smashers were completely blinded by them.

* * *

The crowd was filling the air with cheers of excitement, confetti, and balloons as the parade car carrying the heroes and heroines who defeated Tabuu and restored Smash World to normal went down the road in between them. The heroes and heroines waved their hands at crowd, all of them feeling great from having so many people cheering at them. "Thank you very much!" Mario said out loud. "We are very glad that-a every one of you are all right-a!"

"Theez eez probably da first time I got so many people cheering for me!" Luigi said, looking at some of the people in the crowd holding up signs and banners showing his name and picture.

The Smashers who originally committed atrocious acts to the very people that were cheering for them felt proud; they did not feel a single shame for anything they'd done. Wario was showing off his muscles while Bowser waved happily. Ganondorf simply stood still with a smile on his face and his arms crossed. Even though doing good things wasn't something that he would ever think of doing, at least for those who weren't from the Gerudo tribe, he still felt good having so many people were praising him.

* * *

The day after the celebration was over, it was time for everyone to pack things up and return to his or her own worlds. There was a long line of people standing in front of Master Hand's mansion; they were all waiting to be transported back to their own worlds.

The line led all the way somewhere inside the mansion, where the World Light was seen in the center of a circular room. A red alloy was standing in front of the controls and performing necessary adjustments to send people back their own worlds. People from the same world entered it together as a group, and then the next group of people would walk up in front of the light and wait for the adjustment to be made before stepping into it.

"I hope you all a safe trip home!" Master Hand said to the people as they made their departure. "I also hope that you had a great time here!" Suddenly, he noticed a bit of a ruckus coming from the line, and he went over to see that it was caused by Ganondorf. "Hey! What's with you? Behave, would ya?"

The king of darkness glared at him and said, "You brought me back to life so that I could enter this tournament, and know you are sending me back to my own a world, a world where I was already dead! The moment I step through the light, I will instantly return to the land of the dead, isn't it?"

"That's the case for you only. I made it so that you go will back to the grave when you return to your world. After all, you are nothing but a troublemaker in there!"

"I am the man deserving of the title of the King of Hyrule! You are not forcing me to go back to my grave! Change the coordination! I'm not going back to somewhere that will instantly kill me!" Ganondorf shouted as he pushed aside people to make his way to the controls, but Master Hand quickly flicked him into the World Light. "No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Good thing the World Light is set to his version of Hyrule at the moment," Master Hand said.

Zelda said to him, "Thank you very much, Master Hand! It's kind of you to have thought of this! If Ganondorf were to return alive to our world, then we do not know how much trouble he would cause again."

"Yeah, and I went through a lot to put an end to his evil schemes…" Link said.

"Don't worry; I've thought of everything, so rest assure that your world will still be a peaceful one where Ganondorf only exists in its history!" Master Hand said to them.

* * *

Eventually, everyone walked through the World Light to return to his or her own worlds. Master Hand let out a sigh of relief and then said. "Well, that's that… It's quiet around here again… Let's hope everyone made it back to his or her own worlds safely!"

Crazy Hand went up to him and said, "I have a feeling that someone went with the wrong group into the wrong world…"

"Who?"

"I think it was a fat shopkeeper dressed in orange… Can't remember very well, though… Maybe I was just seeing things… Anyway, what say we hold another tournament someday in the future! It was great! I really love this tournament!"

"Nah, it's too much trouble. Honestly saying, I didn't think that we would hold a third one. I thought that it would be over with the second one."

"But the unexpected happened, right? We should definitely hold a fourth one! After all, you can never have enough Smash Brothers!"

"Yes you can! All right; let's not talk about that anymore. I want to take a rest…" Then Master Hand left the room.

"Oh well… Maybe he'll change his mind someday…" Crazy Hand said as he followed him.

* * *

The next day, Master Hand was looking at a row of Light Essences placed on a table. Crazy Hand went up to him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"We didn't distribute all the Light Essences before everyone left…" the older hand replied.

Crazy Hand looked at the essences. "Yep, seems so… So what are you going to do about them?"

"We can keep them here, but a part of me is telling me to still give them away somehow… I wanted to give them all as souvenirs to some of the participants before they leave, and I'm the kind person who insists of accomplishing something he or she said… I simply don't feel right that I didn't accomplish what I said…"

"So what are you going to do about it? Use the World Light? Unfortunately, the World Light cannot transport objects properly. Unlike living things, they will be transported to random places of their destinations."

"At least it's better than never reaching that world. If we're lucky, we may end up sending them into the hands of the Smashers, so let's give it a try anyway!"

"Well, if you say so… Don't blame me if some of them end up in an abandoned castle, the bottom of a chasm, or places like those…"

* * *

Time passed by ever since that day, and everything was quiet and peaceful in Smash World for the hands. Inside the mansion, Master Hand was watching a special kind of TV that was capable of broadcasting every channel in existence while Crazy Hand was trimming a false beard put on a mannequin's face. Why he was doing that was beyond anyone's comprehension.

Suddenly, they sensed something, something that reeked of evil…

Master Hand turned to Crazy Hand asked him, "You felt that?"

"Yes! It totally reeks of nastiness!" the younger hand replied.

"It's coming from the back of the mansion! Quick! Let's go there!" So both the hands rushed over there at once. When they got there, they saw that a door had appeared. "What the!"

"Dude! What is this I don't…!" Crazy Hand said in surprise.

The Hands watched as the door slowly opened, and then ten people stepped out from it. Those ten people were Fawful, Sigma, I.M. Meen, Exdeath, Mr. King, the Emperor, Dracula, Rez, Marx, and M. Bison.

"Well, look what we have here!" the Emperor said upon seeing the hands.

Master Hand watched in silence while Crazy Hand asked, "What…? Who are you guys?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As you can see, a lot of the Subspace Emissary was skipped, though I don't think nyone is really going to complain about it because they already know about the incident. You can simply look up Smash Wiki if you aren't familiar with it.

**Next chapter: Invasion of Evil**

**Trivia:  
**1. In the previous chapter, the wrong story about Mario, Luigi, and Peach going to Dinosaur Island is a reference to the last episode of the Super Mario World cartoon where Yoshi tells Luigi to tell him about how the latter found him.

2. Crazy Hand's comment about someone going to the wrong world explains why Morshu is in The Wind Waker world.

3. One of the Light Essences really did end up in an abandoned castle. Mother 3's Light Essence…

4. The "No" cried out by CD-i Link is done in CD-i Ganon's voice. Youtube Poops are well known for making characters saying other people's phrase and speaking in other people's voices after all.

5. The conversation between Master Hand and Crazy Hand about never having enough Smash Brothers is based off a conversation between Iwata and Sakurai. Iwata says that there can never be enough Smash Bros., but Sakurai denies it. Apparently, the latter doesn't remember saying that anywmore.


	105. Invasion of Evil

**SBS Time!  
Lunar Wave: **The fanon portrayals are done quite nicely.  
**Game2002: **I prefer canon portrayals.

**Chapter 104  
Invasion of Evil**

* * *

The invaders who came to Smash World fought their hardest against the pair of hands; however, they were ultimately no match for the both of them. It wasn't to say that they were completely overwhelmed without putting up a challenge whatsoever. While they did manage to hold up against the fierce attacks of the hands pretty well and even scored some damage against them, the hands were still too much for them in the end.

"Doh… And he told us that he took them out without that much of an effort…" I.M. Meen said while lying on his chest.

The Emperor grunted in pain as he struggled to keep himself standing on one knee using his scepter. "It would appear that we highly underestimated them…"

"Perhaps it only makes sense for such strange beings to come with such strength…" Dracula said while panting heavily due to fatigue. "While I may have no problem coming outdoors during evenings, I'm afraid that I cannot use my full strength unless the moon is entirely out…"

"Argh…! I can't believe that I lost to a pair of giant white hands!" M. Bison angrily said while struggling to stand back up.

"Fawful has painfulness…" cried Fawful, who was lying on the floor with his eyeglasses slightly cracked.

Crazy Hand laughed at the defeated villains. "Hahaha! Is that all you've got? I used only two-fifth of my full power, and even that seem overkill! No challenge at all!"

Master Hand was more serious about this matter, however. "You people came into this world all of a sudden, and from our backyard, no less. You may have told us who you are, but you have not told us the person who sent you here nor have you told us your intentions. I demand that you tell me everything now, or else do not blame us for not showing mercy! We do not take invaders and evildoers kindly around here!"

The villains glared at them, and while they felt bitter about their loss, they were too weak to continue fighting, and they admitted inside themselves that they really were not match for these hands. Just then, a voice came out from the door behind them. "Do not pressure them any longer. I shall show myself at once!"

"Ah, so the leader himself is here!" Crazy Hand said in delight. "Can I please beat him up?"

"Stay calm, Crazy," Master Hand said to his younger brother. "I shall interrogate their leader first." Both the hands watched as the leader stepped out from the door, and they were shocked beyond their minds upon seeing who it was. "Wha…! What! It's… It's… It's you!"

"That blue guy!" Crazy Hand gasped.

"Yes, it is me," the man who stepped out from the door said, "the ex-leader of the Subspace Army, Tabuu! It's been some time, Master Hand and Crazy Hand!"

"But how? You're shouldn't be able to step out here if you can only exist in Subspace!" Master Hand said.

"That's true," Tabuu said with a nod, and then he turned around to face the door. "That was until I came face to face with an evil power called the Darkling."

Upon hearing that term, both the hands were even more shocked than when they saw him alive. "WHAT! DARKLING!" Master Hand gasped.

"Isn't that the embodiment of evil that was sealed away a really long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time ago?" Crazy Hand said. "Dude! How did you manage to come face to face with them?"

"Let's just say that the Smashers didn't quite put an end to me for good back then," Tabuu said, "and I somehow ended up in that place. The Darkling showed their respect to me, and it would appear that exposure to them eventually gave me the ability to exist outside of Subspace. The power of Darkling are supposed to benefit evildoers after all!"

"I don't care how you managed to obtain the power of the Darkling or how you got to the Forbidden Realm!" Master Hand angrily said. "I'm going to destroy you once and for all right here and right now! We hands are bestowed with the ability to destroy Darkling, and it was our ancestors who sealed them away a long time ago! I shall not let the efforts of our ancestors become undone!"

The hand charged at Tabuu in the form of a fist really fast, but surprisingly enough, the villain managed to stop him in his tracks using both hands. However, Master Hand himself was still powerful enough to push him back a few yards; even the villain had to admit it in his head. However, he still smirked, and then wings came out from his back. By the time Master Hand realized it, he was too late to do anything. "Off Wave!" Tabuu shouted, and then powerful shockwaves struck Master Hand at point blank.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Master Hand screamed in pain as the attack blew him back through the air really fast.

"Brother!" Crazy Hand gasped.

While Master Hand was still flying through the air, Tabuu suddenly appeared above him through teleportation and slashed the air with his hands rapidly to hit him with energy blades.

"STOP ATTACKING MY BROTHER AT ONCE!" Crazy Hand angrily shouted as he charged at Tabuu from behind. The villain turned around and threw a large energy shuriken that sliced him in the palm rapidly while pushing him back. When the hand managed to shove the shuriken away, he was instantly hit by Tabuu when the villain charged into him with an energy blade in his hand. Tabuu then caught him with a golden whip and slammed him against the ground over and over before flinging him in the direction of the mansion and through the wall.

CRAAAAAAASH!

"Ow… He's more powerful than before…!" the injured hand thought. "I didn't perform this badly against him back then! I can't believe it! Ow…! I should've used my full power right from the start, and now I'm too hurt to do so… I better call for help…" So he quickly got up and went deeper into the mansion.

Tabuu smiled evilly as he watched the hand leave the scene. "You're not getting away nor are you calling for help!"

Crazy Hand rushed into the room of the World Light and immediately started adjusting the coordinates on the control panel. "Mario! Link! Samus! Anyone!" he said in panic. "I don't care what you're doing at the moment! Just get over here and help us!"

"You won't be calling anyone for help!" said the voice of Tabuu from behind. Crazy Hand turned around to see him swinging a whip at him, so he quickly got out of the way, and the whip destroyed the controls.

"NOOOOOOO!" Crazy Hand gasped in horror.

The control panel short-circuited, but the World Light activated anyway. Crazy Hand was delighted when he saw that was still working, but that quickly changed when the light suddenly died down. "No… It didn't work… No…" Then he turned to see Tabuu with his wings spread out, and the wings released shockwaves that blasted him through the wall and out of the room. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Thinking that he taken care of the hand, or at least disabled him for the time being, Tabuu turned to where the World Light originally was and said to himself, "I cannot jump to conclusion that he really did fail in summoning anyone. This is a precaution that should be taken into consideration, though I do not actually think it will be that big of an issue. For the time being, the pests here are taken care of. Nobody can interfere with our plans now!" Then the villain started to chuckle, which gradually turned into an evil laughter.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

"Because I wasn't blasted at point blank like what happened with Master Hand," Crazy Hand said, coming closer and closer to the conclusion of the story, "I only got knocked out for a short period of time, but I still felt pain all over… Luckily, I wasn't turned into a trophy… I guess he lost his powers to do something like that ever since his first defeat…"

"So… the World Light…" Reimu asked. "You intended to summon some of the participants of the Smash Brothers Tournament to help you, but Tabuu stopped you from doing so?"

"Right… I honestly thought my attempt at summoning someone using it was ruined… The control panel is still being fixed at the moment… However, the fact that you girls showed up here must mean that the World Light actually did succeed in summoning someone. It just that it didn't summon anyone I know nor did it bring them to Smash World…"

"So hold on…" Marisa said. "The fact that we were taken out of our world by the World Light… actually happened… by chance?"

"True… The damage done to control panel messed up the coordinates, so the World Light ended up picking a random target. It was all entirely by chance that you girls got chosen… Think of it as winning a lottery… Heheh…"

"I see…" Remilia said. "So it's not like we're chosen on purpose or anything. It all happened by chance… I say… we sure are lucky… or unlucky…"

There was a silence among them for several seconds, and then Marisa said, "You know? I was kinda hoping that it's because you knew about us all along, so you chose us because you know that we have the power to defeat them… Either that or we are the chosen ones by some kind of prophecy… You get what I mean-ze…"

"Well, isn't this just great…?" Reimu grumbled. "We got taken out of our world totally at random… What is the chance of something as random as this happening!"

"There are more than a million different universes and dimensions in existence, so the chance of you girls getting chosen is something like one out of a million," Crazy Hand replied.

"Right… Like what Remilia said, we reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally are lucky to get chosen… or unlucky…"

"Perhaps it was fate that the World Light picked us up after all," Remilia said.

"You and your talk about fate… You could've manipulated fate so that this wouldn't happen…"

"How am I to know that something like this was going to happen? I can't see the future, you know."

"It's no use getting frustrated about this anymore," Youmu said. "Now that we're here, we might as well do what we should do."

"Right! Take down the bad guys to stop them from taking over the universe!" Sanae said.

"You're really looking forward to doing this, aren't you?" Aya asked her.

"By the way, where's Master Hand?" Alice asked.

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot about him!" Crazy Hand said. "Thanks for bringing that up! I'll take you girls to see him, but please refrain from disturbing him. He's currently resting. Follow me." So the hand led the girls out of the room and up a wide staircase.

They traveled all the way to the second highest floor of the mansion. Cirno looked at another set of staircase leading to an even higher floor and asked Crazy Hand, "Where does that lead to?"

"The attic," the hand replied. "There's no point in going up there. And no, I'm not hiding anything suspicious from you. Seriously, it's just the attic; there's nothing to look at there unless you are interested in old, useless junks. Well, some of the stuff up there might be useful…"

"Okay, okay… We believe you… No need to keep on saying it…" Reimu told him, and then the hand led them down the hallway until they came to a large door.

"Actually, it's okay if you make lots of noise," he said before pushing the door open. "It's not like he's going to wake up all of a sudden. He's in a deep coma, and I did try to wake him up by screaming at the top of my voice and doing noisy stuff next to him, but nothing worked…" Then they all went into the room.

Inside, the saw a large white hand lying on a bed, and there were several wires and tubes connecting his body to the various medical equipments around him. "So that's Master Hand…" Reimu said.

"Doesn't look any different from Crazy Hand," Marisa commented.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Crazy Hand said as he approached the unconscious Master Hand, and then he started trashing around on the floor like crazy while making silly sounds. "! GUAGUADGUASDGUASDUGASDKLF! MUADFUQWHAHAHAHAHADSFHKGAGAGA!"

The girls looked at him with strange expressions, and Cirno asked, "What's he doing acting like a madman…?"

After Crazy Hand was done, he turned to the girls and said, "See? Told you it didn't work."

"Yes, yes… We can see that…" Reimu said.

The girls gathered around Master Hand's bed to look at him, and Reisen asked, "How's his status? I know a bit about medication, so I can help look into things if you want."

"It's all right," Crazy Hand told her. "I got the best medical alloys to treat him already, and they did the best they could. There's nothing we can do for the time being. All we can do now is to wait for him to wake up by himself."

"How long as he been like this?" Nitori asked.

"A few weeks already."

"The exact same amount of time we left our world," Alice said.

Because there was nothing else to do in the room, Crazy Hand led the girls out into the hallway. "So… is there anything else you want to talk about?" the hand asked them.

"I have something I want to ask you about," Reimu replied. "Have you ever heard of Darkling?" The hand stopped moving upon hearing this. "So I take that you know, right? Tabuu told me that they are the embodiment of evil itself, but can you please spare me the details?"

Crazy Hand remained silent for a few seconds, and then he said, "He's right… Darkling… They are the embodiment of the evil of the whole universe… The moment sin came into this world, they existed, and so long as mankind exists, they will continue exist."

"Why?" Marisa asked.

"Because evil is part of human nature… There is nobody in the world that isn't a sinner. Every one of us is born a sinner, so our existence is what makes the Darkling exist. Every time someone is born into this world, a new Darkling is born."

"Interesting…" Remilia commented.

"I have to agree with you…" Aya said. "I can't deny the fact that I haven't done anything sinful in my life…"

"True," Sanae said with a nod. "Nobody is perfect."

Crazy Hand went down the hallway with the girls following him while continuing his story. "Millenniums ago, there was a great battle between the hands and the Darkling. Because they are the very embodiment of evil itself, Darkling cannot simply be destroyed by anyone. We hands, however, have the power to smite them down, so it was our ancestors that defeated the Darkling and sealed them away to a dimension known as the Forbidden Realm, and they are still there even to this day."

"Then how did Tabuu obtain the power of the Darkling?" Reimu asked.

"I don't know how he did so, but it's not impossible for someone to enter the Forbidden Realm. The entrance to that dimension is hidden in certain places of every universe; they are simply invisible unless the magic words are recited. The atmosphere of that place is considered too putrid and unhealthy for good people to step into, but for evil people, it's not an issue. It is said that the Darkling will show their respects evil people who go there, so I believe that is how Tabuu was able to obtain their power and make them see him as their leader."

"Then how come that organization never unleashed sent any Darkling after us?" Youmu asked. "You said that not everyone can defeat the Darkling. Wouldn't that make it easy for them to take us down using them?"

"Because Darkling cannot exist in pure atmosphere, which is the outside world. In order for them to do so, the world needs to have a foul enough atmosphere."

"If Tabuu wants to take over the world using the Darkling, then how is he going to do so if the Darkling cannot come to the outside world?" Nitori asked.

"I don't know, but perhaps he is trying to fill the world with enough evil or something like that. I don't know if such an act is possible, though…"

"He did say that he is going to fill the world with enough evil to allow the Darkling to exist in the outside world," Reimu said. "If he can say that, then that means there really is a way."

"If that's the case, then action needs to be taken quick! We cannot allow him and his organization to succeed! It's no joking matter if the Darkling once again come out to this world! The battle between the hands and the Darkling back then lasted a really long time, and there were many sacrifices. We must not let the efforts of our ancestors be put to waste!"

"Don't worry; you count on us to stop them!" Sanae said with confidence.

"Yeah! I'm the strongest, so I can defeat those bad guys for sure!" Cirno boasted.

"So we're going to fight evil itself next, eh?" Remilia asked with an enthusiastic look on her face. "I must say, this is going to be really interesting!"

"C'mon! We have to get ready and go beat them up at once!" Crazy Hand said out loud. "Everyone, grab your pitchforks and torches! We're going to… Ah!" Suddenly, the hand felt a large amount of pain all over himself and then fell over.

Shocked, the girls quickly gathered around him, and Reisen asked him in panic, "What happened! Are you all right?"

"Get the medic… Quick…" the hand weakly replied. The girls quickly searched the place for someone who could help him, and it didn't take long for them to run into some alloys, who immediately came over to carry the hand to his room and settle him down on his bed, and then they immediately got medical equipments to treat him.

"I'm sorry for scaring you girls…" Crazy Hand said to them. "The truth is… I haven't fully recovered from Tabuu's attack… Even though I wasn't hit at point blank, the attack still dealt quite a bit to me… I may look like I'm all right, but actually… my whole body is in a pretty bad state… I guess going crazy next to my brother made things worse…"

"You should've put more concern into your own body next time…" Reimu said to him.

"But being crazy is what I'm best at… Well, I guess it really got the better of me… Heheh… Guess I won't be able to help you with your quest to defeat Tabuu and his merry friends…"

"You can leave it to us!" Sanae told him. "We will fight Tabuu and his men for you, not to mention stopping them from taking over the world using the Darkling!"

"But what do we do if they use the Darkling against us?" Nitori asked. "I'm very sure that we cannot do anything to them."

"That's where the Smash Essences come into play," the hand told her.

The girls took out the glowing orbs and looked at them. "You mean this?" Alice asked.

"Yes."

"These things will help us defeat the Darkling?" Youmu curiously asked.

"Indeed, but… you'll need to unlock that ability first… You see, during the third tournament, there was this thing called a Smash Ball, and it allowed the contestants to unleash their most devastating attacks that can allow one to easily turn the tables of a battle. They are called Final Smashes. Okay, to be precise, not everyone's Final Smash really helped them turn the tables… Some of them weren't all that useful…"

"I take that these Smash Essences are similar to the Smash Ball thing you mentioned, eh?" Aya asked.

"Close, but Smash Essences are more of personal items. Smash Balls grant their powers to whomever breaks them, but Smash Essences will only lend their powers to chosen ones, and one will need to unlock them first in order to use their Final Smash."

"Chosen ones?" Alice asked. "I'm just reminded of something… We noticed that all the Light Essences have color schemes that match each of us girls here, and when they transformed into Smash Essences, they each went to the girls with color schemes that match them. For example, I received the Smash Essence that transformed from the Light Essence found in the Pokemon world, and that essence has color schemes similar to my hair and clothing."

"I don't know the exact details, but I heard that the Light Essences are able to tell who the chosen ones are. They originally come in gray, or silver, but their colors will change if the people who are they are destined to transform in Smash Essences for come into range."

"I see…" Meiling said. "No wonder Captain Falcon said that the essence of their world wasn't originally its current color…"

"So we are the chosen ones…?" Nitori asked. "But I thought you said the World Light…"

Crazy Hand interrupted her. "Like I said, I don't know the details. There are still some things about the Light Essences that I do not know about. Perhaps Master Hand knows more, but you'll have to wait for him to wake up first if you want to learn more about them."

"You didn't say how the Smash Essences are supposed to help us fight the Darkling yet," Alice reminded him. "I assume that we have to use Final Smashes given to us by the essences in order to fight the Darkling. If that is the case, wouldn't it be overkill to have to use devastating attacks to take out even a single Darkling?"

"You just reminded me of that! Almost forgot about that… Anyway, that's not how it works. While it is true that Final Smashes can destroy Darkling, there is no need to force yourself to use them to destroy them all the time. After unlocking your Final Smashes, you will obtain the ability to destroy Darkling with your normal attacks! Cool, ain't it?"

"That's good to know!" Marisa said.

"But wouldn't that mean we cannot do anything to them at all before we unlock our Final Smashes?" Youmu asked. "That would make it hard for us to travel around in the Dark Realm, wouldn't it?"

"True, that's the problem… However, while Darkling cannot be killed using normal methods, they are still capable of feeling pain and even getting knocked out, so feel free to push them back with your attacks and run before they get back up again. Don't worry; most Darkling aren't very powerful or threatening, so you should have no problem evading them. Keyword: Most."

"That last line doesn't make me very comfortable…" Reisen said.

"Another use of the Smash Essence is that it'll protect you from the evil atmosphere of the Forbidden Realm. Like I said, the atmosphere of that place is unsuitable for good people. You're likely to fall sick and die if you stay there too long, so make sure that you keep the Smash Essences with you at all times until you use your Final Smashes. The essences disappear after their power is unlocked, and there is no more use for that. That also means you cannot use your Final Smashes anymore…"

"So I guess we better put them to good use in order avoid wasting them…" Aya said. "How do you unlock their powers anyway?"

"That's something you need to find out yourself, but I heard that their powers are unlocked during dire situations or something like that. I don't know the details, though…"

"I have a feeling that it's going to be the hard way…" Reimu said in an uncomfortable tone. "Anyway, I know you're worried that the villains may start their plans anytime soon, but may we ask for permission to stay here for a day before setting out? It's not that we don't feel like fighting them… It's just that… we're not exactly sure if we are up to the task to defeat them yet…"

"That's unlikely of you to say something like that," Remilia said to her.

"Actually, I have to agree with Reimu," Alice said. "We actually lost against members of that organization before. They are without doubt formidable opponents, so if we do not prepare ourselves well enough, we may very well lose against them again."

"True, I believe that we need to become stronger first," Youmu said in agreement. "We need a bit of time to train and prepare ourselves for the upcoming battle."

Crazy Hand bended his fingers slightly as his method of nodding and said, "I understand. It's true that one should be well prepared before facing off against powerful opponents. Don't worry; I won't rush you. You can feel free to set off tomorrow. Let's just hope that it's not too late… If you want to, I can get the alloys to prepare training programs for you to participate in."

"Speaking of the alloys… We're sorry for killing quite a few of them back out there…" Sanae said. "Not to mention the ones that came before them…"

"That's not a problem. Actually, the polygons, wireframes, and the alloys back there are actually clones. Currently, there are eight alloys living with us here, and they are the original. The ones you fought back out there all act under orders and do not think of anything else. The ones in the mansion have their own minds, however."

"That's a relief to hear!"

And so, under Crazy Hand's command, the alloys took the girls outside so that they could begin training.

* * *

For the rest of the day, the girls did the best they could to prepare themselves for the battle against Tabuu, his men, and their army of Darkling the next day. They knew very well that the fate of universe currently depended on them, so it was a battle that they could not lose no matter what. It was something that had to be taken to the utmost seriousness.

Marisa spent her time at the town's library, looking up books related to magic so that she could further improve her magical skills. Her bad habit got the best of her as she tried to run out of the place with some books, but the security system kicked in when she got close to the door. Metal doors slammed down in front of the glass door, and the same thing happened with the windows. The voice of a computer warned her about not putting down the books within a limited amount of time. Not wanting to get into unnecessary trouble, Marisa put down the books and decided to be a good girl for the meantime.

Alice found out about a shop that formerly sold and made dolls, and being a doll-maker, she thought it was a good idea for someone like her to be in there to work on her dolls. For the rest of the day, she made her busy with the doll-making materials and machines inside the store's workshop.

Meiling returned to the gym she and her mistress previously went to, and there, she forced herself to do all sorts of intense workouts that were considered impossible for average human beings, such as doing one-handed pushups while holding a 300-pound weight on her back.

Her mistress, on the other hand, didn't really take training all that seriously, though it wasn't to say that she did absolutely nothing. She also spent her time at the gym, training in a more relaxing method like reading a magazine while pulling a pulley that had a 200-pound steel mass attached to one end of it using only pinky finger.

Aya was busy improving her flying speed. As the fastest of Gensokyo, she had always boasted and felt proud about her speed, but that was until she met Sonic. While she never claimed to be the fastest in the world or the universe, she still felt humiliated to lose against someone who raced on his feet. In order to improve herself, she had a blue alloy use a stopwatch to check the amount of time it took for her to fly from one place and then back. She set herself with records, and if she wasn't satisfied with it, she would try again. If satisfied, she would set a different time and location.

Nitori made herself busy in a workshop, a place that made her feel at home. While her specialty lied in the manipulation of water, she could not deny the fact that she mostly relied on the power of science and technology to fight, so she worked all day on improving her current artillery, as well as creating new ones. She thought that it might be a good idea to make the best of her natural ability by combining them with technology.

Under her request, Youmu found herself facing against the Fighting Alloy Team of the Cruel Brawl difficulty. She was disappointed with her performance back when they fought the endless army of highly-skilled alloys, so she wanted a rematch where she would fight more seriously, and fought seriously she did. Indeed, she fared much better than before, and while the alloys did manage get some good hits out of her, they were eventually getting struck down more and more easily by the half-phantom swordswoman. The swordswoman grew more and more confident about her skills, but she knew that it wasn't enough; she had to train even harder.

Reisen spent her time training at a shooting range, shooting targets that either stood till or moved around. Shooting had always been her specialty, so she had no problem hitting the exact center of every single target, even the moving ones. When she asked for a more complex method of training, the yellow alloy accompanying her gave her what she asked for by putting her into a maze-like area where she had to find and shoot down all the targets in a limited amount of time. Without any hesitations due to knowing that she had to improve in whatever way she could, the lunar rabbit ran throughout the maze in search of the targets.

Cirno was also training herself at the same shooting range, though she was doing something different. She was training herself against targets that shot back. The ice fairy played defensively by forming an ice wall to defend herself from the opposing projectiles, and she would step out from behind it to shoot the targets whenever it seemed safe to do so. At higher difficulties, the targets' projectiles were actually strong enough to pierce the ice wall, so the fairy was forced to move around to avoid getting hit, all the while shooting down the targets. She did get hit a few times, but surprisingly enough, the shots weren't fatal at all, albeit painful.

Even though she was a shrine maiden, Sanae thought that she never had the same level of spiritual powers and concentration like Reimu. Thinking back, never once did she attempt to summon Kanako and Suwako to aid her in battles. When she tried to do so currently, she found out that the two goddesses didn't come. She thought that it might be because she was currently in a different universe that she couldn't summon them. Believing that she might be able to succeed if she concentrated harder, she shut herself inside dojo in order to meditate in silence, not to mention strengthening her spiritual powers.

Reimu, like Youmu, requested to fight the Fighting Alloy Team of the Cruel Brawl difficulty as her method of training, but because that currently taken, she found herself facing the Fighting Wireframe Team of the Cruel Melee difficulty instead, and facing off against them was just as tough as facing the alloys. Like Youmu, she fared much better than the first time, being able to avoid most of their attacks and taking them out with more ease. There was an alloy standing nearby to stop the wireframes if the shrine maiden was having too much trouble with them.

And so, everyone was busy trying to get prepared for tomorrow, stopping only to rest for something to eat and turning in for the night. Remilia, on the other hand, took her training more seriously during the middle of the night by fighting the Fighting Alloy Team of the Cruel Brawl difficulty. Needless to say, she performed a lot better than when she fought them during the day.

Crazy Hand himself wasn't simply recuperating on his bed. Because the girls might be going to the Forbidden Realm tomorrow, he had to locate one of the many entrances to that place as fast as possible. Because he was feeling better than before, he searched for a location using the mansion's largest and most powerful computer, and in order to speed up the process. There would be no point to their training if they did not know where to go, and to wait for the villains to make their moves first and show themselves would be considered too late. It didn't matter whether or not he felt sleepy; Crazy Hand had to force himself to stay awake until he located one of the entrances to the that place.

Fortunately, it didn't t him more than an hour to finally find an entrance. "So it's over there…" he said as he stared at the computer screen. "I guess that explains how Tabuu might have gotten there in the first place…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope this chapter explained some things. I bet you're probably looking forward to the Touhou girls' Final Smashes, right? Let me tell you this now: They're all going to be brand new moves. Look forward to them!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Girls are Prepared**


	106. Girls are Prepared

I wanted to bring this up in the chapter this was mentioned, but forgot… Anyway, in case some of you haven't noticed and figured out yet, the fat shopkeeper mentioned in Chapter 103: Violet Invasion is the same Morshu seen in the Zelda arc, and the reason that he is in that world instead of his own world, Koridai, is because… Well, I'm sure that you've figured it out by now…

**Chapter 105  
Girls are Prepared**

* * *

All the villains of Tabuu's went to the highest floor of the castle, where they got close to the side of the balcony before turning to look at the tallest tower. There on the top was an antenna that reached up high into the black sky filled with mysterious purple swirls. The antenna was giving off of purple aura. "It's getting close to completion," Tabuu said with an evil smile. "Going at this rate, it should be ready to be used by the end of tomorrow."

"The wait is coming to an end, but let's hope that it is all worth it in the end," the Emperor said.

"Do not underestimate the sinfulness mankind has to offer in the universe," Exdeath told him. "With about millions of universes out there in existence, there is no way the entire universe won't be corrupted once we activate this thing."

"Indeed," Tabuu said with a nod. "The Darkling will soon be able to enjoy the corrupted atmosphere of every single universe in existence. All shall experience the terror that they brought upon themselves, and whatever we do, there will be nobody to stop us!"

"A world where nobody will interfere with us! Fawful likes it that way! Fawful has chortles! Geehehehehehe!" Fawful said with delight.

"I shall eliminate all the humans in my world, as well as anyone who dare oppose me!" Sigma said. "Soon, my goal to create a utopia for machines shall come true!"

"All the kids in the world will no longer be able to study and learn once I take over the universe! Yahahahahaha!" I.M. Meen laughed. As he continued laughing, the other villains gave him strange looks, but then they ignored him and continued looking at the antenna.

"This is all very good," Rez said. "However, I have something else that will make some of you happy, I think."

"And what would that be?" Tabuu asked him.

"Follow me," Rez said as he led the villains into the castle. I.M. Meen was still laughing like crazy about his soon-to-be-fulfilled dream, and it wasn't until they all went into the door did he realized that he got left behind, so he quickly followed them while angrily saying that nobody told him they were leaving.

Rez led everyone into the lab where Mooshoo Pork was putting the final touches to a cylinder-shaped capsule with a chair next to it, and both these things were connected together via wires. "Is this what you want to show us?" Tabuu asked him.

"Yes," Rez replied. "I call this the Mind-to-Reality-O-Matic."

"What's with that name…?" Mr. King commented. "It sounds like something out a kid's TV show, not to mention a name a mad scientist would come up with."

"Criticize on the name however way you want to, you will surely find this thing very useful!" Rez told him as he approached the machine. "This thing has the ability to bring to life something from within your memory. All you have to do is sit on the chair and put this metal ring on your head, and then you must concentrate on thinking of someone or something until the capsule opens up to reveal whatever you had in your mind. While it's true that we can revive our dead henchmen using the Darkling, but suppose there are henchmen who are still alive out there, or the person you want to revive isn't considered evil enough to be revived by the Darkling? That's when this thing comes to play!"

"I see… A very interesting creation indeed!" the Emperor commented, pleased with what he heard.

"If you summon a person, he or she will retain all the memories of the real one," Rez continued. "It should be noted that the person or thing created will disappear if exposed to damage of extreme proportions. Other than that, the thing created will be exactly like the real thing. On the side note, the created person will know that he or she is not real thing."

"So let's say I think of a henchman from the world I came from," M. Bison said. "A replica of that henchman will be created, and he will know that he works for me and all, right?"

"Exactly!"

"Interesting! It just so happened that there are two particular henchmen I want to bring forth! Don't mind if I try it out first!"

"Feel free to use it!" Rez said as he moved away for M. Bison to sit on the chair, and then he took off his hat for Mooshoo to put the ring onto his head. "Now close your eyes and concentrate hard on thinking of the images of your henchmen." M. Bison did as Rez said. After a few seconds of forming images of his henchmen in his head, the capsule door opened, and a large amount of white smoke was released from the inside. "Ah! It worked!"

M. Bison quickly got up from the chair to look at the entrance, and he saw the silhouette of two men coming out of the capsule behind the smoke. "You created us right, boss?" asked one of them, and a smile appeared on the former Shadowloo leader's face when he heard the familiar voice.

* * *

After the battle against the flying head of a hawk, whose mouth also served as a door that she stepped into, Cirno ran down the hallway to get ready for the final battle. At last, her chance to become praised by people as a heroine was getting closer and closer, and she wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by no matter what. She arrived at the end of the hallway, which ended with an edge, and looked at the vast room before her eyes.

At the far end of the room was the enemy that she was to defeat—a frog named Wart. Dressed like a king, Wart laughed upon seeing the sight of the ice fairy and said, "So you're the one coming against me? I was expecting someone more heroic-looking when I heard that someone was coming to defeat me! Hahahaha! I don't know whether to laugh or be disappointed! Well, I just laughed…"

"Wow! A man-sized frog!" Cirno exclaimed. "You're the bad guy causing trouble to this world, right? I, the strongest fairy in Gensokyo, and perhaps the whole world, is going to defeat you and become a heroine! Get ready to meet your maker!"

The frog laughed even harder upon hearing this. "Hahahahaha! You're really making me laugh! How can a little girl like you hope to defeat me? I'd really love to see you…" Before he could finish speaking, an ice beam was fired at him, and it froze him in a block of ice.

"Haha! I win!" Cirno, who had her finger pointing at him, said. The ice fairy celebrated her easy victory for a short while before heading over to where Wart was and then going past him. There was a door behind him, so she went into the room behind it to see a vase with a cork plugged into its opening. Curious as to what was inside vase, Cirno went over to it and pulled the cork as hard as she could until it finally came out with a pop.

When the cork was pulled out, several small fairy-like beings dressed in red flew out and said to Cirno simultaneously, "Thank you for defeating Wart and rescuing us!"

"So you are the ones who asked me to help save your world, eh?" Cirno asked. "So that means I'm a heroine now?" The fairy-like beings nodded with a smile, and the ice fairy threw her arms into air and shouted for joy.

Soon afterwards, all the other citizens of Subcon, all resembling fairies dressed in red, were freed. Cirno stood on top of a tall podium and waved happily at the citizens of the world that she just saved while they praised and threw confetti at her constantly. In the further back, one could see Wart being passed from one citizen to another until he was thrown out of the window.

It was a day to be remembered in Subcon, and also a day to be remembered by Cirno.

Crazy Hand, some alloys, and ten of the Gensokyo girls were having breakfast at the dining room, and as they were doing so, Cirno came into the place with a cheerful look on her face. "Good morning, everyone!"

"You sure woke up late…" Reimu said to her. "I was thinking of going to wake you up."

"I just saved a world, and the people of that world are constantly praising me! It feels so great to be praised by them that I forgot it was all dream!"

"I see that you're enjoying the Subcon Pillow, eh?" Crazy Hand said to her.

"Sure did! Even if it's just a dream, it still feels great to be called a savior of a world!"

"Feel free to use it again when you go to sleep! I can let you take it back to your world if you want to!"

"All right! Thanks!"

"Wouldn't it be boring having the same dream over and over again…?" Marisa asked her.

The girls continued their breakfast for a while, and then Crazy Hand said, "If you girls are ready after this, I'll take you to where the entrance to the Forbidden Realm is."

"You found out where it is?" Aya asked.

"Yes, and it's not far from here either. Since you girls can fly, there's no need to prepare vehicles for you or anything, I think. It won't take long at all for us to get there."

No sooner after he finished saying all these, all the girls except for Cirno finished their breakfast. Because the ice fairy came last, it took her longer to finish. When she was finally done, the girls told Crazy Hand they were ready to set off anytime, so the hand led them on their way. When they left, Crazy Hand took with him a large scroll.

* * *

It didn't take them too long for the group to arrive at their destination. After exiting the city of Smash World, they traveled straight forward for a few minutes and eventually came to a cliff in front of the sea. "Nice view here!" Aya commented while looking around the place.

"What's that?" Cirno asked, pointing at a peculiar thing in the distance. Everyone looked and saw that it was a giant X made of light floating in midair.

"That's the Isle of the Ancients," Crazy Hand replied. "That island was destroyed by a large amount of Subspace Bombs setting off at once, and because of that, it was unable to be restored when Tabuu was defeated, unlike the other places that were swallowed by them. It's a sad story, actually…"

"Why's that?" Youmu asked.

"It was an island inhabited with robots known as R.O.B's, but when Tabuu took over, they were forced to work for him and sacrifice themselves in order to set off the Subspace Bombs. Their leader, who also participated in the tournament, had no choice but to submit himself to him in order to save his race, but he eventually got fed up with his own kind getting sacrificed, so he turned against Tabuu and joined us in the battle against him. After the battle was finally over, that robot is the only one left of his kind."

"Where is he now?" Nitori asked.

"He felt guilty for lending his hand to the enemies. Even after doing all he could to make up for his mistakes, he still could not take that feeling off his mind, so he asked us to transport him somewhere using the World Light. It was a burden for him to stay in the very world that he helped the enemies ruin. Because we set the location to random, we do not know where he went after stepping into the World Light. We never heard from him ever since… Anyway, that's not important. C'mon, follow me."

The hand and the girls flew off the cliff and in the direction of the X, but then the hand stopped halfway and opened the scroll, and he told Youmu and Aya to help hold it up by both its ends. The characters written on the scroll was a complete mystery to the girls; even Sanae could not relate it to any language she knew of. Crazy Hand, on the other hand, understood what was written on it, and he read it out loud. However, what he said was just as much of a mystery.

"BLAKDFADSFLKADJFKQWEIRJFH !" he chanted.

"Um… What kind of language is that…?" Marisa asked.

"It sounds more like gibberish rather than an actual language…" Sanae commented.

When he was done chanting, a burst of purple light suddenly appeared in front of them, much to surprise of the girls. "It's the same kind of door those villains used for making their exits and entrances!" Nitori said when she saw what had appeared.

The door slowly opened, and inside, they could see nothing but darkness filled with purple swirls. Crazy Hand looked inside. "Yep, it is the Forbidden Realm, and Dark City can be seen far in the distance."

"Dark City?" Reimu asked.

"It's a torn down place where the Darkling currently make their home at. Don't ask me why there is a city; I have no idea. Anyway, remember to keep your Smash Essences with you at all times. Because you cannot destroy Darkling until you used your Final Smashes, run from them. The best you can do is to knock them out or stall them, but don't waste your time trying to slice them into pieces, blow their brains off, or pound them into pancakes. They will not die no matter how hard you try."

"Got it," the shrine maiden replied with a nod.

"As for how to come back out… Don't worry; I have my own way of keeping watch on you all, so I'll come to rescue if you need me or if you're done with your business. Aye… If only I'm in a good condition, then I could've helped you more…"

"The fact that you offered us information and helping us find our way to the Forbidden Realm is a big enough help," Youmu said to him. "Thank you very much for everything you've done!"

"Yeah! You've helped us a lot in doing this already!" Nitori said to him.

"Don't worry! We definitely won't disappoint you! We'll save the world for sure!" Marisa said with confidence. "Leave everything to us-ze!"

After hearing from the girls that they would definitely defeat the villains no matter what, Crazy Hand became more relieved. "While I may not have known you girls for very long, I still feel like I can put my faith in you. The fact that you managed to make it through the threats of the eleven worlds definitely proves something. Well then, good luck to you all! I hope to hear good news from you soon!"

"You can count on us to bring you good news!" Reimu said to him. "Just remember to come and pick us up when we're done."

"I will! You can count on me!"

With that, the girls entered the Forbidden Realm, and then the door closed and disappeared. Crazy Hand remained hovering in front of where the door used to be for a short while before returning to his mansion. When he finally did, he saw a green alloy jumping up and down in front of the entrance as if something big had happened. "What's up?" Crazy Hand asked him, and the green alloy responded in his gibberish-like language. "What! Master Hand? He…!"

* * *

Hiding behind a tree, Snake peaked out from behind the trunk to look at a relatively simply building not too far in the distance that was surrounded by barbed fences. When he received a call from his codec, he answered it. "This is Snake."

"This is Otacon," said his friend's voice from the other side. "Have you made it to the destination yet?"

"Close; now I just have to quietly make my way up to it. The fact that it is totally unguarded makes it look suspicious, though… I'm even starting to wonder if Ocelot is actually hiding there at the moment…"

"Well, from the information we gathered, he was last seen arriving at this place. Whether or not he's still there, it's still a good idea to go inside and take a look. Even if he's not there, we may still be able to find some clues."

"You have a point. Okay, I'm going to sneak in there now."

"Better be careful, Snake. Make sure to scan the area for any possible traps and alarms. Even if it looks like there is nothing, there might actually be something hiding in places you can't see."

"You're speaking to someone who knows a lot about stealth, you know? Anyway, thanks for the advice. This is Snake, signing off." With that, Snake ended the codec conversation and then took a look at the building's surroundings again.

Just when he was about to make a move, he noticed a purple gap appearing within the building's boundary, and Yukari came out from it. The moment her foot touched the ground, a massive explosion occurred, and it triggered a chain of explosions that more or less covered everywhere within the boundary.

KABOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAM! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Snake quickly hid behind the tree again and closed his ears due to the noise almost shattering his eardrums. Luckily, his hiding spot was outside of the blast radius, so he was completely unharmed.

When the explosions finally ended, Snake turned around and saw a large amount of smoke at where the steel gates once were. "Mines…" he thought. "I doubt Ocelot is in there anymore… He wouldn't put mines around his base because there is the possibility that he may get caught in it, unless the distance between the blast radius and the building is far enough so that the explosion won't hit it… Still, it's doubtful that he's actually in there… He must've figured out that I was might find my way here, so he planted mines all around it. Good thing I brought a mine detector, and then that woman suddenly popped out of nowhere and…"

Snake ran up to the smoke and stood in front of it to see if he could find anything left of the woman, even though he believed that there was no way anyone could survive several mines setting off almost one after another. He was proven wrong when he heard coughing and saw a silhouette within the smoke. "What! She's still alive!"

He took a step back as Yukari, charred from head to toe and with a really messy hairstyle, stepped out from the smoke. "Geez… All of the places I have to come out from, it had to be a minefield…" she grumbled. "At least I survived, and no surprise that I'm capable of surviving it too…" Then she saw Snake.

The both of them stared at each other in awkward silence for several seconds, and then Yukari said, "Hello! Nice to meet you! Um… Did I surprise you?"

"What are you! How did you survive all those mines setting off!" Snake asked. "There's no way any human being can survive something like that!"

"True, no ordinary human beings can survive that, but demons probably can."

"Okay, so I take that you're some kind of a demon… Not like it's my first time seeing one, so I don't see anything reason not to believe you, especially after seeing you survive something like that…"

"Not the first time seeing demons? You met demons before? I take that this world has demons as well, or do you mean…?"

"I'm not one to take folklores and myths seriously, so I doubt demons actually exist in this world, though I did meet a group of girls that had demons among them."

Hearing this, Yukari became surprised, but she didn't show it on her face. "A group of girls with demons among them? Let me guess… Is there one that can sprout crow wings? How about one resembling a Chinese woman?"

"Fits their descriptions all right… So I take that you know them?"

"I know them, and I'm searching for them to take them back to their own world, or my world. I've been traveling from world to world looking for them for a long time already, but every time I arrive at a world, I find out that they have already left… Let me guess: They already left this world, right?" Snake only replied with a nod, which made Yukari sigh in disappointment. "No surprise… I've gotten used to this already… It looks like I'm bound to be one step late all the time…"

"They're heading to Smash World next, and from there, it's likely that they'll go back to their own world. They're trying to head back to their world as well, you know."

"I'd figure that they do something like that; it's just that I didn't expect them to be jumping from world to world all the time… I thought I could at least catch up with them and learn more about their situation… I'm able to tell the general direction they are in by sensing out Reimu's spiritual energy, but I guess it's not working very well, even though I did reach the right places…"

"Perhaps you'll find them for sure at Smash World. That's likely to be their last location."

"Let's hope so… Well, thanks for the information! I'll be taking my leave, then! It's best to leave early so I don't miss the chance to catch up with them again. Bye-bye!" With that, Yukari created a gap to step into.

After the gap disappeared, Snake stared at where it used to be for a few more seconds before tapping into his codec. "Otacon, this is Snake."

"What is it, Snake?" replied his friend's voice.

"You won't believe what happened just now…"

Within the gap, Yukari sighed and then said, "What a mess I got myself into… I spent weeks traveling around the gap zone and from world to world in search for those missing girls and the shrine, only to be a step late all the time… I almost starved to death once, and then I stepped into a minefield just now! Guess I should clean up myself first before continuing the search… Smash World… What a peculiar name…"

* * *

Ran was walking down the hallway of the Yakumo's house when she suddenly heard Chen calling out to her. "Mistress Ran! Come outside and look at the sky! There's something strange up there!" So she quickly head outside to see what her shikigami was talking about.

"What is it?" she asked as she looked up into the air, and she saw what Chen was looking at. "Oh my god…"

What she saw was a large crack spread across the sky of Gensokyo. It was not only the both of them who saw such a sight; pretty much everyone in Gensokyo saw the same thing when they looked at the sky. Some knew what it was, but some had no idea.

"Is that what I think it is?" Chen asked. "The Great Hakurei Barrier is starting to break apart?"

Ran nodded in response. "I'm afraid yes… The Hakurei Shrine and its shrine maiden have been gone for too long, so the barrier is starting to weaken… At this rate, it will only be a few more days before the it entirely disappears…"

"Why is Mistress Yukari taking so long? It shouldn't take her that long to find them, should it?"

"I'm wondering about that too… Let's hope everything is all right with both her and those missing girls… Let's hope they all come back to Gensokyo before it's too late…"

* * *

The eleven Gensokyo girls flew in the direction of the sights of building not too far away. "We're closing in on that place now," Reimu said.

"Got any plans?" Marisa asked her.

"In order to avoid getting into unnecessary conflicts, we'll stay in the air at all times unless we have no choice but to land."

"Is that the best you can think of?" Remilia asked her.

"Can't think of anything else at the moment… Having a plan is better than having none, right?"

Meanwhile, a lone person who appeared to be standing on a ride of sorts was looking at them through a pair of binoculars. He lowered his binoculars and said, "They're here…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And so, the final arc shall begin… I've been looking forward to show every one of you the final arc, and it's finally coming in the next chapter! This also means that the story is coming closer and closer to an end. It may be sad, but a story can't go on forever. I hope that you will enjoy the remaining chapters of the story!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Sinful Minions  
**


	107. Sinful Minions

I apologize for the long wait… Once again, I had writer's block, and I actually restarted this chapter from scratch two times! I have the basic outline for this chapter out already, but sometimes it's not easy trying to put in stuff that would connect things to what you planned out, if you know what I'm talking about…

**Chapter 106  
Sinful Minions**

* * *

The villains were gathered together inside their hideout, waiting for whatever news their minions might bring them. When Tabuu got up and approached the balcony to look at the city scenery, Sigma suddenly received a call from his codec. "It's me. Did you see them?"

"They're here," said the voice on the other side. "Eleven in total, and they are entering the air above the city. They don't seem to have the intention to land."

Hearing this, Tabuu said, "It only makes sense that they would make use of flight to get here. Unfortunately, they do not know that even when in the air, there is no escape from the Darkling. Perhaps we should let them know about this fact. It doesn't matter whether they know it or not; it's not like they can find an easy way around this anyway!"

* * *

When the girls were finally flying over the city, they looked at a large castle with lit windows built on the far end of the place. "I take that those bad guys are inside that castle," Marisa said.

"If fairy tales and such are anything to go by, then yes," Sanae replied. "Even so, a castle like that totally screams enemy hideout to me."

Reimu looked down at the city and saw various black unidentifiable things moving around on the streets. "I don't think I want to know what those things are, so let's just keep on flying until we get there…"

"Those must be Darkling," Aya said while looking at those black things. "Come to think of it, Crazy Hand never told us what they look like, but I'll assume that most of the living things we see here are Darkling. In that case, let's try not to get their attention. We can't destroy them just yet after all."

Youmu looked up front and noticed several things flying in their direction. "I'm afraid it's too late to say that now…" The girls looked up and saw a flock of gargoyle-like creatures with black skin and purple eyes flying toward them while screeching loudly—Winged Darkling.

"What are those? Darkling?" Nitori said.

"Didn't know they can fly," Alice commented.

As the Winged Darkling closed in on them, Reimu threw several paper amulets at the one in lead and blasted it out of the sky. "That's one down," she commented. "Though if what Crazy Hand said is true, then that will only put it out of commission for a while."

The girls quickly got into fighting stances as the rest of the Winged Darkling closed in on them, and then an all-out airborne battle took place. The Winged Darkling were very weak compared to them, so despite outnumbering them by a huge margin, the girls had no problem dealing with them.

After cutting some Darkling in half, Youmu noticed that the two halves of their body fused together shortly afterwards, despite the fact they screamed in pain and fell down. "So that is how they survive if hit by fatal attacks that can't kill them…" she thought.

"Yes, so you should give up about thinking of winning here!" said a voice from behind her all of a sudden. Youmu turned around just in time to see a scythe being swung at her, so she held up the Roukanken to block it.

"It's you again!" Youmu said, looking into the face of Death.

Death moved back through the air as the girls and the Winged Darkling stopped what they were doing to look at him. "You have come a long way to reach here," he said. "This is surely something worthy of praise, but this is as far as you all go! Without the ability to strike down Darkling, you will never prevail!"

"Is that what you think?" Marisa asked him. "You shouldn't be jumping to conclusions so fast-ze!"

"Whatever power you have with you will not save you! This place shall be your grave!" Death said as he produced and threw several sickles at them. The girls dodged the incoming sickles, and then Youmu used both her swords to deflect some of the sickles before charging at the grim reaper to attack him, but he warped out of the way in time.

The grim reaper reappeared behind Aya to hit her with his scythe, but she managed to avoid it by dropping altitude and then fired some wind-based projectiles at him after moving back. Death managed to protect himself by holding up his arms and allowing them to hit his cloak. He then noticed a barrage of icicles fired at him from the side, and with multiple swings of his scythe, he destroyed them all before heading for the ice fairy that fired them.

"Cirno! Watch out!" Aya shouted.

Instead of running away, however, Cirno produced a sword of ice to fight Death. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Your arrogance shall make you the first victim!" Death said as he closed in on her for the kill, but Youmu quickly got in between the both of them and blocked his the swing of his scythe.

"Cirno! He's out of your league!" Youmu told her while holding back the grim reaper's weapon. "Don't get too cocky!"

However, the ice fairy either didn't hear what she said or ignored her; she went behind Death, still with the ice sword in her hand, and attempted to stab him in the head. "Take this!"

"Fool!" Death said as he quickly spun around and struck Cirno in the side of the head with the back of his scythe to knock her out of the air and toward the street below.

CRASH!

"Cirno!" Youmu gasped.

The ice fairy painfully got back up and groaned in pain. "Ow… That hurts…" When she looked up, she saw several black humanoid creatures with purple eyes staring and growling at her—Soldier Darkling. When she looked all around her, she realized that she was completely surrounded. There were even Darkling looking at her from the windows of the higher floors of the buildings.

Trying her best not to look daunted, Cirno stood back up and produced another ice sword in her hand. "Don't think that you have the upper hand just because you outnumbered me! And assuming that you are all Darkling, don't think that you have the upper hand as well just because I cannot destroy you yet! I, the strongest fairy of Gensokyo, will freeze you with my icy powers!"

Suddenly, the rest of the girls came down all around her. "Are you all right, Cirno?" Youmu asked her without fully facing her.

"Of course I'm all right! That blow the skeleton gave me was nothing at all!" the ice fairy replied.

"You really are too full of yourself, and I'm afraid that it will be the downfall of you."

"Youmu is right," Reimu said with a nod. "I know you want to prove that you are strong, but that doesn't mean you should go around trying to fight opponents that are way out of your league or take risks. Just focus on what you are capable of doing, otherwise you'll either hinder us or throw away your life. And no, don't talk back! I know you're going to because you're not the kind to listen to advices and learn lessons so willingly!"

Cirno pouted from being lectured, but as much as she had confidence in her powers, she had to agree that it was perhaps unwise to try to face so many enemies at once and someone who is too tough for her deal with. "Fine…" she grumbled. "I won't be so reckless anymore, okay…?"

The girls stood back to back in defensive stances as the Soldier Darkling slowly closed in on them while growling fiercely. "If the ones that can fly are anything to go by," Marisa said, "then we can be sure that these guys will be pushovers as well."

"True, though fighting them would be a waste of time," Reimu said. "Remember, until we used our Final Smashes, we should concentrate on avoiding them instead."

"True, but that doesn't mean we can't fight back at all. I'll make the way forward for everyone, and then we'll rush to the castle as fast as we can!" Marisa said as she took out a spell card and her hakkero. "Behold the power of love-ze! Love Sign: Master Spark!" She combined both the objected together to fire a massive beam at the Darkling in the front to blow them away, and when the beam disappeared, the way forward was created. "All right! Let's go!"

"Guess I'll have to say thanks," Reimu said as the everyone moved forward, but it didn't take too many steps ahead before giant black blocks suddenly appeared out of thin air and fell down, blocking their path. "Now what!"

Suddenly, a dark-skinned man wearing bulky red and brown armor and a blue visor over his face appeared out of thin air in front of the girls, so they got into defensive stances. "Who are you?" Youmu asked with her hands gripped tightly onto her larger sword's hilt.

"I am under Mr. King's order to eliminate you all," the man said. "Since you are facing your end very soon, it is only fitting that you know the name of the person who is going to make such a thing happen. Call me Dread Joker."

"This is the end of the road for you girls!" said a voice from behind, and when they turned around, not only did they see a large group of Soldier Darkling, but also a green robot riding a purple robot walker—Vile. "Might as well give up now so that you can at least have enough energy to put up a fight before you die!"

The girls got close to each other while in defensive stances, thinking of a way to get out of their current situation. "Now what?" Marisa asked.

"Flying to escape doesn't really look like an option either…" Reimu said, looking up to see Death and the Winged Darkling in the air.

"It's not like the sides are blocked off," Youmu reminded her, "so we can try escaping into those buildings instead."

"Good idea! How come we haven't thought of that?" Aya asked. "Good thing there are doors and windows for us to go through!"

"We heard what you said," Vile told them, "and while you can try to escape us that way, we're still going to give chase! No matter where you go, you will never escape us! This whole city is against you, so there is no safe place for you girls to hide!"

"Why struggle to survive when you know that your death is inevitable?" Death asked the girls. "The moment you stepped into this place, your fates are sealed! Do not defy the fate that you are destined to face! Your death will be necessary for my master and his partners to create a world where they will rule over all!"

"Not gonna happen-ze!" Marisa replied. "No way are you going to kill us so easily!"

"Right," Remilia said with a nod. "How about you prove that we will die without a doubt first before saying something like that with such confidence?"

"Very well," Dread Joker said as he cracked his fist while taking a step forward. "I shall show how true Death's words are."

"Don't leave all the fun for yourself, Joker," Vile said to him. "You'll have to leave some for me to deal with too!"

The two villains and the Darkling on the ground started to close in on the girls when suddenly the whole place shook lightly. The Soldier Darkling started looking around the place, and some of them quickly scurried away. "Huh? What happened?" Meiling asked.

"Tsk! He's coming…" Vile said in disappointment. "He's really going to take the fun out of everything… Best steer clear from him when he's here…"

"Who's coming?" Cirno asked.

"That may be true," Joker said. "However, judging from the shaking, he is still a bit of a distance away, so until he comes, we shall continue with what we plan to do."

"Looks like they're really not going to let go of us," Alice said.

"Right, so no choice but to fight back now," Aya said as she got into fighting stance. "Either that or we go with the plan earlier."

"Okay, then I'll make a way right away!" Meiling said as she quickly ran to the building at the side and punched it very hard to a large hole. "Everyone! Let's run through here quick!" she shouted, so everyone quickly went into the newly created way.

"You're not getting away!" Vile said, and then the remaining Soldier Darkling followed the girls inside, but they immediately stepped onto mines that caused green laser beams to shoot straight up and blast them away.

Nitori looked back and asked, "How'd you like my Cucumber Mines?"

Using his robot walker, Vile burst through the wall and used the walker's built-in jets on the back of its feet to slide in Nitori's direction while spinning its spike hand like a drill. Instead of running away, a pair of large mechanical arms came out from Nitori's backpack, and using its massive hands, she caught the robot walker's hand and gripped it so hard that the hand stopped spinning. "What the!" Vile said in surprise.

"Wow! You upgraded those arms, didn't you?" Marisa asked Nitori.

"Yep! I didn't stay up all night for nothing, you know?" Nitori replied, and then with a powerful yank, the mechanical arm tore off its hand.

Meiling jumped at the shocked Vile from the side and was about land a flying kick to his head when suddenly Joker appeared out of thin air, grabbed her leg, and flung her away, but she managed to land on her feet. When she looked up, she saw Joker warping in front of her and swinging his oversized fist at her, but she quickly jumped out of the way. When Meiling tried to punch him from the side, he quickly defended himself using his arm before bringing down both arms like a hammer to hit her. Meiling got out of the way, and the attack struck the floor with such a force that a large crack spread across it. "He's strong!" Meiling thought.

Suddenly, Joker warped in front of her, much to her surprise, and unleashed a series of superfast kicks. Meiling managed to bring up her arms in defense in time. The speed of the kicks was so fast that she was kicked seemingly a hundred times per second before shooting back through the air and hitting the wall next to a staircase that some of the others girls were planning to climb up. "Are you all right?" Remilia asked her.

"I'm all right, Mistress Remilia" the gatekeeper replied. "All those trainings yesterday are worth it in the end. It still hurts, but it's nothing big enough to take me out!"

"No amount of training will get you prepared for this," Joker said as his arm turned into an arm cannon and fired several missiles at them.

Youmu quickly got ready to cut the missiles, but Sanae got in front of her with a spell card in her hand and said, "I'll handle this! Earth Goddess: Shield!" The spell card released bright light, and then something appeared in front of the shrine maiden and protected her from the missiles.

When the smoke cleared, Joker saw that a blond girl inside a bubble had appeared and stopped the missiles. "What?"

The other girls were surprised to see who Sanae had summoned. "Whoa! Is that you, Suwako?" Marisa said in surprise.

The girl inside the bubble replied with a smile, "Yep! It's me!"

"Thank you very much, Mistress Suwako!" Sanae said to the goddess.

"You summoned me, so it's my job to come over and help you! I can only stay around for a short while, though, but remember to summon me whenever you need my help," Suwako told her. "Kanako is expecting you to summon her well. We're ready to lend you a hand in this!"

"That's great! With a pair of goddesses on our side, we should be unstoppable!" Aya said.

"I couldn't summon them at first due to being in a different dimension," Sanae explained. "However, I trained myself mentally seriously and eventually succeeded in summoning them. I can now do it was easily as I did back in Gensokyo!"

"Yep! That's my descendant all right!" Suwako said. "You've really improve…" Before she could finish speaking, Suwako and the bubble she was inside both disappeared.

"Whatever sorcery you pulled off just now will not be enough to help you," Joker said as he walked in on them.

"Oh yeah? Do not underestimate the power of miracles!" Sanae said as she took out a different spell card. "Sky Goddess: Thrust Attack!" Sanae then dashed forward as the spell card glowed brightly, and then another person magically appeared next to her and rammed into the unsuspecting Joker with a powerful force that made him slide back a few feet. Sanae then stepped back to allow the summoned person to deal with the rest. "Mistress Kanako!"

The purple-haired woman summoned said to her without turning back her head, "Go on ahead, Sanae! I'll hold them back using the amount of time I can stay here! Don't worry; leave it all to me!"

"Okay, but please be careful!" Sanae said before heading over to the staircase.

"C'mon! Let's get to the top of this place first!" Reimu said, and then they quickly ran up.

"You're not getting away!" Joker said as both he and Vile tried to go after them, but Kanako stood in their way.

"You're not going after them!" the goddess said.

"Out of the way, woman!" Vile said as his robot walker slid toward her to punch her with its spinning spiked hand, but Kanako slammed down her fist onto the hand with such a force that it was torn off from the body. "What!" The goddess then punched through the middle of the walker's body and sent it crashing through the air. "GAAAAAH!"

She then turned to Joker and saw him trying to throw a punch at her, but she easily stopped it with her hand. "I have to admit that you did put a lot of power into your punch!" Kanako commented. "However, such strength is nothing before a goddess!" Then she punched him in the abdomen really hard to send him flying backwards.

CRASH!

"Ugh…" Joker growled as he sat back up and looked at the goddess, who then disappeared. "It would appear that she is summoned by that green-haired girl. With the ability to summon someone that powerful, she is a threat to be eliminated first!"

The girls continued running up the staircases, as they planned to reach the top of the building, hoping that it would be easier for them to take flight and get to the castle from there. "You sure this is a good idea?" Marisa asked Reimu. "You know there are enemies in the air out there."

"How about we just try to reach the top first?" Reimu said to her.

When they reached the fourth floor, the window across the staircase suddenly burst open as several Winged Darkling flew inside, followed by Death. "Oh no!" Reisen gasped.

"I'll deal with them!" Remilia said as she flew at the Darkling and sent out red bats. "Servant Flier!" While the bats and the Darkling clashed with each other, the vampire herself went past them and headed for the grim reaper.

"I'll help you, Mistress Remilia!" Meiling said to her.

"You go on ahead!" the vampire told her without looking back. "Just leave everything here to me!"

"But…"

"Just go!"

Meiling still hesitated, but since she didn't want to defy her mistress's order, combined with the thought that she shouldn't be able to have any trouble due to her strength, the gatekeeper nodded before following the other girls.

"Die!" Death said as he swung his scythe at Remilia, but she dodged it and then slammed her claws into his body. "Ugh!" The vampire then moved behind his head and hit him from there very hard to slam him face first onto the floor. The grim reaper instantly got back up and teleported out of the way before creating and throwing several sickles at her, but Remilia managed to dodge them all with ease and destroyed ones that were actually going to hit her with her claws.

After dodging and destroying some of them, she charged straight at the grim reaper. Suddenly, Dread Joker burst through the floor unexpectedly and punched her away into the wall.

CRASH!

"Ow… That was quite a punch…" Remilia said while rubbing her face. The Wizard suddenly warped in front of her to punch again, but she managed to get out of the way in time. When she placed her feet onto the floor, she felt the whole place shaking, and it was stronger than before. "Okay, just what exactly is this shaking all about?"

Joker looked out the window and said, "He's getting closer."

Death also looked out the window. "The buildings are blocking our view of him, but indeed, he's definitely closing in on this place."

"How about you guys stop being cryptic and give me a straight answer regarding this?" Remilia said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Let me guess: Something big is heading this way?"

"You shall see for yourself the terror that you and your friends shall soon come," Death replied without turning around. "We shall leave the work of eliminating you all to him instead, and though he is on our side, it is still foolish to be in his way when he is seeking to destroy his targets." Then both the villains warped while the Winged Darkling quickly flew out through the window.

"Okay… I'll take that as something big coming this way…" Remilia said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Reimu and Marisa arrived at the rooftop and looked around the place. "We made it!" Marisa said. "But how about the others down there? Do you think it's a good idea to leave them there? I mean… they did tell us to go on ahead first, but I don't really think we should simply get here first so selfishly…"

"You do have a point," Reimu said. "Even though we got here, we can't leave until the others arrived. I really think we should be heading down there to help them instead." Then she noticed that Marisa had a horrified look on her face. "Marisa, what's wrong?"

"Uh… Look… in… front… of… you…" Marisa said while trembling violently and slowly raising her finger to point at the front. The shrine maiden turned to see what she was pointing at, and the same look of horror also appeared on her face.

* * *

Down on the street, Vile, without his robot walker due to it getting busted by Kanako earlier, and some Soldier Darkling were looking a massive black thing that was standing in front of the building the girls ran into. "Better steer clear from him…" Vile said in a scared tone. "At least that's what the boss said…" Then the Soldier Darkling quickly scurried away along with him as quickly as they could.

* * *

The Soldier Darkling whom the girls were fighting against suddenly looked out the window with a shocked expression, and then they all ran for their lives either by running down the stairs or jumping out of the windows and into the window of the neighboring building. "What's wrong with them?" Meiling wondered.

"It's the shaking…" Youmu said while looking out the window, and she could not seeing anything but blackness out there. "There's something out there… Something big…"

"What… What is it…?" Reisen asked in fear. Suddenly, the entire place shook violently, and debris immediately fell down. "Yikes!"

"What happened!" Nitori asked in shock.

"It's attacking the building!" Alice said out loud, and then the whole place shook again. "We need to get out of here fast!"

Aya looked at the windows the Darkling went through and said, "Let's escape to the neighboring building!"

"But how about the others?" Cirno asked.

"Just go first! I'm sure they'll be fine!"

The girls quickly headed for the window and flew out of it and into the neighboring building just in time before the building they were originally got smashed into pieces by something from above, and a loud roar was heard afterwards. "Whoa! Whoever just destroyed the building sure is strong!" Aya commented. "I guess that's something obvious… I wonder what that is anyway?"

Suddenly, the building they just arrived into shook as violently as the previous one. "I think it knows where we are!" Reisen said. Immediately after she said that, something massive smashed through the wall from the side and struck all the girls before they could react. They screamed as they got pushed through the air and crashed through the wall.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

This chapter was supposed to be a bit longer, but I ended it abruptly because I didn't want to show too much of the identity of the giant thing that attacked them. It will be something that you will have to find out in the next chapter, so stay tuned for it!

And on the side note, it's always spelled "Darkling" regardless of singular or plural.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Hard to Fall Because of the Size**


	108. Hard to Fall Because of the Size

This chapter's title has been changed because the new one sounds better. It was originally called Not Easy to Fall Because of the Size

**Chapter 107  
Hard to Fall Because of the Size**

* * *

Meiling got up and dusted herself as she looked around to find herself standing in the middle of the street. "Strange… I was inside a building just now. Why am I outside all of a sudden?" she wondered. "Wait a second… Something suddenly came through the wall and hit us. Maybe I got knocked outside by whatever that thing was." She looked up at a building to see a hole about the size of an average adult up on the higher part of it, confirming what she said earlier.

When she noticed sound coming from nearby, she turned to see Aya standing back up and rubbing her shoulder. "Ow…" the tengu cried. "Whatever that thing was, it sure packed a punch… I mean, it sent us flying through several buildings at once! How does that not scream powerful?"

"I guess so…" Meiling said with a nod. "Hey, where's everyone else?"

"Let's hope we didn't get separated too far from them," Aya said while looking around. "This isn't exactly an ideal place to get separated from each other…" Suddenly, she noticed someone standing at the hole on the building wall Meiling flew out from. "Hey, it's Cirno!"

Meiling looked up at the ice fairy and called out to her, "Cirno! Are you all right?"

"I'm all right!" she replied. "What are the two of you doing there?"

"What do you think?" Aya asked her. "Anyway, are the others with you?"

"Yeah, they're all here. They're mostly all right, except for Sanae. Her leg is injured quite badly due to what happened earlier."

"Is she all right?"

"I just told you that her leg is injured quite badly. Does that scream all right to you?"

"Okay…"

Inside the building, Reisen and Alice were bent down at Sanae's side, and the former was inspecting the wound on her right leg. "Other than the bleeding, it's really not that big of a deal," Reisen said to the pained shrine maiden. "It can be cured using some ointment and a bandage. Unfortunately, I didn't bring any first aid equipments with me…"

"It's all right…" Sanae said to her. "It's nothing compared to when I battled Ocelot. I can endure this."

"It's not a good idea to get injured at times like this," Alice said. "We will surely get into tougher battles in the near future, so staying in a healthy condition until then is highly recommended."

"Guess I'm not good enough for this kind of thing… Heheh…"

All the while, there were loud sounds coming from the outside, the sounds of explosions and fierce roars. Youmu was looking out the window, and she was more or less lost in speech at what she saw. "Whoa…"

Curious at what the half-phantom was looking at, Cirno went over to the same window and said, "What are you looking at? Let me see as well!" However, she stuck her head out the window a tad bit too late. She only managed to catch the site of something big moving behind a building, and in the air, she could make out Reimu, Marisa, and Remilia firing projectiles at whatever that thing was. "Oh, those three are over there. What are they doing?"

Youmu was going to tell her what she saw, but she was interrupted by another loud roar, and then sound of buildings being torn down could be heard. The entire place also shook violently, and then Aya shouted out loud, "GET OUT OF THAT BUILDING AT ONCE!"

Knowing that there was no time for questions, the girls inside quickly escaped through the window. Sanae had to be carried by Reisen and Nitori due to her injured leg hindering her flight. They managed to get out of the building in time before the massive thing charged through it and into more buildings across the street.

The escaped girls landed, and Reisen asked, "What was that!"

Just then, Reimu, Marisa, and Remilia flew over to where they were. "Is everyone all right?" Reimu asked.

"Other than Sanae, everyone's all right," Alice replied.

"I'm kind of all right," Sanae claimed.

Marisa looked at the wrecked buildings across the street and asked, "Did you see that? Man! That thing is huge!"

"What was it anyway?" Reisen asked. Before she got a reply, the girls suddenly saw a gigantic snake-like creature with long, sharp teeth and no eyes coming up from behind the buildings. They could also make out a lump of black flesh to the left of it. However, the creature was in a hunchbacked pose, so they couldn't make out the entire body.

"Let's just say that it's a giant monster… Our attacks didn't do anything to it at all…"

"Even though running from fights isn't really my kind of thing," Remilia said, "I'd say that it is still a good idea to keep away from that thing until we used our Final Smashes. I wish I am able to use my Final Smash now…"

Suddenly, the monster let out a roar before turning to the girls, knocking down a few buildings as a result and sending debris flying in their direction. "Watch out!" Nitori cried. Some of the girls held their hands over their heads as they quickly ran from the debris. Cirno looked back to see what the monster looked like, but she only saw a piece of a wall flying at her, and it hit her in the face.

SMACK!

"Waaaa…" the ice fairy cried as she fell down, so Meiling quickly carried her on her back.

"This isn't the time to be looking back, you know…" Marisa, who was running next to the gatekeeper, said to the unconscious Cirno.

Reimu turned to the side and spotted an alleyway. "Quick! Through that place! Let's hope it's not smart enough to follow us into it!" So the girls went through the alleyway, though some of them had doubts.

"Are you sure this is going to do work?" Reisen asked. "It's not like that monster can't charge through the buildings to come after us."

"Well, they say that giant monsters tend to be on the unintelligent side, so maybe it won't be smart enough to do something like that," the shrine maiden told her. "We can also hope that it doesn't have very good eyesight."

They eventually made it out to the other side, where they were instantly greeted by several Soldier Darkling. "Uh oh… Guess we ran into a… welcome party…" Marisa sarcastically said.

As the Soldier Darkling growled and started to close in on them, the ground suddenly shook. They knew what it was, so they immediately fled for their lives. "Uh oh… Don't tell me that the monster is coming again…" Nitori said in fear.

The girls slowly took steps back and got into defensives stances as the sound of stomping grew louder and louder, not to mention the shaking becoming stronger. Remilia looked up front and said, "It's here."

Everyone looked up and waited for something to show up, and it eventually did. First, a large head with purple eyes came out from behind the building, slowly followed by the rest of the body. The creature slowly turned its head to them and glared at them for several seconds in silence, and the girls also did the same. "Tha… That's the monster… that was trying to… kill us…?" Reisen asked with a terrified expression.

"Ye… Yes…" Marisa replied.

The monster then let out a roar before coming out entirely from behind the building to reveal itself entirely. With a height of fifty meters, the monster had a somewhat crescent-shaped head that revealed rows of long and sharp teeth when its massive mouth opened, massive arms that seemed to be as long as its body, and a very long tail that ended with a mouth, thus making it resemble a snake to some extent.

"Oh my god… It's just like a… giant monster seen in movies…" Sanae said in fear. "Like Godzilla and such…"

"That's the Cruncher Darkling," said a voice all of a sudden. The girls turned around to see Vile, Death, and Dread Joker standing not too far away.

"The Cruncher Darkling?" Youmu curiously said.

"Correct," Death replied. He was the one who told them the name of the monster earlier. "The Cruncher Darkling is the largest and most powerful Darkling known in existence. The reason we stayed away from him is because of his destructive nature. While he is on our side, he doesn't care about what he destroys. He even threw a piece of a building at our masters' castle out of boredom."

"And I take that the other Darkling ran from it too because they don't like the pain of being stepped on by him or something like that, right?" Marisa asked.

The giant Darkling let out another roar before running in their direction. The girls quickly jumped to the side to avoid getting trampled by him while the three villains warped away. The Cruncher Darkling turned around, hitting and destroying some buildings in the process, to look at the girls, who ran for their lives.

"Are you sure nothing works against him?" Nitori asked.

"At least that's how it was!" Reimu told her. "Marisa and Remilia even used Dragon Meteor and Spear the Gungnir respectively against him, but he didn't seem to feel a single pain!"

Reisen looked back and cried in horror, "He's coming!"

Due to his size, the Cruncher Darkling had no problem keeping a close range with them, and he swung his hand at them, but both Aya and Meiling jumped at the arm and kicked it so hard that it stopped. The monster pulled back his hand and then slammed down the other hand like a hammer, but it didn't hit anybody. Youmu then spun around and attacked with her larger sword. "Rise from Delusion Slash!"

The giant Darkling received cut from the enlarged sword diagonally across his body, but all he did was take a step back and then pretended as if nothing happened. "It's really not working…!" Youmu said in disbelief. The monster then swung his tail to the front, and as if it has a life of its own, the tail opened its mouth and reached out to Youmu in an attempt to devour her, but she quickly jumped up and slashed it from above. She was shocked to learn that the blade stopped against its skin. "What!" Then she flew back through the air to join the others. "I can't believe that I can't cut through its flesh!"

"I guess size does matter after all…" Aya commented.

"I'll handle him!" Cirno said as she turned around and slammed her hands onto the ground. "Ice Ground!" The street froze in the direction of the Cruncher Darkling, and the ice fairy was hoping that it would cause the giant Darkling to slip and fall. However, the Darkling stomped the frozen street so hard that the ice cracked, so he never slipped. "What!"

The giant Darkling brought down his foot onto her, but before the ice fairy got crushed, Aya caught and pulled her away in time. "What part of nothing works against him do you not understand!" Aya said to her.

"I was thinking that I could at least slow him down!" Cirno replied.

"For now, we should just concentrate on escaping. Quick! To the air!" Aya carried her high up into the air before letting her fly by herself. The rest of the girls had escaped up there already.

"We should be safe as long as we stay up here," Reimu said, looking down at the Cruncher Darkling, who was looking at them. Then she turned to look at the castle. "Quick! Let's head over there before anything shows up to stop us!"

The girls quickly flew in the direction of the castle while the Cruncher Darkling went after them from below. Death, Joker, and Vile were watching them from a building at the back, and Death was thinking of going after them when Vile suddenly received a call from his superior through his codec device. "What is it, boss?"

"The leader said to let the girls get to the castle," Sigma replied.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? The Cruncher Darkling is on their trail, and if he gets to the castle…"

"Why do you think there is a massive chasm between the land the castle is built on and the city? Honestly saying, I'm not sure if that is enough to stop him from crossing over to here, but if the leader has confident in this, then we'll see. Don't worry; we will still give you the chance to take on the girls again. Just return to the castle and ambush them."

"Roger that." With that, Vile ended the call and told the other two about what he heard. They nodded in agreement, and then all three of them warped away.

* * *

The Cruncher Darkling still went after the flying girls, going through various buildings and trampling any Darkling that were unfortunate enough to get in the way of his massive feet. It was no big issue for the Darkling, however; they couldn't be killed by one of their own kinds as well, and their wounds would also heal at a near-instantaneous rate, but it was still a painful experience to be stepped on by something big.

Aya looked back at the giant Darkling and said, "Geez! That guy is persistent! Good thing he can't catch up with us! Let's hope he's not a good jumper as well."

"We're getting closer and closer to the castle!" Reimu said. "C'mon, let's head for the highest floor! It goes without saying that the leaders always stay on the highest part of their hideouts!"

"I agree with you," Sanae said with a nod. Even though her leg was still injured, it didn't hurt as much as before, so she was able to fly without problems.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the organization were watching them approach from a balcony at the top floor of the castle. "Just as I expect," Tabuu said, "they are planning to take the easy route by flying to this floor. However, they will not be having things their way as long as we are around! Rez, tell your servant to do his thing!"

Rez then spoke into a walkie-talkie-like device with a miniature screen. "Mooshoo, activate the force field!"

Suddenly, a purplish sphere appeared around the castle, and the girls stopped moving the moment they saw it. "What is that!" Reisen asked.

"I assume that they don't want us to take the easy route," Remilia said. "That force field is obviously made to stop us from getting anywhere near it."

Aya looked down and said, "Looks like the only the first floor is left unshielded. Perhaps they demand that we head to the top from the bottom?"

Nitori looked back and saw the Cruncher Darkling getting nearer. "I think we better get inside first, whether it's the higher floor or the lower floor…"

The girls agreed, so they quickly flew to the main entrance that had a long bridge made of stone blocks in front of it. Instead of heading inside the castle right away, they turned around to see the Cruncher Darkling as it came closer and closer to the bridge. "That bridge better not support his weight… Please…" Reisen said.

When both the giant Darkling's feet touched the bridge, the bridge instantly fell apart due to not being able to support his weight, and because it was so sudden, the Darkling wasn't able to react in time, so he let out a lengthy roar as he disappeared into the darkness of the seemingly bottomless chasm below.

The girls looked down the chasm until they heard a relatively soft thump. "Well, I guess something should really be said about brawns over brains…" Aya commented. "Not sure if what I said really makes sense, though…"

"Let's just say that he wasn't bright enough to realize that the bridge wasn't able to support his massive body," Remilia said. "That shows how unintelligent massive beings usually are."

"I think we can all agree that this truly is a miracle!" Sanae said.

"You think he's dead?" asked Cirno, who was down on all fours while looking downwards.

"Doubt so, but we probably won't see him again," Reimu said. "I'm glad that we managed to shake him off. C'mon, let's head inside!"

"And to think that we didn't have to do anything other than escape…" Marisa said before turning around to head into the castle.

Back on the balcony, the villains witnessed everything. "I don't know whether to say that it was a good idea for the chasm to be there or not," Sigma said. "On the bright side, it stopped him from coming near the castle, but on the bad side, it seems that we lost a powerful fighting force."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about him," Tabuu told him. "A fall like that is nothing to him at all, and it's not like he can't make his way back to the top either. Let us not think about that for now. The girls are inside, so we should get ready to greet them."

"If everything is ruined thanks to this idea of yours," I.M. Meen said to him, "then you better not blame any of us for being incompetent!"

"It would appear that you do not have the faith and courage in taking them down after all," the Emperor said to him. "Don't worry; it's only natural that someone like you would be afraid. If you want to, you can sit back while we deal with them ourselves."

"Right," M. Bison said with a nod. "A weakling like you will mostly definitely get in the way."

"You're looking down on me again!" I.M .Meen angrily said. "I'll show you what I'm capable of when I become serious! Just you wait! I'm going to bring you the dead body of at least one of them soon enough!"

* * *

"Before that," Tabuu said, "let's see how well our henchmen deal with them first."

The girls pushed open the castle door and stepped into its dark interior. "Where's the light to this place?" Marisa asked, looking around.

"Need light?" Nitori asked as she lit up the place using her flashlight. She shined the flashlight around the place, and when she looked up at a chandelier, she noticed something. "Hey! There's someone hanging onto the side of the chandelier!"

The girls immediately looked up to see that she was telling the truth. The person, realizing that he had been spotted, quickly kicked off from the chandelier and in the direction of Nitori to attack her with sharp claws on the right side of his hand. Before he reached her, however, Meiling unleashed a flying kick that knocked him aside. The person managed to position himself upright so that he could land in a crouching position. The girls immediately got into fighting stances, and Reimu said to him, "It goes without saying that you're an enemy!"

The person was a blond man with his hair tied into a long braid, and he wore a white mask and purple pants. Standing up and removing his mask slightly to show one side of his face, he said, "What do you think? I have been given orders by my master to slay you all. It's such a pity that my opponents have to be beautiful women. However, I don't mind seeing women stained in their own blood too."

"What you said makes me think you're a sick guy…" Marisa said in disgust.

Another person was hiding in the darkness behind them, and then he ran as fast as he could toward them for a sneak attack. However, Aya knew someone was coming, so she immediately spun around and attacked with her elbow, which came in contact with a boxing glove. The both of them met with a tremendous force that created a shockwave, and then they were both repelled from each other. "Looks like he's not the only one around here," Aya said, looking at the African American boxer who just appeared.

"You've got a tough elbow! I'll give you that!" the person said.

"Looks like they didn't hesitate to give us a welcome party right away," Remilia said. "I think it could've been grander scaled, however. These two do not strike me as people who will entertain us very much, at least for me."

Suddenly, the whole lit up, and then voice was broadcasted into the room. "Welcome to our castle, girls of Gensokyo!"

"It's Tabuu's voice!" Reimu said.

"I see that you managed to survive the Darkling of Dark City. However, that does not mean you are entirely safe from them, for there are Darkling lurking around this castle as well."

"That's bad to know…" Marisa commented.

"Don't worry; I know very well that you find it bothersome to deal with opponents you cannot defeat, so we have prepared for you opponents that you have a chance of defeating. Do not expect them to be pushovers, however."

"How kind of you," Remilia commented. "Let's hope you're not talking about these two."

"Do not underestimate my subordinates!" said a new voice belonging to M. Bison. "They are high ranking members of Shadaloo, so if you expect them to be pushovers, then you're in for some major beatings! Show them what you've got, Vega and Balrog!"

"With pleasure, master," said the blond man as he put his mask back on properly—Vega.

"I'm going to enjoy punching the lights out of you!" the African American boxer—Balrog—said while punching the air a couple of times.

"Of course, they aren't the only ones," Tabuu's voice said. "We've got a lot more. Some of them are on their way to meet you, but some of them are waiting for you to meet them instead. Are you brave enough to face them? Do you have the power to surpass them and face us? You girls managed to make it this far, but let's see if you can make it any farther!"

"Rest assure that we will definitely make it far enough to defeat you all!" Reimu said, looking at the air. "Just you wait!"

"Yeah! Do not underestimate girl power! I will defeat you using the power of love-ze!" Marisa loudly said.

"Anyone who stands in my way shall be cut down my swords!" Youmu said with both her swords in her hands.

"We didn't come this far to lose, so do not expect us to be so defeated so easily," Alice said.

"I will fight to defend my mistress and all her friends!" Meiling said while in a fighting stance.

"I've upgraded my artillery, and I'm impatient to use them against you guys!" Nitori said.

"Don't think you can defeat me so easily! I'm the strongest after all!" Cirno boasted.

"I've come this far already, so I'm going to be brave and win no matter what!" Reisen said.

"Let me warn you beforehand that we are fated to win no matter how hard you try to defeat us," Remilia said with confidence.

"I'm going to have lots of fun writing a report on all these after we get back to Gensokyo!" Aya said with enthusiasm.

"With the power of the goddesses by my side, I will defeat all you evildoers!" Sanae loudly proclaimed. "Evil never wins!"

"I see that you are very confident in yourselves!" Tabuu said, not sounding daunted at all. "Very well, this castle shall be the setting for our final confrontation! Let's see if you can stop us in time! Let the party begin!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The Cruncher Darkling first appeared in one of my older stories, Magister Saga, though according to that story, it first made an off-screen and unmentioned appearance in Darkling. People who read the former story should be familiar with him.

I tried to make the scenes before the Cruncher Darkling showed up similar to that of Cloverfield, where the monster isn't seen in full until the end of the movie. Well, the Cruncher Darkling showed up halfway through this chapter and not the end of it, but you get the idea…

Because I wanted him to be more dinosaur-like this time around, I made the Cruncher Darkling's body lean forward a little when walking, sort of like a T-Rex. In fact, I modeled him after Zilla, the American version of Godzilla. His size has been changed from eighty meters to fifty meters as well. It would be too much if he was the same size as in Magister Saga…

Is he going to show up again? Why don't you find out yourself?

**Next chapter: Low Beginnings**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter sounds like it is named after Luna Child's theme, Sleepless Due to the Night, which is sometimes translated into I Can't Sleep Because This is Night, but I can't really remember if I really did intend to name the chapter title after that theme when I was thinking of what to name this chapter that time…


	109. Low Beginnings

I sincerely apologize for making you all wait for so long. I suffered from both writer's block and laziness when working on this chapter… To make up for the wait, I present you with this long and action-packed chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 108  
Low Beginnings**

* * *

Previously, the girls found themselves up against two of M. Bison's subordinates, Balrog and Vega. "I don't think there's a point in having all of us stay behind just to fight the both of them," Reimu said. "Might as well have one or two of us stay behind to deal with them while the rest of us go on ahead first…"

"You do have a point," Alice said. "The enemy may be planning to stall us for as long as possible in order to accomplish their plan, so we mustn't fall for what they have in store for us."

"Either that or we beat the lights out of these two right away and then move on," Marisa suggested. "There's only two of them, and with the eleven of us, they'll go down in less than a second-ze! Ya think so?"

Hearing this, Balrog said, "Are you girls looking down on me or what? Maybe you can beat the lights out of that narcissist freak over there, but definitely not me! I'll show the monstrous power of my boxing skills! It is so feared by people that I got banned from the boxing ring because of it! Not that I'm proud of getting banned, mind you…"

"So you think I will go down easily, do you?" Vega said when he heard what Balrog said about him. "I should say that I'm more worried about how well you will fare. It may be true that we are outnumbered, but in the face of power and beauty, being outnumbered does not equal instant defeat for the side smaller in number. I shall prove it to you!"

"Looks like we some very confident foes here," Remilia said. "Or maybe they're simply brainless and are asking for a death wish."

"So… Who's going to stay behind to deal with them?" Reimu asked.

"You cannot pass!" said a voice. The girls looked up ahead to see a muscular warthog standing in front of a doorway across the room.

"Looks like we have more company…" Marisa commented as the warthog approached them.

"I am Midbus," he said. "Fawful sent me. You girls cannot pass! I will fight you!"

"Having an additional person won't make much difference," Remilia said, looking unimpressed.

Aya noticed someone aiming at them from the higher part of the place. "Everyone! Out of the way!" Immediately, a missile was fired in their direction, so everyone quickly leaped out of the way to escape the explosion created by it when it hit the floor.

Alice looked in the direction the missile came from and saw someone standing behind the railings of the second floor, so she had Shanghai and some other dolls fire energy projectiles from their hands at him. The person quickly moved out of the way before firing another missile, but Nitori fired her own missile to take it out before firing a larger amount at him. "Kappa Missile!"

The railing served as a shield of sorts for the person, so he wasn't hit by all the missiles, and while he did get hit by some, he managed to shrug them off. The person jumped out from the explosion and landed on the first floor to reveal himself as Vile on a robot walker. "Not bad!" he said. "Looks like you girls are capable of destruction after all!"

"It's him again!" Cirno said.

"This time, nobody is going to stop me from blowing you into bits! I have to say… It's been a really, really, really long time since I've attacked humans, so I want to be reminded again how it is like to kill one!" Vile said before firing rapid bursts of energy balls from his shoulder cannon.

**BGM: Vs. Vile V (Mega Man X8)**

The girls moved around to avoid the shots. Even the other villains had to avoid them as well. Vega hopped onto the side of a pillar and clung onto it using his claws. "How about you watch where you are aiming so that you do not hit those on your side?" he said to the robot.

"I'm never really the kind to cooperate with others," Vile replied, "so don't blame me if you got in the way of my shots."

Nitori looked at Vile and said, "That guy fights with projectiles, so he's easily the most dangerous of the bunch here. It's a better idea to take him out first."

"I will flatten you!" said the voice of Midbus. Nitori turned around to see the warthog jumping into the air and in her direction in an attempt to flatten her with a body slam. Nitori quickly brought out her mechanical arms and caught Midbus when he fell onto her. "What!"

"My mechanical arms are now more powerful after I put some "muscles" into them!" the kappa said to him. "They can lift a massive boulder with ease, so lifting an obese pig like you is nothing!" Then she flung him away.

"Ow!" Midbus cried as he hit the floor. When he saw Nitori running toward him to punch him with her mechanical arms, he quickly inhaled air to inflate himself, and when the fist came in contact with him, the warthog didn't seem to feel any pain nor did he budge.

"Eh? That's strange…" Nitori said with an odd look. Midbus threw a punch at her while in the inflated state, but she ducked underneath it and then punched his stomach with her own fist, only to hurt herself. "Ow!" When Midbus punched her again, she got hit this time and was sent flying backward.

He then deflated himself and said, "You cannot hurt me when I inhale. Your punch is too weak!" Suddenly, he was struck over the head by something, and then he turned around to see Cirno armed with an ice hammer. "You hit me!"

"You want more? Take this!" Cirno asked before raising the hammer over her head, but he smashed the hammerhead with his fist when she swung it down at him. "Yikes!" She then avoided a punch from Midbus by flying back through the air, and then she fired an ice beam at him. Midbus quickly crossed his arms in front of his face to shield himself from it, so only his arms got frozen.

The warthog was shocked about this at first, but then he slammed them against each other to shatter the ice. "I used to have ice powers," he said.

"Oh really? Why don't you use it now?" Cirno asked him.

"I cannot use it anymore. It is gone. I don't need it to beat…" Before he could finish speaking, he was suddenly punched in the side of the face by Nitori. "Oof!" Due to his weight, however, he didn't fly far at all, and then he angrily turned to look at the kappa. "You hit me!"

"And you were saying that my punch was weak?" Nitori asked him. "Well? What did you think of that one?"

"Your punch is nothing to me if I inflate myself! I will do it now!" Midbus said before taking a deep breath to expand his belly.

Nitori pulled back her mechanical arm, which trembled violently while giving off steam from the fist. "Like the same trick is going to work on me twice! Take this! Super Rocket Punch!" Then the mechanical arm delivered a fast and powerful punch that managed to break through Midbus's defense. The warthog blew out a large amount of air as he flew across the room and through a doorway.

CRASH!

Nitori flexed her mechanical arms and said, "Haha! Ya like that? Behold the power of science!"

Balrog faced Marisa and said to her, "You were underestimating me earlier, weren't you? I'm going to make you regret saying that! My boxing skill is so feared by people that I got banned from boxing rings! Not that I'm proud of that, mind you…"

"Really? It makes me scared!" Marisa sarcastically said. "Whatever… Just show me what you've got and I'll reconsider what I said!"

"You're asking for it!" Balrog ran up to Marisa at a fast speed and threw a straight punch at her. She moved aside to avoid it, but it turned out that he wasn't attacking was a straight punch; instead, he attacked with a right hook that struck her in the face. Marisa got knocked back some steps and then rubbed her nose while crying pain. Before she had the chance to look up, Balrog rushed up to her at a fast speed and threw a straight punch into her face.

Marisa was sent flying through the air a couple of feet before landing, and Balrog immediately ran to her to continue attacking her. Marisa quickly moved to the side to dodge a dashing punch, but then Balrog swung the same arm he used for the punch into her head. Not letting go of her just yet, the boxer grabbed her head and then headbutted her in the forehead really hard.

CONK!

"Gya!" Marisa cried as she held her hands over her forehead, and then Balrog delivered an uppercut to her abdomen to send her flying through the air in an arc. Reimu quickly flew to the airborne witch and caught her from behind, but the latter's momentum caused the both of them to hit the floor. "Thanks… Reimu… Ow… My head hurts…"

"Let this be a lesson to you about underestimating your opponents," Reimu told her. "I'll deal with him." Then she stood up to face the boxer.

"Avenging your friend, eh?" Balrog asked, and then he punched the air a couple of times. "You're going to fail, I tell you!"

"We'll see about that!" Reimu told him. The boxer let out a cry as he dashed at Reimu, but the shrine maiden quickly created a blue wall using a spell card. "Cautionary Border!" Balrog's boxing glove came in contact with the border, and despite the punch being a very powerful one, it failed to break or make a crack on it.

"What!" Balrog was surprised by this, but he continued to punch the wall nonstop, even though the attempt was useless. While he was doing so, Reimu leaped into the air above him, flipped upside-down, and spun her gohei like a propeller.

"Praying for Rain!"

Energy droplets rained down onto Balrog, who used his arms to shield his head. Reimu landed behind him and then swung her gohei into his waist, and thanks to channeling spiritual power into it, the hit was strong enough to send him flying away quite a bit of a distance. Balrog groaned in pain as he got back up and glared at her. "Argh! How dare you!"

"I'm better at close range combat than my friend," Reimu told him, "so don't expect things to go so easily with me."

Vega kicked off the wall and dived at Meiling really fast, but the gatekeeper jumped back in time. The masked man leaped at her soon after landing, and she quickly moved to the side and slammed the back of her hand into his waist as he was flying past her to knock him onto the floor. He quickly got back up to see her running toward him. He brought up his arms as Meiling delivered a series of rainbow-powered punches using one hand. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!"

The punches were too much for Vega to handle, and he was eventually knocked out of his blocking stance and sent through the air a bit of a distance, losing his claw and mask as well. Vega glared at her and said, "Not bad! It is only fitting for a beauty like you to have such strength!"

"I'll take that a compliment," Meiling said, still in a fighting stance.

Vile fired several energy shots at Youmu as the latter tried to close in on him, but with swift movements, she managed to dodge them all by moving side to side. When the half-phantom got close, Vile made his robot walker punch her with its spiked hands, but she quickly ducked underneath it and then moved to the side, quickly swinging her sword as well. Vile kept his eyes on her, and it wasn't until he heard the sound of the severed hand hitting the floor did he realized that it was cut. "What! You'll pay!" He angrily made the robot walker dash at her to hit her with its spinning hand.

Youmu quickly moved to the side and dashed past him, cutting off one of the walker's leg in the process. With only one leg left, the walker was unable to balance itself and so tilted to one side. Vile angrily growled as he got off the walker and started firing missiles at Youmu. She cut down the missiles and then ran toward him and swung her sword, but he leaped up high into the air and over her. While he was in the air, he noticed Alice making her dolls firing energy projectiles at him, so he quickly crossed his arms in front of himself for protection.

Vile landed and angrily said, "Argh! You girls are tougher than I thought! I can't believe that humans can give me this much trouble!"

"Sorry, but we're not humans," Youmu told him.

Vega dashed over to his mask and claw to put them back on, and immediately after he did, Meiling charged at him and threw a punch, but he ducked underneath it and swung his claws at her waist. However, Meiling's swift movement to the side helped her dodge it in the nick of time. When Vega turned to face her, she threw a straight punch at him, but he ducked down and then jumped back to a safer distance before jumping above her head.

From above her, he tried to hit her with his claws, but Meiling caught his arm and then slammed him down on the floor very hard. He quickly got back onto his feet in a crouched position. Meiling then brought up her feet to bring it back down onto him from above, but he swiftly moved to the side and then jumped straight up, hitting her in the chin with his claws in doing so.

Meiling cried in pain and took some step backs with her hands underneath her chin, and Vega used this opportunity to try to impale her with his claws. However, Meiling hit his hand from the side before the claws reached her abdomen to alter his course slightly, and when he faced her, he received a punch to the face that shattered the mask.

"Ugh!" Vega took several steps back and then placed his hand over his face. The gatekeeper ran up to him and attacked with a series of punches that he had a hard time trying to block. One of her punches eventually hit his face and knocked him back a bit, and then he angrily ran at Meiling and hurled himself at him, but she ducked. When Vega landed, he quickly jumped at the pillar in front and clung onto its side for a second before launching himself at her really fast.

With perfect timing, she struck him in the chin with a powerful uppercut to send him shooting into the air. "Roc-Killing Fist!" Then she raised her arms diagonally into the air to shoot a red energy ball at him. "Scarlet Cannon!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Vega was propelled even higher into the air by the energy ball until he hit the ceiling, and then he fell back down, exploding into a burst of white smoke upon hitting the floor, a sight that made Meiling and the girls who saw it curious.

Balrog was throwing punches nonstop at Reimu, but the shrine maiden was very skilled in dodging them all. "Stand still, will ya!" the boxer said in frustration. Eventually, he stepped on Reimu's foot and made her cry in pain before attempting to headbutt her, but she quickly bent back her body to avoid it. She then performed a back flip that caused Balrog to almost fall back because his foot was still on top of hers when she did this. When Reimu landed, she immediately rushed at him and slammed her elbow into his abdomen, and then she slammed the palm of the other hand into its fist. "Dream Piercer!" This resulted in a burst of energy that sent Balrog shooting backward until he hit the wall.

CRASH!

The boxer grunted in pain as he fell on his knees with his boxing gloves against his abdomen. "Ack…! Ugh…" Then someone came in front of him, and he looked up to see that it was Marisa, who immediately smacked him across the face with her broom. The witch then began to beat the lights out of him using her broom mercilessly. "Why you!" Balrog eventually fought back, but Marisa quickly ducked underneath his fist.

"Escape Velocity!" Marisa shouted as she performed a powerful jumping uppercut using her broom to strike him in the chin.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Balrog was sent shooting into the air, and he hit the ceiling with a powerful thud and then fell back down. Shortly after hitting the floor, he exploded in a burst of white smoke. Surprised by such a sight, Marisa asked, "What happened to him…?"

"I am back!" said the voice of Midbus. Nitori and Cirno turned to see the warthog armed with a chain with a large iron ball at one end of it. "I will now throw this at you! It is going to hurt a lot!"

"I think that's obvious…" Nitori said.

Midbus started spinning in circles with one end of the chain in his hand, and he eventually spun so fast that he took the appearance of a tornado. He also moved in their direction while spinning. Cirno quickly flew into the air while Nitori ducked once to avoid getting hit the iron ball and then flew backwards. Midbus eventually let go of the chain to fling the iron ball at Nitori, but she used her mechanical arms to catch it. The fact that she didn't budge at all showed how strong the arms were. "How about I give it back to you the same way?" Nitori asked the surprised warthog, and then she started spinning in the same manner as he did.

"You will not hit me! I will dodge it!" Midbus said, but when he was about to move, he was suddenly struck by an ice beam from above. While it did not freeze him entirely, several thin layers of ice were formed on certain parts of his body. He looked up to see Cirno taunting him with her tongue. "You are a bad girl! I will pun…" Before he could finish speaking, however, the iron ball crashed into his body.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Midbus was pushed through the air by the iron ball until he hit the wall, but the wall was unable to hold up against the weight and force of the iron ball, so they went through it and kept on flying through the air until they came to a stop against the wall at the end of the room. The iron ball fell onto the floor to reveal a flattened Midbus stuck to the wall like a poster, and then the warthog exploded in a burst of a white smoke.

Back in the previous room, Nitori flexed her mechanical arms again and said, "Thanks to strength of these arms, I don't need to swing that iron ball as many times as you did to throw it that far!"

"It was thanks to my distraction!" Cirno told her.

"Yeah, your distraction helped too. Thanks!"

Back in the previous room, Reisen wondered, "How come those two exploded in a burst of white smoke when defeated?"

Hearing this, Vile explained to everyone, "Unlike me and some of the others, those three were not brought back to life by the Darkling because they were never dead to begin with. Rather, they are replicas of the real things created by a machine Rez made, and they will disappear like that if they receive too many hits."

"I see… Interesting!" Nitori said, rubbing her chin.

"And that's what makes them inferior to the real thing! I will not fall so easily like them!" Vile said. "Don't think that you have the advantage over me just because I'm alone in this! There is no way I'm going to lose the likes of you!"

Alice readied to make her dolls attack and said, "Perhaps it would be wiser if you know when to surrender."

"Surrender? I never surrender! You're the ones who should surrender, and even so, I'm still going to kill you all!" Vile shouted as he floated into the air with his body giving off white light.

"What's happening to him!" Cirno asked in surprise.

"Overdrive!" Vile shouted as he spread out his limbs to make lightning bolts shoot out from all over his body in random directions.

The girls ran around to avoid getting hit by them, and Youmu jumped at Vile to attack him, but when her sword can in contact with him, she felt a powerful jolt running down her sword and into her hand, and then she was repelled before being hit by a lightning bolt. "Ah!"

"Gale Fan!" Aya shouted as she fired some wind blades at Vile, but the electricity around his body protected him. "Looks like it's both a defensive and offensive move!"

Vile then landed onto the floor, but his body was still glowing and giving off electricity. "Heheh! I have learned how to use my Overdrive attack in more than one way! Don't think you can lay a hand on me when my whole body is electrified!" He then pointed his hand at Aya and fired a lightning bolt at her, but she managed to graze it.

"Whoa! That was close!"

Remilia flew at Vile to attack him, so he quickly fired a lightning bolt at her, but she managed to dodge it while continuing to close in on him. Vile was sent flying when she swung her claws at him, but it also resulted in her hand getting badly burned by the electricity, though she ignored the pain. When Vile stood back up, the electricity around his body disappeared, much to his surprise. "What!"

"Looks like it's not the ultimate defense after all," Remilia said. "Electricity around your body does not equal having a shield. It's just that normal people wouldn't dare to touch you. I'm not one to be daunted by that, however."

"Why you!" Vile angrily said before firing several energy shots at her, but she easily dodged them all. While he was firing nonstop, he was suddenly caught in the neck from behind by a string held by a pair of dolls. "Ugh! What the!" More dolls appeared in front of him and stabbed him in various parts of the body with their lances. "GAH!"

Alice held back a doll as far as she could and then flung it at Vile while he was struggling to get the dolls and the string off. "Return Animate!" Vile was unable to escape from the incoming doll, and it exploded upon hitting him.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Whoa… Overkill much…?" asked Marisa, looking at the large mass of smoke left behind by the explosion.

"Maybe," Alice said with a shrug.

As the smoke was clearing away, Reimu said to everyone, "Okay, it's seems that everyone here is defeated. C'mon, we have to move on before it's too late." The others nodded in agreement, but as they were heading for the door leading into the next room, they suddenly heard someone calling out to them. They turned around to see Vile standing in the center of the clearing mass of smoke, but most of his outer covering had been blown off, so he looked like he was going to fall apart any second.

"Whoa! He's still alive!" Marisa said in shock.

Vile slowly limped in their direction. "Ha… Ha… To think… that I would… fall to humans… This is the… first time… ever… in my… life… I cannot… accept… this… loss…!"

"Then make it an everlasting impression in your mind," Alice said to him.

"Don't think… that you're going to… get away with this… You may have… defeated me… but you're going to fall… in the hands of all the others… You have no idea… about the sort of… thing you are facing…"

"Yes, we know what we are facing already," Reimu said to him.

"And you're still… going to fight… despite knowing this…? Heheheh… I don't know whether to say that you are courageous… or dumb… In the face of evil… nothing can stand… I tell you… You're going to regret… ever crossing path with evil itself…" Suddenly, Vile's arm fell off, and then he fell on his knee. "I shall haunt you… in your nightmares… I definitely will… Heheh… Hahaha… Hahahaha…!" Then he fell forward on his face.

The girls stared at his body for several seconds, and then Marisa said, "Right… Like I'm going to have nightmares about you…"

"You'll never know what you will dream about at night, so he may actually show up to haunt you in your nightmares," Remilia said. "Not that I'm afraid of it, mind you."

"If such a nightmare happens, then that's just a coincidence. It's not like he placed a curse on us or something, and even if it is, we'll just let Hina take care of things."

"Let's go already," Reimu said, and then they headed into the next room. However, as they were doing so, a trapdoor suddenly opened up underneath Alice, and the surprised magician fell down it with Shanghai following her immediately afterwards.

The shocked girls quickly got onto their knees to look down the hole, but it quickly closed up to prevent the magician from flying back out. "Alice!" Marisa shouted while pounding the floor over and over. "Can you hear me? Are you all right down there?"

"I'm all right!" Alice replied. "I'm floating right underneath the surface."

"What's down there?" Reimu loudly asked.

"I'm in a shaft that goes straight down, and I can see a bit of light down there. Maybe there's a way out down there?"

"Don't worry! We'll blow up the floor for you!" Marisa told her. "Just stay back so that you don't get caught in the blast!"

"Don't bother!" said a voice all of a sudden. "ThTheat floor has been made to be highly resilient to attacks!

The girls looked around the place for the source of the voice, but when they couldn't find anyone, they concluded that it must be broadcasted from a hidden speaker somewhere in the room. "You have done well in defeating my henchmen, Vile, and the other three!" continued the voice. "It would seem that letting you girls run rampant isn't a good idea after all, so Tabuu has given us the privilege to take your heads ourselves, and that is what I'm planning to do to that friend of yours who fell into the trapdoor just now!"

"What are you going to do to Alice!" Sanae angrily asked.

"What do you think I'm going to do to her? I'll show you what is left of her after I'm done! Just you wait! Hahahahaha!"

Marisa bent down in front of the trapdoor and loudly said, "Alice! You heard that? It's a trap! You need to get back out here fast!"

"I heard what he said," Alice replied. "Don't worry about me; I have decided to take on him."

"What! Are you serious?"

Underneath the floor, Alice nodded. "I'm serious. It's inevitable that we're going fight these people the day we crossed path with them, and I believe that the time has finally come for us to take them down for good. I'm sure that the rest of you will eventually encounter the others too. Now that I've got the chance to take on one of them, I'm won't let go of this opportunity!"

"But can you do it?" Reisen asked. "These people are tough! Remember that you were defeated by one of them before!"

"Don't worry about me; I'll be able to handle things myself this time. You can all go on ahead. I will definitely return to you all alive!"

Reimu nodded. "If that's what you want… Okay, good luck! We'll meet again!"

"Show that guy what you've got, Alice!" Marisa said to the magician. "You can do it!"

"I will. Good luck to you all as well!" Alice said before descending to the bottom of the shaft. The girls stared at where the trapdoor originally was for a few more seconds, and after they assured each other that they didn't have to worry about Alice, they headed into the next room.

They ran for the large staircase before their eyes, but when they got close to it, they saw several Soldier Darkling standing at the top it. "Oh no… Not these guys…" Marisa grumbled.

As the Darkling ran down the attack them, Aya got in front of everyone and swung her fan to create a large tornado. "Maple Leaf Fan!" The tornado caught up the Darkling, and when it dissipated, they were sent flying in random directions. "Okay, the staircase is now clear of obstacles! Let's go!" So the girls ran up.

While on their way up, they suddenly heard a shrieking sound of sorts coming from behind, and when they looked back, they saw a large black centipede scuttling toward the staircase—Centurion Darkling. "Not another Darkling!" Reisen cried, noticing the centipede's purple eyes.

"They sure come in quite a few varieties," Remilia commented.

The girls hurried up the staircase as fast as they could with the Centurion Darkling coming after them at a relatively fast speed, but Reisen turned around once and shot it in the face with Psycho Missile to blow it back to the bottom. Once on the second floor, they ran down the hallway and noticed a set of doors at the far end of the place slowly closing. "Quick! Get in there before it's too late!" Reimu said.

The Centurion Darkling arrived at the second floor and went after them. Nitori turned around to fire some missiles at him, and it was successful in slowing him down, though he quickly recovered and went after them again.

All this time, Aya ran instead of flying a few centimeters above the floor so that she could move at the same pace as everyone else. After all, she was only fast at flying, not running. However, knowing that they had to get to the end of the passage in time, she took flight and, needless to say, made it through the doorway before the set of doors closed, and then she tried to hold them open. To her surprise, the force of the doors moving was actually so strong that she couldn't stop them entirely. "Quick! I don't think I can hold this up forever!" Aya shouted to her friends.

"We're moving as quick as we can already!" Reimu replied.

Reisen looked back and saw the Darkling still coming after them, so she fired another Psycho Missile at him, but he dodged it this time. The girls eventually got to the doorway and went through it one by one. When Reisen, who was last in line, finally made it into the room, Aya let go of the doors, and luckily for them, it closed before the Centurion Darkling got to the doorway. He hit the doors with a loud thud.

"Phew… That was close…" Sanae said. "I'm glad we managed to make it in here on time…"

"Come to think of it," Cirno said, "why didn't I freeze him earlier? That would save us a lot of trouble."

"You were never quick at thinking, so…" Marisa said to her, but she didn't bother to finish her sentence.

The girls looked around as they walked toward the center of the room, and unknown to them, Mooshoo Pork was hiding behind a doorway at one side of the room with a large high-tech gun in his hand. "Heheheh! Let's see how well you survive high voltage electricity!" He quietly stepped out from behind the doorway and fired a lightning bolt at them, and it headed for Reimu.

Meiling saw the lightning bolt coming, so she quickly shouted for Reimu to watch out and then quickly threw herself in front of the shrine maiden to take the hit herself. "YAAAAAAA!"

"Meiling!" Reimu gasped.

The gatekeeper, charred from head to toe, fell on one knee and panted heavily. "I'm all right…"

"Meiling! Must you be so reckless?" Remilia asked in an angry voice, but at the same time, she sounded as if was concerned about her.

"I wouldn't mind being a bit reckless if it is to protect someone… Don't worry, Mistress Remilia; I'm all right…"

Aya looked at the direction the lightning bolt came from and shouted, "I know you're there! C'mon out!" So Mooshoo came out. "It's you again!"

"So she managed to survive," Mooshoo said with interest. "How interesting! Demons do have better durability then most creatures after all! Perhaps I should capture and dissect one of you to see if I can find out anything more! Heeheehee!"

"You're one sick fellow! You'll pay for hurting our friend!"

"It's one against eleven!" Cirno said to the pig-cow hybrid. "Let's see how you take on us all!"

"One against eleven? Ha! You'd seriously think that a genius like me would try to take on all of us you alone? A real genius knows when he is outnumbered. I am not alone in this fight! Just take a look behind you!"

The girls suddenly heard the sound of growling, and when they around to look at another doorway, they saw a red bipedal dinosaur with a humanoid face—Meenmouth—and a Frankenstein—Frankenmeen—coming out.

"Only another two?" Marisa asked. "Wow! They sure are ugly!"

"You'll be saying that to yourself after we've done mauling your beautiful faces!" Mooshoo said to her as she walked in the girls' direction with his gun pointing at them, ready to pull the trigger any time.

"Right… Like you can actually do something to my beautiful face…" Remilia said, sounding undaunted.

**BGM: Mooshoo Pork (Gex: Enter the Gecko)**

Frankenmeen suddenly let out a loud groan before running toward the girls with his arm stretched out toward them, and at the same time, Mooshoo pulled his gun's trigger. "Eat this!" Seeing him firing his weapon, the girls got out of the way to avoid the incoming lightning bolt, which struck the Frankenstein and stopped him in his tracks.

"Ha! That was dumb of you to hit your own mate!" Cirno said. However, Frankenmeen didn't look like he was harmed by the lightning bolt at all. Instead, sparks started coming out from his fingertips, and then he fired a spread of electric balls from his hands, but they managed to duck underneath it.

"If you're familiar with the novel, then you'll know that Dr. Frankenstein brought his monster to life using electricity, so the same applies for I.M. Meen's very own Frankenstein! The more electricity he receives, the more powerful he becomes!"

"So you aimed your shot at him on purpose, right?" Nitori asked him.

"I was hoping to hit one of you girls, but what happened just now is very welcomed as well!"

"We're not going to lose just because you powered up that scientific abomination!" Sanae said to him. "Our combined power is more than enough to take down all of you here!" Suddenly, a shadow appeared over her, and knowing well what was better off done first, she quickly jumped out of the way before she got crushed by a falling Dread Joker. "It's you again!"

"This time, none of you girls are going to get out of here alive!" the Wizard said before throwing a punch at Sanae, but she managed to duck underneath it and then quickly moved back from him. Joker lunged forward to punch her again, but Meiling quickly got in front of the shrine maiden and stopped the punch with crossed arms. However, the force of the punch was so strong that she was pushed back into Sanae, and they both flew back until they hit the wall.

"Are you all right?" Meiling asked Sanae.

"Other than getting pressed against the wall by you, I'm fine…" replied the pained shrine maiden.

"I'll deal with him!" Meiling said as she ran to the Wizard to fight him. Joker threw a punch at her, but she swiftly moved to the side and then punched him in the waist with all her might. Thanks to his tough body, however, Joker was able to withstand the punch, even though it was more powerful than a normal human's punch. Joker then swung his arms at her twice, but twice she ducked underneath them, and then he immediately swung down his arms like a hammer, but she quickly jumped back from them.

Right after landing from her jump, Meiling jumped at his head and kneed him so hard in the face that his body was forced to bend back slightly. The gatekeeper went over him and then quickly turned around to kick him in the back. Joker was kept from falling backward thanks to the kick, but he quickly recovered from the blow and then turned around to swing his fist at her. She ducked underneath it while moving to the side.

"I need to help Meiling!" Sanae thought, and then she threw several paper amulets at Joker, which blasted him from behind. The Wizard turned his attention to Meiling, and then he warped in front of her, much to her surprise. "Yikes!" He brought down his arm onto her, but she managed to jump to the side in time before throwing more paper amulets at him. They didn't seem to do any good, however.

Even though the distance between the both of them wasn't far at all, Joker still warped in front of her and then lifted her into the air by one hand. "Hey! Let go of me!" Sanae shouted while smacking his face with her gohei. Meiling suddenly charged into Joker from the side and struck his waist with a powerful rainbow-powered punch that pushed him into wall, as well as dropping Sanae.

The wizard angrily swung his arm at Meiling, who once again ducked down. However, he swung his fist lower than usual this time, so the gatekeeper was knocked away in the head. "Meiling!" Sanae said in shock.

"You're next!" Joker said as he approached her.

Sanae quickly fired a large star-shaped projectile. "Forgotten Ritual!" Instead of dodging it, Joker shoulder bashed his way through the projectile unharmed and sent Sanae flying backward with it. "Ah!"

"I will destroy you first!" Joker said while closing in on her. "You can summon someone powerful, so that makes you the most dangerous person in the group."

Reimu turned to Sanae and shouted her name in concern, and then she quickly avoided a fireball that was fired at her. She turned her attention back to Meenmouth and threw some paper amulets at him. While the dinosaur's vision was blotted by the smoke left behind by the multiple explosions, Youmu dashed at him and slashed him in the mouth. Meenmouth raised his head into the air let out a cry of pain, and then he was shot in the neck and chest multiple times by Reisen.

The dinosaur lowered his head and angrily ran at the lunar rabbit, but she jumped out of the way before firing more projectiles at his back. Meenmouth immediately turned around to shoot a large fireball at her, but she jumped up high into the air and continued shooting from there. She landed right in front of Meenmouth, but the moment the dinosaur lunged forward to bite off her head, she quickly went underneath his head and released a short-ranged energy blast from her eyes. "Weak Heart: Demotivation!"

The dinosaur pulled back with his head once again raised into the air in pain, and then Reisen fired a red energy rocket. "Scars of Stupor!" It blasted Meenmouth in the head and sent him flying back onto the floor, and before he could get back up, Reisen jumped onto his chest and pointed her finger at his mouth. "Psycho Missile!" A silver energy missile was fired in Meenmouth's mouth at point blank.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion traveled down Meenmouth's throat, and the man-faced dinosaur immediately fell limp afterwards. Shortly after that breathing his last, Meenmouth disappeared in a puff of smoke. The girls who saw Reisen taking out the dinosaur were amazed. "Wow! I don't think I've saw you fighting so serious before!" Reimu commented. "What happened?"

"I didn't want to put my training in Smash World to waste," Reisen said. "I figured that I should focus more on doing what must be done rather than always worrying about things. You all probably felt the same the whole time; I get worried too often."

"Well, yeah… That's true, though it's not like you were a stumbling block to us because of that…"

Frankenmeen let out a loud groan as he fired several electric balls at Nitori, but the kappa used her Kappa Reflector to bounce them back to him, and that's when she realized her mistake. "Oops… I forgot that electricity powers him up…" she thought. When Frankenmeen fired more electric balls at her, she dodged them this time.

The monster ran up to her with his hands covered in electricity in an attempt to grab her with them, but Nitori quickly pointed her mechanical arm at him and released a powerful short-ranged shockwave from its palm. "Air Ripple!" Frankenmeen was sent flying into the wall by it.

Cirno was amazed by what she saw. "Wow! What was that move just now?"

"A shockwave attack created from water," Nitori explained. "I've loaded water into my backpack for my mechanical arms to make use of. Since my ability is to manipulate water, I figured back in Smash World that I might as well implement them into technology, and I can tell you that I'm pleased with what I can up with!"

Mooshoo took aim at Aya and fired from his gun. "Take this!" But the tengu easily dodged the lightning bolt.

"You'll have to aim better than that to hit me!" she said as she flew up to him to punch him across the face before flying away.

"Ow! Why you! Take this!" Mooshoo angrily said as he turned to her to shoot her again, only to miss the second time.

"Told you that you need to aim better than that!" Aya said as she charged at him again. When she got close, Mooshoo pulled the trigger, but the tengu managed dropped to the floor and ducked the last second before striking him in one of his front legs to make him fall forward slightly, and then she kneed him underneath the chin.

"Argh! Take this!" Mooshoo attempted to hit her with the gun, but she moved to the side before kicking him away in the head. "OOF!"

"I'm going to get back at you for what happened in Lucas's world!" the tengu said to him.

Mooshoo angrily turned to her and did some adjustments to his gun using the buttons at its side. "I'm not going to be defeated by you so easily! Let's see how you like this!" He pulled the trigger, and this time, several lightning bolts came out in a horizontal spread formation.

Aya wasn't expecting this, so because of the width of the attack, she wasn't able to fully escape it by moving to the side. Her foot got hit, and she fell to the floor. "Ha! Gotcha now!" Mooshoo said as he fired at her the second time, but she quickly flew into the air to dodge it and then fired several wind blades at him. "Ow! Yeow!" Then he was hit in the face by the tengu's high-heeled shoe. "DOOF!"

Aya bounced back into the wall after the hit and then kicked off it to dive into him. Acting fast, Mooshoo swung his gun at Aya and managed to knock her off course, but she land on her feet with no problem. The villain angrily turned to her while doing adjustments to his gun. "That does it! I was thinking of keeping in one piece so that I can use you as a test subject for experiments, but now you're forcing me to take it hard on you! I have just adjusted the voltage of the electricity. Anything that gets hit by it will instantly get vaporized!"

"There's no point in that if you can't hit me!" Aya told him.

"Die!" Mooshoo fired a single lightning bolt at her, but she dodged it. The lightning bolt struck the wall behind her and took out a quite a chunk of it, much to her surprise.

"Whoa! Good thing I avoided it!"

Cirno swung an ice club at Frankenmeen's head with such a force that he fell down to the side, and then she started whacking him over and over with it nonstop. However, the electricity that the Frankenstein was constantly generating from his body eventually melted the ice hammer with each of the latter's contact against it. Soon, all that was left was the handle. "Yikes…" Frankenmeen groaned loudly as he grabbed Cirno by the neck and electrocuted her. "YAAAAAAAAA!"

"Let go of her at once, you monster!" Marisa shouted as she smacked the Frankenstein over the head using her magically-enhanced broom to make him let go of the ice fairy. Frankenmeen immediately turned around to attempt to grab Marisa, but she quickly jumped back before firing several star-shaped projectiles against him. "Meteoric Swarm!" However, the Frankenstein didn't seem to be harmed by it that much; he continued to walk forward despite getting pelted rapidly. "Whoa… Tough body you have there, don't you…?" Then she dodged some electric balls fired by him.

Frankenmeen suddenly felt someone tapping him in the arm, and the moment he turned around, he got punched in the stomach by Nitori's mechanical arm, and the powerful force sent him crashing into the wall. Marisa then pointed her broom at him, and the back end of it was charging up energy. "All right! Let me give him the finishing blow! I'll show you what I learned back in Smash World-ze! Radial Shotgun!" When the broom was done charging, it fired a roundish, blue star-shaped projectile at Frankenmeen, and the Frankenstein was blown up by it.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Yes!" Nitori happily exclaimed.

Marisa, who fell back onto the floor due to the recoil caused by the firing of the projectile, got up and adjusted her hat. "Heheh! Cool, eh? Spending time at the library sure paid off!

Suddenly, a lightning bolt went over their heads and struck the wall in front of them, much to their surprise. They turned around to see Aya flying around to avoid the lightning bolts fired by Mooshoo. "I can tell that you're staying in air on purpose so that my shots do not accidentally hit your friends," Mooshoo said to her while constantly firing at her. "But what is to stop me from wanting to aim at your friends on purpose?" Then he changed his aim to Marisa and Nitori.

"Hey! Keep them out of this! This is between you and me!" Aya said to him.

Mooshoo didn't listen to her; he fired a lightning bolt at Nitori and Marisa, but they quickly jumped out of its way. Aya angrily charged at Mooshoo and rammed in the side to send him flying. "Aya! Catch!" Nitori shouted as she threw something to Aya. She caught it and saw that it was the Kappa Reflector.

"Argh! Take this!" Mooshoo angrily said as he fired at Aya. Acting fast, Aya activated the Kappa Reflector and bounced the lightning bolt back to Mooshoo.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Mooshoo squealed at the top of his voice as high voltage electricity traveled throughout his body, and he wasn't kidding when he said that he adjusted the voltage to the point where whatever got hit by the lightning bolts would get vaporized; the pig-cow hybrid exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Aya, with a look of awe on her face, turned off the Kappa Reflector and said, "Whoa… That was… That was… Um… Uh… I don't know what to say… I'm just glad I didn't get hit by it…"

Nitori and Marisa walked up to her, and the former asked her, "Are you all right?"

Aya returned her the reflector. "Thanks for this! Here, have it back."

Seeing that the other three villains were defeated, Dread Joker stopped trying to attack Sanae and said, "You girls have gone too far for you own good. It's time that I settle everything with you all!"

"You won't be defeating us!" Sanae said to him. "You fear the power of the goddesses, right? Very well, then I shall summon Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako to smite you down! Prepare yourself!"

**BGM: Wave Boss Battle (Mega Man Star Force 3)**

"I shall get rid of you first before that happens!" Joker said before warping in front of Sanae to punch her, but she got out of the way in time. However, the Wizard quickly warped behind her and punched her into the wall before she could dodge it. "Gigaton Building!" He struck the floor to cause several blocks to fall down around Sanae, and then he pointed his arms at them and formed red sparks in the palms.

Seeing this, Reimu shouted at Sanae, "Sanae! Fly out of there fast! He's up to something!"

"Dread Lazer!" Joker shouted before the others could do anything, and then he fired a massive red laser beam at the block, instantly destroying them.

"SANAE!" Reisen gasped in horror.

"No… Something's not right," Remilia commented, observing what was before her eyes carefully. She observed that the beam only destroyed the black blocks and not the wall behind them, and Sanae was seen unharmed in front of whatever was stopping the beam.

When the laser beam finally ended, Joker was surprised that his most powerful attack was easily stopped by Suwako in a bubble. "Trying to hurt my descendant, aren't you?" the mountain goddess said. "I'll have to punish you for that!"

"Thanks for the protection, Mistress Suwako!" Sanae said to her.

"It's my job to protect you, so you don't have to thank me. I'll take care of him for you using the amount of time I have before I disappear." The bubble popped, and then Suwako ran toward the Wizard at a fast speed. She jumped at him to hit him with a diving kick, so Joker quickly countered with an arm swing that sent her flying into the wall. Instead of hitting it with her body, she planted her feet against it and then kicked off it toward Joker. The impact was so hard that the Wizard took several steps back while grunting in pain.

Suwako bounced back into the air after delivering the headbutt and then shot out a large amount of water from her mouth that carried the Wizard to the other side of the room. She then produced a pair of iron rings in her hands to get ready to throw them, but unfortunately, she disappeared before she could do so. "What a time to leave…" Marisa commented.

"Don't worry; I can summon them as many times as I want to," Sanae said.

"Summoning goddesses require a large amount of spiritual energy, so doing that too many times can wear you out," Reimu told her.

"Have you forgotten that I am the descendant of a goddess? Don't compare my spiritual powers to yours!"

"What is that suppose to mean…?" Reimu was somewhat offended when she heard that.

Joker got back up and angrily glared at Sanae, who took out a spell card and shouted, "Heaven Goddess: Revered Pillars!" The card flashed, and then Kanako appeared with a pair of pillars in front of her, which hit the floor with loud thuds.

"It's him again, right?" the sky goddess asked Sanae. "I'll take care of him for you!" Lifting up one of the pillars using two hands, she flung it at the Wizard like a spear.

Joker quickly warped out of the way and in front of the other pillar to destroy it with a punch before attempting to punch Kanako, but she quickly ducked underneath it before punching him in the abdomen hard. When she pointed her hand at the pillar she previous threw, which was stuck into the wall, it flew back to her, and then she used it like a baseball bat against Joker to send him flying. After that, she threw the pillar at him and pushed him through the wall with it.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"All right! Great going!" Marisa exclaimed.

Kanako dusted her hands and said with a smile, "Well? How'd you like that? Nobody gets in a fight with a goddess who's fought in a war before and gets away with it unscratched!"

Sanae said to her, "You're awesome, Mistress Kanako!"

"Feel free to call me whenever you need to," the goddess said to her. "Suwako and I are always ready to help you!" After that, she disappeared.

Meiling looked at the part of the wall where Joker got pushed through and asked, "Do you think he's defeated?"

"Don't know," Reimu said with a shrug.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash behind them, so they turned around to see that a massive CRT television had appeared. They also noticed a hole in the ceiling closing up. "What is that!" Youmu asked in surprise while looking at the large monitor.

"Wow! I've never seen a television the size of this before!" Nitori commented. "Sanae, is this normal in the outside world?"

"I don't think so…" Sanae replied. "The closest you get to this are the screens found in movie theaters, but they're actually large white panels for letting projectors project images onto…"

Aya walked up in front of the screen and took some photos of it. Suddenly, the TV turned on, and a large hand came out and grabbed her. "Hey!" Before she or the other girls could do anything, the hand pulled her into the screen.

"Aya!" Nitori gasped as she ran in front of the screen, but she saw the image of a bomb with a countdown starting with the number '3' on it. Once the countdown reached zero, the word "Warning" appeared, and Sanae, knowing what might possibly happen next, shouted for everyone to get away, and they did. Immediately after moving to a safer distance, the TV exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Aya!" shouted Reimu, looking at the remains of the TV scattered all over the floor.

"Oh no! Aya is blown into pieces!" Cirno gasped.

"There's no blood or pieces of her body," Remilia said, "unless they were evaporated or reduced to ashes by the explosion."

"Don't say such morbid things, would you!" Reisen said to her.

Suddenly, the voice of Tabuu broadcasted into the room. "You have done well in defeating the enemies in this room!"

"Tabuu! What have you done to Aya?" Reimu angrily asked. "You're going to pay for this if something happens to her!"

"Do not worry about your friend. Rez simply wants to challenge her to a fight after she defeated his henchman, Mooshoo. Your friend is very strong, right? We shall see which of them is stronger in a fight!"

"Doubt that person named Rez is going to be a challenge for her," Remilia said. "We've fought him a bit in Lucas's world, and he was no challenge at all."

"But people learn from their battles and losses, don't they? It is too early to jump to conclusions. Rez is well prepared for this, so chances are likely that he will provide your friend a challenge. However, don't you have other things to worry about? Time is treasure, so you should come fast to me if you want to stop the universe from being filled with evil."

"He's right," Youmu said. "We don't have time to worry about Aya now. In fact, we don't even have to worry about her. She'll definitely be all right, so for now, let us continue to the top."

"Very well! Then please take the doorway on the left side of the room. You will find your way to the higher floors if you go there," Tabuu said.

"This may be a trap," Reisen said.

"Trap or not, we should just take the best possible choice of path for now," Reimu said as she moved in the direction of the doorway on the left.

The girls headed through the doorway and came to a stop when they noticed an unconscious Joker sitting against the wall with his head lowered. "Let's hope he doesn't notice us…" Marisa said.

Fearing that he might still be alive, the girls tried not to make too much noise in their walking as they approached the staircase that he was sitting next to. One by one, they walked up the first step, but when Sanae, who was last in line, placed her feet onto it, Joker suddenly caught her leg. "Hey!"

Joker glared at her and said, "If I'm going down… then I will at least take down one of you with me!" With that, the Wizard's body started to give off red electricity.

"He sounds like he's going to self-destruct!" Nitori gasped. "Sanae! Get away from him fast!"

"He's caught my leg, and I can't pull it off!" Sanae said as she tried her best to pry open his fingers.

"Everyone! Get to the top first! I'll help Sanae!" Youmu said as she quickly rushed back down the staircase while unsheathing the Roukanken. With a single swing of her sword, Youmu cut off Joker's hand, and this loosened the fingers so that Sanae could escape. The both of them quickly reached for the top just before Joker's whole body gave off bright red light, and then he exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The massive explosion blew up quite a bit of the staircase, and both Youmu and Sanae were propelled to the top of the staircase by it, but they were unharmed. "Phew… That was really close…" Sanae said with a sigh of relief. "Thank you very much, Youmu!"

"You're welcome," Youmu said.

"That sure was close! That should be the last we've seen of him," Marisa said. After that, the girls continued on their way.

* * *

The remaining villains in the room where they always gathered together saw what happened earlier through a large screen. Mr. King moved his flying throne away from the table and headed for the exit. "Where are you going?" the Emperor asked him.

"Joker has lost, and he also failed to take one of the girls with him," Mr. King replied. "As his superior, I see fit that I avenge my own subordinate. The girls are starting to cross my path, so it is time that I show them their rightful places."

"Sigma, Rez, and M. Bison have set off, so I see that it is only natural that every one of us here eventually set off one by one to take on them," Tabuu said. "I wish that you fare well against them!"

"Do not worry; I will definitely return with good news," Mr. King said as he exited the room.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope you enjoyed this long and action-packed chapter. I'll try my best to get the next chapter done in the shortest time possible.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: One by One**


	110. One by One

**SBS Time!  
kyoukohayatechan:** Near the end of the story when Joker caught Sanae's legs, Youmu told everyone one to get to the top while she helps Alice. Was that a typo?

**Game2002: **Yes, and it's corrected now. Thanks for pointing that out! I originally forgot that Alice wasn't with them and made Joker catch her, but then realized the mistake afterwards. Missed out that small part, however…

**Chapter 109  
One by One**

* * *

After Dread Joker's failed attempt at taking out Sanae with a suicidal attack, the girls continued on their way to the top of the castle. As they were running down hallways and from room to room searching for staircases, they encountered several Darkling. The majority of them were Soldier Darkling, but there were also other kinds of Darkling. The girls did their best to get past the Darkling without fighting them; they only stopped to fight them if they were getting in their way too much, but even so, the best they could do was to repel them or knock them out.

Reimu swatted a Soldier Darkling out of the way using her gohei and said, "Geez! These guys won't stop coming! It wouldn't be that big of a problem if we can actually do something about them!"

"I agree, especially when my Radial Shotgun did nothing to them at all…" Marisa said with a nod. "But at least they're not that tough to deal with. Well, some of them anyway…"

The girls fought their way down the hallway and headed for a door at the far end of it. It automatically opened when they got close to it and then closed tightly when they were all inside. However, when the Darkling got close to it, it refused to open.

Inside, the girls found themselves looking at the sight of various computers and high-tech scientific equipments. "What is this room?" Reimu asked.

Nitori looked around with great interest and said, "This must be a lab room!"

"But what for? Are they experimenting on something?" Sanae asked.

"Who knows? Whatever they are experimenting on, it can't be anything good," Youmu said.

They headed together in the direction of a large computer screen while looking around the place, though most of them focused on looking at the screen. When they got close to it, the screen turned on to reveal the face of Mr. King. "Good day, fair maidens!" he said.

Some of the girls were surprised by his sudden appearance, and Reimu said, "It's you!"

"I see that you managed to do well in escaping the Darkling!" Mr. King said to them. "I have to congratulate you for coming this far despite not being to defeat them! Well done!"

"Save the compliments for some other time," Remilia said to him. "What do you want from us? You want to fight or what?"

"As a matter of fact, that is what I am planning to do, and I have prepared the perfect arena. What say one of you stay behind to challenge me? You see, the Darkling cannot enter this room because I locked the door the moment you came in, but that also means you cannot leave. If you want to leave this room to continue on your way to the top of the castle, then one of you must stay behind to face me."

"It has to be a trap!" Youmu said. "Don't fall for it!"

"Trap or not, you are not going anywhere as long as you do not accept my challenge. The walls are made to be destruction-proof, and I've also prepared this room with death traps that will be triggered if you try to force your way out of here."

"Just what do you want from us?" Reimu asked him.

"I told you already, I merely want to challenge one of you girls to a one-on-one fight. You defeated my loyal servant, Dread Joker, so I see fit that I avenge him."

"Okay… So he has a very simple offer… Accept his challenge or get locked in here forever," Marisa said. "I guess there's no other way out of this other than to accept his challenge…"

Sanae stepped forward and said, "I'll challenge him!"

The other girls turned to look at her, and Nitori asked her, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure! I managed to defeat his servant, right? If that's the case, I'll also take down the master!" Then she turned to the screen. "I accept your challenge! Let the others continue on their way to the top of the castle!"

Mr. King clapped his hands. "You are a very brave girl! But will that courage be the end of you? Very well! I will grant the permission to let the others to leave the room, but I take no responsibility for whatever happens to them afterwards. As for you, green-haired maiden, you shall now come in here and fight me!"

Sanae became curious upon hearing this. "Come inside? You mean… inside the computer?"

Mr. King pointed to the right. "See that thing resembling a control panel at the side? Stand on the circle in front of it to be warped to the cyber world of the computer."

"Cyber world…? You mean… I actually get to visit the cyber worlds seen in science fiction movies?"

"I take that your world does not have such things as cyber worlds, right?"

"What's a cyber world?" Cirno asked.

"Actually, I don't know an easy way to describe this…" Sanae said. "Basically, it's a special kind of world found inside computers. It's a world where pretty much everything is related to computer networks and virtual realities. I don't know if such a thing exists in real life, but in science fiction movies, cyber world is a relatively popular subject." However, the ice fairy was still filled with question marks even after hearing her explanation.

"To put it simple, it's a three-dimensional representation of virtual space in a computer network," Mr. King explained. "However, people from primitive worlds like you girls most likely won't understand what that means."

"Sounds interesting!" Nitori commented.

Sanae then headed over to the control panel-like thing at the side of the computer screen. Before stepping onto the circle in front of it, she turned to look at her friends one last time and said, "I'm on my way to battle him now! Wish me luck!"

"You sure you can do this alone?" Reimu asked her.

"Don't worry about me! I've trained rigorously at Smash World. I have Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako by my side, not to mention the power of miracles, so there's no way I can lose! Please go ahead without any worries about me, okay?"

"Okay! Good luck!" Nitori said to her. Sanae nodded with a smile on her head while giving a thumb up, and then she stepped onto the circle.

"Now place your hand onto the panel," Mr. King said to her. The Moriya shrine maiden did as he said, and then the circle underneath her sent up green energy rings that caused her to disappear. "Heheheh! So the girl has come to her grave!"

"You better not do anything to her!" Nitori said to him. "You better be prepared to get defeated by her!"

"I'm looking forward to see how hard she tries to win against me! You girls better be prepared yourself to take on whoever you will eventually across!" Mr. King told the girls. "Well, I'm off to deal with her!" With that, the screen turned off.

The girls stared at the screen for a more seconds in silence, and then the door on the wall to the left of it opened. "C'mon, let's go," Reimu said. "Sanae will be all right for sure." The girls nodded, and then they all left the room.

They headed out into a large room with no signs of Darkling, but there was someone standing, or rather, floating in front of a staircase at the other side. The girls approached that person with caution to see that he was a gray-skinned humanoid wearing a purple cape, and there were four small purple heads floating around him. "Welcome to your deaths!" he said to them.

"And you are?" Reimu asked him.

"I am Necrophobe, a servant of Lord Exdeath!" he replied. "I am under orders to eliminate you all!"

"We're in a hurry here," Youmu said to him while unsheathing her larger sword, "so you better get out of the way."

"I will not let you pass! You must defeat me first if you really want to go on ahead!"

"He's asking for it," Marisa said. "Let's just give him what he wants and then get to the next floor."

"That's what I'm planning to do," Reimu said with some paper amulets in her hand, and then she threw them at Necrophobe. To her surprise, the amulets exploded before they hit him. "What!"

Necrophobe laughed and then said, "It's useless! None of your attacks can hope to hit me!" Youmu dashed at the villain and swung her sword, but it struck something invisible.

"What! How is this possible!" Youmu said in surprise.

**BGM: Boss Theme (Final Fantasy V)**

"I told you it's useless! Now it's my turn!" Necrophobe said. Without moving his arms, which were crossed in front of his chest, one of the purple heads next to him opened its mouth and fired a white energy ball at another one of the heads, but an originally invisible force field around the latter bounced the projectile in the direction of the girls, so they quickly got out of its way. When the energy ball hit the wall at the back end of the room, it exploded in a burst of white light.

Another one of the heads spit out an orange energy ball at the head that previous launched an attack, and it bounced off its force field and in the direction of Marisa. She avoided it, and the energy ball kept on flying until it hit the wall and created a large explosion. "Whoa! I didn't expect something like that to be so destructive!" Marisa commented upon seeing that.

Meiling ran at Necrophone and threw a punch at him, but like with Youmu, her fist came in contact with what appeared to be an invisible force field around him. "I told you it's useless!" he said before one of the heads fired and bounced a white energy ball at her, but she avoided it.

Remilia attacked him next. She swung her claws at the invisible barrier rapidly, and when it wasn't doing any good, she attacked with Red Magic, but it exploded upon hitting the barrier. One of the floating heads fired and bounced a white energy ball at her, but she avoided it before reaching over to that head and crushed it with her hands, a move that shocked Necrophobe greatly. "How dare you do this to one of my barriers!" he angrily said before backing away from her.

"So… it seems that you do not like it when those things get destroyed, eh?" Remilia asked. "I destroyed that one just now because I found it annoying, but it would appear that they are important to you, am I right?"

"Die!" Necrophobe shouted before the remaining heads fired and bounced projectiles off each other and in Remilia's direction. The vampire flew toward him while avoiding the projectiles, and then she destroyed another one of the heads with her claws as she flew past him.

Necrophobe turned to her in anger and shouted, "Don't you dare do that again!" While his head was turned, Youmu jumped at another one of the heads and cut it down. By the time Necrophobe realized it, Youmu had already cut down the fourth and final head. "NOOOOOOO!" He quickly backed away from them. "How dare you destroy all my invincible barriers! I will not tolerate such a thing!"

"Why is he getting so acted up about that?" Cirno asked. "Are they really that important to him or what?"

"I'm going to unleash my full power against you! It's all you can eat!" Necrophobe angrily said as he pointed his arm at the girls and released a burst of light from his palm to blind them, and while they were trying to regain their visions, he summoned and fired a large cyclone that blew them all over the place. "Hurricane!"

Most of the girls hit the walls or tumbled violently onto the floor, but Youmu planted her feet against the wall instead and then kicked off it and into Necrophobe, slashing him across the body in the process. "GUAH!"

After landing, Youmu turned around to face the injured Necrophobe, and at the same time, Myon, who was on the other side of the villain, transformed into a replica of its human half, and then they both ran at the villain to slash him like crazy while constantly dashing past each other. "Two-Way Dual Assault!"

SLAAAAAAAAAASH! SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Necrophobe screamed as the final two simultaneous hits from both the real person and the clones sent him flying into the air, and then he fell back down with a loud thud on his back. While grasping for breath, the villain slowly raised his arm into the air while delivering his last few words. "No… This… cannot… be… Lord… Exdeath… I failed… you…" With that, his arm fell onto the floor, and then he slowly disintegrated until there was nothing left of him.

Myon turned back to its original form and then returned to Youmu's side, and the latter said, "Took care of him."

"Yes, we can see that," Reimu said while walking to her with the other girls. "Great job, Youmu! C'mon, let's keep on moving!"

The girls got ready to go up the staircase when they suddenly heard someone shouting at them. "Just a moment! You're not going anywhere just yet!" They turned around and saw M. Bison walking in their direction.

"We've got more company…" Marisa commented.

"It's him!" Meiling said in shock.

"I've seen enough of all those failures!" M. Bison said while approaching them. "I detest failures coming from anyone on my side, and in order to prevent that from happening any further, I'm going to do things myself! You girls better get ready to meet your biggest challenge yet!"

"Look who's talking big," Remilia said.

With a serious look on her face, Meiling walked toward M. Bison, which made him stop and watch with curiosity, and got into fighting stance. "Meiling… Don't tell me that you want to fight him…" Reimu asked her.

"I lost to him the last time we met," the gatekeeper said without looking back. "This time, however, I'm going to defeat him! The rest of you please go on ahead!"

M. Bison laughed when he heard this. "Hahaha! You haven't learned from our first encounter, haven't you? You're weak, so you'll still in a rematch! Out of my way; I don't want to deal with weaklings like you! I'd rather fight someone among that can put up a challenge!"

"I won't let you get past me nor will I let you underestimate me!" Meiling angrily shouted, and when she did, rainbow-colored aura appeared all around her.

Everyone was rather surprised by what they saw. "This is the first time I've heard Meiling speaking with so much anger…" Cirno commented.

"I can tell that she's serious this time," Reimu said.

M. Bison smirked and said, "So you insist on a rematch, eh? Very well! I shall grant you what you want, but don't blame me if the outcome is the same as before! This time, however, I'm going to make sure that die!"

"You better not look down on my gatekeeper," Remilia said to him. "Just because you won against her the first time doesn't mean you're going to win again. She trained intensely before coming here after all." Then she turned to the Chinese gatekeeper. "Meiling, show him what you've got!"

"Don't worry, Mistress Remilia!" Meiling said. "I'll definitely win this time! I won't disappoint you or everyone else!"

After Meiling assured them that she would definitely be fine, the girls quickly headed up the staircase while M. Bison got into his trademark fighting stance. "Well, let's begin the second round, shall we?" he asked.

* * *

The girls managed to make their way through several floors without much trouble this time. They didn't encounter as many Darkling as before, and even if they did, there were only a few of them and were easy to deal with.

As they were searching for the next staircase, Cirno said, "I've been thinking… Why can't we just fly out one of the windows and then get to the top from the outside? We couldn't fly to the top directly when we were outside due to the barrier, but now that we are inside the part of the castle that is within the barrier, that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"

"Now that you said it…" Marisa said. "How come I never thought of that earlier? And why didn't you tell us about that earlier?"

"That thought never came to me for whatever reason…"

Reimu walked up to the nearest window and looked out it for a few seconds before grabbing the handle. However, the window refused to open when she pulled it. "Ngh! Is this locked or something?"

"Let me handle it!" Nitori said as she walked up to the window to open it, but no matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn't open. "Ngh! How come it won't open?" She even used the help of her mechanical arms, but the result was the same.

Suddenly, Tabuu's voice was broadcasted into the room. "The windows have been rigged so that it cannot be opened. Trying to destroy them is no use as well because the magic that is keeping them shut will be left behind in the form of an energy wall that prevents people from going through. Did you girls seriously think that I'm going to allow you an easy way to the top? Please make your way to the top like normal people. Thank you!"

"Is it just me or is he actually rather… nice…?" Reisen asked.

Since flying out the window didn't seem to be an option, they had no choice but to take the staircases. After going up some more floors, they arrived at a large empty room

Marisa noticed a treasure chest at the center of the room which sparked her curiosity, so she went over to it to open it, despite Youmu's warning that it might be a trap. Marisa went up to the chest and tapped it a few times with her broom to see if it would trigger anything. After seeing that nothing was triggered, she slowly opened the chest and peeked inside, and then she opened it entirely and took out what appeared to be a trophy of a strange mechanical being. "What's this?" she wondered.

The other girls walked up to her, and Reimu said, "You just had to open this chest, didn't you? What if there was a trap inside?"

"Hey, you should be glad that there is none," Marisa said to her while observing the trophy. "Anyway, I wonder what this thing is." All of a sudden, a large amount of smoke came out from inside the treasure chest, and the girls quickly moved back in shock. "Yikes!"

The girls got into defensive stances as more and more smoke came out from the chest and gathered together in front of it. At the same time, Marisa felt the trophy trembling violently in her hand, and fearing that it meant something bad, she quickly threw it away. The trophy suddenly exploded into a burst of purple particles shortly after hitting the floor, and at the same time, something started to materialize from the smoke.

"What is happening!" Reisen asked in shock.

When the smoke cleared, a massive brown five-headed dragon was seen standing where it used to be—Tiamat.

As for the trophy, the explosion of purple particles caused it to transform into a large robot with two bodies connected to each other on a set of wheels—Duon.

"What in the world…?" Reimu said in shock upon seeing the two giant beings. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over the girls, and when they looked up, they saw a rock-like thing coming down on top of them. They quickly jumped out of its way, and when they turned around to get a better look at what it was, they saw that it was a giant tribal face made of rock floating in the air, and the thing that attempted to crush them was his hand, which was also made of rock—Wham Bam Rock.

With the exception of Remilia, the girls all had worried look on their faces, but at the same time, they were in defensive stances, getting ready to fight if one of these monsters attacked them. Death suddenly appeared in the air above and in between Tiamat and Duon. "Fear is what is in your minds right now, am I right?" he asked them. "It is only normal for mortals to experience such a thing when face to face with several beings of massive proportions after all."

"It's him again…" Youmu said

"Fear? Right… As if I would be afraid of oversized opponents…" Remilia said.

"This is as far as you girls go," Death said. "While my superiors allow you to make your way to the top, I feel the need to stop you all right here and right now. This is for the sake of letting our plans succeed!"

"So you are afraid that you're going to fail, eh?" Marisa asked. "It's all right; fear is something that everyone feels after all-ze!"

Death pointed his scythe at them. "This place shall be your grave! Experience what it is like to die in a place far away from your own world and people you know! You shall all die the cruelest death! Attack!"

**BGM: Boss Battle Song 1 (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Wham Bam Rock brought down his massive fist made of rock onto the girls, but they quickly jumped in various directions. When Reimu and Nitori landed from their jumps, Duon moved in their direction, and the side of the body, which was blue in color, that was facing them swung his hands, which were actually swords, at them, but they quickly flew into the air.

From the air, Reimu threw several paper amulets at his face while Nitori blasted it with missiles. The dual-bodied robot quickly moved back a bit from them and then spun around to show them the pink body on the other side. Instead of having swords for his hands, he had arm cannons, and he fired pinkish-purple laser beams from them. Seeing this as the perfect chance to use Kappa Reflector, Nitori whipped out her reflecting device and bounced the beams back to Duon, which seemed to be somewhat effective, as the robot jerked back upon getting hit by the homecoming projectiles.

Seemingly enraged, the robot's wheel started spinning really fast in place, and then he charged in their direction, but they got out of his way in time. When they turned around to face Duon, the robot also turned around to have his pink side facing them, and then he fired large missiles out of the cannon on his head. Nitori quickly fired her own missiles at them, and they managed to destroy one of them. The remaining three closed in on of the girls, and when they moved away from them, they were surprised to find out that they were homing missiles.

"Tsk! These things are more annoying than anything else!" Reimu said in frustration before throwing several paper amulets at them. They all collided with the warhead with one of the missiles and destroyed it. As for the other two, Nitori caught them by their sides with her mechanical arms and then flung them at Duon, but the robot quickly destroyed them by firing from his arm cannons.

Duon then leaped into the air and in their direction; however, he ended up hitting the ceiling and fell back down earlier than intended. "That was a dumb…" Reimu commented. The pink side of the robot then formed a ball of electricity on the turret of his cannon, and thinking that he was going to charge up an attack, Nitori got her Kappa Reflector ready and got in front of Reimu. A blue beam was shot out from the ball of electricity at a fast speed, but Nitori managed to activate her reflector in time. Unexpectedly enough, the beam pierced through the reflector and zapped her. Not only that, but the beam also went through her body and struck Reimu as well. Both the screamed in pain and then fell onto the floor.

"Ugh… What happened just now…?" Reimu asked while pushing herself back.

"That projectile… It went through my reflector… and then it went through me and into you…" Nitori explained. The girls looked at Duon and saw him zooming toward them really fast in an attempt to run them over with his wheels. The girls got together and positioned themselves in a way so that they were in the space in between the wheels, so the robot went over them safely. When they got up and turned to Duon, the blue side produced and hurled several explosives in at them, but they quickly got out of their way.

Youmu ran towards Tiamat with her larger sword ready to strike her, and when one of the heads breathed fire at her, she quickly rolled out of the way before continuing on her way. The dragon quickly brought her wings in front of her heads to protect herself, but unfortunately for her, Youmu's sword went through the wing and made a cut on one of the heads, just underneath the left eye. Tiamat roared in pain as she quickly jumped back, and for a creature her size, the length of her jump was something to talk about.

"If you're a big one, then I'll use something big against you!" Marisa said as she combined a spell card of hers and her hakkero together. "Take this! Love Sign: Master Spark!" The dragon, however, saw the attack coming from afar, so she flapped her wings to escape to the air. "Darn it! Missed!"

The five-headed dragon flew in her direction, and two of the heads shot out lightning bolts from their mouths, but Marisa rolled out of their way quick. She quickly took off into the air when the dragon flew toward her in an attempt to stomp her. Tiamat quickly turned her heads after the escaping witch and fired lightning bolts from three of her heads. With her head looking back, Marisa moved left and right to avoid the incoming lightning bolts.

While Tiamat was trying to shoot down Marisa, Youmu approached her from the front at a fast speed, but one of the head saw her coming and so attacked with a fire breath that she managed to avoid by rolling aside. Youmu made a quick dash for the dragon and slashed her in the leg. Tiamat roared in pain as she took a step back before attempting to stomp the half-phantom, only to miss. Youmu then flew around the dragon at a fast speed, cutting her all over the body.

After slashing her several times, Youmu moved away from Tiamat and said, "Its skin is actually quite tough, even though I can cut through it without much trouble…" Tiamat faced the half-phantom with angry expressions on all five heads, and then they released blasts of ice and snow at her. Youmu quickly brought up her arms in defense, but the extremely low temperature of the attack quickly made her body feel weak, and the sharp pieces of ice also cut her skin. "Ugh!"

From the air above the dragon, Marisa pointed her hakkero, which was combined with a spell card, at her. "Star Sign: Dragon…" But before she could pull off the attack, one of the heads looked to the back and fired a lightning bolt at her. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" And she was knocked out of the air.

Youmu lowered her arms slightly when the cold air stopped flying into her, but immediately after she did so, Tiamat closed in on her at an unexpectedly fast speed and smashed her with her hand.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

Tiamat pulled away her hand to reveal a pained and flattened Youmu lying on the floor, and then she brought up her foot to stomp her. Youmu was still conscious, however, and as the foot was coming down onto her, she quickly thrust her sword upward to stab it. Tiamat let out cries of pain and hopped back, and then Youmu dashed in between her legs, slashing them both as she did. This caused Tiamat to fall over on her front with a crash.

While the dragon was down, Youmu went over to Marisa, who was just sitting back up, and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine… I think…" she replied. Then she saw Tiamat getting back up to turning to them with angry expressions on all her heads. "Um… Look behind you…"

Cirno flew toward Wham Bam Rock's face and fired several icicles at one of his eyes. "Eat this! Icicle Machine Gun!" His fist plowed through the icicles and tried to hit her, but she managed to get out of the way by dropping altitude. She tried to use the same attack again, but the hand punched her from behind and caused her to eventually hit the floor. "Ow!"

Wham Bam Rock turned to her and got ready to smash her with his fist, but Reisen quickly distracted him by shooting it. The giant face turned to her and stared at her for a few seconds before sending his fist in her direction, but she got out of the way while firing shots at the face constantly. However, the shots did nothing at all when they hit the eyes and the mouth. Despite this, Reisen continued to fire nonstop, hoping that it would eventually do something, but this lack of concentration on her surroundings caused her to be caught from behind by the hand. "Ya! Let go of me!"

The lunar rabbit struggled to escape the fist's grasp, but to no avail, and Wham Bam Rock started to squeeze the life out of her. "Let go of her at once!" Cirno shouted as she flew toward the fist with her own fist encased in a mass of spiky ice, and she punched it to make Wham Bam Rock let go of Reisen.

"Thank you very much, Cirno!" Reisen said to the ice fairy. They both then turned to look at Wham Bam Rock, who was pointing at them with his fist in the form of a gun. Thinking that he was going to shoot something from his finger, the girls got ready to jump out the way at the last moment, but all of a sudden, a rock fell from the air and struck Reisen in the head, knocking her out.

"Reisen!" Cirno gasped. A rock also hit her head, but that one was smaller in size and didn't knock her out. She looked up to see several rocks appearing out of thin air and falling down, and a large one was falling onto Reisen, so she quickly flew to her and pulled her out of its way in time.

Remilia and Death exchanged blows with each other in the air, the former using her claws and the latter using his scythe. Eventually, Death backed off and fired several blue flames at her, but she managed to move out of the way before getting close to him. Death attempted to hit her with his scythe, but she quickly swooped up. She attempted to take on him from above, but Death knew what she was going to do, so he spun his scythe like a propeller as acts of offense and defense.

Much to his surprise, however, Remilia managed to stop the spinning scythe by grabbing the center of its handle and his hand, and then she flung the grim reaper across the air before forming and throwing a red spear at him. "Heart Break!" Death quickly recovered and countered the incoming attack by destroying it with a swing of scythe.

He then swung his scythe really hard against the air to fire several crescent-shaped projectiles at her, but she managed to dodge them while closing in on him. Death swung his scythe at her when she got close, but she managed to stop it with her fingers without letting the blade cut the skin. However, Death immediately pulled off an unexpected move of pulling out a sickle and slashing her diagonally across the chest with it. Remilia grunted in pain as she moved back from the grim reaper with her hand on her wound, and the latter threw the sickle at her, though she caught it with her other hand.

Death then made several sickles appear and fly around his body in circles before charging at Remilia. Knowing that he did as a form of protection, Remilia got out of his way as not to get hit by the sickles. Death turned to her and made the sickles flew at her one after another, and Remilia countered by sending out energy bats after them. "Servant Flier!"

The sickles were knocked out of the air when theY collided with bats, which disappeared when the hit the former, but Death continued to throw sickles at Remilia, increasing their number gradually. Remilia then formed a vortex on her palm and fired a large red chain out of it. "Chain Gang!" The chain knocked down the sickles that were in its way and went through Death's body.

"Ugh!" The grim reaper was then swung in circles by Remilia via the chain, and after doing this several times, she made the chain disappear to make him fly across the air until he hit the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

With the blue side of his body facing Nitori, Duon swung down the sword on his head onto the kappa, but using her mechanical hands, Nitori managed to catch the blade by the sides and stop it. While both sides were exerting force against each other, Reimu used a spell card to summon five energy orbs of various colors. "Dream Sign…" Instead of the orbs flying forward by themselves, however, she kicked them one by one as if they were soccer balls. "Fantasy Comet!"

The energy orbs collided with Duon so hard that they almost knocked the robot over on his side, and that really happened when Nitori punched him in side of the blue body's head with her mechanical hand. While the robot was down and struggling to get back up, Reimu raised another spell card into the air to create a large energy yin-yang orb. "Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb! Fall!" And she "hurled" it at Duon.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The robot was consumed entirely by the explosion so that there was nothing left of it afterwards. "That's that," Reimu said after seeing that the opponent was defeated.

Nitori went up to her and said, "Wow! This is the first time I've seen you using your moves like that!"

"Just different ways of using my existing moves. That's all."

Tiamat opened all her mouths and breathed out combinations of fire, ice, and electricity, but Youmu and Marisa quickly got out of the way. The half-phantom ran toward the dragon from the side and then jumped into the air with her sword raised over her head. "Rise From Delusion Slash!" She inflicted massive damage to Tiamat and caused her stop her attack, and then Marisa went behind the pained dragon with both arms pointing at her.

"Taste my new attack! And make sure to leave behind a comment as well!" she said as bright yellow light came out from her palms. "Astrological Drill!" And she fired several star-shaped projectiles that spun fast and furiously like drills, each of them pelting Tiamat hard in the back and drilling against her skin for a few seconds before exploding.

BAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

While the size of the projectiles were only as big as a hand, the sheer number of them and the speed they traveled at were enough to make Tiamat lose her footing and take steps forward with each hit, and the pain was unimaginable as well. Eventually, the five-headed dragon fell forward onto the floor and then exploded in a burst of white smoke. "Yeah! How'd you like that? I guess there's no need for comments now-ze!" Marisa happily said.

After taking Reisen to a safer place, Cirno flew back to Wham Bam Rock to continue taking on him. The giant face tried to smash her with his fist, but her constant movement made him kept on missing. When the fist came down again, Cirno quickly created an ice hammer to hit it with, but the hammer shattered into pieces instead.

The fist quickly opened up and caught Cirno before she could pull back, and having caught the ice fairy, Wham Bam Rock proceeded to crush her within his hand. He suddenly felt a huge drop in temperature within his hand, so he quickly opened up his fingers to drop Cirno, whose ice-cold body proved to be a useful form of protection for her. "Freezer Beam!" Cirno shouted as she fired a three-way beam at the hand before it pulled back too far, and all three beams struck and froze it.

Wham Bam Rock was unable to move his hand with it frozen, and then Cirno moved back through the air quite a bit of a distance before charging at it very fast, encasing herself in a block of ice with a pointed front as she did so. "Icicle Charge!" And she went through the frozen hand.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

With a large hole in the palm, the frozen hand slowly broke down into pieces. A look of horror appeared on Wham Bam Rock's face when this happened, and then he looked up into the air while letting out a deep cry that echoed throughout the place, and then he exploded in a burst of white smoke. Cirno threw her arms into the air and exclaimed, "All right! I defeated a giant face with a single hand! I'm the strongest! Hahahahaha!"

Death found out that the three monsters had been defeated, and all the girls were now looking at him. "To think that you would be able to prevail against them…" he said. "Unbelievable…"

"So what are you going to do now?" Remilia asked him. "You're the only here left, and I doubt you have what it takes to on all of us at once."

"Yeah! Give it up!" Marisa said to the grim reaper. "Might as well run away and cry to your superiors for help! It's always a wiser decision to retreat and fight some other time!"

Death pulled away from them and said in a loud voice, "I shall no longer allow you girls to do as you please! For the sake of my lord, Dracula, and everyone in this organization, I will use my full power to destroy you all here!" He then used his cloak to cover the front part of his body, which started glowing afterwards.

"What's happening to him!" Nitori asked in surprise.

The girls closed their eyes as not to get blinded by the large amount of light Death was giving off, and when they were finally to see again, they saw that Death had changed appearance. He was no longer wearing his cloak, and he lacked legs. Instead, the end of his spine moved around as if it was a tail, and there were rib-like extensions coming out from the side of it. "You shall now know what true fear is!" the transformed grim reaper said to them in a loud, echoing voice.

**BGM: Vampire Killer ~ Stage 1 Boss (Castlevania: The Arcade)**

"Minions! Attack!" Death shouted as he stretched out one hand to summon several flaming skulls that flew at the girls, who engaged them. While the girls were busy taking down the skulls one after another, Death flew at Youmu to attack her, and she quickly countered with both her swords.

While they were clashing weapons against each other, Reimu, after getting rid of the skulls she was fighting, jumped at Death and threw several needles that were covered in purple auras at him, but with a swing of his scythe, he knocked them out of the air. When Youmu tried to use this as an opportunity to slash him, the grim reaper moved away at a fast speed that left behind afterimages of himself.

Death formed several blue flames around him and then sent them after Youmu and Reimu, who dodged them while closing in on him. Death swung his scythe horizontally to fire a large crescent-shaped beam at them, but they jumped over it. The projectile continued heading in the direction of the other girls, but they either ducked or jumped to avoid it. As they were done dealing with all the flaming skulls, they went to help the other two take on Death. "It's seven against one!" Marisa said. "The odds are with us-ze! Take this! Radial Strike!" She fired a stream of star-shaped projectiles at Death.

When Reisen fired at the grim reaper, her projectiles went through him, much to her surprise. "I am a supernatural being that is the embodiment of death!" Death explained. "Normal attacks will not work against me. Attacks related to the affinity of light and certain kinds of magic will work against me, and while dark magic will also work, I am very strong against them!"

"So… my attacks aren't among those that can hurt you…?" Reisen asked. "I guess they're not related to light nor are they considered magic…"

"Then I guess my demon-extermination powers should work," Reimu said while holding up some paper amulets. "They are made to defeat supernatural beings after all."

"The things that my swords cannot cut through are next to none, and during our last encounter, I managed to inflict damage on you using them," Youmu said.

"It would appear that my attacks work against you as well," Remilia said.

"Yes, I can sense that some of you have powers that can touch me," Death said. "However, such things will not be enough to prevail against me!" He then slashed the air several times to fire several crescent-shaped projectiles that the girls quickly dodged.

As Reimu moved back through the air from dodging one of the projectiles, Death charged at her to attack her, so she quickly used her gohei to block the attack, but the force of the attack, while successfully blocked, made her hit the floor. When she got up, she saw the grim reaper diving toward her, and she barely had time to do anything. Remilia suddenly charged into him from the side with her body covered in a red aura and pushed him away. She then used Red Magic against Death to blast him even farther.

"Thanks, Remilia!" Reimu said as she stood back up and threw several paper amulets at Death, and he failed to avoid them.

"Enough!" Death angrily shouted as he raised his arm straight up to send several balls of fire into the air, and they fell back down onto where the girls were, changing into pillars of fire when they missed their targets and hit the floor instead.

"Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as she fired several missiles from her backpack, and then she pointed both her mechanical arms at Death and fired streams of electrified water from their palms. "Aqua Bolt!" However, all those attacks went through Death. "What! Guess my attacks aren't capable of hitting him as well…"

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno attacked with a barrage of icicles, but like with Reisen and Nitori's attacks, they went through the grim reaper. "Mines won't work too!"

"Then stay out of this!" Remilia said as she closed in on Death. "Leave this to ones who can actually do something!" With her claws covered in red energy, she tried to slash him, but Death managed to block each of the hits. Death then started moving around Remilia at a fast speed that left behind afterimages of himself. Remilia tried her best to keep her eyes on the movement of the grim reaper, and the moment she saw him moving his arms, she quickly shot straight up into the air to avoid a swing from his scythe.

Death followed her into the air, and the young vampire quickly moved away from him before dashing at him very fast. Death also dashed at her, and the both of them dashed past each other constantly, the latter clashing her claws with the former's scythe each time. As they were dashing into each other again, Remilia quickly formed and threw a red spear at him. "Heart Break!"

Death was struck in the face at point blank and sent spinning vertically through the air a bit of a distance. At the same time, Reimu used a spell card to summon five colored energy orbs. "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!" Pointing her gohei at Death, she made them fly at the grim reaper one after another, and he was blasted through the air again and again, grunting in pain with each hit.

After the last hit and before he had the chance to fully recover, Youmu raised a spell card into the air. "200 Yojana in 1 Slash!" This caused Myon to glow brightly and then fire large energy bullets at Death. Youmu then dashed past the grim reaper at a blinding speed while he was still being shot and left behind a red streak in the air using her sword, and the red streak exploded into a large amount of energy balls that struck Death.

With a spell card in her hand, Remilia pulled back her hand and infused red energy into it to create a gigantic spear. "Spear the Gungnir!" And she threw it at Death while he was still being hit by the bullets diagonally from above. It pushed the grim reaper to the floor and resulted in a massive blood splatter-like explosion.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When Death was hit by the spear, his scythe flew off his hand and spun into the air until the back of the front end hit the ceiling and fell down. Death was down on the floor, feeling pain all over his body from the attack, and by the time he noticed it, his scythe fell onto him and impaled him through the chest. "GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The grim reaper's body started to disintegrate while giving off light. While this was happening, the girls approached him and watched as he gave his last words. "Don't think that this is the end…! I am the embodiment of death, so I cannot die…!"

"Then explain what is happening to you," Marisa said.

"So long as my master exists and can come back, I will return…! Death… will surely befall you all one day…! GUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" With one last scream, a large amount of light came out from Death's body as he slowly disintegrated into nothingness.

The girls watched in silence at where the grim reaper originally was, and then Nitori said, "I can't believe Remilia defeated the embodiment of death! She really is powerful!"

With her hands on her waist, the young vampire boasted, "Surely, not even death can overcome me! Now you know why you shouldn't mess with the young descendant of Vlad Tepes!"

"Even though you're not Dracula's descendant…" Marisa said. "Furthermore, it's not like we never fought against the embodiment of death before. There's one living in Gensokyo, you know."

"That is to imply that Komachi is really considered a grim reaper…" Reimu said. "Anyway, we've wasted enough time here, so let's move on."

When they faced the staircase at the end of the room, they saw Fawful and Marx moving in their direction. The latter was actually bouncing on top of a ball while it rolled forward. "Geeheeheeheehee! I have chortles! But I also have fury!" Fawful said.

"You sure gave us an entertaining show!" Marx said while bouncing on the ball nonstop. "Why end it so soon? How about you let us join in on the fun too?"

"You want to fight us too?" Reimu asked. "Sorry, but we've wasted enough time here, so let us pass!"

"Awww… Come one! Only a few minutes, please… Why not at least leave behind someone to play with us?"

"I think it's obvious that they plan to separate us one by one," Youmu said. "Alice was taken first, then Aya, then Sanae, and then Meiling…"

"So they want to decrease our numbers in hope of weakening our fighting force?" Remilia asked.

"If that's the case, I'll stay behind to take on at least one of them!" Nitori said.

"Why would you want to do that?" Marisa asked her.

Nitori pointed at Fawful's helmet. "See his helmet? It's got a mechanical arm on top of it! I'm convinced that he's an engineer like me."

"So you want a battle between machines? I have chortles! Geeheeheeheehee!" Fawful said. "Very well! Fawful accepts your challenge!"

"What about me? What about me?" Marx asked. "I don't want to be left out of this! I demand that you fight me as well!"

Cirno stepped forward and pointed at him. "I'll fight you! You hurt me and my friends back in Kirby's world, so I'm going to get back at you for this!"

"Ah yes! You hit my face back then too! I'm going to pay you back for that time!"

"So the two of you want to stay behind to fight them?" Reimu asked. "Okay, but be careful, especially you, Cirno."

"Don't look down me!" the ice fairy said. "I've trained myself intensely back in Smash World in order to fight people like them! I have every reason to believe that I am truly the strongest now! I'm going to win for sure!"

"You boast a lot, but you rarely accomplish something big… Eh, whatever you said… I'm still worried about you, however…" Marisa said.

So Nitori and Cirno stayed behind while the other girls ran past Fawful and Marx to head to the next floor. "Geeheeheehee! Gone are your friends, and gone will be your life soon!" Fawful said.

"I'm going to play with you for a while and then tear you into pieces! Heeheeheehee!" Marx said in a sinister voice.

* * *

The remaining girls continued making their way through the castle, and as they were heading for another staircase, steer bars suddenly came in front of last girl in the line, Reisen. "What!"

"Reisen!" Youmu said in surprise.

Reisen grabbed the bars and shook them, despite knowing that she didn't have the strength to break or bend them. "Hahaha! The poor little girl is now separated from her friends!" said a voice. She turned around to see I.M. Meen standing there.

"It's you!" she said.

"Yes!" the self-proclaimed most powerful magician in the world said. "At last! I'm going to prove my powers to the others! This time, I'm not going to go easy on you! I'll get rid of you and then get rid of the others!"

"So Reisen… do you want to stay behind and fight him or do you want Youmu to cut down the bars for you?" Marisa asked her.

Reisen looked at her friends and then at I.M. Meen with a nervous look, but then that look became a serious one. "All right! I'll take on him! The rest of you go on ahead first!"

"That's the spirit-ze!"

"You sure you can take on him by yourself?" Reimu asked the lunar rabbit.

"Don't worry; he's not that strong if you remember the first time we met him in Kirby's world, so I shouldn't have big problems dealing with him."

Hearing this, I.M. Meen jumped up and down in anger and pointed at her. "How dare you look down on me! My so-called allies look down on me, and now you're doing the same thing! That does it! You're going down, you wretched bunny girl! You're going to pay for insulting me!"

"Bring it! I'm not afraid of you!" Reisen said while pointing her finger at him.

"All right, he's all yours. Be careful!" Reimu said before running up the stairs with the other three girls.

The four of them continued on their way, and they never encountered a single Darkling, which was definitely good news for them. When they arrived in yet another large room, they saw Exdeath standing in the center of it. "It's him!" Youmu said.

"So you finally made it here," Exdeath said. "I suppose that you want to continue on your way, am I right?"

"Shouldn't that obvious?" Marisa asked.

"I can allow you to pass, under the circumstance that one of you stay behind to fight me. We have agreed among ourselves that since there are eleven of you and eleven of us, each of us should have at least one person to fight against."

"Sounds fair to me," Remilia said with a nod.

Youmu walked in front of the other girls with both her swords unsheathed. "I'll take on him! I have an unfinished score to settle with him!"

"I figured as much…" Reimu said. "Okay, be careful with him! He's definitely a strong opponent!" So the remaining three girls ran past Exdeath, who didn't mind at all, and headed out of the room.

"So you're ready to go down to your grave, eh?" Exdeath said to her.

"You're the one who's going down to the grave!" Youmu said while getting into fighting stance.

Exdeath then unsheathed his sword. "Very well! We shall see who makes it there first!"

* * *

The remaining girls were getting closer and closer to the top floor, and as they running down a wide hallway and heading for a large door visible at the side, they saw a person standing in front of a window directly on the other side of it. "It's him…" Remilia said in voice that showed hints of anger.

"Who?" Marisa curiously asked.

"You managed to make it this far," the person, Dracula, said as he slowly turned around to face them. "You even managed to defeat my loyal servant Death. That truly is something worthy of praise. However, you have lost several of your members as you made your way here."

"It's not like they're dead," Reimu said. "They're going to defeat their opponents and reunite with us again."

"You have a bright outlook of the future, but will things always be how you hope or think it will be?" Dracule then turned his head slightly to look at the door. "Beyond that door lies the way to the mastermind behind it all, but I will only allow you to go if one of you is willing to stay behind to challenge me. If possible, I would prefer that my opponent…"

"Be me, right?" Remilia asked as she stepped forward. "You don't have to say that because I've been planning since after we met at Roy's world that I'm going to be the one to defeat you!"

"I guess that makes sense. Vampire versus vampire!" Marisa said.

"Then I will not stop your remaining two friends from moving on," Dracula said. "With only the two of them, however, can they perform well?"

"You better not underestimate Reimu and Marisa," Remilia told him. "I dare say that they are two of the strongest people I've in my life!"

"Thanks for the compliment-ze!" Marisa said.

"Be careful, Remilia," Reimu said to her before heading over to the large door with Marisa. They both pushed it open and went inside.

Once they were inside, they found themselves in what appeared to the throne room, as there was a long red carpet leading to a throne at the back of the place, and seated on the was the Emperor. "Welcome!" he said to them. "You girls surely are praiseworthy of coming all the way here! However, it seems that in the end, only the two of you made it here."

"Why does that sound so familiar…?" Marisa asked.

"Marisa," Reimu said to her.

"Yes?"

"Assuming that he requests the same thing, are you going to stay behind to fight him while I go take on Tabuu?"

Marisa adjusted her hat and said, "Of course! I knew something like this would happen when we started to get separated one by one. Don't worry; leave it to me-ze! You go on ahead and teach Tabuu a lesson!"

"So you understand my intentions," the Emperor said. "Very well, the shrine maiden may go on ahead. Tabuu wouldn't like it if he got left out of this after all."

"I'm going to put an end to this! Just you wait!" Reimu said to him, and after telling Marisa to be careful, she quickly headed for the doorway at the side of the throne.

After watching her leave, the Emperor turned to Marisa and said, "You have a brave friend. She really has the confidence that she can win, doesn't she?"

"Reimu is one of strongest people I've met in my life, so you better not underestimate her!" Marisa said as she got into fighting stance. "Maybe you should be more worried about me right now, don't you think?"

* * *

The shrine maiden ran up what may be last staircase of the castle, and at the same time, several thoughts ran through her mind. "Everyone… We've made it this far! This is the final battle! I believe in you all! Please! Let us meet each other alive again! After this is over, we can finally return to Gensokyo! Everyone, please don't fail! Let us all go back home together!"

* * *

Somewhere at the bottom of the chasm that separated Dark City from the castle, a gap opened up in midair, and Yukari came out from it. Looking around at the gloomy and seemingly lifeless place, Yukari said, "What is this place…? I don't think I've ever seen such a dreadful-looking place before… Are they really here? I sensed Reimu's spiritual energy coming from here, so I assumed that they must've either left Smash World and came to this place or haven't went there yet… Whatever, I think I'll look around this place first to see if I can find them. Her spiritual energy really is coming from somewhere in this world… Hope they don't leave before I find them…"

The demon of boundaries walked through the place in hope of finding something interesting. The more time she spent time there, the more she started to feel unconfortable. "What's happening…? I feel like I'm going to fall over any second…" Then she looked up to see the dark sky that was filled with purple swirls. "Hmmm… I think I'll fly up there. There doesn't seem to be anything special down here."

Just as she was about to take flight, the ground shook violently. Surprised, Yukari looked around the place for what was causing this, and she knew that it wasn't an earthquake because it constantly came and stop, something that wasn't the case with earthquakes. The sound of something hitting the ground grew louder and louder, and when she turned around, she found herself looking at the legs of a massive being. She then she slowly tilted her head upward to look into the face of the Cruncher Darkling.

* * *

A set of doors swung open as Reimu barged her way into the room with the round table where the villains usually gather. "Tabuu! Where are you?" she shouted. "I'm here to fight you! Come out at once!"

The shrine maiden walked up the table and looked all over the seemingly empty room for the signs of the villain. "Come out here at once! I know you're in here somewhere! I'm here to put an end to your plan!"

Suddenly, blue light shined onto her from behind and made her turn around, and then a voice said, "Here I am!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

And so, the main fights of this arc shall begin with the next chapter! However, that will have to wait until I come back from church retreat. Because I am leaving tomorrow, this chapter actually ended up being rushed a bit, but I tried my best not to miss out important parts.

Also, Necrophobe was supposed to be encountered in the previous chapter when the girls are fighting Mooshoo, I.M. Meen's monsters, and Dread Joker, but I completely forgot about him.

Death's second form is taken from Castlevania: The Arcade. Even his death, being stabbed by his own scythe, was taken from that game as well.

I'll be back with more updates after returning from church retreat on Tuesday!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Seven-Colored Puppeteer**


	111. Seven Colored Puppeteer

I'm back from church retreat! Did you all miss me? Anyway, here's the next chapter! This is where the real action begins!

**Chapter 110  
Seven-Colored Puppeteer**

* * *

Alice made her way to the bottom of the shaft and emerged at a massive empty room with metal walls. She landed and looked around the place for signs of other people, and then her attention eventually fell on the lone person standing across her—Sigma. "You…" she said in a voice that hinted at anger.

With an evil on his face and his scythe placed against his right shoulder, Sigma slowly walked in the magician's direction and said, "Honestly saying, I'm surprised that you survived the blow I gave to you that time! To beings made of flesh, something like that would pretty much spell instant death!"

"I told you already that I'm not human," Alice said to him while summoning several dolls, "and speaking of which, it's time to make you pay back for that time. It hurts a lot, you know?"

"I'd figure that you would say something like that," Sigma said as he came to a stop. "The payback, I mean. So… are you ready for round two? Let me warn you: I'm going to make sure that you drop dead this time! It doesn't matter whether or not you're human; you look like one, and I never really liked humans, so the sight of you annoys me!"

"The sight of you annoys me as well! Just looking at you makes my wound act up, even though it's long gone already."

"So much anger in your voice! Heheheh! I like it! It shows that you are going to put a lot of effort into this fight! I don't care whether you're going to be a pushover or not; I just want to get rid of you and then the rest of your friends!" Sigma then held his scythe using both hands. "All right! Enough talk and come at me already! We'll settle this the hard way!"

Alice moved her arms in a way that made of the dolls come in front of her and hold their weapons tightly in their hands. "I'm ready to take on you anytime!"

**BGM: Sigma 1****st**** (Mega Man X4)**

Sigma let out a war cry of sorts as he dashed at Alice, and the magician pointed her arm at the incoming Reploid to make her dolls charge at him. Sigma swung his scythes at the dolls to get rid of them, but with skilled and swift hand movements, Alice managed keep all the dolls from getting hit while attempting to land their weapons against him.

"Tsk! Annoying junks!" Sigma said in frustration as he jumped back and then formed and fired several energy balls at them. With a snap of her fingers, Alice made some of the dolls change their weapons into shields, which they used for blocking the projectiles with success. Sigma jumped into the air and over the dolls so that he could try to bring down the scythe onto the magician herself from above, but Alice quickly flew out of the way while taking her dolls along with her.

Sigma turned around after landing from his jump to see Alice making some of the dolls firing energy bullets at him, and as he had no time to get out of the way, all he did was use his arms to defend himself. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the point of view, the bullets weren't all that fatal, so Sigma was able to shrug them off without suffering much pain. "Ha! You call those peashooters bullets? They don't even compare to what my arch nemesis is capable of doing!" he taunted.

"You should be glad that I'm not going all-out yet!" Alice said to him.

Though not fatal, Sigma still tried his best to dodge and block the projectiles. "Perhaps you should! There will only be one victor in this fight, so you better fight like your life depends on it if you want to be that victor!" Then he threw the scythe, which spun through the air like a buzzsaw, at her.

Alice quickly jumped out of the way and pulled her dolls to safety as well. She kept her eye on the movement of the scythe and saw it making a u-turn, and because it headed for her the second time, she avoided it again by taking flight. Immediately after catching the scythe, Sigma leaped into the air higher than Alice and flung it diagonally downward at her, but she once again dodged it.

When the tip of the scythe's energy blade dug into the floor, various electric currents traveled across all over it, and though Sigma's feet came in contact with them when he landed, he didn't look like he was bothered at all. Objects resembling boomerangs that were attached to his shoulders detached themselves and flew at Alice, who had her dolls knocked them away, but they came back for another round. The dolls managed to knock them away again, and this time, they returned to their original locations.

With the boomerangs back on his shoulders, Sigma jumped at the scythe and pulled it out of the floor while heading in Alice's direction to hit her. She quickly caused the blades of the swords held by two of her dolls to be coated with magic. In doing this, the blades were able to clash against the energy scythe without breaking. Sigma fell back onto the floor and then dashed at her while swinging his scythe multiple times, each of them getting blocked by the dolls' swords.

"Don't think that is enough to protect you from me!" Sigma said as he swung his scythe with such a force that not only sliced the dolls in two, but the blade also increased in size slightly. Alice then moved back before Sigma slashed her with it.

She summoned more dolls and had them fire lasers at him from their palms. "Hourai Doll!" Sigma jumped out of the lasers' way and then fired a pair of eye beams from his eye after landing, but Alice used a doll equipped with a shield to block it. While the doll was blocking the shield, she hurled two dolls over her and at the Reploid. "Return Animate!"

Not giving much thought about them, Sigma attacked those dolls with his scythe, only for them to explode and send him tumbling backwards. "Ugh! Should've thought of them being explosives!" Suddenly, several dolls charged through the mass of smoke with spears pointing at him, and when he tried to hit them, they spread out in various directions. Sigma looked around and saw the dolls coming at him at him again, and as there were none behind him, he quickly retreated in that direction.

The dolls came to a stop when they got close to each other, and then coating the spearheads with magic, they hurled the spears at him. Sigma spun his scythe like a propeller as a form of defense, and the spears bounced off into the air when they hit it. Alice flew into the air and quickly went behind and above Sigma before pulling the dolls into the air, and then she had them fall onto him with their spears pointing down, but he jumped out of their way.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sigma asked upon landing.

"Large Legion!" Alice said as she snapped her fingers to make the dolls' spear become spiked balls attached to chains, and then she spun to make the dolls move around her, basically performing a dangerous and wide-ranged spinning attack.

Sigma kept his distance from Alice and then threw his scythe at her, but her attack knocked it back to his hand. "Tsk!" Sigma jumped into the air and threw the scythe at her from there. However, Alice swung a doll at it and knocked it onto the floor before swinging another doll at Sigma, who failed to avoid getting hit by the spike ball. "Ugh!"

The Reploid crashed onto the floor, and when he looked up, Alice had the dolls fire laser beams at him. "Hourai Doll!"

"Gyah!" Sigma screamed as the laser beams burned against his body constantly, and while this was happening, Alice flung three dolls one bye one at him. "Volatile Doll!"

BANG KABOOM BANG!

Sigma jumped out from the explosion with his body somewhat charred and then ushed for his scythe, but before he could get to it, Alice had one of her dolls snatch it away. "Hey you! Give that back!"

"Don't blame me if I do!" Alice said as she had the doll swing his own weapon against him, but he jumped over it.

"Argh! It's not like I'm helpless without that thing!" Sigma growled upon landing, and then he fired energy balls at the magician. She used the scythe-wielding doll to destroy the projectiles with the stolen weapon before having her charge at the Reploid. Sigma quickly ducked underneath the scythe swing and then reached his hand at the doll, but Alice made her get out of the way in time before swinging the scythe horizontally across his chest. "GAH!"

While the Reploid was in pain and had yet to recover, Alice used this as the opportunity to make the doll attack him over and over. Sigma eventually fell back from all those hits, and when the doll charged at him for what might be the decisive blow, he quickly fired an energy ball at her at point blank to blow her into pieces. The scythe flew into the air, so he quickly jumped at it to catch it. "That does it! I'm angry now! You're going to pay for this!"

"You'll pay for destroying three of my dolls as well!" Alice said with an angry look as she summoned several unarmed dolls.

"Ironic of you to be saying that when you also use your dolls as explosives, don't you think so?" Sigma said before running at her, and Alice also sent the dolls at him. However, the dolls were not flying in his path; they were flying at the sides instead.

When Sigma went in between the dolls, he suddenly felt an invisible force stopping him from moving forward. "Ugh!" The dolls then moved in circles around him very fast, and then the Reploid's arms became pressed against his body and were then unable to move. "What the! Something is binding me!"

"Yes, invisible strings that cannot be seen unless you look closely," Alice explained. "They were holding the strings in between each other when they flew in your direction, and now you're bounded."

"Don't think that mere strings are going to stop me!" Sigma angrily said as he struggled to break free from the strings, but to no avail. "Ngh! How can they be so tough to break free from!"

"These are magical strings that cannot be broken so easily, so that makes it very useful for binding opponents. Now… String Tormentor!" Alice made the dolls channel magic down the strings that caused Sigma to be zapped all over the body.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Sigma screamed. While he was screaming in pain, Alice sent six dolls with arms stretched to the sides at him.

"Kamikaze Dolls!" she shouted, and the dolls crashed into him.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion cleared, Sigma was nowhere to be seen. "And the winner is decided," Alice said. Thinking that the battle was over, she looked around for the way out, but of a sudden, a voice echoed throughout the room.

"Heheheh! Not bad!" said the familiar-sounding voice.

Alice looked around in shock and said, "That voice! You're still alive! But how?"

"What you destroyed is merely my physical body. I can continue to live on in the form of a virus, and so long as the virus still exists, I can always come back with a new body, which I'm going to do right now!" When the talking came to an end, a glowing purple sphere appeared in the air, and then Sigma materialized within it. This time, his body was black and white in color. "I admit that you performed much better than before. Now that I have a new body, do you think you can still keep on fighting without getting tired?"

Alice summoned more dolls to get ready for the second round. "It'll take more than coming back with a new body to tire me out!"

Sigma then crouched down slightly. "Well then! Let's see if you are true to your words! Get ready!"

**BGM: Sigma 1****st**** (Mega Man X5)**

The Reploid dashed at her really fast, and Alice sent the dolls, all of whom were armed with spears, at him. Sigma coated his hand with purple energy, and with a swing of it, he created a short-ranged energy wave that destroyed them all. Before Alice could get out of the way, the Reploid slammed his fist into her abdomen with such a force that she straight back.

Alice eventually tumbled violently onto the floor, and then she grunted in pain as she placed her hand over her abdomen while trying to stand back up. When she looked up, she saw Sigma dashing at her again. She quickly summoned a doll and had her swing her sword at him, but to her surprise, Sigma caught it by the blade with no effort. He yanked the sword out of the doll's hand before crushing it with his own hand, and then he lifted Alice into the air by her collar. "Not feeling so full of yourself anymore, eh?" Then he flung her across the room.

Alice once again tumbled onto the floor violently, and after slowly getting back up while grunting in pain, she summoned several dolls. Sigma swung his hand against the air to shoot out a large crescent-shaped projectile. Alice and her dolls quickly got out of the way, but the villain fired another one at her. She once again avoided it, but he fired a third one before she touched the floor. Since the projectile was coming at her at a speed which she possibly wouldn't be able to avoid in time, she quickly positioned her dolls in front of herself in a vertical line because the incoming projectile had more height than width.

Unfortunately for the magician, the projectile was too much for the dolls' shields to handle. The shields and the dolls were destroyed by it, and then Alice was badly zapped and burned by the projectile. "GUAAAAH!"

Just before she hit the floor, Sigma dashed into Alice and covered his fist with electricity before punching her in the abdomen to send her shooting backward at a fast speed until she hit the wall with a powerful crash. "Die!" Sigma shouted as he immediately fired the same kind of crescent-shaped projectiles at her, three of them in total.

Trying her best to ignore the pain, Alice crawled out of the way as fast as she could before she got hit by all three of them. She stood back up and once again summoned more dolls before flying into the air. "Hourai Doll!" she shouted as she made the dolls fire laser beams at Sigma.

Sigma dashed out of the way and then in her direction. "Don't think you're safe from me just because you can fly!" He jumped at the wall and kicked off it to head toward her, but Alice quickly armed her dolls with spears, which they used as both for offense and defense by holding them in front of their master. Despite seeing that he was about to fly into the wall of spears, a smirk appeared on Sigma's face as he fired a crescent-shaped projectile at a close range to blast all the dolls and Alice out of the air.

"YAAAAA!" Alice screamed as she crashed onto the floor, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Sigma falling toward her with his fist pulled back into the air, ready to give her a devastating blow. Alice rolled out of the way in time to avoid the fatal blow that was strong enough to make a dent on the metal floor. Acting fast, she got out a doll and flung it at Sigma's foot. The Reploid failed to avoid it, so he was blown back into the air by it. He spun once and then landed in a crouched position.

"That didn't hurt much!" he said. "At least not as much as what you've suffered!" Then he fired blue electric balls that traveled in a wavy path. Normally, Alice would've been able to avoid such slow-moving projectiles with no effort, but due to the pain all over her body, she wasn't able to get up in time and escape, so she was hit and zapped by them.

Sigma watched as the magician tried to stand back up afterwards, as if he wanted to give her a chance in fighting back. "Are you still going to fight me despite knowing that you are going to lose now?" Sigma asked her.

"We came here for the reason to defeat you all," Alice replied, "so whether or not I'm going to die here, I'm still going to fight to the end!"

"Then I shall grant you your wish! It doesn't matter whether you give up or not, you will die in the end!" Then he dashed at her. Alice quickly summoned several dolls that spread out to the sides and then quickly jumped back. Sigma suddenly found himself being held back by an invisible force when he tried to go in between the dolls. "Gugh! It's these strings again!"

The dolls quickly moved in circles around him until he was bounded, and then Alice shouted, "String Tormentor!" Sigma was then zapped by the magic traveling along the strings, and then the magician got ready to throw exploding dolls at him.

"The same trick won't work on me twice!" Sigma shouted as he struggled to break free, and because his legs weren't bounded, he dashed at Alice the moment she was about the throw a doll. Because of that, Alice ended up pressing the doll against his body, and the ensuing explosion engulfed the both of them.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Both Sigma and Alice were blown away in opposite directions, and they each received more or less the same amount of pain from the explosion. Sigma grunted in anger and pain as he slowly sat back up and looked at the mass of smoke, and all of a sudden, several dolls came running out from it and toward him. "What in the world!"

Thinking that these dolls might be explosives, he quickly jumped out of their way, but to his surprise, the dolls turned and followed him. He quickly jumped away from them again and then fired an electric ball at the one in lead. This resulted in a chain explosion that eventually wiped out all the dolls. Sigma then turned to Alice, who once again summoned an army of dolls to go after him. "Lemming's Parade!"

"I can just destroy them all again!" Sigma said as he fired another electric ball at the one in lead, but Alice made the dolls move to the side and form a clear path that allowed the projectile to pass in between them without hitting anything, all the while moving in the Reploid's direction. Sigma growled as he constantly jumped away from the approaching dolls while firing more electric balls, this time aiming in various directions, but with quick and skilled hand movements, Alice managed to keep them all from getting hit.

While Sigma was busy trying to blast the dolls, Alice saw this as the chance to throw a doll at him. "Volatile Doll!" Because he was too distracted trying to get rid of the dolls, he was too late to get out of the way when he saw the doll flying at him, so he was blasted onto the floor. The next thing he knew, he was constantly blasted by the army of dolls as they walked into him one after another.

BANG BOOM KABOOOOOOOOOM BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Sigma jumped out from the explosion with his body charred, and when he looked up, he saw Alice making some of her dolls kamikaze into him, so he quickly crossed his arms in front of his face and body to protect himself. The Reploid was sent flying back by the explosions, and before he had the chance to fully recover, dolls equipped with axes suddenly charged through the smoke and swung their weapons at him. Though they weren't able to cut off parts of his body, they were successful in sinking their blades into him.

Sigma cried in anger as pulled and swatted the dolls away before destroying them with electric balls, and then he quickly went to look for Alice, but the magician was nowhere to be found. "Where'd she go?" he wondered while looking left and right, and then he realized that she must be up in the air. He didn't see anyone when he looked up, however. Suddenly, a pair of dolls fell and latched onto his shoulders. "Huh?" Then he felt a large amount of pain there. "YAAAAAAA!"

In his pain, he turned around and looked diagonally upward to see Alice floating there. "Doll Hugger: They grab onto their victims and stab them with spikes hidden in their palms," she explained. "The spikes themselves are explosives, and when they explode, they destroy their victims from within."

"Why you! Get them off me!" Sigma shouted as he tried to pull off the dolls, but was unsuccessful in doing so.

"The sides of the spikes have additional spikes so that the dolls cannot be pulled away so easily once they latch onto their victims. Usually, I don't give my dolls dangerous and morbid attacks, but seeing how we are facing opponents who we may be taking the life of, I went ahead and did something like that."

Sigma continued to try to pull off the dolls, but they suddenly exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

His arms were destroyed as a result, and as he was backing away from Alice in fright, the magician had several of her dolls fire a large amount of yellow, blue, and red energy bullets and blue energy balls at him. "Hanged Hourai Doll!" The Reploid wasn't able to escape them; he was constantly pelted by the projectiles until he exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion died down and the smoke cleared, Sigma was nowhere to be found. Only pieces of what might be parts of his body were left on the floor. By this time, Alice was fatigued due the length of the fight and the injuries she received. She sighed with relief, thinking that she had won the fight, but then she remembered what Sigma told her about his body existing in the form of a virus and capable of coming back to life as long as it still existed.

Fearing what he said might be true, the magician looked around in search of where the Reploid might show up next. "You really forcing me to pull out my trump card," said Sigma's voice all of a sudden.

"I knew it!" Alice said.

"My new body is ready, and this time, you shall tremble at the sight of it!"

Alice then heard something coming from behind her, and when she turned around, she saw the wall slowly sliding apart to reveal something that made her eyes widen in horror. Before her eyes was a gigantic Sigma with a body that was mostly blue in color. In fact, he was so big that only his upper torso could be seen. She felt as if she was a mouse looking at an elephant, except the latter obviously wasn't afraid of her.

**BGM: Sigma 2****nd**** (Mega Man X5)**

The giant Reploid placed his gigantic hands onto the floor with a force enough to make the whole place shake slightly. "Scared, eh?" said Sigma in a loud voice that echoed throughout the room. "This body was created for the purpose of causing massive destruction and striking fear into people. Perhaps using it against you is overkill, but you leave my no choice. This is the only body available left for me. You only have yourself to blame for making me use this against you!"

Alice swallowed hard while taking some steps back, and then she quickly put aside her fear. "I'm not afraid of you just because of your size! Your size makes you an easier target, so you should find it more of a burden to you instead! Hourai Doll!" She had her dolls fire laser beams at Sigma's face, but they did nothing at all.

"And you were saying?"

Not believing this, Alice had her dolls fire energy bullets nonstop at the giant robot, but Sigma felt as if paper balls were being thrown at him; he could stay there all day and take all those hits without ever feeling fatigue.

"It's obvious that your attacks aren't working against me, so you might as well stop wasting your time trying to win! With a body like this, there is no way I'm going to lose to the likes of you! Get ready to be crushed!" The giant Reploid brought down his hand onto Alice, who got out of the way fast.

"Kamikaze Dolls!" Alice shouted as she made some of the dolls kamikaze into Sigma's body, but as with the projectiles fired at him earlier, the giant robot felt nothing at all. Alice summoned several more dolls and had them fire nonstop, but with a swing of his arm, Sigma swatted them all out of the air before attempting to smash Alice against the floor, but she got away again.

"Return Animate!" Alice shouted as she hurled five dolls at Sigma, who was attempting to grab her. They exploded against his palm and did nothing, so she had to get out of the way. The magician flew into the air and summoned more dolls, and when Sigma fired energy balls from his eyes at her, she quickly equipped her dolls with shields to block them.

Though they were able to block the energy balls, the force of the projectiles hitting their shield caused them to be pushed back through the air. Some of them even lost their shields as a result. "No more playing around! My patient is growing thin!" Sigma said as he caused a giant purple block made of energy to materialize in front of his face, and then it flew at Alice.

Alice and her dolls quickly flew away from the incoming block, but after hitting the wall, it moved in their direction. They once again avoided it, and then Sigma used his hand to swat the block in their direction when it flew toward him. She continued to avoid the block until it finally disappeared. "You're good at dodging," Sigma said. "However, it only shows that you are indeed out of options for hurting me!"

"Don't be so sure about that just yet!" Alice said. "Kamikaze Doll!" She had all her dolls except Shanghai kamikaze into Sigma, and then she quickly raised a spell card into the air. "Testing: Goliath Doll!"

The card released a large amount of bluish-white light, and then out from a burst of light behind the magician, a gigantic doll armed with a pair of massive swords appeared. The doll landed with a loud thud, but as big as she was, her maximum height was only up to Sigma's neck. "A big one you've got there, eh?" Sigma asked. "Let's see if she really does live up to her size!"

"You'll see for yourself soon!" Alice said, and then she pointed at him. "Goliath Doll! Attack!" Powered by magic that allowed her to move under master's command, the giant doll hovered a few inches above the floor toward Sigma and swung one of her swords at him. It clashed against his body with a powerful force that made a loud sound, and Sigma actually jerked back a bit from it.

"Not bad! Actually felt a bit of sting!" the giant Reploid said. "But still, it's not enough to defeat me! Perhaps this feeling is what humans call mosquito bites!"

The Goliath Doll continued to swing her swords against Sigma's body, even though they didn't seem to be doing much. Sigma eventually grew bored with her seemingly effortless attacks, so he caught the doll's body from behind and then flung her across the room and into the wall. "Goliath Doll!" Alice gasped.

Before Alice could get the doll to move away, Sigma punched the doll and instantly crushed her body. The head fell off and bounced on the floor a couple of times before slowly rolling underneath Alice, who quickly flew down next to it and touched its face with a look of shock. "Goliath Doll! No! I worked so hard in making you!"

"Hahahahaha!" Sigma loudly laughed. "It would appear that your trump card has been crushed! You call something like that a trump card? My current self is what you call a trump card! Now that you are completely out of options for defeating me, I'm going to end things right now! Prepare to die!" He brought his fist onto her, but she got out of the way, and the Goliath Doll's head was crushed into pieces.

With a face full of anger, Alice shouted out loud, "YOU WILL PAY FOR DESTROYING GOALITH DOLL AND MY OTHER DOLLS!" No longer acting her usual calm and collected self, Alice summoned a large amount of dolls and had them all fire at a rate more intense than before. It could be said that this is the most intense rate that she ever made her dolls fire at.

The amount of bullets heading for Sigma was so many that he actually had a hard time trying to see Alice due to them blocking the sight of her, but despite this, the giant Reploid wasn't bothered all that much by these projectiles. "Even your rage will not help you win against me!" Sigma said to her. "A mere being made of flesh like you will never be able to win against a much superior being like me! Humans created Reploids like us and fear that we would one day take over them, so they make us work under them! Their fear is only natural; after all, we Reploids are in every way more superior to them, so it's only makes sense that we rule over them! In this world, the strong rules over the weak! Know your place right now and die!"

He had his hand plow through the swarm of bullets and crushed the magician against the wall. When he pulled back his hand, the injured magician fell onto the floor, and the moment she looked up, she was blasted by energy balls fired from the giant Reploid's eyes. Sigma then created a giant purple block and had it move around the place to destroy all the dolls before having it move toward Alice. Because of the pain, Alice was unable to get away from it, so the massive block hit her and pushed her across the place until she got crushed against the wall again.

SMAAAAAAAASH!

Luckily for her, she wasn't flattened like paper due to the energy block not being solid, but she sank into the energy block and was zapped all over the body. When the block moved in another direction, she remained stuck inside it, so she continued to suffer the electrocution until the block finally disappeared. With her body charred all over, the magician fell onto her knees with a blank look that was staring diagonally upwards, but before she fell over on her front, Sigma punched her into the wall.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Sigma pulled back his hand to reveal Alice pressed against the wall, but then she fell over on her front. "Looks like I didn't punch hard enough," Sigma said. "I'm going to make sure that you don't survive the next blow!" Then he raised his fist into the air.

By this time, Alice no longer had the strength to twitch even a finger. However, her mind was still functioning properly. "Everyone…" she said in her head. "I'm sorry… I failed… I'll be leaving first… I wish that you all fare better than me…"

As her end drew closer and closer, she started to think about the life that she lived, not to mention her dream. "My dream… is to create dolls that can move on their own… However, no matter how hard I tried, I never succeeded… Seeing Medicine gave me hope that I can really succeed in creating one, but that never happened… I failed no matter how many times I tried to make one… My one dream to fulfill before I pass on… The goal that I want to reach before I die no matter what… My dream… I want to… I want to fulfill my dream… I want to fulfill it no matter what… My dream… I must live if I want to fulfill it… I must live… I must live on… For the sake of my dream… and my friends… I must live on!"

"Die!" Sigma shouted as he brought down at fist at a fast speed, but all of a sudden, a large amount of light that came in the colors of the rainbow came out from Alice, and this caused him to stop the movement of his arm in surprise. "What the! What's happening!"

**BGM: Doll Judgment ~ The Girl who Played With People's Shapes (Touhou: Perfect Cherry Blossom)**

Alice suddenly felt strength returning to her, and at the same time, her wounds healed by themselves at a relatively fast speed. The magician slowly stood back up and looked all around herself with a confused look. "What...? What is happening?" Suddenly, she remembered something Crazy Hand said. "The Smash Essence… I got it! This must be the work of the Smash Essence!" When she looked for the Smash Essence, she found that it was gone, so she came to the conclusion that its power had been activated.

"How is it possible that you still have the strength to stand back up!" Sigma asked in surprise. "Whatever the case is, it's not like you're can do anything to me! I shall crush you like a bug!" He brought down his fist onto Alice, but she quickly flew out of the way and into air.

She summoned a large amount of dolls and made them fire energy bullets and lasers at him. "Maiden's Buraku!"

Sigma was thinking that the projectiles wouldn't do anything to him, but to his surprise, he actually felt pain and was even pushed back a bit by them. "What the! They're more powerful than before!" He reached his hand in the magician's direction, and the latter quickly equipped some of her dolls with spear and had them charge at the palm. Their spears sank into the palm with a force that actually made Sigma unable to move his hand forward, something that greatly surprised him. "What is this madness!"

Before he attempted to close his fingers to crush them, Alice made some of the dolls equipped with swords cut the back of the arm until Sigma quickly pulled it back.

"That does it! No more games!" Sigma said as he created a large purple block to attack her with.

"Eerily Luminous Shanghai Dolls!" Alice shouted as she had her dolls fire a combination of yellow, red, and blue energy bullets and large blue energy balls. The projectiles struck the block rapidly and kept it from moving forward, and eventually, it was destroyed, so the projectiles went on ahead to hit Sigma.

"Gah! Why you! Where did you get this sudden burst of strength! It has something to do with the light your body is giving off, right?"

"The desire to accomplish my dream has unlocked the power of my Smash Essence. People have dreams, and how many are there who died without fulfilling their dreams? It is normal for everyone to fulfill their dreams before they pass on. Dreams… Goals… Desires… These are just some of the things that people live for. I, too, have a dream, and I have no intention of going down to the grave before I fulfill it. Also, my friends are waiting for me, so I cannot let down here. Therefore, I shall defeat you right here and right now! Final Smash! Legendary Doll Warrior!"

After shouting the name of her Final Smash, a huge burst of light appeared behind Alice, and out from it came a doll even larger than the Goliath Doll. The right side of her clothing was blue in color while the left side as red. She was also holding a large sword in her right hand, and its blade was coated in a green aura.

"What is that!" Sigma asked in surprise. "You think that'll make a difference? Just because you've summoned a bigger doll doesn't mean it's going to perform better than the last one! I'm going to crush it with an aluminum can!" He fired several energy balls at the giant doll, but she deflected them back to him with a swing of her sword. "Gah!"

The doll then swung her sword at his right hand to cut it off. The giant Reploid screamed in terror when he saw this, and then the doll proceeded to hack and slash him mercilessly nonstop.

SLAAAAASH HACK SLASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

After creating several cuts on Sigma's body which caused him to begin to short-circuit, the doll moved back and then formed a ball of energy at the tip of her sword. Pained and weakened from the series of slashing, Sigma looked at the doll and said, "No… This cannot be… How can I lose…? This can't be happening…!"

"You have lost," Alice said to her in a cold and menacing tone. "This is the end of you. Die!" Then the ball of energy at the tip of the doll's sword became a huge laser beam which engulfed Sigma entirely.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the Reploid screamed. "HOW CAN I LOSE TO A HUMAN! THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE! THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!"

"How many times must I tell you that I'm a magician, not a human? I am a magician, a species of demon! Get that into your head!"

Sigma continued scream as the beam burn against his body, and he could also feel his virus form slowly being destroyed. Eventually…

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The massive explosion filled up the whole place, and Alice was caught in it as well. However, she didn't feel herself getting burned up by it nor was she sent flying back. When the explosion finally died down, she looked up and saw the doll crouched down in front of her. "You protected me…?" she asked the doll, but the latter gave no reply. Eventually, the doll slowly disintegrated into rainbow-colored particles.

Alice remained looking at where the doll used to be, and then she looked up front to see that Sigma was no longer there. The Reploid was completely destroyed. Alice sighed with relief and then said, "Looks like I've won for real this time… It's all thanks to the Smash Essence… That doll… Come to think of it, I wasn't giving her any commands at all… In fact, she seems to did whatever I had in my mind, though I was sure that I didn't thought of having her protect me from the explosion earlier… Maybe she has a will of her own as well…?"

Alice then stopped thinking about this because it might be something that she wouldn't be finding the answer to for the meantime. She looked around for the way out and eventually spotted a door at side of the room, so she went up to it and found out that it was an elevator. She went inside and pressed one of the buttons there to make it began its ascension, and as she was waiting for it to reach its destination, she said in her mind, "Everyone… I've won and am heading over to you now. Now that I've unlocked my Final Smash, I can now lend you a hand in fighting the Darkling. Wait for me, everyone!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The first of the villains have been defeated! I did my best for this chapter, so I hope that you enjoyed it! Okay, the way Sigma's second form was destroyed could've been better… Yes, the giant Sigma is based off his final form in Mega Man X5, the main difference being that his arms are not disembodied like in that game.

**Next chapter: Traditional Reporter of Fantasy**

**Trivia:  
**1. Whether or not elephants are really afraid of mice is something that people debate about constantly. An explanation is that elephants aren't really afraid of mice; it's actually because of seeing something small rushing around their feet making them fear that they will fall and can't get up that scares them. It may also depend on the habitat of elephants. Ones living out in the wild that has never seen mice may be scared by them due to never seeing them before while ones living in circuses won't be scared because they see them all the time.

2. This chapter is named after Alice's title in Touhou 7. I think you can already tell how I am going to name some of the chapters afterwards…

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Alice's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 3/6  
Speed: 3/6  
Jump: 2/6  
Weight: 3/6**

**Entrance: **Slowly floats down onto the stage with Shanghai accompanying her.

**A, A combo: **Slaps twice.

**F-Tilt: **Whacks with her book.

**U-Tilt: **Thrust her book straight up.

**D-Tilt: **Crouch kick.

**Dash Attack: **Has Shanghai thrust a spear forward.

**Forward Smash: **Has Shanghai slash with a sword. This is one of her best KO moves.

**Up Smash: **Has Shanghai and another doll circle above her head. It traps opponents and hits multiple times.

**Down Smash: **SP Doll - three dolls orbit her at a fast speed.

**Neutral Aerial: **Has Shanghai spin around her.

**Forward Aerial: **Whacks with book. Acts as a Meteor Smash, though it's relatively weak.

**Back Aerial: **Swings Shanghai, who is armed with a sword, backward horizontally.

**Up Aerial: **Swings Shanghai her head. Surprisingly useful for upwards KO's.

**Down Aerial: **Makes a doll (not Shanghai) fall straight down with a spear pointing downward. It's a projectile-based attack.

**Grab Attack: **Slaps the opponent, who is being grabbed by Shanghai.

**Forward Throw: **Has Shanghai stab the opponent with a spear to push him/her backwards.

**Back Throw: **Shanghai lifts the opponent over Alice's head.

**Up Throw **Alice uses her book to knock the opponent upward by his/her chin.

**Down Throw: **Alice uses her book to smack the opponent onto the ground before having Shanghai stab his/her back with a spear.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Has Shanghai swing a club while she quickly climbs up.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Slowly climbs up and hits with book.

**Floor Attack (facing up): **Hits both sides with her book while sitting up.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Hits both sides with book while getting up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Has Shanghai armed with a sword circle her while standing back up.

**Neutral B: Shanghai Doll  
**Shanghai fires a purple beam that goes all the way across the screen, and it lasts for as long as three seconds, though you can stop the move earlier by letting go of the button. While the beam is being fired, you can angle it slightly upward and downward. Tilting the d-stick up or down will cause it to be fired at the respective angle before the beam is fired. This move has no knockback, but it can stun opponents and is useful for interrupting their recoveries and movements.

**Side B: Volatile Doll  
**Alice hurls a doll at an angle that explodes on contact, be it opponents, items, projectiles, or parts of the stages. The throwing distance can be controlled by how far you push the d-stick, and quickly holding it back the moment the doll is thrown will cause it fall slightly in front of Alice. The doll deals decent damage, but the knockback is considerable weak, only as strong as Link's bombs in SSBB. Alice herself is immune to the explosion.

**Up B: Foggy London Dolls**  
Alice performs a cartwheel spin with dolls moving in circles around her, all of them spinning in a similar fashion. At the same, each of them will fire three bullets in four different directions. The bullets are very weak, but the dolls themselves deal decent knockback to those who touch them. Alice herself can trap and damage opponents rapidly. Think of getting ghit by her the same as getting hit by Samus's Screw Attack (or the item of the same name).

**Down B: Edo-High Explosive Pawn  
**Alice places a doll onto the ground which basically functions like a motion-sensor bomb. It explodes when someone touches it or when something hits it. It will also explode if Alice herself gets hit. While not as powerful as the motion-sensor bomb, it is a tad bit stronger than Volatile Doll. Using the doll in midair will cause it to drop straight down and land onto the ground unless it hits something before touching it.

**Final Smash: Lemming's Parade  
**Alice sends out an army of dolls that run straight ahead, exploding on contact with anything, except for teammates. They will go ahead and fall off stages if there is nothing stopping them. The power of the dolls are considerably powerful, capable of KO'ing at around 50-60%, but the last doll sent out can OHKO, though it takes a second for it to show up after the last doll before it comes out.

**Side Taunt: **Shakes hands with Shanghai. Actually, she uses her finger because her hand is too big for Shanghai to hold.

**Up Taunt: **Has Shanghai spin and balance a plate on a stick.

**Down Taunt: **Does knitting to Shanghai's clothing from behind.

**Winning Pose 1: **Does a spin and then poses with one hand on her waist while her dolls fly in circles around her.

**Winning Pose 2: **Brushes her hair with her hand once while her dolls throw confetti into the air.

**Winning Pose 3: **Brushes Shanghai's hair while sitting on a chair. The doll is sitting on her lap. At the same time, another doll is brushing Alice's hair from behind.


	112. Traditional Reporter of Fantasy

**SBS Time!  
shadowmccloud: **I noticed that there is no Star Fox chapter. Why is that?  
**Game2002: **With the decision to use only eleven worlds, it's obvious that not every series/world would get the chance to be represented. Star Fox is one of those worlds, though admittedly, I did plan to use it at first, but then decided to drop it in favor of the Fire Emblem world because I didn't want it to be similar to the One Piece/SSB crossover this is based on, One Piece: A Smash Adventure. Plus, I couldn't come up with a plot that is different from that story's.

Alice's Final Smash has been renamed from Legendary Doll to Legendary Doll Warrior for those who don't know. Nothing major, but I thought I should still let you all know. Also, her SSB moveset has been updated a bit. The aerial moves are now called in the correct way (originally lacked the term "Aerial"), and her Down Smash has been given a name. Certain normal moves will now have names if they are based off an actual move that they used in the series.

**Chapter 111  
Traditional Reporter of Fantasy**

* * *

**BGM: Channel Z (Gex: Enter the Gecko)**

Aya groggily got up from the floor and shook her head. "Where am I…? What exactly happened just now…?" She looked around the room and saw monitors all over the walls, some of them showing nothing but static, some showing random rooms of the castle, and some showing Rez's head.

"Welcome to my room!" said a familiar-sounding voice all of a sudden. Aya looked up and saw Rez on top of a raised platform, hovering in front of a control panel.

"Well, look who's there?" said the tengu, not looking surprised at all.

"We have been watching you girls ever since you came to this world. Even before you came, we have already planned out how to defeat you all," Rez told her. "You see, we plan to separate you girls one by one. There are eleven of you and eleven of us, so it's all equal."

"Okay, I get what you mean. You seriously think that this is a good idea? Perhaps all of you coming against us at once would be better. There's more power in numbers, you know?"

"I can say the same thing to your side as well. The best plan in the end is to separate you all so that we can have an easier time dealing with you."

"Okay… Just don't blame whoever came up with this silly plan if you lose… Now that you've dragged me into this place, are you ready to fight me now?"

"Before that, let's put you to a test first!" Rez said before typing away on the control panel. When the buttons were pressed, several TV monitors with insect legs and monitors with propellers materialized around Aya.

Aya took out her fan and said, "So you want me to beat up your henchmen first, right? This is too easy! I can end this in less than five seconds!" No sooner after she said that, the summoned enemies charged at Aya, but with a with a single spin, the tengu created a burst of wind that sent them all flying into the walls and breaking into pieces. "Told ya! Didn't even take more than a second!"

"Then how about this?" Rez said as he pressed the buttons on the control panel again. This time, parts of the floor opened and monitors attached to the top of poles came out. The screens turned on to show images of futuristic guns, and then laser beams were shot out from the former.

Specializing in speed wasn't only beneficial for traveling and movement; it also helped with Aya's eyesight. To the eyes of the tengu, the laser beams were traveling at a slow speed, so she had no problem dodging them. In fact, it looked like she was doing so without any effort at all. She casually walked in the direction of a monitor while bending her body left and right to avoid the shots, and when close to it, she cut the pole in half with a close-ranged wind blade. After that, she spun around and swung her fan hard to unleash a gale that tore all the monitors from their poles.

When the wind died down, Aya looked up at Rez and said, "Have I passed the test yet? This is getting really boring, you know?"

"I would say that the test is enough," Rez said. "If this were to go on, then there would be quite a bit of property damage. Very well! I shall fight you myself!" Then the villain hovered down to where she was. "Let us begin our final showdown!"

"All right! Get ready to lose!" Aya said as she got into fighting stance.

**BGM: Rez (Gex: Enter the Gecko)**

"Don't be so sure of your victory just yet!" Rez said as he took out a remote and pressed one of the buttons on it to make several TV monitors appear in the air, and they fired laser beams from their screens at Aya.

Aya quickly moved out of their way and said, "I thought you were going to fight me yourself?"

"There is nothing wrong with using outside help."

"So you're the kind of person who relies on something else to fight, eh? This should make the fight easy!"

"You shall find out for yourself soon enough!" Rez said before firing several missiles out of his back. Aya quickly got out of the missiles' way when they closed in on her, so they ended up hitting the wall. All the while, the flying monitors were firing at her constantly, and seeing that they were rather annoying, she used Gale Fan to take them out.

Seeing that all the monitors were destroyed, Rez pressed another button on the remote to make more monitors show up. This time, their screens were facing straight down, and they fired constant beams downward while moving in Aya's directions. The tengu, however, had no problem dodging them at all. In fact, after moving away from the beams, she flew higher than the monitors and destroyed them from above using Gale Fan. She then turned her attention to Rez and fired a wind blade at him, but he avoided it.

"How about putting more effort into fighting me?" Aya asked him. "Seriously, I'm finding this boring already!"

"Don't blame me if I do!" Rez said before firing several missiles at her. Aya easily dodged the missiles and then swooped down at him, but he quickly moved out of the way. Aya then turned around to fire wind blades at him, and he failed to avoid them. Luckily for him, his body had quite a tough exterior, so he wasn't hurt very much by them. When he fired a pair of red eyes beams at her, she quickly moved out of the way, but he moved them after her.

Aya got behind Rez while he was still using his eye beams and kicked him from behind hard to make him fly forward and bump his head against the wall. The villain angrily turned around and pressed a button on the remote that made a monitor on a pole come out from the floor in front of himself. Bullets were fired rapidly at Aya, but she had quickly rolled to the side before firing a wind blade at the pole to cut it in half, and then she fired another one at the remote to knock it out of Rez's hand. It was destroyed the moment it got hit, and falling onto the floor only made it pretty much unfixable because it broke into two pieces.

"You'll pay for this!" Rez angrily said while looking at the broken pieces of the remote.

"That should force you to do things yourself!" Aya said.

"I'll show you what I'm capable of!" Rez said before lowering his head and charging at her while spinning, but she easily avoided him, so he kept on going onto his hit the wall and dazed himself from the impact. "Ugh…"

"That was dumb…"

Rez shook his head to return to his sense before turning to Aya while growling angrily. He fired several missiles at her, but instead of dodging them, she swung her fan to unleash a gale that caused the missiles to be blown back to him. The villain was blown into the air by his own projectiles and then fell onto the floor, creating the sound of metal being hit when he landed.

"Argh! That does it!" Rez angrily said as he got back up, and then he quickly flew over to the control panel placed on the higher part of the room and pressed a button on it. In doing this, a wireframe of something resembling a head appeared in the center of the room, and when it became "solid" it turned out be a large replica of Rez's head. While Aya was curiously looking at it, the top part of it opened, and Rez flew into the cockpit built inside it and placed his hands on its control panel. "Let's see how you like this!"

The head closed up again, and steam came out from various parts of it as it opened its mouth to let out a "mechanical-sounding" screech that was rather painful to Aya's ears. "Ow! I hate sounds like that!" she cried. "Are you trying to deafen me or what?" The mouth opened to release a stream of fire at her, but she quickly jumped out of its way. While still breathing fire, the head turned in her direction in an attempt to hit her with hit, but she jumped and flipped over it.

Upon landing, Aya fired multiple wind blades at the head, but they were unable to pierce through its tough exterior. The head stopped breathing fire and then fired a pair of eye beams from its eyes, but she easily dodged them by flying in the air. To her surprise, the head suddenly rose into the using the help of a segmented poke, or neck, underneath it. The head pulled back and then came forward to hit her with a headbutt, but she managed to avoid it.

The head pulled back from the wall and then started breathing fire all over the place to burn down the tengu, but she was simply too fast to get hit. "Try to improve on your aim!" Aya told Rez. "On the second thought, maybe you might as well give up trying to hit me. I'm too fast to be hit after all!"

"I'm going to tear off your wings if it's the last thing I do!" Rez angrily said as he locked onto her before firing a pair of missiles out of launchers hidden inside the sides of the head. When Aya avoided them, she discovered that they were homing missiles.

"Geez… These things are overdone…" she grumbled before proceeding to destroy them with wind blades. Another pair of missiles was fired at her, and instead of avoiding them, she got flew in front of the Rez head and then flew over it and behind it, hoping that the missiles would end up hitting it. However, she didn't expect the missiles to suddenly show up from both sides, so she got hit.

BAAAAAAANG!

"YA!" Aya cried as she flew out of the explosion and hit the wall before falling onto the floor. The head came back down and breathed fire at her. Screaming in agony, the tengu quickly leaped out of the fire and desperately rolled around to put out the fire covering her body. However, the head turned to her to continue burning her. Aya desperately escaped into the air and then quickly spun really fast several times to form a tornado around herself, and it managed to put out the fire on her body. "Phew… I thought I was going to become roasted crow…"

The head rose slightly into the air and then pulled back to hit her with the headbutt. After avoiding the attack, Aya landed on top of the head and then forcefully opened its top, much to Rez's surprise. "Hey!" Before the villain could do anything, Aya pulled him out of the cockpit by the metal "fin" on his head and then punched him in the face to send him flying. Rez went flying into the wall and bounced off it before coming to a stop and rubbing his face. As for the replica of his head, it fell motionlessly onto the floor due to no one piloting it.

"Time to end this!" Aya said as she flew over to him to ram into him. Rez acted fast and swung his claws at Aya when she closed in on him, and though he got hit and flew back into the wall as a result, he managed to land a hit on Aya. The tengu cried in pain as she placed her hand on the wound her received to her face. "Ow…"

"Enough! I'm getting serious!" Rez angrily said as he fired missiles at her. Aya quickly ignored the injury and then moved left and right swiftly to avoid the missiles while closing in on him. When the tengu was in front of Rez, he swung his claws at her like a madman, but none of them ever came in contact with her.

In the midst of dodging the claw swipes, Aya threw punched him across the face to knock him back a little, and then she closed in on him again to attack with an uppercut that created an adult-size tornado. "Corvus Uppercut!" Like sharp blades, the wind consisting of the tornado cut Rez all over the body before hurling him high into the air and falling back down. The villain bounced on the floor about four times before coming to a stop.

Despite this, Rez still had the energy to push himself back up and hover in the air. He moved his jaw with hand as if trying to readjust them after being dislocated and then said, "It would appear that I am overpowered…"

"You only realized that just now?" Aya asked him.

Rez then flew to the control panel at the top of the room while continuing to speak. "However, I am not going to give up so easily! Consider this the first round of our fight! This is when things are really going to get serious!"

"You said you were getting serious earlier… I don't think I can trust that you really are going to get even more serious if the current "serious" is no challenge at all…"

Rez typed away on the control panel, and then floor started shaking. Aya looked around with awareness, thinking that this shaking would trigger something. Suddenly, the floor went downward at a fast speed, much to her surprise. "Whoa! What the!" It went down at such a speed that she had to crouch down in order to keep herself from flying upwards.

Eventually, the floor came down into a large room filled with green liquid with a surface resembling TV static, and one could even hear that kind of sound coming from it. The floor kept on going down, so Aya quickly took flight so that she didn't go down into the mysterious green liquid when the former sank into it while slowly melting. She sighed with relief that she was able to fly. She then looked up to see Rez descending into the place. "This shall be the place for the second round, which is also the final round!" he said.

"So you want to duke it out in the air?" she asked. "Fine by me! I fight better in the air than I do on the ground!"

"Feel free to fight in whatever way you want! I have my own way of dealing with you!" Rez said before going down into the liquid and sinking into it, much to Aya's surprise.

"Did he just… kill himself…?" The tengu looked at the green liquid with a confused and curious look, waiting for something to happen. It came true when a large metal structure with a hole in the center of it surfaced. "Whoa!"

**BGM: Boss Theme (Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko)**

The circular structure kept on coming up until its flat surface was about six meters in the air, and then Aya landed onto it. Not too long after landing, Rez came out from the hole in the center with his arms crossed in front of his face, and then he spread out his arms and laughed in his trademark manner. "Huhuhahahahaha!"

"Whoa man…" Aya said in surprise. She had every reason to be surprised. Previously, Rez was a cyborg due to having arms that were obviously made of flesh, but this time, it was safe to assume that he was a now full-fledged robot. Also, instead of having feral-looking eyes, his eyes showed digital numbers that occasionally change. What surprised Aya the most, however, was his size. The megalomaniac villain was now about four to five times his normal size.

When Rez was done laughing, he looked down at the shocked tengu and said, "Are you scared? It is only natural for one to be scared when watching a horror movie! In your case, you are watching real horror!"

"Scared? Yeah right! Like I'm going to be scared of you! You know what they say: The bigger they are, the larger they fall!"

"And the smaller they are, the easier they fall!" Rez said before bringing down his hand onto her, but she quickly jumped out of the way. However, the hand slam created a shockwave that Aya didn't see coming, so she was knocked into the air by it.

"Ya!" While she was in the air, Rez swung his hand at her, caught her, and then swung her at the green liquid around the structure, but she regained control of herself and swooped into the air before she touched it, though it was a really close call. She was about a few centimeters to touching it. "You're not going to make me take a dip into this acid or whatever as long as I can fly!"

"Then I shall tear off your wings!" Rez said before firing large missiles out of his back at her. Aya dodged the missiles as they flew toward her from diagonally above. The missiles kept on going until they went into the green liquid, and they exploded under it to create massive green columns that Aya desperately avoided.

She returned to the top of the structure and looked at Rez just in time to see him bringing down his hand onto her. This time, she remained in the air after jumping to the side to avoid the shockwave, and then she quickly moved down to avoid a swing of his arm. However, the villain immediately swung his other arm at her, but she managed to dodge it by jumping straight up. Immediately after landing, Aya used Gale Fan on his body several times, but none of the hits did anything to him. "Is that all you can do?" he asked.

"You think? Wind of the Tengu Path!" This time, Aya unleashed a horizontal tornado that struck him in the area between the chest and the abdomen, but it also didn't do anything. "What!"

"Huhuhahahahaha! It's useless! I now have an indestructible and penetrable body! There is no way you can ever hope to do anything to me now!" Rez said before lowering himself a bit, just enough so that when he stretched out his hands to the sides, they were right above the floor, and then he spun really fast.

Aya knew something was up when he lowered himself, so she managed to escape into the air to avoid the spinning attack in time. "Maybe the head is the weak spot!" she thought. "Wind of the Tengu Path!" She once again unleashed a horizontal tornado, this time aiming for his head. This caused the villain to flinch. "Haha! It's working!" She was going to aim her next attack at his head, but before she could do so, Rez attempted to crush her into between his hands.

"I'll crush you like you a mosquito!" he angrily said. Aya quickly got out of the way, but when the hands came together, it created a shockwave that blew her back through the air, not to mention making her feel pain throughout the body.

"Ugh! What the!" she cried. Rez then fired eye beams at her, but she got out of the way and then got close to him before aiming Gale Fan at his head to cause him to flinch. She flew close to him and performed a back flip that kicked him in the chin in the process, and then she stomp him from above, just in front of the "fin". "Tengu's Downburst!" Then she got to the side of his head and pulled back her arm before unleashing a punch that had a cyclone around the arm. "Corkscrew Cyclone!"

When hit, the blade-like wind dealt several blows to Rez's face before the force of the punch sent him shooting through the air. However, due to size his and weight, he did not very far before returning to his sense. "How dare you! Die!" he angrily said before lowering his head and shooting forward while spinning. Aya got out of the way, and then Rez came to a stop and turned to her to fire several missiles. Aya flew toward him while avoiding the missiles, and when she was close, he tried to crush in between her hands. Aya managed to avoid it, but because she forgot about the shockwave, so she got blown back through the air by it. He then went to her and swatted her onto the structure below.

Instead of hitting the flat surface, however, she hit the railing instead, which hurt her spine really badly. The tengu cried in pain as she dropped onto the floor and placed her hand on her back. "Gah…! Ugh…! My back…!"

Rez flew back to the hole in the center of the structure and laughed while watching Aya standing back up and adjusting her back. "Huhuhahahahaha!"

Aya looked at him with an angry face and said, "Don't laugh at me! Sooner or later, I'm going to make you suffer even worse than me!" When she saw Rez bringing down his hand onto her, she quickly jumped out of the way and then flew into the air when it swung at her. However, such quick movements caused her back to hurt, so unable to maintain her balance in air because of this, she fell on her knees. "Ow!"

"Haha! You're finished!" Rez said as he swung his hand at her again. Aya knew she had no time to escape into the air, so she lied down as low as she could instead in hope that the hand would go over her, and it did. She sighed with relief as got into a kneeling position, but then she saw black feathers floating down around all around her.

Grabbing one of the feathers, she looked at it with curiosity and wondered where it came from, and when she realized it, she suddenly felt a large amount of pain coming from her wings. She looked back and was horrified to find out that her wings were mostly torn off from her back. Only a small portion of them were left. She realized that she forgot to retract her wings or bring them as low as the rest of her body when avoiding the hand swinging attack earlier. "NOOOOOOOO! MY WINGS!" she screamed in horror. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Rez laughed maniacally at her the misfortune that befell her. "Huhuhahahahaha! I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to tear off your wings! Try and fly now, little bird!"

Aya glared at Rez with eyes full of anger and said, "HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME! WHAT IS A CROW THAT CANNOT FLY! I CANNOT LIVE A NORMAL LIFE WITHOUT MY WINGS! YOU'LL PAY! YOU'LL PAY! YOU'LL PAY!" Blinded by so much rage that she no longer cared about pain on the remaining parts of her wings, the tengu swung her fan like crazy to fire a large amount of wind blades at Rez, who allowed them to hit his body while blocking some with his arms.

"Your rage will get the best of you!" Rez said as he swatted the tengu across the air and off the railing, but she managed to grab onto it and hung on for dear life.

That was when Aya snapped out of her rage. Realizing that letting go would spell her doom, the tengu quickly attempted to pull herself back up. However, she saw Rez bringing down his hand in her direction, so quickly shimmied to the side to avoid getting hit by the attack that crushed the part of the railing she was originally holding onto before pulling herself back onto the surface. "I have to calm down…" she thought. "He's right just now… Rage will get the best of me, and that almost happened… Too bad about my wings… I'll have to make do with whatever I can for now!"

"Shall I torture you a bit more, or shall I end your misery right now?" Rez asked as he raised his fist into the air.

"I'm not going to let you take me down so easily!" she shouted at him. "Just because I can't fly any longer doesn't mean I can't do anything! I can still fight!"

"Then let's see what well you fare starting from now!" Rez said before bringing down his fist to crush her, but she leaped to the side. Unfortunately, she was hit and knocked onto the floor by the shockwave that was produced from the attack, and before she could get back up, Rez caught her in his fist.

"Hey! Let go of me!" she shouted while attempting to pry open his fingers, but Rez gripped harder than before to crush her within. "Aaaaah! Stop that! Stop it!" Rez then raised his arm into the air before flinging her against the floor really hard. In fact, she hit the floor so hard that she didn't bounce into the air at all, and before she had the chance to get back, Rez crushed her with his palm.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Rez slowly brought up his hand and looked at the flattened and motionless tengu while laughing. "Huhuhahahahaha! And down goes the little bird!"

While she was still alive, Aya was in too much to move. She felt as if every single bone in her body had been crushed to smithereens. As she lied there in complete stillness, she started to think about various things. "I can't move anymore… I lost… I really lost this time… I'm sorry, everyone… I'm very sorry… I'll be leaving first… Good-bye, everyone… Good-bye, everyone back in Gensokyo… Good-bye, Bunbunmaru… The newspaper studio that I worked so hard for… Please continue to thrive without me…."

Rez brought his hand into the air again. "I'm going to make sure that every ounce of your life is gone after this!"

"Bunbunaru… I wanted to spread the truth to everyone… Let everyone know what's going on in this world… Come to think of it… I seem to be making people angry with my news report… It's true that I exaggerate my articles… Sometimes people even use my newspapers for something other than reading… When I'm gone… will they still miss me? Or will they rejoice that there is no more annoying tengu trying to pry into their personal lives and annoying them with lots of questions… I only wanted to make good newspapers… I only wanted to deliver news and spread information… If only… If only I get the chance to make improvements… If only I can make myself less despicable to others… If only… If… only…" And that was when colorful light came out from all over her body, much to Rez's surprise.

"What!"

**BGM: Wind God Girl (Touhou: Phantasmagoria of Flower View)**

Aya's wings were magically restored within seconds, and her injuries also healed by themselves. Eventually, the tengu no longer felt any pain on her body, so she was able to stand back up again. She looked all around herself and wings in amazement and even flapped them to see if they real and that she wasn't dreaming. "Oh my… I can't believe it… Am I… dreaming…?"

"What is this madness!" Rez said in surprise. "How did you fully recover all of a sudden! And what's with the light you're giving off!"

"I must be the Smash Essence!" Aya thought, and then she turned to Rez. "My wings are back, and I feel a lot better than before as well! All right! It's payback time!"

"Like I'm going to give you the chance to do so!" said Rez as he brought down his arm onto her, but she countered it by flying straight up and hitting it from below.

Aya then performed a loop and then rammed into his body really hard to push him across the air. "Domination Dash!" When she came to a stop, Rez continued to move back through the air a few feet before coming to a stop himself.

"How are you stronger than before? I don't believe this!" Rez said in surprise.

As Aya flew toward him, she said, "Right! I'm much stronger than before, so you're screwed!"

"Never! You are the one you will lose!" Rez angrily said before firing a missile at her. Aya flew underneath the missile and caught it from below. She carried it higher up than Rez and then threw it at him, and the villain desperately used his arms to defend himself from it, but the explosion propelled him downward, and he stopped just above the green liquid. "Argh! I'm not going to lose to the likes of you! Know your place and die!" He returned high up into the air and fired several missiles at her while attacking with a pair of eye beams.

Aya fearlessly flew in the direction of the incoming projectiles, and she managed to avoid getting hit by the eye beams despite Rez constantly moving them in her direction. "Graceful Dash!" she shouted as she dashed into one of the missiles and went through it, and then she immediately dashed at an angle into another missile to destroy it. Basically, she kept flying through the missiles one after another while approaching Rez and avoiding the eye beams at the same.

When she was close to Rez, the villain swung his claws at her, but she easily stopped it with one hand, much to his surprise. Aya then pushed his hand away before getting in front of his face in a blink of an eye and hit him with a wind-powered punch. "Corkscrew Cyclone!"

POW!

The strength of the punch was much more powerful than before, so Rez flew quite far this time. "I'm ending this now!" Aya shouted as she pulled back her fan as far as she could. "Final Smash! Mountain Tengu's Storm!" Then with a swing of her fan, a hurricane was created.

Despite Rez's size, he felt himself slowly being pushed back by the wind. With his arm in front of his face, he said, "You think wind is enough to defeat me? Think twice! You can't hope to cut through my metallic body…" While he was still saying this, cuts suddenly appeared on various parts of his body. "What!"

The hurricane became stronger and stronger, and the direction of the wind currents started changing as well. Soon, Rez found himself being tossed to and fro by the wind that was now strong enough to treat him like paper. All the while, his whole body was being cut by the blade-like wind. Rez screamed in terror as the wind blades became more and more lethal, as his left hand was actually caught off. Eventually, his entire left arm was cut off.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Rez screamed while flailing his remaining arm around. He tried to escape from the wind, but its intensity kept him from moving around properly. Eventually, half of his right arm was cut off, and his right eye was cut off as well. The wind eventually became like a cyclone in the way that Rez started spinning at a fast speed, his body giving off spark, fire, and smoke at the same time.

Eventually, the flame underneath his body disappeared, and with one last cry, the robotic villain plummeted into the green liquid below with a huge splash that was shortly followed by a massive explosion.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Aya, with her arm in front of her face, quickly backed off from the drops of green liquid that was sent flying all over the place by the explosion. When everything had settled down, she lowered her eyes and looked at the part of the green liquid's surface that Rez fell into and waited to see if something else was going to happen, but nothing happened at all. She snapped her fingers and happily said, "All right! I win! Wow! My Final Smash sure is a lethal one! Honestly saying, I was expecting something more grand scaled. Eh, whatever…"

She looked around the place for the way out, and when she saw no other exits, she turned to look at the hole on the ceiling and then flew up it to return to the room she and Rez were originally in. Once there, she saw a door behind the control panel the villain previously used, so she exited through there.

As she flew down the hallway behind the door, she said in her head, "I'm on my way to meet you all! Wait for me! Now that I've used my Final Smash, I can finally lend you a hand in defeating Darkling!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I would like to give a big thanks to a friend of mine on MSN for coming up with the name and idea for Aya's Final Smash! His suggestion isn't exactly the same as the one you saw here, but still, it gave me an idea for the Final Smash you saw in this chapter. Thanks a lot, Jeremi!

I had a bit of hard time working on this chapter due to Rez not being a very powerful villain. He also doesn't have many attacks as well. Still, I tried my best to make him fight to full potential. Perhaps it could've been better, but I'm glad that I still pulled off this fight.

The replica of his head he was riding in is based off the Rez Tower found in the secret Rezopolis stage in Gex: Enter the Gecko, Mazed and Confused. That tower contains one of the red remotes of that stage, and your objective is to find the tower and destroy its teeth to reveal a giant brain with a pair of eyeballs inside. That brain will simply fly off the edge in front of it and die, and then you can grab the remote that was behind it, or you can simply go for the remote when it leave its original spot.

Lastly, Rez's giant form has the same size as his giant form in Gex: Enter the Gecko, but the design is from Gex 3: Deep Cover the Gecko, just without the target on the body.

**Next chapter: Deified Human of the Wind**

**Trivia:  
**1. Corvus Uppercut is based off Cody's Criminal Uppercut from the Street Fighter series. Likewise, Corkscrew Cyclone is based off Dudley's Corkscrew Blow.

2. The Legendary Doll from the previous chapter is supposed to be a homage to X and Zero, hence her blue and red coloration and the weapon. It could be used like Zero's Z-Saber, and the laser attack is comparable to X's fully charged X-Buster.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Aya's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 2/6  
Speed: 6/6  
Jump: 6/6  
Weight: 2/6**

**Entrance: **Flies onto the stage really fast and comes to a skidding stop by using her feet as a brake.

**A, A, A Combo: **Hits thrice with her fan.

**F-Tilt: **A slash from her fan in a horizontal arc.

**U-Tilt: **Slashes upward in an arc.

**D-Tilt: **A low kick.

**Dash Attack: **Dashes forward while covered in wind.

**Forward Smash: **Wind from the Maple Fan - slashes with a fan to create a tornado that stays in place for one to three seconds, depending on how long you charge it. It hits multiples times and can suck IN nearby opponents, but the knockback is quite weak.

**Up Smash: **Raises her arm to cover herself in a tornado. The height of the tornado depends on how long you charge up, and the maximum height is twice her height. It hits multiple times.

**Down Smash: **Spins once to create a ring of wind that hits multiple times.

**Neutral Aerial: **Wind Sickle Veiling - surrounds herself in wind that hits multiple times.

**Forward Aerial: **A slash from her fan that is actually quite powerful.

**Back Aerial: **Kicks backward with one leg. If you connect it in a way so that the heel of her shoes "goes into" the opponent, then the hit is as powerful as Zelda's Lightning Kick. The knockback is straight to the side, however. Easily her most powerful KO move.

**Up Aerial: **Slashes upwards. Has quick startup and is good for Star KO's.

**Down Aerial: **Tengu's Downburst - a wind-powered stomp. Hitting someone with it will cause her to bounce up slightly. It's a relatively powerful meteor smash.

**Grab Attack: **Knee to the abdomen.

**Forward Throw: **Spins once then throws, similar to Mario's Forward Throw.

**Back Throw: **Imagine Mario's Back Throw, but spinning much faster and several more times.

**Up Throw: **Forms a tornado around the opponent to blow him/her straight up.

**Down Throw: **Pulls the opponent onto the ground and then stomp him/her in the back.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%):** Flips onto the stage and slams down one leg.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Slowly climbs up and sweeps the floor with her fan.

**Floor Attack (facing up): **Spins on one hand to kick all around herself before flipping upside-down and then landing on her feet.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Same as above, but without flipping upside-down.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Gets up and slashes her surroundings.

**Neutral B: Gale Fan  
**Aya launches a crescent-shaped wind blade forward, and up to three can be fired consecutively if you press the button rapidly. When used on the ground, you can aim diagonally upward if you hold up the d-stick before the attack is fired. When using it in air, you can hold down the d-stick to have her shoot diagonally downward. Alternatively, you can charge up this move to fire a maximum of three wind blades at once, each of them traveling in different directions—one straight forward, another at a 45-degree angle, and the third one close to 90 degrees. Charging up for only two seconds will fire two shots in the former two directions while charging up to three seconds will fire in the method first mentioned. You can also charge it in air. Also, you cannot aim your shots if you charge it.

**Side B: Domination Dash**

Aya dashes forward really fast. The length of her dash is a tad bit longer than Fox's Fox Illusion, and unlike that move, this one has an instantaneous startup. It's also quite powerful, as powerful as Ganondorf's Wizard's Foot, thus making it one of her more useful moves. You can also go slightly upwards and downwards if you tilt the d-stick in the respective directions.

**Up B: Graceful Dash  
**Aya dashes at a 45-degree angle upwards or downwards, depending on whether you're pushing up or down on the d-stick. Pressing another direction again will cause her to go in that direction, and you can even go backwards if you push the d-stick backwards at an angle. She can only travel in angles, not in straight paths. She can dash up to a maximum of three times, and dashing into opponents will hurt them. Think of this like Pikachu's Quick Attack.

**Down B: Tengu Drum**

Hold down the button to make Aya crouch down and charge up this move, and letting it go will cause her to leap forward, heading for her opponent and automatically stomping his/her head when she comes in contact with him/her. The longer you charge it, the farther and faster she will jump. If there is no one in front, then she will simply move forward until she lands, and the maximum distance is a bit farther than Captain Falcon's Falcon Kick when used on the ground. A totally uncharged version is useless unless your opponent is standing right in front of you, and even so, it's incredibly weak. This move can be used in air too.

**Final Smash: Illusionary Dominance  
**Aya dashes left and right across the screen INCREDIBLY fast, so fast that it looks like several things are dashing across the screen at once. It's basically a more intense version of the Latios and Latias summoned from a Pokeball and the Assist Trophy Kat & Ana. This move lasts six to seven seconds, and after that, Aya will dash across the middle of the screen one last time in a slightly slower speed, but it has HUGE knockback.

**Side Taunt: **Poses on one leg, winks, and makes a victory sign.

**Up Taunt: **Takes a picture.

**Down Taunt: **Fans herself while looking at the viewer (or the background, depending on the direction she is facing) with a grin on her face. She shifts her eyebrow as well, or whatever you call that kind of movement when you move your eyebrows up and down…

**Winning Pose 1: **Takes a picture of herself while standing on one leg and making a victory sign.

**Winning Pose 2: **Dashes across the stage, but then comes to a skidding stop before returning to the center of the screen and scratching the back of her head with an apologetic look of sorts on her face.

**Winning Pose 3: **Holding a newspaper into the air while shouting with one hand next to her mouth, "Big news! I won a match! Come and read more about it!"


	113. Deified Human of the Wind

This first word for this chapter's title is actually spelled "deified", not "defied".

Also, Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! It's Meiling's year! Actually, it should be Kasen's pet dragon and the dragon god of Gensokyo's year, since Meiling's relation to dragons is fanon. It's true that she has the Chinese character for "dragon" on the star on her hat, and some of her moves have the word "dragon" in it, but there are still no official implications that she is an actual dragon or a dragon demon.

And in case you're curious, I'm born in the year of the dragon.

**Chapter 112  
Deified Human of the Wind**

* * *

After being warped away by the circle on the floor, Sanae found herself flying through a passage made of blue light, and there were electric currents all around her. "Wow! I remember this sort of scenes from movies! I can't believe I'm actually experiencing this firsthand! Amazing!" she said in excitement.

After a few seconds of flying through the passage, there was a burst of light that blinded her, and when she was able to see again, she found herself standing in a place with a black sky, and the floor consisted of a purple panel. She looked around with awe and said, "So this is the cyberspace… I'm actually standing in the cyberspace! I can't believe this!" Then she shook her head. "No, no, no… This isn't the time for sightseeing! I should be looking for Mr. King and fighting him! After that, I need to quickly reunite with the others again! All right! Time to go!" Then she headed for the towering staircase before her eyes and ran all the way to the top of it.

Once at the top, she saw Mr. King seated on his flying throne at the far end of the place, so she quickly ran in his direction and stopped some yards in front of him. "I've found you at last, you foul villain! This is as far as you go! Surrender now or face extermination!"

"Such strong words coming from a fair maiden like you!" Mr. King said while shuffling a deck of cards for fun. "It seems that you have a strong sense of justice and is looking forward to smiting me!"

"I will never let the likes of you to do as you wish! Get ready to face the power of miracles! I also have the power of the goddesses by my side!"

"Yes, I am aware of the two goddesses that you can summon. It seems that they are indeed someone that I need to be aware of. Nevertheless, I'm going to fight you with all I have right off the bat. Do not expect to show mercy to you!"

"I'm not going to show you any mercy either! I'll take on you with all I have without holding back!"

"That's the kind of attitude! I actually like your attitude more than that blue boy I faced back in my own world! Let's see whether or not you can handle the same kind of thing he once faced!" Mr. King then raised his arm into the air to cause what looked like red balls of distorted energy appeared out of thin air.

Sanae watched with curiosity as the red energy balls gathered around Mr. King, and when he was fully covered by them, they merged together to become a ball of red light with an orange core. Suddenly, the whole thing gave off bright light that blinded her, and when she was able to see again, she was shocked at the sight of a massive red and black being in front of her eyes. "Wha…! What the! A… A dragon!"

**BGM: Vs. Crimson Dragon (Mega Man Star Force 3)**

The dragon with wings made mostly of red energy let out a roar that made the whole place shook a little, and then Mr. King's voice came out of it. "Behold the Crimson Dragon! Now with legs!"

Sanae was at first intimidated by the appearance of the fierce creature, but then she shook her head to clear away any thoughts of fear before saying, "Don't think that you can scare me with a form like that! I'm going to be the knight who will smite down the dragon, just like in fairy tales!"

"Fairy tales and realities are two different things. Things that happen in them do not necessary apply to real life."

"The key phrase is "do not necessary"! I'm going to win against you no matter what!" Sanae said as she took out several paper amulets in her hand, and then she threw them at the dragon. "Protect the Prosperous Business!"

With a single swipe of his claws, the dragon destroyed all the amulets. "Ha! Is that the best you can do?" said the voice of Mr. King before several missiles appeared in front of the dragon and flew toward Sanae. She quickly flew straight up into the air to avoid the missiles and then threw more paper amulets. The dragon brought his right wing in front of his face to protect himself from the amulets, and then he leaped in the shrine maiden's direction to snap her with his jaws, but she managed to avoid him.

Sanae quickly flew behind the dragon and dropped altitude slightly before taking out and throwing two packets at him. "Fortune Bomb!" But when the dragon turned around, he used his head to swat them away. His head then disappeared, and blue and red needle-like projectiles shot out like machine gun bullets from where his neck used to be, pelting Sanae rapidly all over the body.

The shrine maiden fell onto the floor as a result of this, and when she looked up, she saw the dragon, whose head had returned, closing in on her and bringing down his claws to crush her, but she managed to roll out of the way. The dragon attempted to crush her again, but with amazing (?) rolling skills, the Moriya shrine maiden managed to avoid getting hit. Annoyed by this, the dragon swung his claws at her from the side, but Sanae, still in a lying position, quickly flew back from the dragon and then positioned herself upright.

"Looks like I'll have to summon Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako for help!" she thought. When the dragon's head disappeared to fire needle-like projectiles again, she quickly took out a spell card. "Earth Goddess: Shield!" Suwako was immediately summoned, and with a bubble shield around her, she managed block them.

"I see that you're facing something big and fierce, eh?" Suwako asked." When the firing stopped, the bubble burst.

"Mistress Suwako! Please do your best in the remaining time you have!" Sanae told her goddess ancestor.

"Don't worry! Leave it to me!"

"Let's see what a little goddess can do before my great power!" Mr. King said as several missiles appeared in front of the dragon and flew at both the girls. Sanae quickly flew to the side while Suwako leaped like a frog at the dragon and threw several iron rings at him, but he used his wing to block them. When he pulled away his wing, he was stomped in the snout by the earth goddess, who then bounced up high into the air and shot out a large amount of water from her mouth. The force of the water was so strong that the dragon was pinned against the floor.

Suwako landed behind the dragon and watched him get back up and turn around, but shortly after that, she disappeared. The dragon then turned to Sanae, and the voice of Mr. King said, "Seems like this power isn't that useful after all! The goddesses can only stay around for a short period of time."

"True, but doesn't mean I can't summon them whenever I want to!" Sanae said. "Even if it drains my energy, I'll do whatever it takes to defeat you!"

"Then that will allow me to kill you with ease!" Mr. King said before the dragon suddenly warped in front of Sanae, much to her surprise. She quickly backed off when the reptilian menace attempted to crush her with his claws from both sides, and she quickly took out another spell card when he reached his claws at her.

"Heaven Goddess: Revered Pillar!" she shouted. Kanako immediately appeared with four wooden pillars in front of herself, and the claws ended up landing on top of the pillars and stopping. "Mistress Kanako!"

"You better not lay your filthy claws on Sanae!" the sky goddess said to the dragon in an intimidating tone. She lifted one of the pillars into the air to make the dragon pull back his claw, and then she threw it at him like a javelin. The pillar struck the dragon's chest, which contained the core, but it didn't seem to do anything. The second pillar she threw hit his head, and when she hit the head the second time, it turned into two. The core, which was originally purple, turned orange as well. "Looks like it's doing something!" Kanako then threw the fourth pillar, this time aiming for the core, but the dragon quickly swatted it away with his claws.

"Don't get too full of yourself!" Mr. King angrily said.

Kanako observed the core and said in her mind, "It didn't work the first time I hit it, but after I hit the head and turned it into two, the core changed color. When I tried to hit it again, he knocked it away, something which he did not do the first time… Could it be…?" Before she could come to a conclusion, both the dragon's heads disappeared to attack with needle-like projectiles that blasted Kanako backwards and into Sanae. "Ugh! Sorry, Sanae!"

"It's all right," Sanae said while getting back up. "Are you all right?"

"Don't worry about me," the sky goddess said as she stood back up. "You should be worried about yourself more. Listen, Sanae, aim your attacks at the core whenever it turns orange, and I believe you have to make his head two first."

"I got it!"

Kanako summoned the pillars she previously threw next to herself and had one end of them pointed at the dragons. "Let me give him one last blast before I make my exit, which should happen about now!" No sooner after the pillars fired blasts of energy at the dragon, the sky goddess disappeared, and unfortunately, the shots missed their target, as the dragon fled to the air.

Sanae looked up at the dragon as he dived at her, and just before he landed with a powerful slam, she quickly hovered back through the air and flung a Fortune Bomb at the core. However, the explosion from it was very small, so the dragon wasn't hurt by it. "What was that supposed to be?" Mr. King asked.

"Fortune wasn't with me this time…" Sanae replied. The dragon then started swinging his claws at her furiously, and whether it was luck or skill, she managed to avoid every hit. The dragon then changed to bringing down his heads to snap her with their jaws, and in the midst of dodging them, she flung a Fortune Bomb into the mouth of the right head, and the explosion caused the dragon to become stunned. Using this opportunity, Sanae fired a large red star-shaped projectile at the core. "Forgotten Ritual!"

While not a devastating attack, it was strong enough to make the dragon feel pain and move back. "Don't get too cocky!" Mr. King angrily said before the both the heads breathed out red fire at her, but she quickly escaped into the air. After the dragon stopped breathing fire, his head merged together to become one again, and the core also changed back to being purple.

"I need to make the heads two before I can damage the core," Sanae said in her mind, reminding herself what Kanako told her.

"Don't think you're safe just because you can fly!" Mr. King said as the dragon flew into the air. "Some dragons can fly, you know?" After flying higher than Sanae, the dragon created and fired several missiles at her, but she managed to avoid them before throwing several paper amulets at him. However, a larger than usual missile was created as the amulets closed in on the head, and it plowed through them and headed for the shrine maiden, who quickly moved out of the way.

The dragon immediately went up to her after she got out of the missile's way and swatted her toward the floor. "Ya!" She went past the missile and hit the floor first, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the missile getting coming closer and closer. She desperately got up and ran away before the missile struck the surface and created a massive explosion that propelled her across the place and off the edge, though it goes without saying that being thrown off edges was nothing to worry about for her and her friends.

When the dragon flew toward her, she quickly moved to the side and then flew past him, heading for the floor. The dragon hit her with his tail as she was flying past it and sent her tumbling onto the floor, and when she sat up and looked up, she saw the dragon breathing red fire at her. Acting fast, she whipped out a spell card and shouted, "Earth Goddess: Shield!" Suwako and her bubble shield were summoned in an instant, protecting her.

"Water beats fire!" said Suwako, bringing up the obvious. She then took a deep breath, and right when the bubble shield disappeared and before the fire touched her, she released a huge blast of water from her mouth, which instantly pushed its way through the fire and into the dragon's mouth.

The Crimson Dragon was pushed back through the air by it, but then he got away from the water and then closed in on Suwako to stomp her. She quickly jumped back and took out a spell card just before she landed. "Curse God: Red Mouth Mishaguji-sama!" The card gave off a dark aura, and then a ring of darkness appeared all around Suwako, spreading out along the floor until it touched the dragon's feet.

Not only did the dragon find himself unable to move, but his surroundings also became pitch black. However, the most shocking thing of all was that four giant white phantom-like snakes had appeared all around him. "What the! What on earth is this!" Mr. King said in horror. "Where did all these snakes come from!" Then the dragon received a beating of his lifetime from them. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

POW SMASH WHAM WHACK SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

When the beating ended, the Crimson Dragon was seen lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious. Suwako looked at the core and took out another spell card. "Kanako told me about his weak spot, so I'm going to…" But before she could finish speaking, she disappeared.

"Thanks for making the core vulnerable again, Mistress Suwako!" Sanae said while taking out another spell card. "Mistress Kanako and I will take it from here! Sky Goddess: Thrust Attack!" Then she dashed forward at the same time Kanako appeared, ramming into the core together with a force that made the dragon jump back up while crying in pain.

"Enough is enough!" Mr. King angrily shouted. "This is as far as the both of you go!"

"And this is as far as you go as well!" Kanako said as she pointed her onbashira pillars at the core, and then they fired energy shots at it rapidly to bring even more pain to the dragon. The continuous shots kept on pushing the dragon backwards until he fell off the edge and into the darkness below.

Sanae and Kanako went up to the edge and looked down it. "Did we do it?" the former asked.

"I doubt so," the goddess replied. "Unless my previous attack actually ended his life, he's going to fly back up again."

"You're right…"

"It's best that you don't summon us too often, or else you'll wear out yourself. We're not sure how persistent this guy is, so you should try to fight by yourself and only summon us for what may be the final blow."

"Yes, Mistress Kanako!"

Soon after this, Kanako disappeared, and Sanae continued looking down the edge, waiting for something to happen. She waited and waited, but nothing happened, so she started to think if the dragon really was defeated. Though doubtful, she still decided to head back to the spot where she first appeared at when she came into the cyber world. As she was approaching the staircase, the entire place suddenly shook. She fell onto the floor the second time the shaking happened, and the then the staircase broke into pieces as the Crimson Dragon, still with two heads, smashed through it and went into the air.

"Think you've won already?" Mr. King asked her. "Don't be so sure about that just yet!" Then the dragon breathed red fire at her.

"Revitalizing Waves!" Sanae shouted as she slammed the back end of her gohei against the floor to create a burst of water all around herself in hope of dousing out the fire. However, the amount of water she produced couldn't be compared to the two streams of fire heading for her. They overcame the fire and burned the shrine maiden. Fortunately, the water managed to weaken the fire to the point where it wasn't strong enough to set her whole body on her, so Sanae was able to save herself without that big of an effort by rolling.

The dragon then charged at her with both his mouths wide open, so Sanae quickly raised a spell card into the air and shouted, "Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars!" The card released bright light before flying toward the dragon and colliding with his core, making him cry in pain, and then he fell onto the floor, his head merging into one again a few seconds after that.

The card returned to Sanae's hand, and then she took out a packet and flung it at the dragon's head. "Fortune Bomb!" However, the dragon returned to his sense while the packet was halfway to hitting his head, and then his head disappeared in order for the needle-like projectiles to be fired. The packet was pierced and destroyed by them, and then Sanae was struck all over the body. "Kya!"

When the attack ended and the head returned, the dragon closed in on her at a fast speed and thrust his claws at her, the middle claw piercing her abdomen in the process. The force of the attack sent the shrine maiden flying backwards and eventually hitting the floor. She lied on the floor with a somewhat terrified look on her face while she tried to recall what exactly happened just now. It was only after that did she let out a shriek of agony with her hands on her body. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Hahaha! Now the little girl is hurt and scared!" Mr. King delightfully said. "With a wound like that, you're bound to go down very soon! You should be in too much of a pain to move too!"

Despite the indescribable pain, Sanae still forced herself to sit up and then stand up, but the pain caused her to fall on her knees while coughing. When she looked up, the dragon sent her flying to the side with a swing of his claws, and she tumbled against the floor violently a few times before coming to a stop. While slowly pushing herself back up, she took out a spell card and tried to summon one of the goddesses for. "Earth Goddess: Iron… Wheel…" However, nobody showed up.

"What's wrong? Can't call them anymore?" Mr. King asked.

Sanae looked at the spell card and said to herself, "It must be because… the injury is too great… I can only summon them… when in a good condition…"

"Then let's see how well you can handle this in your condition!" Mr. King said before several missiles appeared in front of the dragon and flew at her.

Sanae tried her best to move out of the missiles' way, but one of them hit her and blasted her into the air. As if the positions of the missiles were set up beforehand, she flew into another missile and got blasted into another one by it. After getting hit by a total of five missiles, she finally hit the floor with injuries all over her body.

Despite this, Sanae still struggled to push herself back up, but her current condition didn't allow to her get on her knees. Still, she used her arms the best she could to support her body, despite them shaking quite a bit. "Still up and at it?" Mr. King asked. "Quite impressive! I should applaud you for this, but this is as far you go! Perhaps you should consider giving up now as not to wear out yourself! The victory of this battle has been decided! You already have no hope of winning!"

"No… I'm not giving up here… I believe in the power of miracles, and I believe that it thing will save me…"

"Yes, miracles do happen, but not to everyone and not all the time as well! Clearly, no miracle is going to happen all of a sudden and help you win this battle!"

"I may not have the strength to summon the goddesses anymore, but I still have one trump card left…" Sanae said with a smirk on her face as she reached for her Smash Essence, and it gave off bright light just before her fingers touched it. "I have faith in my victory, and that faith will cause a miracle to happen!"

**BGM: Faith is the Transient People (Touhou: Mountain of Faith)**

Surprised by the light that gradually covered her whole body, the Crimson Dragon took a step back, and Mr. King asked, "What is happening!"

Strength returned to Sanae as her wounds started to heal. She was quite surprised by this, but believing that this was also the power of the Smash Essence, she stopped thinking about it and then pointed her gohei at the dragon. "All right! Now that strength has returned to me, I'm going to defeat you with my Smash Essence! Behold the power of miracles!"

"Impressive! However, you will soon find yourself in the same condition as b! Let's see if this miracle will truly save you!"

The dragon then breathed red fire at Sanae, who hit the floor with the back end of her gohei to create water. "Revitalizing Wave!" This time, the amount of water that came out was more than before, and it managed to put out the fire and protect her entirely from it. She immediately took out paper amulets and threw them at the dragon, aiming for the head. "Protect the Prosperous Business!" The head was going to move aside, but the amulets moved much faster than before this time, so it was unable to avoid getting hit. She then created a rainbow-colored net and increased its size before sending it at the dragon. "Nine Syllable Stabs!"

The net covered the dragon entirely, and as he struggled to break free from it, it zapped him all over the body and sent sparks flying into the air. "Argh!" Mr. King angrily growled.

Sanae carried as many packets as her arms allowed her, and then she flung them all into the air and in the direction of the dragon. "Fortune Packet! It's all you can eat!" Luck was truly with her, as the all the packets resulted in black explosions, the strongest possible result, when they hit the dragon, and out from each of the explosions appeared a pair of black energy balls that flew back to the dragon to further hurt him. The dragon's head also became two.

The energy net eventually disappeared, and the dragon angrily charged at her with his mouths wide open. "Sky Serpent!" Sanae quickly fired snake-like projectiles at the heads to stun him, and then she ran to the core and thrust it with the back of her gohei, producing a star-shaped shockwave when hit. "Nova Thrust!" Then she jumped back into the air, performing a back flip while doing so, and threw several paper amulets and packets at the dragon nonstop.

Upon landing, she raised her gohei into the air. "It's time! Final Smash! Wish of the Shooting Stars!" Her gohei released a white energy ball into the air, which quickly became a large star-shaped portal from which bright light came out of, and then the portal quickly replicated itself so that there were five of them in the air around the dragon.

"What! What are those!" Mr. King asked in shock.

"The light that will smite down evil! Begone, evildoer!" Sanae shouted before pointing her gohei at the dragon, and then star-shaped projectiles shot out from the star-shaped portals rapidly, striking the dragon hard and creating relatively big explosions upon hitting his body.

The Crimson Dragon roared in pain as the onslaught of shooting stars forced it onto the floor and pinned him against it. Eventually, the stars struck him with a force strong enough to go through his body and damaging his insides. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" Mr. King cried. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I CAN'T HOLD UP THE CRIMSON DRAGON ANY LONGER! !"

The shooting stars continued to strike the Crimson Dragon, and a few seconds later, he let out one last roar before exploding.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Shooting stars continued to strike the explosion and the smoke it left behind, and they stopped at around the same time the smoke began to clear away, revealing nothing when the latter was gone. The portals disappeared, and then Sanae raised her gohei into the air in triumph. "Yes! I did it! I won with the power of my Final Smash! This truly is a miracle! I can't wait to tell Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako about this! Oh yeah, and the others as well! Speaking of which, I should hurry back out and find them. I should be able to destroy the Darkling now that I've used my Final Smash. I'm surely going to be a big help to them this time! I can't wait to make myself useful!" Then she quickly turned to leave the place.

When she ran back to the place she first showed up at, she found a circular portal there, and stepping on it sent her down a passage of blue light until she found herself back in the room filled with computers, and then she quickly headed for the door to the side of the monitor that she was sent into. "Wait for me, everyone! I'm on my way!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Due to the Crimson Dragon/Mr. King not having any additional forms, this battle turned out shorter than the previous two, even though I tried my best to drag it out. There's also a part cut off due to not being able to come up with it well enough. It's nothing major, however; it's just Sanae still struggling against the Crimson Dragon a little bit more before her Smash Essence finally activating. Plus, she's human, so it's unrealistic if she her survivability is as good as the non-human characters, so having her activate her Smash Essence sooner makes more sense.

So even though this chapter is considered rushed out, I still hope enjoyed it.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Sanae's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 3/6  
Speed: 5/6  
Weight: 3/6  
Jump: 4/6**

**Entrance: **Floats onto the stage in a whirlwind.

**A, A, Infinite A: **Hits twice with her gohei and then swings it up and down rapidly.

**F-Tilt: **Thrusts her gohei forward.

**U-Tilt: **Swings her gohei upwards.

**D-Tilt: **Sweeps with her gohei.

**Dash Attack: **Sky Goddess: Thrust Attack – Kanako appears and dashes forward with Sanae. For a dash attack, this is really powerful.

**Forward Smash: **Swings down her gohei to fire a red-star shaped projectile. The longer you charge it, the farther the star travels. An uncharged version goes only a short distance in front of her while a fully charged one travels the whole length of Final Destination. A hit from her gohei is more powerful than the projectile, which is actually quite weak.

**Up Smash: **Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars – fires a white ball of light into the air which stays in one for a few seconds, damaging and trapping opponents who come in contact with it. It ends with an explosion that sends opponents flying. The longer you charge the move, the higher it will fly. The maximum height is the highest Fox can fly with his Fire Fox. It can also damage opponents on the way up.

**Down Smash: **Revitalizing Wave – hits the floor with the back end of her gohei to create a burst of water around herself. Her most powerful smash attack.

**Neutral Aerial: **Does the same kind of pose as Mario and some other character's neutral aerial attack, sticking out legs and arms in a certain manner.

**Forward Aerial: **Gets into her horizontal movement pose from Touhou 12, the Superman-esque flying pose. Both her fist and feet can hit opponents, sending them straight sideways.

**Back Aerial: **Horizontal swipe from her gohei.

**Up Aerial: **Creates a small burst of wind above herself. Like Mr. Game & Watch's Up Aerial, it can blow opponents upwards if there is a bit of distance between the wind and them.

**Down Aerial: **A downward thrust from her foot that acts as a meteor smash.

**Grab Attack: **Smacks opponent in the face with her gohei.

**Forward Throw: **Gives the opponent an arm thrust that is powered by wind to push him/her straight forward.

**Back Throw: **Flings the opponent onto the ground behind herself. The opponent slides along the ground, and the higher his/her damage is, the farther he/she will slide.

**Up Throw: **Summons wind to blow the opponent straight up.

**Down Throw: **Forces the opponent onto his/her knees and hands and then smacks him/her over the head a few times with her gohei.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Leaps up onto the stage and swings her gohei horizontally.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Slowly climbs up and sweeps with her gohei.

**Floor Attack (facing up): **Quickly floats to get back on her feet while hitting both sides with her gohei.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Same as above, just that she gets up from the aforementioned position.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Floats a few millimeters into the air while briefly surrounded by a whirlwind.

**Neutral B: Sky Serpent  
**Sanae fires two white snake-like projectiles that snake across the screen, building up speed as the move, their max speed being the same as the spark of Lucas and Ness's PK Fires. These projectiles also have a bit of homing capabilities. If an opponent is standing above them, they will fly upward to hit him/her.

**Forward B: Fortune Bomb  
**Sanae throws a packet that was four different effects. The first effect is a weak explosion only as powerful as Link's bombs, and it occurs 50% of the time. The second effect is a larger explosion as powerful as Captain Falcon's Falcon Kick, and it happens 30% of the time. The third effect is a dark explosion that is slightly more powerful than the one above, but it will also create a pair of dark energy orbs that home in on random opponents. This one happens 15% of the time. The fourth effect is a powerful explosion as strong as a Bob-Omb, and it may also create the same kind of dark energy orb. This one happens only 5% of the time and can even damage Sanae herself if she gets caught in it.

**Up B: Revitalizing Wind**

Sanae surrounds herself within a whirlwind to fly around. This move is actually the exact same thing as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado. As you can see, this move is really only called Revitalizing Wind in name, but it does involve wind anyway.

**Down B: Earth Goddess: Shield**

Sanae summons Suwako, who is inside a bubble shield that pops when attacked, and drops of water will fly everywhere as a result, doing damage to opponents. Suwako will always be in front of Sanae and follow her everywhere until she leaves. She will stay on screen for about ten seconds before disappearing.

**Final Smash: Nine Syllable Stabs**

Sanae quickly moves her gohei in the air in a grid-like manner, and when done, giant rainbow-colored laser beams will rush across the screen in a grid formation. Opponents can avoid getting hit if they can position themselves in a way so that the laser beams pass by all around them, but due to the speed of the laser beams showing up, it's pretty tough to do so. In order to make up for the toughness of avoiding this Final Smash, its knockback isn't all that great, about the same as Lucario's Aura Storm at its weakest. The moment the Final Smash is used, Sanae is invincible throughout the duration of it.

**Up Taunt: **Rises her gohei diagonally upward into the air and says out loud, "I'll exterminate all my opponents!"

**Side Taunt: **Sanae looks at the viewer or the background, depending on the direction she is facing, and bows down politely.

**Down Taunt: **Winks and makes a peace sign using both hands while looking at the viewer or the background.

**Winning Pose 1: **Raises her gohei into the air in triumph while saying out loud, "I won! What a miracle!"

**Winning Pose 2: **Kanako and Suwako claps hands behind her while she says to the viewer with a smile on her face, "Thank you very much for rooting for me!"

**Winning Pose 3: **Draws a star using her gohei, and then the former explodes like a firework, which blasts her back onto the floor. Without standing back, she rubs the back of her head while winking and sticking out her tongue.


	114. Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper

**Chapter 113  
Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper**

* * *

After Sanae had chosen to enter the cyberspace to fight Mr. King, they remaining girls encountered M. Bison after leaving the computer room and before running up a staircase. Meiling had chosen to stay behind to face the former leader of Shadaloo, who didn't really have the intention of fighting her due to winning against her once, so he came to conclusion that she was a weakling not worth fighting against.

"After I'm done with you," M. Bison said while in his trademark fighting stance, "I'm going to go after the others and take them out either one by one or all at once! They will wish that they should've left someone much more competent behind to deal with me!"

"I'm not the same as before!" Meiling said to him in an angry voice. "You better not underestimate me, I'm telling you!"

"Look, if you really are claiming to be stronger than before, how about you come over here now and try to do something to me? If talking is all that you can do, then I might as well not even try!" After saying this, M. Bison crossed his arms casually in front of his chest. "Try your worst!"

"I won't let you look down on me any longer!" Meiling angrily shouted before running toward the dictator.

**BGM: Fatal Depth (Street Fighter Alpha 3)**

The gatekeeper launched herself at M. Bison to hit him with Sky Dragon Kick, but the dictator floated to her side at a relatively fast speed. Meiling immediately turned around to attack with a roundhouse kick, but he floated out of her leg's reach. "What's wrong? Is that all?" M. Bison asked. "This is déjà vu all over again, you know that?"

Meiling closed in on him and threw several punches and kicks, but the dictator managed to avoid them all either by floating away or teleporting. This went on for several seconds, and then M. Bison teleported a bit of a distance from Meiling, and the latter fixed her glance on him while in fighting stance. "This is getting really boring," M. Bison said. "How about I make things easier for you by not avoiding your attacks?"

"You'll be sorry you said that!" Meiling said before running at him and throwing a punch, but the dictator reached out his hand and easily caught her fist. However, he still felt a bit of pain traveling down his arm.

"That's a pretty strong punch! I'll give you that!" he commented. "But it's nothing if you can't land it somewhere that counts!" Then he swung his other arm at her, but Meiling quickly ducked at the same time she pulled her fist off his hand and then unleashed an uppercut. M. Bison managed to move back away from it, however. Meiling immediately closed in on him to throw punches and kicks, but the dictator managed to block every single one of them with seemingly no effort.

After blocking her attacks a few more times, M. Bison disappeared, so Meiling quickly looked around for him. She saw that he had teleported behind her and fired a purple energy ball, so she quickly jumped to the side to avoid it before running at him, and when he fired another energy ball, she quickly slid underneath it and aimed to hit the tip of her foot against his.

However, M. Bison quickly jumped back to avoid getting hit and then performed a similar sliding attack, hitting his foot against hers to knock her off balance, and then he quickly jumped at her head to give it a nasty stomp before bouncing off it. Meiling got up while rubbing her head and turned to look at him. "Can't say I saw that much improvement in you," M. Bison said. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes, I did train for this occasion!" Meiling loudly said, interrupting him. She ran at him and threw punches which he managed to avoid constantly.

"This is getting boring," M. Bison commented in the midst of dodging the punches. "I'll take you out in an instant now!" He then swung a hand covered in purple energy at her, but to his surprise, she blocked it with her arm before throwing a punch to his face to quickly make him move back with his hand over it. "Well, that sure caught me by surprise!"

Meiling wasted no time in closing in on him again to attack, and M. Bison quickly floated to the side. However, Meiling attacked with a roundhouse kick to the side at almost the exact same time he floated away and managed to kick him in the waist. The dictator floated away from her, and while he was in pain, she charged at him and threw a fist full of rainbow energy at his abdomen, but he quickly caught it with a hand covered in purple energy. "Don't get too cocky!" he angrily said before punching her across the face to make her take some steps back. "So you've managed to land some hits on me this time! Perhaps a bit of improvement from before, but still not much! You'll need to do better than that to convince me that you really are better than before!"

"I'll show you, and you will regret ever underestimating me!" Meiling said while in a fighting stance.

M. Bison then got into his trademark fighting stance. "I can see it in your eyes that you really are determined to prove things to me! Guess I'll fight a bit more seriously this time! You better not disappoint me like last time!"

Both sides locked eyes for a while before running at each other while shouting, and then they slammed their fists into each other, Meiling with hers covered in rainbow-colored energy while M. Bison's was covered in purple energy. The resulting impact created a shockwave that made dust fly into the air, and if the curtains hanging down in front the windows were closer to them, they would fly up. Their fists pressed against each other for a few seconds, and then they both shot back in opposite directions faster than they charged at each other.

M. Bison then threw several purple energy balls at Meiling, but she managed to dodge them while closing on him, and when she was a bit of a distance from him, she thrust both her arms forward to release a burst of yellow energy. "Fragrant Wave!" The blast sent the dictator flying backwards until he came to a stop in a crouching position, and then the gatekeeper jumped into the air and came down on him with one leg sticking out. "Descending Flower Slam!"

Instead of avoiding it, M. Bison brought up his arms to block the axe kick and pushed her back onto the floor before attempting to hit her with a hand covered in purple energy, but she quickly ducked underneath it and performed a leg sweep. The dictator managed to avoid it by floating up, and then he quickly hurled an energy ball into her face. He then grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air with no effort before punching her in the abdomen hard to send her flying back, but despite receiving a strong blow to her body, she managed to land on her a feet.

M. Bison then ran toward her and suddenly leaped at her while spinning once. "Double Knee Press!" Because the speed he approached her with was really fast, Meiling had no time to defend herself. She was struck in the shoulders and forced onto the floor, and then M. Bison bounced back and spun once before landing. Upon landing, he immediately delivered an uppercut powered by purple energy to her chin to send her shooting up into the air and backwards. Meiling managed to position herself upright and land on her feet, however. "Perhaps you are more durable than before! However, it's won't be any help if you can't win against me!"

"Then I'll have to use this!" Meiling said before standing straight up and putting her hands together, and in doing so, a yellow aura appeared around her. "Tiger's Strength!" She then got into fighting stance and stared at M. Bison for a while before running at him. The villain also charged at her, and when they both threw their punches at each other's fist, M. Bison felt a large amount of pain in his fist and was even blown back by it, though he remained standing on his feet.

"It would appear that you increased your attacking power, eh?" he said. Meiling approached him to attack with a series of punches and kicks that he managed to avoid, and in the midst of doing so, he attempted to hit her, but she managed to block his arm with her own before punching him in the abdomen. "Ugh!" Before M. Bison could fully recover, she unleashed a series of super fast punches against him.

"Radiant Rainbow Fist!" she shouted while punching him nonstop. M. Bison eventually flew back from receiving all those painful blows, and this time, he landed on his back.

He quickly jumped back on his feet and said, "Tsk! Don't think the table has been turned! I haven't even gone serious on you yet! I'll show you how deadly my Psycho Power is!" Then he threw several purple energy balls at her. "Psycho Shot!"

Meiling managed to avoid them all, and immediately after avoiding the last one, M. Bison jumped at her in an attempt to stomp her in the head, but she quickly hopped back in time and then spun really fast to create a rainbow-colored whirlwind around herself. "Colorful Wind Chime!"

"Gah!" M. Bison cried while blocking the attack with his arms. The instant she was done spinning, she stomped the floor to send forth a yellow wave.

"Earth Dragon Wave!"

The attack sent M. Bison flying back into the air, and when he was in the peak of his flight, the gatekeeper attacked him with a flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!" The dictator cried in pain as the kick sent him flying back through the place and crashing into the part of the wall next to a window.

"Argh! Don't get too full of yourself just yet!" M. Bison angrily said as he got back up.

"Are you still looking down on me now?" Meiling asked him.

"You'll regret ever staying behind to fight me! Psycho Shot!" He then hurled several energy balls at her, and while she was busy avoiding them, he shot through the air while spinning like a drill. "Psycho Crusher!" Meiling quickly moved out of the way when she saw him coming, so the villain only grazed past her.

When the dictator came to a stop and turned around, Meiling ran toward him and attacked with a simple flying kick. He jumped over her to avoid the attack, but while he was still in the air, he suddenly turned around and fell onto Meiling in an upside-down position, hitting her in the head with a punch infused by the Psycho energy. He then punched her across the face to send her tumbling across the floor, and the moment she got onto one knee, he jumped at her while spinning. "Double Knee Press!"

Meiling managed to counter it by catching his feet when they were about to hit her shoulders, much to his surprise, and then she spun in circles a few times before flinging him across the room. M. Bison manage to position himself in a way so that his feet planted against the wall when he flew into it, and then he kicked off it, pulling off Psycho Crusher in doing so.

While M. Bison was still a bit of a distance away from her, Meiling jumped to the side at the correct moment so that she was still in the air when the dictator was going past her. She quickly stuck out her leg and dropped it straight down onto his back. "Descending Flower Slam!"

SLAM!

"GAH!" M. Bison cried as the attack both cancelled his move and crushed his back against the floor. Meiling jumped back from him, and when he got back up, she ran up to him and punched him in the face with a rainbow-powered punch.

"Spiral Light Step!" she shouted.

POW!

M. Bison was sent flying backward from the punch and landed just short of the wall. He got back up while growling in anger and then said, "That does it! You're going down!" Then he warped behind Meiling and brought down a hand covered in Psycho energy onto her head, but she stepped to the side and then hit him in the face with the back of her hand without turning around, and then she spun around to knee him in the abdomen before punching him in the body various times.

M. Bison quickly warped to a safer distance and then flung several Psycho Shots at her. "Water Taichi Fist!" Meiling shouted as she formed a rainbow-colored vortex that absorbed the energy shots and then returned energy orbs of the same color at him, but he stepped out of their way.

"Psycho Shot!" M. Bison shouted as he fired an energy ball at her, and immediately after doing so, he warped to another location and fired another one. He continued to do the same thing to fire several Psycho Shots at Meiling from various directions, and the gatekeeper managed to avoid them all with swift movements. However, M. Bison gradually increased his speed, so it was becoming harder and harder for her to dodge the energy balls.

Eventually, Meiling got hit in the foot after landing from a jump, and this allowed some of the other energy balls to her. M. Bison stopped warping around and started aiming all his Psycho Shots at her. Meiling endured the shots and ran for the side as fast as she could to avoid them, and then she changed her direction to the dictator. When Psycho Shots were fired at her, she unleashed a rainbow-powered flying kick. "Sky Dragon Kick!" She was able to go through the Psycho Shots using this move, destroying them in the process, and then M. Bison was kicked in the chest.

"GAH!" M. Bison cried as he flew back from the kick, but he was able to remain standing. When he looked up, he saw Meiling running toward him with her fist pulled back, so he raised his arms to get ready to block the incoming punch. However, Meiling jumped over him instead, and by the time he turned around to face her, he received a powerful uppercut to his chin. "Roc-Killing Fist!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

M. Bison was sent shooting into the air and went through ceiling like it was made of paper. Meiling breathed heavily due to exhaustion after this, and a few seconds later, M. Bison dropped down from the hole on the ceiling, looking angrier than ever. "Fine! You've improved, much as I hate to say this!" he said. "However, don't think that this is something to be proud of! It only means that I'm going to fight you even more seriously than before, and you'll wish that I never did that!"

"Bring it! I'm not afraid of you!" Meiling loudly said as she got into fighting stance again.

"Perhaps this may be overkill, but what good is great power if you don't make use of it? Before my first defeat, I was very powerful. When I got resurrected by the power of the Darkling, my full power from back then was restored as well, so it's time that I relive the good old days!"

After saying all those, M. Bison's body started to give off purple electricity. Suddenly, his entire body became covered in a purple aura, and the dictator laughed evilly and then said, "Heheheh! Behold the Psycho Power at its max power! There is no hope in survival for you now, girl! This is the end of you!"

**BGM: Brave or Grave (Street Fighter Alpha 3)**

"That aura… I can tell that he's stronger than before…" Meiling thought. "He's got a huge killing intention, even more so than before! I have to be careful!"

M. Bison held up his arm in front of himself to form a ball of purple energy that gradually grew in size, and when it grew larger than his head, he hurled it at Meiling. "Psycho Explosion!" Even when thrown through the air, it continued to grow in size. Meiling quickly jumped out of its way, and when it hit the wall, it created a massive explosion.

"Whoa! Such power!" Meiling said in surprise. "Wait… No time to…" Being amazed by the power of the Psycho Explosion was a mistake for her, as she failed to see M. Bison charging at her at a fast speed and punching her in the abdomen really hard. "Ugh!" The force of the punch sent her shooting across the place until she hit the wall and made cracks on it.

"Psycho Explosion!" M. Bison shouted as he hurled the same kind of projectile at her. Meiling managed to recover from the impact and escape in time, however. She ran as fast as she could toward M. Bison and pulled back her fist, ready to unleash a powerful punch. "Spiral Light Step!" The dictator countered with a punch infused with Psycho energy, and it was so powerful that Meiling felt as if the bones in her arm were shattered when their fists came in contact with each other.

The gatekeeper cried in pain as she pulled back her arm, and then M. Bison grabbed hold of her other arm and slammed her against the parts of the floor in front and behind him with such a force that cracks were created. When he let go of her, Meiling bounced rather high into the air from the last impact, and then he attacked her with a somersault kick while she was in the air to make her hit her back against the ceiling. M. Bison then jumped back and threw a Psycho Explosion at her after she fell down and was about to hit the floor. The explosion sent the gatekeeper tumbling across the place with her body charred.

Despite this, Meiling got back up and fixed her glance at the villain with gritted teeth. "He's really gotten a lot stronger than before!" she thought. "I really have to be careful, not to mentioning fighting a lot more seriously!"

"You're dead!" M. Bison shouted as he ran at her.

"Chi Sign: Fierce Tiger's Inner Strength!" Meiling shouted, and then a huge burst of yellow aura appeared around her. When M. Bison tried to punch her, she knocked his arm aside and then slammed her elbow into his face to make him take several steps back. Meiling kept on moving in his direction while attacking with powered up punches and kicks, but the dictator managed to block every single one of them with seemingly no effort.

M. Bison eventually caught her by the fist and then flung her into the wall before running toward her. Meiling quickly got out of the way, so the dictator ended up punching the wall and making a relatively big hole on it. When he turned to Meiling, he saw her attacking with Fragrant Wave, but he managed to jump out of the way in time while firing a Psycho Shot, which she got hit by. He then punched her in the abdomen so hard that she went through the wall and out of the castle.

It didn't take too long for Meiling to recover from the hit. She quickly soared through the air and broke through one of the windows, and when she saw M. Bison running toward her, she stomped the floor to send forth a yellow wave. "Earth Dragon Wave!" But he jumped over it and tried to hit her with a Psycho Power-infused dive kick. Meiling quickly went underneath him to avoid getting hit and then tried to hit him in the waist with a roundhouse kick, but he caught her leg and then slammed her into the wall. "AH!"

M. Bison then flung her across the room, and shortly after she got back up, the villain created two clones of himself, and then all three of them jumped at her one after another and spun once before sticking out their legs. "Knee Press Nightmare!" all three of them shouted.

Meiling had no time to get out of the way, so all three M. Bison managed to hit her with their "team attack". The first one hit her in the legs before moving out of the way for the second one to hit her in the shoulders, and then the last one, the real one, struck her in the head. After that, all three of them slid into her at the same time and knocked her onto the floor. The two clones disappeared, and then the real one picked her up by the neck and zapped her with Psycho energy.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling screamed in agony.

"Hahaha! How do you like the power of Psycho energy?" M. Bison asked her, and then he slammed her onto the floor really hard before jumping into the air and landing onto her abdomen to make her cry in even more pain. After that, he got off from her body with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Heheheh! Have enough?"

Meiling remained lying on the floor for several seconds while groaning in pain, but then she slowly sat back up.

"Still up and at it, eh? I still have lots of energy, so I'm fine if you still want to play!"

Meiling tried her best to ignore the pain and weakly said, "I will not let you escape from my sight… I must hold you back and defeat you…"

"Says the girl who no longer has the strength to fight! You're only asking for a death wish, you know that?"

"Death wish or not, I must make sure that you are no longer capable of moving… Even if I have to sacrifice myself, I'm going to do whatever it takes to defeat you!"

"Then I shall grant you that desire, only your sacrifice won't be worth it!" M. Bison said. "Psycho Shot!" He shot her with an energy ball and then jumped to the far back of the room before shooting forward at a fast speed while covered in a large amount of Psycho energy. "Psycho Crusher!"

Due to being shot just now, combined with pain and fatigue, Meiling was unable to get out of the way, so she was hit by the powered up Psycho Crusher and pushed across the air, going all the way through the wall and into another room. When M. Bison stopped, Meiling continued to fly backward until she hit a table and broke it in two. The villain then hurled several Psycho Explosions at her.

BOOOOOOOOOOM BAAAAAAAAAAANG KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

M. Bison watched with an evil smile on his face as the gatekeeper got seemingly blown up by the energy balls, and that expression remained unchanged even after seeing her running out from the explosion with her fist pulled back and yelling at the top of her voice. "JAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Filled with rage and the determination to win, Meiling attacked furiously with her fists and feet, but M. Bison, who managed to remain calm, collected, and confident, was able to block her attacks with little effort. He eventually stepped to the side to avoid a punch to his face, and then Meiling tried to hit him with a roundhouse kick, but he caught her leg and then grabbed her by the neck using the other hand. Raising her into the air, he covered his other hand in Psycho energy and then slammed it against her abdomen really hard. "Psycho Punishment!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Meiling felt as if the Psycho energy burned up her insides, and when the dictator let go of her neck, she fell on her knees and coughed in pain, and then she received a kick to the head. M. Bison laughed with pleasure as he watched the gatekeeper cringe in pain. "Hahahahaha! This is what happens to those who come against me!" But his expression changed when Meiling slowly got back up.

"I'm… not… done… yet…" she weakly said. "You'll have to… do better than that… if you want to… defeat… me…"

"Tsk! You're starting to get on my nerves, you know that? Why don't you just die now so that you don't have to suffer any longer? But then, I enjoy torturing my opponents until they die, so I don't mind if you stay alive a bit longer, just enough for me to feel satisfied!"

Meiling slowly raised her leg into the air, and then mustering all her strength into her foot, she brought it down onto the floor really hard to create a shockwave that spread throughout the floor. "Yellow Tremor Kick!" Because of the speed of the shockwave and the fact that he wasn't expecting this, M. Bison was blown back into the air by it, and then Meiling launched herself at him foot first. "Sky Dragon Kick!"

The dictator was kicked across the room and into the previous one, and then Meiling used Fierce Tiger's Inner Strength to give herself a boost of power before running at him and attacking with Spiral Light Step, which he stepped aside from it. Meiling quickly turned to him and launched a series of super fast punches. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!" M. Bison managed to block most of the hits, but one of them struck him in the chest, so the following punches were able to hit him.

The dictator growled in anger as he quickly jumped back from the fists, and then Meiling jumped at him to attack him with an axe kick. "Descending Flower Slam!" M. Bison once again moved out of the way and then hurled a Psycho Shot which she managed to avoid. "Extreme Color Typhoon!" She then spun really fast to shoot rainbow-colored projectiles that moved in curving paths all over the place.

M. Bison constantly moved around to avoid getting hit by them, but since this was the first time he found himself having to avoid such a large number of projectiles at once, he wasn't very successful in doing so. "Argh! Enough of this!" he shouted in frustration after getting hit too many times, and then he jumped at Meiling and stomped her in the head to interrupt the attack. He then landed in front of her and lifted her into the air by her forehead. "If the first one isn't enough to make you learn, then I'll give you a more powerful second serving! Psycho Punishment!" Charged up with even more Psycho energy than before, he slammed his hand against her abdomen with such a force that the energy burst out from her back without creating a hole.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The pain was too intense, so intense that Meiling wasn't able to cry in pain. She felt as if everything inside her body was blown up or incinerated. When M. Bison let go of her, the gatekeeper, with blank eyes, walked past him in a way that seemed as if she was going to fall over any second, and then she began to do so. M. Bison watched with delight as she slowly fell on her knees, but then she stopped when they were only a few inches away from the floor.

Gritting her teeth tightly and gathering as much strength as she could into her legs, she forced herself to stand back up without letting any part of her body other than the feet touch the floor, and the dictator watched with a surprised face as the gatekeeper slowly stood straight up. "What the! How are you still able to keep on standing!" he asked. "This is not possible! Don't tell me that it has something to do with you being a demon!"

Meiling then spun around with a look of anger on her face. "Right! And I've said before that I will not let you get away from me! For the sake of my mistress and all my friends, I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" In this instant, the power of her Smash Essence was activated, and the sight of the rainbow-colored aura around her body surprised the dictator.

"What! What's happening!"

**BGM: Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 (Touhou: Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil)**

At that moment, all of Meiling's injuries were healed, and she also felt strength returning to herself. She got into fighting stance and said, "I'm ready to take on you again! And you should be happy that I don't feel hungry right now!"

"Why would you say that?" M. Bison asked.

"Because human flesh is part of my diet!" she replied before suddenly dashing in front of him and punching him in the abdomen really hard to send him flying back through the air.

"Ugh!" M. Bison crashed through the wall and went into another room. He got back up and growled with anger. "How is she suddenly stronger than before!"

Meiling came into the room and ran up to him to attack furiously with her fists, which M. Bison managed to block. She then quickly got behind him and gave him a blow to the back before he could turn around. M. Bison almost fell forward, and when he turned around, he received a powerful punch to his abdomen. "Spiral Light Step!"

The dictator once found himself soaring through the air and crashing through the wall. After landing and then getting back up, he shouted, "THAT DOES IT! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" When Meiling ran toward him, he launched himself forward while covered in a large amount of Psycho energy. "PSYCHO CRUSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

Meiling managed to stop the dictator from spinning by catching his hands, but he kept on moving forward and thus pushed her across the place, despite her planting her feet against the floor firmly the best she could. However, her "brake" eventually took effect, and M. Bison's attack came to an end.

Meiling quickly took out a spell card and punched it against M. Bison's body. "True Radiant Rainbow Fist!" The card disappeared and caused her already glowing fists to glow even brighter than before, and then she unleashed a barrage of super fast punches at him using both hands.

POW SMASH WHACK WHAAAAAAAAAAM SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

M. Bison cried in incomprehensible noises as he took the fists to various parts of his body. After punching him for several seconds, Meiling placed her fist in front of his body and shouted, "Red Inch Punch!" Then a burst of red energy came out from it and blasted him backwards.

BAAAAAAAAAANG!

After M. Bison was blown back through the air, Meiling cupped her hands together at one side and formed ball of energy that gradually grew in size. "Final Smash! Roaring Dragon Blast!" Then she thrust her hands forward to fire a huge laser beam with the front shaped like a Chinese dragon.

M. Bison, who had just looked up from falling onto the floor due to the previous attack, watched with horror as the beam came closer and closer to him. "WHAT! WHAT IS THAT!" Before he could do anything else, the dragon "caught him in his mouth" and went through the wall to continue piercing through the air.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The dictator found himself being burned all over the body by the searing hot rainbow-colored energy. "GUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

As the former leader of Shadaloo continued to scream in agony, his body slowly disintegrated until there was nothing left of him, and the beam continued to travel through the air until it ended. Meiling lowered her hands and panted in exhaustion, and at the same time, she was amazed at what she just did. "Wow…! I didn't know I could do something like that…! This is… really awesome!"

Almost immediately after she said that, Sanae came running out of the computer room and approached her. "Meiling! What are you doing here?" she asked.

Meiling turned to her and said, "Sanae! You're all right! Did you win?"

The shrine maiden nodded. "Why else do you think I'm out here?"

"I knew you would make it! We both defeated our enemies!"

"Are you saying that stayed behind to face someone while the others continued on their way?"

The gatekeeper nodded in response.

"And I assume that you used your Final Smash too, right?"

"Yep!"

"Then we can both destroy Darkling with our usual attacks! C'mon, let's go and catch up with the others!"

"What about Alice and Aya? Should we wait for them?"

"I don't know… It's possible that they may eventually end up here, or they may be taking other paths. I think we should just go on ahead and catch up with the others first. Hopefully, we will run into either of those two."

"You're right. Let's go!"

So the two girls quickly headed for the staircase.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I have to admit: I have never played a single Street Fighter game seriously. Those kinds of fighting games simply aren't my kind of games. Anyway, I hope I portrayed M. Bison's fighting style accurately. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. Meiling's Final Smash is obviously based off Hadoken and Kamehameha.

2. Unlike the previous three chapters, this chapter is not named after Meiling's first title due to that one being too short and simple. Her title in her debut game is simply Chinese Girl.

**Next chapter: Super Youkai Warhead**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Meiling's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 5/6  
Speed: 4/6  
Jump: 5/6  
Weight: 3/6  
**  
**Entrance:** Appears from a rainbow-colored cyclone.

**A, A, A, Infinite A: **Right jab, left jab, roundhouse kick, and then a series of punches, Radiant Rainbow Fist.

**F-Tilt:**A swift kick.

**U-Tilt: **Kicks straight up.

**D-Tilt: **A simple crouching kick.

**Dash Attack: **Sky Dragon Kick – leaps forward to hit with a rainbow-powered flying kick.

**Forward Smash: **Scarlet Inch Punch** - **thrusts her arm forward to release a burst of red energy from her palm. The longer you charge it, the larger the energy blast. Very powerful, but has slow startup.

**Up Smash: **Kicks upward twice, just like Captain Falcon's Up Smash.

**Down Smash:**Rainbow Wind Chime - spins rapidly to generate a rainbow-colored cyclone around herself. It traps opponents until the end of the move and lasts as long as the SSB and SSBM versions of Mario's Mario Tornado. She can also slowly move sideways while spinning.

**Neural Aerial: **Kicks twice.

**Forward Aerial: **Kicks straight ahead.

**Back Aerial: **Roundhouse kick to the back.

**Up Aerial: **Performs a flip.

**Down Aerial: **A dive kick that sends her going diagonally downward until she touches the ground, so only use it if there is something to stand on below you.

**Grab Attack: **Punches opponent in the abdomen.

**Forward Throw: **Punches opponent in the abdomen so hard that he/she flies backwards.

**Back Throw: **Judo throws the opponent onto the ground behind herself.

**Up Throw: **Kicks the opponent in the chin to send him/her flying straight up.

**Down Throw: **Punches the opponent onto the ground by head.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Flips onto the stage and hits with her feet.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Slowly climbs onto the stage and kicks with one leg before standing up.

**Floor attack (facing up): **Quickly jumps back on her feet, kicking anyone in the front in the process.

**Floor attack (facedown): **Holds up herself using hands and kicks in both directions simultaneously before standing up.

**Floor attack (sitting): **Hits all sides with a roundhouse kick after standing back up.

**Neutral B: Fragrant Wave  
**Meiling takes about two seconds to charge up before firing a short-ranged burst of yellow energy. It's basically a more powerful version of Lucario's Force Palm, and the range is the same as well. It is more powerful, however.

**Side B: Spiral Light Step  
**Meiling's fist glows with the colors of the rainbow, and then slides forward a short distance with her fist out. It's very powerful, but is slow to execute. It's basically Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (with the SSBB animation), but with range. It can also be used as a horizontal recovery, but due to slow startup, it's not very useful unless you are still a long way from falling to the bottom of the screen. The distance is equivalent to taking two steps forward.

**Up B: Colorful Light Chaotic Dance  
**Meiling spins straight up into the air while surrounded by a rainbow-colored cyclone and goes as high as Snake's Cypher when it rises into the air. It hits multiple times and drags opponents along into the air, and then they get knocked back at the end of the move. Combine it with Spiral Light Step for the most recovery possible, and make sure to use that one first because using this one will leave her in a helpless state.

**Down B: Water Form Taichi Fist  
**Meiling forms a vortex in front of her hand. It will absorb projectiles and then fire a simple rainbow-colored projectile back at the opponent. It can only absorb energy/element-based projectiles, however, so projectiles such as missiles and thrown items will go through it and hit you.

**Final Smash: Rainbow Brilliance Palm**  
Meiling dashes forward and goes through opponents. Opponents who get hit by her will become frozen for a few seconds before exploding and shooting into the air. This move can easily OHKO opponents with damage ratios as low as 20%.

**Side Taunt:** Shows her manners by bowing down.

**Up Taunt: **Does a kung-fu stance on one leg.

**Down Taunt: **Sits down on a chair that appears out of nowhere and stretches before standing back up. The chair disappears as suddenly as it appears when she gets hit.

**Winning Pose 1: **Sleeps standing still, but wakes up a few seconds later, though only with one eye open.

**Winning Pose 2: **Does some kung-fu movements before making a pose where her palm is facing the screen. Sorry for not being able to describe this in a better way…

**Winning Pose 3: **Jumps up and down twice with arms tossed into the air then makes a "three-fingered" peace sign. Her other hand is placed just underneath her mouth. Yes, it's one of Chun-Li's victory poses.


	115. Super Youkai Warhead

**SBS Time!  
****Rakuro Kamigama of SkyBreaker****: **Is it me or does it kinda resemble Zero?  
**Game2002: **Yeah, the trivia in the next chapter mentions this. It's a reference to both X and Zero.

Sorry for the wait… Sometimes it's not just writer's block that I suffer from, but it's the fact that I have a hard time "turning mental images into descriptive enough words", if you know what I mean… I still did have a bit of writer's block with this chapter, however…

**Chapter 114  
Super Youkai Warhead**

* * *

Nitori emerged from the portal on the wall and found herself in a room that was filled with mechanical equipments and computers, and being an engineer, these things filled with her awe. "Wow!" It wasn't until after walking forward a few steps did she realized that something didn't make sense, and then she turned to look at the portal. "Wait a minute… The portal was on the floor when I h\jumped into it, but how come it's now on the wall? It's supposed to be on the ceiling!" Then she heard the sound of laughter.

"Geeheeheeheehee! Curious you are, aren't you?" Fawful, who was standing not too far in front of her, asked. "Such mysteriousness can only be explained by the invention of genius that is made by me!" Then the short, green villain showed her a white futuristic gun. "The portal gun that I have created makes such a thing possible! A gun that creates portals that link between each other! That is what it is!"

"A gun that creates portals that link between each other…" Nitori repeated to herself. "I think I get it now… You first created a portal on the wall here, and then you created a second one on the floor of the room earlier that will lead us to this place… Interesting!"

Fawful pressed a button on the gun that made the portal on the wall disappear before putting the former away. "Gone we are from everyone else! Marx is dangerous, so fighting near him is an idea that only a suicidal person think is good! Now we fight here fair and square!"

**BGM: Boss Theme (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)**

After saying that, Fawful, with the help of his jet-powered helmet, flew into the air and fired several green energy balls at Nitori from the mouth at the top of it, but she ran to avoid them. At the same time, she fired missiles from her backpacks. "Kappa Missile!" But Fawful destroyed them with precise aiming.

Nitori then jumped and flew toward Fawful, saying, "Judging by your looks, it would appear that you're not physically fit, a typical thing for people who rely on machineries to fight. Fortunately for me, I don't fall under that stereotype, so I'll end things fast by taking you down using raw power! Behold the power of kappas!" But Fawful moved out of the way to avoid getting rammed by her.

"You think too full of yourself!" Fawful said to her while taking out a gun. "Prepared I am, so I have chortles hearing you say you will win using raw power! Fall under brawns but no brains, you do!" Then he fired a pair of star-shaped projectiles at her.

Seeing this, Nitori quickly took out her Kappa Reflector to bounce them back to Fawful, who used the portal gun to create a portal to let them fly into. Nitori flew toward Fawful at a fast speed and threw a punch at him, but he quickly moved to the side and then created a portal behind her, and the star-shaped projectiles that disappeared into the previous portal came out and struck her from behind. Thanks to her backpack serving as a shield, she was safe, but the things inside took minor damage.

Nitori quickly turned to him and had one of her mechanical arms grab him. The other mechanical arm came out, and then the first arm let go of Fawful before quickly punching him into the wall.

CRASH!

"Aiyeeee… Fawful has pain…" the villain cried.

"You're finished! Kappa Missile!" Nitori shouted as she fired several missiles at him. However, Fawful returned to his sense in time and made those missiles disappear into various portals. "Tsk! Those portals are going to be annoying to deal with!"

"Have them back at you!" Fawful said as he created new portals that released the missiles back to her. However, the missiles went behind the portal to hit him instead. "AIIIYEEEEEEEEEE!" The charred villain then fell onto the floor.

"Ha! Those missiles are made to track down enemies, not me! Now you're really finished! Kappa Hammer!" Nitori approached the fallen villain and raised her mechanical arms into the air to bring them down onto him. However, the mouth on top of Fawful's helmet quickly shot into the air and grabbed onto a light on the ceiling, and then he got pulled up right before the arms came down to crush him. Nitori looked up and saw the villain using his helmet to swing from light to light to the other side of the room. Once there, he took out a gun and fired several star-shaped projectiles at her.

Nitori quickly ran from the incoming projectiles and then fired Kappa Missiles at him, but Fawful managed to destroy them using green energy balls fired from the mouth on his helmet. He then did some adjustments to the gun. "Run around too much you do! Fawful has fury! Fawful recommends you to stop moving!" When he pulled the trigger, a bluish-white beam was fired at her, and when she avoided it, the part of the floor it hit turned into ice.

"Ice gun, eh?" Nitori asked. "Cirno will probably want to be in my place now!" She continued to dodge the ice beams fired by Fawful, and then she faded away.

"Where did she go?" Fawful wondered. "Invisibility, is it? You can disappear, but you cannot run! Fawful has the thing to see you with!" He pressed a tiny button located at the side of his eyeglasses to turn it into a thermal visor, and this allowed him to see Nitori's location. "There you are! You have lots of heat, so have some ice!"

Nitori quickly ran from the ice beam and then jumped behind a table to avoid another one, and the beam hit a computer and froze it. Nitori then used her mechanical arm to pick up the computer and threw it at Fawful like a shot put. The villain moved aside and angrily said, "Computers are not to be thrown around like that! I have fury seeing you do that!" And he continued to shoot Nitori, but she continued avoiding the shots.

Annoyed at her constant dodging, Fawful switched the current gun for the portal gun and fired at the part of the air in front of Nitori to create a portal, and she stopped just in front of it before turning to look at him. Fawful created another portal next to himself and then fired the ice beam into it. Knowing what was going to happen, Nitori quickly jumped out of the way before the beam came out from the portal in front of her, and then she fired laser beams into it. "Monster Cucumber!" The beams came out from the other portal and hit Fawful.

"Aiyee! You are an annoying brat that makes use of other people things! Such a thing is not to be accept…" Before he could finish speaking, Nitori suddenly jumped out of the portal and punched him in the side of the head to send him crashing into the wall. "BWEH!"

While he was stuck against the wall, Nitori charged at him with her arm pulled back, ready to throw a punch, but the villain slid off onto the floor at the last moment, so she made a crater on the wall instead.

Fawful got back up and shook his head before saying, "Enough! Fawful has fury! Fawful needs a plan, and before that, my creations will fight you!" When he pressed a button next to it, it opened to reveal a pair of green robots with faces that looked just like his. The two robots cackled in voices that sounded similar to his while flexing their arms, which had iron balls for hands, before moving in the kappa's direction.

"Pitting robots against me, eh?" she said. "Don't blame me if I tear them apart!" One of the robots walked up to her and tried to crush her head with its iron balls, but she quickly ducked underneath it, grabbed its legs, and then pulled it back. The robot fell on its back as a result, and then the kappa swung the robot in circles with seemingly no effort several times before hurling it at the other robot, pushing it back into the room they came out from.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Ha! That was easy!" Nitori said while dusting her arms. To her surprise, however, the robots' head suddenly flew out from the room using jet engines located underneath them. "Whoa! So their heads can detach from their bodies when the latter is destroyed?"

The heads floated high into the air and cackled before firing eye beams at her, but she jumped out of their way before firing green beams from a gun that came out of the top of her backpack. "Monster Cucumber!" One of the heads got shot down, but the second one avoided it before firing another eye beam that she managed to avoid once again. She reached out her mechanical arm, caught it, and then crushed it. With both the robots defeated for good, Nitori looked around for Fawful. "All right! Come out here at once! I've defeated your robots, so you better be ready to face me again!" Suddenly, she received an incredibly hard impact to the back of her head.

CONK!

It sent her shooting across the air and crashing into the wall so hard that she left behind crater the shape of herself on it. The kappa fell back onto the floor and then got back up while groaning in pain and rubbing the back of her head. "Ow… That hurts…" She looked up and saw a pair of robots that were similar in design to the previous ones, only they were dark blue and moved on single wheels.

One of the robots pulled back his arm, and a countdown starting from three appeared on a screen on its body. When the countdown reached zero, it charged forward to punch Nitori with its iron ball hand, but she quickly jumped out of the way. The second robot also did the same thing, but instead of avoiding it, Nitori stopped it in its track by having her mechanical arm stop it by the iron ball. Unfortunately for the robot, it was stopped by the mechanical arm so hard that it broke its join. Using the mechanical arm, Nitori yanked off its arm and then smashed it over the head with the iron ball so hard that the latter sank into the body.

SMAAAAAAASH!

The other robot turned around to face Nitori, only to receive a powerful punch to the screen on its body by the mechanical arm. The body was destroyed, but the head was still active, so it detached and took off into the air, only to be destroyed by Monster Cucumber when it stopped rising upwards.

Nitori continued looking around for Fawful, and she was too busy looking around in front to realize a portal appearing behind her, and then Fawful reached out from it to grab her backpack. "Hey!" Nitori cried upon realizing what was happening. However, she failed to prevent her backpack from being taken off, and by the time she turned around to try to get it back, the portal disappeared. Nitori then saw Fawful coming out from a room behind where the portal originally was. "Hey you! Give me back my backpack!"

"Now you are unarmed! I now have chortles thinking about how useless you are without that thing!"

The kappa was somewhat offended hearing this. "Me? Useless without my backpack? Right…" Then she cracked her knuckles. "I'm going to show just how strong my natural strength is, and you're going to be sorry that you took away my backpack!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Fawful said as he fired a star-shaped projectile at Nitori, but she jumped out of its way and then lifted a table into the air with no effort. When she hurled it at him, he created a portal large enough to fit the entire table. He then aimed the portal at the air above Nitori to create a second portal, and the table fell out from it, but she quickly jumped out of its way.

With a shout, Nitori ran at Fawful and threw a punch at him, but the villain quickly moved out of the way before shooting her onto the floor with a star-shaped projectile, and while she was down, the mouth at the top of his helmet spit out several green energy balls at her. She got out of the way in time, however. She quickly ran to the nearest table, picked it up, and flung it at him, but he escaped into the air and then fired from his portal gun three times to create three portals around Nitori. Two of them were placed in front her and facing her diagonally while the third one was above her.

After that, Fawful quickly created three portals in front of himself, and then he fired star-shaped projectiles into those portals to make them come out from the ones around Nitori, but she moved around to avoid them. "You know," she said, "I was thinking that you learned this lesson already. As useful as these portals are, they have one big flaw, and that flaw is… I can use them to get to you!" When she was about to jump into the portal on the right, all three of them suddenly disappeared.

She looked at Fawful, who said, "Do you take me for the dumbness? The power to close the portals whenever I want to lies in my hands!" Then he fired projectiles at her. Nitori ran for the side to escape the shots and then jumped at the wall and kicked off it to head toward Fawful. The villain quickly moved aside, but Nitori reached out to his clothe, grabbed it, and flung him against the wall. Before the villain slid down the wall, she hit his body with an arm thrust and then began hitting him rapidly with the same move.

SMASH SLAP SMASH SLAP SMASH SLAP!

When she finally stopped, Fawful, with several hand marks all over his body, fell off the wall and landed on his face. "Aiyeeeeeeeee…"

Nitori landed in front of him and flexed her arms, saying, "Ha! Who were you calling useless just now? Oh yeah, I'll take this opportunity to reclaim my backpack. I feel more comfortable with it." So she headed into the room Fawful came out from earlier, and in there, she found her backpack sitting next to the wall, so she quickly picked it up and put it back on. "There! Good thing he didn't do anything to it!" When she went back to the previous room, she saw Fawful slowly getting back on his feet. "So… are you ready for another round? I can still take on you!"

"I have fury…" Fawful angrily said. "You are an annoying and rage-worthy brat that I wish to spit on! How I feel like making you the mustard of my sandwich and then slowly consume you while you scream in agony and pain! Such disrespect I have not felt since the last time I fought those annoying Mario Brothers that I hate! Oh how those silly moustaches bring rage to me!"

"Mario Brothers? So you met Mario and Luigi before? I take that you must be from Mushroom Kingdom."

"Speak not of the name of those brothers, and also not of the name the place that I got humiliated in!"

"But you just said their names… I mean the Mario Brothers…"

"I said to speak not of the spiteful name that is the Mario Brothers! Fawful has fury hearing that! Fawful was once the beloved pupil of the great Cackletta, but the gloriousness of those days is gone thanks to the men with moustaches that bring rage to my mind, and those days were like enjoying a bowl of delicious chocolate sundae! Revenge I seek, and was I ever close to being successful!"

"They defeated you, right?"

"My resurrection is what I did not foresee, and this is the perfect opportunity for me to rise to the top again! It is an opportunity as rare as being the one-millionth customer of a restaurant and earning its special prize! I have chortles thinking of this, but now I have fury! Fury! Fawful will destroy you and then allow the great master plan that is like the delicious mustard go as planned! For humiliating me, this place shall be your doom! The mustard of your doom!"

He took out and pointed the portal gun at Nitori, who got into defensive stance, but instead of firing it at her, he pointed to the side and created a portal and then went inside it. "Come in here if you dare!"

"What's he doing?" Nitori wondered, and then she went into the portal and found herself inside a dimension of red and purple swirls. "Whoa… What is this place?"

Fawful turned around to face and replied, "Adjusted the portal gun I have so that we are in a dimension that is separated from the place we are in. It is the wrongness to cause so much damage to the castle, so Fawful has decided that this place shall be your doom! The mustard of your doom!"

"Basically, your method of getting rid of me is apparently so dangerous and powerful that it may destroy the entire castle, so you invited me into this alternate dimension so that you can go all-out without fear of destroying anything, right? Looks like you're getting serious… I'm ready to take on whatever you are throwing against me, so bring it!"

Fawful snickered as he took out a syringe. "I once absorbed the rottenness that is like a bad egg called the Dark Star, but even with the greatness and badness of that power, the spiteful Mario Brothers with moustaches that fill me with lots of fury managed to bring defeat to me! When I have chortles after being resurrected by the Darkling, I discovered the awesomeness of the information that leftovers of the Dark Star's power like that of dinner leftovers still run around inside my body! Very weak it is, however, but with this injection, the power will become the bigness!" Then he stabbed his shoulder with the syringe.

After doing so, Fawful's body became black from head to toe, and then he transformed into a black ball of energy that slowly floated into the air. Nitori watched with curiosity as the ball of energy grew in size, and then Fawful's face appeared on it, shortly followed the appearance of a pair of long arms and four spider-like legs. Lastly, an antenna with a spike ball at the top grew out from the top of his head. "Geeheeheeheehee! I HAVE FURY!" the newly transformed Fawful said out loud, and the kappa took some steps back in surprise.

**BGM: Final Boss (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)**

"Whoa… My god…" Nitori cried.

The villain looked at her and said, "Do you have fear? I am saying yes! I have chortles because you have fear!"

"Me? Afraid? I'm not afraid of you! I'll show you what I've got!"

"Fawful will show you what he's got too!" Fawful said before attempting to crush her with one hand, and when she got out of its way, he swung his other hand at her, but she flew into the air and fired several Kappa Missiles at him. The villain cried when the missiles exploded in his face, and then the kappa flew in circles around him while using Monster Cucumber nonstop. "Fawful says enough is enough!" The top of the antenna gave off purple sparks, and then a shockwave was created, blasting Nitori back through the air and onto the floor.

"Ow!" she cried. When she opened her eyes, she saw Fawful stretching his arm to great lengths in her direction, but she got out of the way in time. Fawful pulled back his arm and then fired eye beams from each of his eyes, moving them after her as she ran from them.

She eventually tried to close in on Fawful while still running from the eye beams, and then she reached out her mechanical arm at one of the legs and pulled it to cause Fawful to lose his balance and mess up the aim of his beam. The arm then retracted to pull Nitori next to the leg, and then she flew straight up into the air and punched him across the face using the same arm.

POW!

"Ack!" Fawful cried as he took some steps back from the punch, and then the kappa punched him in the face continuously using the mechanical arms over and over.

POW SMASH WHAM POW WHAM SMASH!

"Kappa's Iron Fist!" Nitori shouted as she unleashed a stronger than usual punch to send the villain shooting back through the air, and for someone his size, he flew rather fast and far.

He eventually came to a skidding stop on his feet and angrily glared at the kappa, though one couldn't tell that he was angry due to seemingly always having a smile on his face. "That does it! I have fury! Lots of fury!" He held up both hands in front of his face and formed a ball of energy ball above them, and when it grew to a certain size, it split into four and orbited him. "Take this!" When Fawful pointed at Nitori, the energy balls flew at her one after another.

Seeing the projectiles approaching, she took out her Kappa Reflector as an act of defense, but when the first energy ball hit it, the device exploded and blasted the kappa backwards, and then she was hit the remaining three projectiles. "AAAHHH!" When she fell onto the floor, a pair of arms suddenly came up around her and caught her, leaving only the head visible. "Hyui! What the!"

As it turned out, the hands belonged to Fawful, who had them passed through and underneath the floor to catch her. He brought the struggling kappa in front of himself and said to her, "Geeheeheehee! I have chortles! You are now an insect waiting to be crushed within my hands!"

"Let go of me, you creep!" Nitori angrily said while trying to pry his fingers apart.

"You will now have suffering!" Fawful said as dark energy traveled down his arms and into her to zap her.

BZAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" After Nitori was zapped for several seconds, Fawful raised her into the air and then threw herself against the floor very hard. His antenna then pulled back through the air before coming down on top of Nitori to crush her with the spike ball.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Pieces of machinery flew everywhere when Nitori received the powerful impact from above. Everything inside her backpack had been crushed to smithereens, and the kappa was lying with intense pain on the floor. Fawful snickered as he brought up one of his legs to impale her with its needle-like foot, but Nitori quickly got up and moved back in time, so it only came down in between her legs. She quickly moved back from the villain and said, "Darn it! He destroyed my backpack and everything in it! What do I do now?" Then she noticed a puddle of water on where she was originally lying on. "The bottles of water inside my backpack! I'll have to make use of whatever is left of them!"

"Be destroyed!" Fawful said as he swung his arm at her, but she quickly leaped forward, picked up the puddle of water as if it was a piece of cloth, and got behind him by running underneath him.

Molding the water into a staff, she said, "This may not be much, but it's all that I have left to fight you with, other than my natural strength!" Fawful stretched his arm at her to crush her, but she jumped out of the way and then avoided the second one. She gave the second hand a whack from above with her weapon before running toward the villain and swinging the latter at him, and the stick made of water extended and became like a whip when swung through the air, hitting all four of his legs to make him fall onto the floor.

While the villain was down, Nitori headed for the eye with her water stick pulled back, ready to impale it. However, a beam shot out from the eye when she got close to it and blasted her back through the air, making her drop her weapon in the process. "Ya!" The water stick fell onto the floor and splattered into tiny droplets. Nitori desperately crawled over to where it fell, hoping to gather together the drops of water to recreate the stick, but she was blasted by another beam before she got close to it. "Ah!"

"No you will not!" Fawful said, and then he reached out his hand toward her and lifted her into the air. "Now you will be crushed like a tomato!" Then he brought down his hand at a fast speed to crush her against the floor.

SMASH!

"AAAHHH!" Nitori cried. Fawful did the same thing three more times before bringing her front of his face.

"Geeheeheeheehee! I have chortles looking at you suffer!" he said to her. "You are now helpless and useless! I laugh at your current pathetic condition!" The kappa angrily spit in his eye, and though his eyeglasses protected him, he was still angry. "You have no manners! Fawful has fury!" Then he flung her across the place before smashing her over and over with the spike ball on his antenna.

SMASH SMASH CRASH SMASH WHAM SMASH CRASH!

Fawful continued to pound the kappa nonstop, but he eventually stopped to see if there was still any sign of life in her. He was pleased to see Nitori completely motionless, only to become surprised when see her groaning and moving a bit shortly afterwards. "Do you not have tiredness? I have both fury and chortles! Fury because you are not defeated, and chortles because I can still beat you up! Geeheeheeheehee!"

As Nitori slowly stood back up, Fawful pulled back his antenna and then brought it down onto her again, but this time, she caught it with her hands, ignoring the fact that the spikes on its ball tip was impaling her through the palms. "You want to keep on beating me up…?" she asked while panting heavily. "I will no longer tolerate that… You destroyed my favorite backpack and my creations… You pretty much took out every trace of visible water here… You also took your time beating me up… but it's not enough?"

"You are persistent! Fawful does not like that!"

"I'm going to defeat you here! It doesn't matter whether you destroyed all my creations or if there is no water here, I'm still going to defeat you using my bare hands!" Upon saying out loud all these, Nitori's body suddenly gave off various colors.

**BGM: ****Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's Kappa ~ Candid Friend (Touhou: Mountain of Faith)**

Surprised by this, Fawful pulled back his antenna and took a step back while watching Nitori's wounds heal themselves. "What is this! Fawful does not understand! I have confusion!" Before he could think of why this happened, he saw Nitori, with a look of anger on her face, flying at him and throwing a punch across his face. "DOBEH!"

POW!

Nitori punched him across the face multiple times, each time making him take a step back. She then grabbed the middle of the antenna and with all her strength, lifted him over her shoulder and slammed him onto the floor.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

After that, the kappa flew over to the remains of the machines in her backpack and quickly gathered together some of the pieces to create a gun which she then used for firing green laser beams at Fawful rapidly. The villain managed to shrug off the shots as he stood back up, and then he fired a pair of eye beams at her. Nitori avoided the beams by constantly moving side to side while closing in on him. When Fawful swung his hand at her, she jumped up in front of his face and took about two seconds to charge up the gun before firing a larger than usual beam into it to make him cry in pain while taking a few steps backwards. After that, she punched him in the mouth so hard that some of his teeth were shattered.

While the villain was crying in pain, Nitori moved back through the air while shooting him rapidly. After moving about sixty feet away from him, Nitori said out loud, "All right! Time to put an end to this! Final Smash! Hydro Impact!" Water suddenly appeared and gathered around her body to form a sphere, and then she lowered her head and shot forward at a blazingly fast speed equivalent to that of a rocket, and the water around her even formed a tail so that it resembled a comet.

Because of the speed she was traveling at, Fawful had no time to counter or get out of the way at all, so he received a direct hit to the forehead.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Drops of water flew all over the place as Nitori came to a stop and bounced back a bit from the impact while Fawful flew back through the air, spinning in circles, and then he bounced on the floor a few times upon landing. The villain eventually came to a stop, and the powerful strike to the forehead had more or less given him a severe brain damage. The villain cried in soft voices while his limbs twitched constantly, and eventually, he fell limp. Fawful began to shrink in size until he was as big as his original form, though he never reverted to that form. The former pupil of the villainess named Cackletta then exploded in a burst of black particles.

BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Nitori rubbed HER head and sighed with relief. "Phew… I did it… I win… I was hoping that my Final Smash would be… Um… As Marisa would put it, flashier… Anyway, at least he's defeated. Now how do I get out of here? Oh yeah, that portal gun!"

She searched around the place for the portal gun, and it only took her about a minute to find it lying somewhere on the floor. She picked it up and observed it for a few seconds before pulling the trigger to create a portal right in front of the turret, and when she walked through it, she found herself back in the previous room. She looked at the portal gun and said, "This thing will surely come in handy! I should keep it with me!"

Suddenly, something came to the kappa, so she ran back into the portal and went up to her torn backpack. "Whether or not it's in a good state, I'm keeping this with me," she said. "It's been with me for such a long time that it's very valuable to me." She then picked up the pieces of the machines that used to be inside the backpack and put them inside it, and after making sure that she didn't miss anything, she returned outside and pressed a button on the portal gun to make the portal disappear.

She was about to leave the room when she started thinking of something. "I can go and catch up with the others now, but should I also take some time to make some new stuff that can help me fight better? Maybe that's a better idea… I hope they can wait a while…"

Deciding that it would be better if she was better armed, she started looking around the place for things that she could use for building weapons and machines, and sure enough, she found just the things she wanted stored away in a room accessible from where she currently was, so she immediately got to work.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

While it is true that the portal gun is a reference to the video game series Portal, I originally came up with it as a method of replicating one of Fawful's attacks in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the one where he fires dark energy balls into two portals, and then they will come out from two other portals around you. Yeah, I know, the replica of that move isn't there, but at least the concept is the same.

Also, the reason I used the word "youkai" and not "demon" for this chapter's title is because I want it to be exactly as it is seen in Touhou 10's fan translation. Unless the word is an important term or name, I would usually translate Japanese terms into English. Names like Hartmann's Youkai Girl and Youkai Mountain remain the same, but instead of saying rabbit youkai, firefly youkai, and such, I call them rabbit demon, firefly demon, etc.

**Next chapter: Ice Fairy of the Lake**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Nitori's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 5/6  
Speed: 2/6  
Jump: 2/6  
Weight: 5/6**

**Entrance: **Emerges from a pool of water that disappears after she fully got out of it.

**A, A, Infinite A: **Punches twice and then a series of sumo-style arm thrusts.

**F-Tilt: **A punch from a thick mechanical arm.

**U-Tilt: **Thick mechanical arms claps the air above her.

**D-Tilt: **A boxing glove comes out from her backpack.

**Dash Attack: **A sliding punch.

**Forward Smash: **Slams thick mechanical arm against the ground. Very powerful, but slow startup.

**Up Smash: **Thick mechanical arms punch upwards rapidly, dealing multiple hits.

**Down Smash:** Hits the ground with her hand to make a ring of water shoot out around herself.

**Neutral Aerial: **Extending Arm – stretches out a pair of thin mechanical arms that are covered in green energy and spins. It's not the same as the original due to having no laser beams involved.

**Forward Aerial: **Holds her mechanical arms, the thick ones, over her head and then brings them down in the same manner as Donkey Kong's forward aerial. It's a very powerful meteor smash, but has slow startup.

**Back Aerial: **A spinning attack that has the center of the backpack as the sweet spot, and a relatively powerful one at that.

**Up Aerial: **Fires a green beam upwards. Yep, it's a projectile.

**Down Aerial: **Thrusts her feet downwards. Is a meteor smash.

**Grab attack: **Punches the opponent in the abdomen. It should be noted that she has a long range grab as long as Samu's Grapple Beam using the thin mechanical arm. It can also be used as a tether recovery.

**Forward Throw: **The mechanical arm hurls the opponent forward.

**Back Throw: **Flings him/her backwards.

**Up Throw:** The other mechanical arm uppercuts him/her into the air.

**Down Throw: **The other mechanical arm hammers him/her over the head.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly jumps up and has the thin mechanical arms attack with a clapping attack.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Swings with her hand horizontally while slowly climbing back up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Holds herself up with one hand to do a quick spinning kick.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Splashes water forward while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Throws drops of water around herself while standing back up.

**Neutral B: Monster Cucumber**

Nitori quickly bends over and then fires a green beam from the gun in her backpack. The beam moves as fast as Falco's Blaster. It's basically the exact same move, only the fire rate of Nitori's is the same as Falco's fire rate in Melee, meaning hers is a slower.

**Forward B: Kappa's Pororoca  
**Nitori throws several drops of water, and the one furthest in front goes as far as the maximum throwing length of an item. The further they go, the weaker they are in both damage and knockback. When used up close, the attack can deal lots of damage and also has a bit knockback, but it's not enough to KO even in Sudden Death.

**Up B: Kappa's Great Illusionary Waterfall  
**Nitori shoots upward at a slight angle, covered in water with a long "tail", and then she falls back onto the ground. Upon hitting the ground, short-ranged bursts of water is sent out in both directions. The closer the opponent is to you when you land, the higher knockback the bursts of water does. When going upwards, opponents will be dragged into the air and then fly off once you reach the peak of your jump, and when you fall down, you can also drag along with you opponents who get caught in the water. Due to this, you can use it to perform suicidal KO's. Because you cannot do anything until you hit the ground or touch the ledge, you should be careful not to use it next to an edge unless you're trying to perform a suicidal KO.

**Down B: Optical Camouflage  
**Nitori becomes slightly invisible while a turtle shell-like barrier appears around her. Whatever comes in contact with the barrier will cause it to become a short-ranged shockwave that damages nearby opponents. If you manage to avoid letting the barrier touch anything for eight seconds, the move will automatically end, and then you will be recovered by 8% of damage. Also, CPUs will not be able to tell where you, given that you do not activate it in front of them and then stay in place or do things like firing projectiles, picking up and throwing items, or hitting them from places they can tell where you. In case you're curious, the damage recovery is based off the power level restoration of Marisa's Type C bomb in Touhou 11.

**Final Smash: Trauma in the Glimmering Depths**

Nitori floats into the air with one arm raised, and then a tsunami comes crashing in from the right of the screen before a left one crashes in from the left side. After those two, a tsunami will come crashing in from the background, and then the Final Smash will come to an end. The third one actually behaves exactly the same as the lava wave coming from the background in Norfair and also has the same knockback. One can avoid the waves coming from the sides by moving to the opposite directions and then staying as high up as possible in the air until they passed. As for the third one, one can avoid it by getting all way off the top of the screen, though it's not guaranteed that it's going to work. Shielding against all three tsunamis will also work, but they destroy shields instantly, so it's not recommended unless it's the last tsunami and you don't mind getting attacked by Nitori herself or her teammates afterwards.

**Side Taunt: **Becomes surprised and embarrassed and turns invisible for three seconds before returning to normal.

**Up Taunt: **Eats a cucumber.

**Down Taunt: **Takes out and twirls a wrench in her left hand and a screwdriver in the right.

**Winning Pose 1: **Shyly peeks from a pool of water.

**Winning Pose 2: **Works busily on a mostly unseen machine with her back facing the viewer, but then turns her head around shortly before the results for the match show up.

**Winning Pose 3: **Eats a cucumber while sitting on the floor.


	116. Ice Fairy of the Lake

**Random Pointless Rambling: **The Death Egg Robot's theme in Sonic Generations is so awesome that I want it to replace the theme used for the battle against the same robot in Chapter 87: When Fantasy and Science Meet.

**Chapter 115  
Ice Fairy of the Lake**

* * *

Nitori and Fawful had just disappeared into a portal created on the floor by the latter's portal gun, and then Marx looked up from the floor and at Cirno and said, "Now that they're gone, we can play as wild as we want to without fear of disturbing anyone! Heeheehee!"

"You want to play?" Cirno said as she got into fighting stance. "I'll give you some playing!"

"Heeheehee! I'm getting excited! This time, I'm going to make sure that I enjoy every part of it, and you better not ruin the fun for me!" Marx said. He then pressed against the ball he was bouncing on as hard as we could to bounce up high into the air. He spun vertically really fast at the peak of the jump, and then purple energy covered him entirely. The purple energy sphere he was now encased him grew in size a bit and then exploded, revealing him in a more intimidating form with a pair of wings made of colorful glass-like material. "Heeheeheeheehee! Let's begin!

**BGM: Vs. Marx (Kirby Superstar)**

"So you've showed your bigger and more intimidating form once again! Don't think that you can win so easily just because you managed to beat us up last time using that same form!" said Cirno, pointing at him. "The same trick won't work on me twice!" Then she fired several icicles at him. "Icicle Machine Gun!" Marx disappeared before the icicles hit him, and then Cirno looked around for him. "Where are you?"

"Behind you!" said the voice of the villain. Cirno turned around and, sure enough, saw him hovering a few inches above the floor behind her, so she quickly used Icicle Machine Gun again, but he warped out of the away once again, this time reappearing in front of her. When she used the same attack again, he warped away for the third time and reappeared high in the air above her. The annoyed ice fairy continued to fire icicles at him, each of them missing their target from the same reason.

Eventually, the ice fairy snapped and said out loud, "ENOUGH ALREADY! STAY IN ONE PLACE AND LET ME HIT YOU!"

"Annoyed?" Marx asked as he reappeared high in the air behind Cirno. "All right! It's my turn to attack! Let me show you something similar!" The scales on his wings gave off golden light and then fired a rapid burst of spikes.

Cirno quickly flew up and back into the air to avoid them. "Ha! Miss me!" She continued to fly around at a fast speed to avoid them. "Nyah nyah! You cannot hit me!" Suddenly, the villain appeared in front of her and used the same attack, but Cirno dropped altitude in the nick of time to avoid getting hit. "Whoa! That was close!"

Marx laughed as he lowered himself to the same altitude as her to use the same attack again, and instead of running, Cirno create a thick ice shield to block successfully shield herself from the spikes. "Take this! Ice Frisbee!" Cirno shouted before throwing the spike-embedded shield at him, but he warped out of the way. "Argh! That teleporting to yours is pissing me off!"

"You mad?" Marx asked as he appeared right behind her. When Cirno turned around, he swung his wing at her to knock her out of the air, and then he fired needles at her.

Cirno quickly rolled to the side to avoid getting hit and then got up one knee to fire a three-way ice beam at him. "Freezer Beam!" Marx swiftly moved out the way and then puffed up his cheek before spitting a spike ball at her. Cirno jumped out of the way, and the ball hit the floor and exploded in a burst of white smoke that caused a portion of the floor to freeze. "Trying to take me down using ice? Are you dumb or what? My power is ice, so trying to freeze me to death is a waste of time!"

"Oh really? Thanks for filling me in! At least I can use it to cool things down once things get too heated up in here!"

"Good idea! I don't like it when there's too much heat."

"Okay! Thanks for filling in me again! Here's a flower for ya! Heeheehee" Marx then spit three green pellets onto the floor, and then they suddenly transformed into spiked vines that instantly shot up into the air, but Cirno managed to avoid all of them.

"Whoa! That was close! And there are no flowers on them!"

"Hmmm… You're right, so let's cut it down, what do you say?" Marx said before falpping his wings to fire four crescent-shaped energy blades that spun in the direction of the ice fairy. She managed to avoid them all, and they kept on going and sliced through the thorny vines.

Cirno placed her hands on hips and laughed out loud. "Hahahahaha! Miss me!" Then she was hit from behind by one of the vines and was pushed onto the floor. "YA! IT HURTS!" Luckily for her, the vine was rather light, so she was able to get it off her back when she pushed herself back up. "Ow! How dare you use this sort of sneaky attack against me!"

"Honestly saying, I didn't really think about making any of them fall on you, but why not?"

"That does it! I'm angry!" Cirno said as she formed an ice hammer in her hand. "I'm going to smash you into pancake!" Then she flew at Marx and swung the hammer at him constantly, but he managed to avoid getting hit by moving around swiftly.

"Heehee! Missed me! You cannot hit me!" he taunted. Cirno continued to try to hit him, and then he quickly moved behind her and rammed into her to make her drop the ice hammer.

"Argh! Ice Saber!" Cirno angrily created an ice sword and tried to slash Marx with it, but he quickly moved back and then fired four crescent-shaped energy blades at him. Cirno tried to destroy the incoming projectiles with the ice sword, but instead, it got cut in half, and she also got hit by the blades. "Ah!" Then the blades flew back again cut her the second time. "Yeow!"

The blades returned to the scales on Marx's wings and disappeared, and then the latter glowed with golden light before firing spikes at her, hitting her all over the body. The ice fairy cried in pain with her arms held up in front of her face for protection, and then she fell to the floor. "Ow… It hurts…" she cried while pushing herself back up, and then she looked up to see Marx laughing at her.

"Hahaha! Look at you! You're playing lousily at this game! I'm totally going to win this game! Go ahead and have hard feelings if you want to! Heehee!"

"I'm the strongest, so I will not lose in any game!" Cirno angrily said, and then she quickly flew underneath Marx and slammed her hand onto the floor. "Icicle Tower!" Suddenly, a towering icicle came up from the floor and knocked him out of the air.

"Yeow!" The villain fell onto the floor and bounced once. "Ow! That hurts! Why you!" When he looked at Cirno, he was greeted with several icicles to the face. "Yeow! Ow! Ow!"

"Icicle Machine Gun!" Cirno shouted while firing rapidly, and then she stopped to form and enlarge a ball of ice in front of her palm, only firing it when it was as big as herself. "White Rose Cluster!" The villain took it right to the face.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

The ice ball pushed him across the place until he crushed against the wall, and then it shattered into pieces. The villain fell over on his face while making groaning sounds of sorts, and then he got up again and angrily shouted, "MEANIE!"

"Same thing to you!" Cirno yelled back. Suddenly, the villain appeared behind her.

"I'm going to torture you for this!" he said, and then he opened his mouth and released bright light from it. Sensing heat coming from his mouth, Cirno quickly got out of the way before a huge white beam was shot out from it.

Cirno moved high up into the air and watched as the beam burned against the wall and eventually made a hole on it. "Whoa… Scary… Good thing I avoided it… It felt hot too…" Marx flew into the air and fired the energy blades at her, and after avoiding them, she turned around to look at the returning blades. Her painful experience with them previously had taught her that they would return to the person who fired them, and she wanted confirmation, which she did get.

Suddenly, an idea came to her. "Maybe I can do something similar too!" Then she created a boomerang made of ice and threw it at Marx, who dodged it with ease. He watched it as it made a u-turn and came back in his direction, but he didn't have to move away or anything because it flew past him. "Ha! That didn't hit me at all!" When he looked at Cirno, he found himself in uncontrollable laughter because the ice fairy failed to catch the homecoming boomerang and got hit by it in the forehead instead. "Hahaha! What a fool! Hahaha!"

Cirno rubbed her head while looking at him angrily. "Don't laugh at me, you clown!" Then she threw the ice boomerang at him again, and because he was too busy laughing at her, he did not see it coming. The boomerang went straight into his mouth, rendering him unable to speak properly and make comprehensible sounds.

Cirno then approached Marx with an ice club in her hand and whacked him over the head before hitting him in the side of the ice. The ice fairy proceeded to knock him silly with the ice club over and over.

BAM WHAM SMASH BAM WHAM SMASH WHAM WHAM!

The final hit came from above his head, so Marx shot down and hit the floor hard. Growling with anger, he said out loud, "YOU BIG BULLY!" Then he quickly returned into the air and attempted to ram into Cirno from behind, but the ice fairy quickly spun around to smash him across the face with the ice club with such a force that the latter shattered into pieces.

Marx was knocked back through the air, and then he growled in anger before opening his mouth to let loose the massive laser beam at Cirno, who quickly got out of its ways. She flew for her life as the villain kept on moving the beam after her. Cirno flew as fast as she could and eventually got behind Marx, punching him with a fist encased in ice to make him halt the laser attack. Marx let out a cry of anger and frustration as he turned around and smacked Cirno across the face with his wing before firing crescent-shaped blades at him. As there was no time to get out of the way, Cirno could only hold up her arms in defense and then get cut by them, but she wasted no time in getting out of the way before they returned to create even more wounds on her.

Suddenly, Marx appeared in front of her and said, "There's no escape for you! You've made me angry, so I'm going to teach you a lesson for this!"

Cirno quickly formed an ice sword in her hand and said, "Me too! Get ready to meet your maker!"

Marx warped a bit of a distance away from him and somehow split his body into two, forming a black hole at where the two halves met. The two halves of the bodies disappeared shortly after the black hole started sucking in everything around it. Seeing this, Cirno turned and flapped her wings as fast as she could to escape the powerful gravitational pull, but little by little, she got dragged closer and closer to it. "No! I won't let this thing get me! I won't!" She flapped even harder than before, and suddenly, she found herself flying forward at a fast speed, so she stopped and turned around to see that the black hole had disappeared. "Haha! It's gone! Yeah! I outlasted it! I'm the strongest!"

Suddenly, the ice fairy felt heat coming from behind, and the moment she turned around, she saw a large white beam coming in her direction. She managed to get out of its way in time, but because she was a bit too late in doing so, the tip of the wings on her left got melted off, thus making her flight unstable. "Oh no!"

Marx stopped the beam coming from his mouth and laughed. "Heeheeheehee! Looks like I got a piece of ya! Things should be easy from now on!" Then he swooped at Cirno to knock her out of the air.

Fearing that she wouldn't be able to perform well in the air due to the current state of her wings, Cirno decided stay on the floor until they restored by themselves. "Icicle Machine Gun!" she shouted as she fired icicles at Marx when he closed in on her, but the villain warped away the last second and reappeared behind her and rammed her. "Ah!" Cirno quickly turned around to attack him with an ice blade which she formed in an instant, but the villain warped away just as fast and rammed her from behind again.

Marx moved back through the air and then fired needles from his wings at her. In the midst of enduring the hits, Cirno formed an ice shield to defend herself against them, but as the former wasn't very thick, they didn't have too much of a problem going through it. Cirno kept on strengthening the shield by making it thicker and thicker, but it also resulted in the increase of weight, thus rendering her unable to pick it up, so she simply ducked down behind it.

"Let's see how long you can keep up your protection!" Marx said while firing needles nonstop. More and more needles struck the ice, so more and more cracks were created on it. Behind the shield, which was more of a block of ice now, Cirno continued to thicken it, and at the same time, she tried to come up with some sort of strategy that could help her get back at Marx. Just then, something came to her.

Meanwhile, Marx stopped firing the needles. "Forget about this. I'm going to give her a big surprise! A warm surprise! Heehee!" He opened his mouth and charged up the laser beam, but the second he was going to fire it, he was hit in the side of the face by an ice boomerang that flew out from behind the block of ice, thus canceling the attack. "BYEH!"

"Haha! Gotcha!" Cirno said as she came out from behind the block of ice to fire icicles at him. "Icicle Machine Gun!" Marx was pelted in the face over and over by the icicles, and he cried in pain when one of them hit his eyes. Unfortunately for him, opening his mouth caused most of the icicles to fly in there and pierce him from the inside. "White Rose Cluster!" Cirno then fired a large ice ball that fitted into his mouth, and then she quickly formed an ice hammer as she approached him and smashed him over the head with it, making him close his mouth forcefully and "crunching" the ice ball.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Cirno then took out a spell card and shouted, "Ice Sign: Perfect Freeze!" The card glowed with white light, and then a large amount of cold air came out from around Cirno, not to mention bullets. Marx was caught within the miniature blizzard created by her, eventually getting frozen from head to toe by it.

When the attack finally came to an end after several seconds, there were ice and snow covering quite a bit of the space around Cirno, who put away her spell card while looking at the frozen Marx. She crossed her arms and said with delight, "Yeah! I win! Haha! Now you know I'm the strongest! You better keep that in your head at all times!" Thinking that she really did win, the ice fairy turned around and began to walk away when she suddenly heard something, so she turned around and was surprised to see the frozen Marx trembling and cracking. "What the!"

The ice shattered, and Marx, shivering all over, said in an angry voice, "That wasn't nice at all… You're not playing nice… Not at all… I hate it when people don't play nice with me!"

Cirno got into fighting stance and said, "I can say the same thing to you to! We're not playing here either; we're fighting, and being nice doesn't have a place in fights!"

"I'm angry… I'm going to get you for this! I'll show you that you shouldn't mess with me!" Marx shouted in anger. He then fired spikes from his wings, and Cirno quickly rolled out of the way.

Cirno quickly formed an ice spear in her hand and pointed it at Marx as he closed in on her. In an attempt to surprise her, Marx warped into the air above her and came down. Cirno, however, noticed this by the shadow over her head, and in an attempt to protect herself, she pointed the spear straight up, and the villain came to a sudden halt when it impaled him through the mouth.

Cirno quickly let go of the spear and let it fall to the floor with Marx still impaled to the front end of it. She watched with a terrified look as the villain let out cries of pain while struggling to get the weapon out of his mouth, but to no avail. The pain was too much for him to bear, and eventually, Marx became silent and motionless, his body becoming a darker shade of purple while his wings became red. The colorful scales hanging down from them also disappeared.

Cirno was breathing heavily at the sight of the corpse, and a chill went down her spine the more she looked at it. While not the first time she had taken life due to having fought fairies and accidentally shattering frozen frogs before, this was the time she saw someone dead in one piece in front of her eyes, not to mention witnessing what might be the rotting of a body. After looking at the dead body and breathing heavily for several seconds, the ice fairy stood up on her wobbly legs and said, "Did I… win…?" She continued to stare at Marx for several seconds, and after seeing that there was indeed no movement coming from him, she tried to smile, despite still trembling in fear. "Yes… It seems like… that I really did…"

"!"

The sound of the ear-piercing shriek coming from the supposedly dead Marx caused Cirno to jump back quite a bit of a distance with her hands covering her ears. In fact, the shrieking was so terrible that the ice spear impaled through his mouth and the windows in the room shattered into pieces. Cirno opened her eyes and looked at Marx, saying in shock, "What! Isn't he supposed to be dead!"

Colorful scales once again appeared underneath Marx's wing as the villain flew into the air. No longer was his face sporting a look that could be described as friendly. His eyes now had a soulless look to them, and his fangs were sharper and larger, similar to that of a vampire or a wild beast. With his tongue sticking out, the just-awakened, or resurrected, Marx laughed in a voice that could be described as "electronically distorted".

All Marx did was floated up and down while laughing maniacally, his pupils constantly moving in various directions as if there was something wrong with his mind, and the whole time, he had his tongue out and panting like a dog. Cirno stared at his odd behavior for a few seconds and then said, "What's with you? Lost your mind? You're acting like an immature kid, you know that?" Marx then took a deep breath before shooting a larger than usual laser beam at her, and because she had the feeling that something bad was going to happen when she saw him taking the deep breath, she got out of the way in time to avoid getting hit. "Whoa! That was close!"

The ice fairy flew as fast as could to escape from the beam as Marx kept on moving it after her. Eventually, the beam attack came to an end, and then Cirno turned around to fire icicles at him. "Icicle Machine Gun!" But the villain warped out of the way and then constantly warped from one place to another nonstop. Cirno tried her best to keep her eyes on the constantly warping villain, eventually getting annoyed by it. "Enough already! Can't you just stay in one place! What's the matter with you? You're like… totally crazy and not like before!

Marx laughed maniacally as he stopped teleporting and then spit out several spheres with additional smaller spheres stuck around them at Cirno, who quickly ran for the air. The spheres exploded into white smoke that caused a large portion of the floor to freeze up. Cirno looked down and said, "I told you that ice won't work on me! You're just trying to cheer me up by doing this, you know?"

Marx started warping all over the place again, and annoyed by this, Cirno took out a spell card and said, "That does it! If you're going to go warping around like crazy, then I'll use Perfect Freeze to freeze you in place once again! I'm going to make sure that you don't break free this time too! Ice Sign…" Before she could finish saying out loud the name of her attack, however, Marx suddenly appeared so close in front of her that she freaked out. "Yikes!" Then he fired several needles from his wings at her, and they struck her a couple of times before she fell out of the air with quite a few wounds on her body. "Ugh… It hurts…!"

Marx laughed again before splitting his body in half to once again create the black hole, and this time, its gravitational pull was stronger than before. Cirno desperately flapped her wings to get away from it, but no matter how hard she flapped, she still found herself being pulled toward it at a somewhat fast speed. "No! I won't go in there! I won't lose to this thing again! I'm going to outlast it!"

Unfortunately, she soon got pulled too close to the black hole, and the gravitational pull was stronger when close to the hole itself, so the ice fairy screamed in terror as she got sucked into it. The black hole disappeared shortly after she got sucked inside, but a few seconds later, it reappeared, this time spitting out a badly charred and injured Cirno, and hitting the floor only added to her pain.

Cirno tried lifting her arm, but whatever happened to her after getting sucked inside the black hole dealt her so much pain that she even had a hard time trying to lift a finger. All she could at the moment was breathe heavily while lying on the floor with pain all over her body, which she had no choice but to endure. "It… hurts…"

Marx laughed at the ice fairy's condition, and offended by this, she shouted out loud, "WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT! I'M GOING TO GET BACK AT YOU ONCE I GET BACK UP!" She forced herself to stand back up, but the pain caused her to fall back down again. "OUCH!"

Marx then spit out several green seeds, and each of them immediately sprouted into thick vines covered in thorns and roses. The one that sprouted closest to Cirno carried her all the way up and tossed her into the air and face first into the ceiling. When she fell back down, her back scraped against the thorns, and the absolutely unbearable pain caused her to shriek at the top of her voice while tears filled her eyes as she slid all the way to the bottom. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Seeing her in pain only made Marx laughed even more maniacally, and then he flapped his wings twice to fire a total of eight crescent-shaped blades that sliced down every single vine, which then fell down on top of the unfortunate ice fairy.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

As if that wasn't enough, Marx took a deep breath before firing the huge beam out of his mouth to blow up the vines.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Thorns, petals, and pieces of the vines flew all over the place, some of them in good conditions and some burning. As for Cirno, she was buried underneath a pile of burning vines. By this time, she was injured and weakened to the point where she no longer had the strength to cry from being burned.

"Am I going to die…?" she said in her mind. "No… I'm supposed to be the strongest… I can't die… Fairies can't die… right…? They regenerate when they are dead… right…? Yes… I will regenerate again… I don't have to be afraid… I'm the strongest after all… I can't die… I can't lose either… Everyone is waiting for me to join them and help them save the day… I can't die here… I can't… I can't…! I can't! I CAN'T!"

Marx was still looking at the pile of burning vines when suddenly a large amount of snow and cold air came out from around it, instantly putting out the fire. Despite this surprising scene, the villain was still smiling with his tongue out. The cold air traveled throughout a large portion of the room, putting out all the flames. The pile of vines the cold air came out from was blown away, revealing Cirno, back on her feet with her wounds fully healed, not to mention the fact that she was giving off the colors of the rainbow from all over the body.

**BGM: Adventure of the Lovestruck Tomboy (Touhou: Phantasmagoria of Flower View)**

The ice fairy pointed at Marx and said out loud, "For some reason, I feel a lot more powerful than before, so you better get ready to meet your end at the hands of the strongest fairy of Gensokyo!" Immediately after saying this, she formed an ice sword and then flew at Marx at a fast speed to slash him with it, but he quickly moved to the side. Cirno, however, acted and quickly turned to him to fling the sword right into his forehead. Marx shrieked in an ear-shattering voice while moving several steps back, and the voice made the ice fairy close her ears. "Ugh! Did they ever tell you that you're a terrible screamer!"

Marx shook the ice sword off his forehead and then attacked with crescent-shaped blades, but Cirno skillfully and swiftly dodged them as she closed in on him, flew over to his back, and spun rapidly when the blades returned to him and he turned around, releasing cold air and ice shards into the air in the process. "Fairy Spin!"

Marx quickly moved back from her after getting hit a few times by some of the ice shards, and then his body turned into intangible red and blue energy that split apart and traveled in different directions before heading for her. Cirno watched as the red energy ball flew at her really fast, but she managed to avoid it completely and then the blue one afterwards. The two energy balls then returned to and merged with each other to become Marx again.

"Take this! Ice Lance!" Cirno said as she forged and threw such a kind of weapon at him, but right before he got hit, Marx split into two, and the two halves turned into red and blue blobs that fired smaller blobs at her. Cirno quickly formed an ice shield to defend herself against them, but they were like acid in the way that they were "eating" their way through the shield, and when it could no longer hold up, she quickly let go it and then got out of the way, avoiding the blobs by moving around swiftly.

Eventually, the two large blobs merged together to become Marx again, who apparently lost track of Cirno when she tried to avoid getting shot. Suddenly, he was blasted in the back by an icy beam that covered his skin in a thin layer of ice, and the moment he turned around, he was smashed over the head by the ice fairy's ice hammer.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The impact caused him to drop altitude quite a bit, and then Cirno flew close to the ceiling with her arm raised into the air. "Time to finish this! Final Smash! Ice Megaton!" Then she came down onto Marx just as he looked up and punched him square in the seemingly nonexistent nose with a tremendous force, pushing him to the floor in an instant and crushing him against it.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Cold air was swirling around her fist as it pressed against Marx, and all of a sudden, an explosion of ice and snow came out from the fist and engulfed more or less every single part of the room.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Ice dust was all over the air, and it was so thick that it was nearly impossible for one to see a few centimeters in front of him or herself. Several seconds later, the dust started to settle down, and one could slowly make out the silhouette of a fairy in a crouched position with her fist pressed against the floor.

Cirno remained in the aforementioned position for several seconds, looking at the frozen, shattered, and somewhat unrecognizable remains of Marx. She eventually stood back up and sighed with relief while wiping her forehead. "Phew… I did it… I really did defeat him this time…" Then she looked at her hands. "I can't believe it… Did I really pull that off…? Does that have something to do with the colorful ball thingy I kept with me?"

She then looked all over the room and was surprised at the sight of the all the ice and snow. "Wow! This place looks so beautiful of a sudden! The temperature is perfect too! I really want to go skating all of a sudden, but I have to catch up with the others now. Wait up, everyone! I'm going to over to help you now!" Then the ice fairy ran in the direction of the staircase while the frozen remains of Marx continued to break apart until pretty much all of them were in tiny pieces.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Yeah, that's actually Marx Soul in the second half of the fight, though the appearance isn't one-hundred percent the same as the original.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Next chapter: Mad Moon Rabbit**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Cirno's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 4/6  
Speed: 5/6  
Jump: 5/6  
Weight: 1/6**

**Entrance: **Skates onto the stage on an icy lane, trips, and then gets back up. The icy lane disappears after that.

**A, A, Infinite A: **One, two punch and then attacks with a very, very short-ranged cold air rapidly.

**F-Tilt: **Swings an ice stick horizontally.

**U-Tilt: **Does a quick flip and kicks upwards.

**D-Tilt: **Creates a small burst of cold air.

**Dash Attack: **Leaps forward and rams with head. Has a bit of lag afterwards due to her having to get back up on her feet.

**Forward Smash: **Slams down an ice hammer. Very powerful, but slow startup. Only slightly weaker than Dedede's Forward Smash.

**Up Smash: **Icicle Rise – makes icicles shoot up in front of herself and into the air. It's a projectile-based Smash attack. The longer you charge it, the more icicles are fired.

**Down Smash: **Frost Pillar – slams her hands onto the ground to make a pair icicles come up on each side.

**Neutral Aerial: **Fairy Spin – spins rapidly to shoot out short-ranged ice shards, hitting opponents multiple times.

**Forward Aerial: **Swings down an ice sword. It is a meteor smash.

**Back Aerial: **Icicle Sword – one of her wings lengthens as she spins thrice like a pinwheel.

**Up Aerial: **Does a quick flip and hit with her legs.

**Down Aerial: **Ice Kick – a spinning dive kick that hit multiple times and has a fifty-fifty chance of freezing the opponent at the last part of it. Unlike other stall-then-fall moves, this one will eventually stop by itself in midair, so you do not have to worry about killing yourself when used off the stage. However, the distance traveled is more than Falcon Dive when used in midair, so use it at you own risk.

**Grab Attack: **Steps on the opponent's foot.

**Forward Throw: **Flips over the opponent and then throw's him/her over her head.

**Back Throw: **Falls back and hurls the opponent away judo style.

**Up Throw: **Hits the opponent in the chin with an ice paddle.

**Down Throw: **Whacks the opponent over the head with a block of ice.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly gets back onto the stage and swings her hand in an attempt to slap someone.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Make freezing light come out from her finger while climbing back up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Quickly gets up and spins once with wings spread out.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Swings a knife made of ice in both ways while getting back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Flings tiny ice shards in both directions while jumping back up.

**Neutral B: Icicle Machine Gun  
**Cirno stretched forth her hands and fire a burst of six icicles at once. While firing, you can tilt the d-stick upwards or downwards to make her aim slightly in the respective directions.

**Forward B: Ice Cannon**  
Cirno charges forward, becoming encased in ice the second she does so. The ice will hit the ground and slide along it, dealing stronger knockback the faster it moves and the sooner it hits opponents. To free yourself, simply let go of the B button. So long as you hold down the button, Cirno will remain in the block of ice, even after it stops moving. Other people, even your teammates, can destroy the block of ice with strong attacks or if they hit it enough times, which is exactly nine weak hits. The maximum distance the block of ice will slide is somewhat more than the length of Final Destination, but if it can be stopped earlier if it got hit while sliding.

**Up B: Sword Freezer**  
Cirno performs a spinning jump into the air, dealing multiples hits and ending with a downward sword strike that acts as a relatively powerful meteor smash. The maximum height of the jump is a little bit more than Link's Spin Attack when used in air.

**Down Smash: Midsummer Snowman  
**Cirno creates a ball of ice that takes five seconds to grow as big as herself. Letting go of the B button prematurely will cause the ice ball to remain in its premature size, and there are five different sizes depending on many seconds you charged it. The ice ball stays on the floor when created, so you have to pick it up to use it. Of course, other people can pick it up too. The first three sizes function just like normal items, but it is only the third size that has any chance of KO'ing people. Picking up the ice ball in its fourth size is like picking up a barrel; you move around slowly when carrying it and cannot jump (unless you're Donkey Kong), and throwing it will cause it to roll across the ground, dealing powerful knockback to opponents. The ice ball in its largest size cannot be picked up at all, but you can hit it to cause it to roll forward, dealing massive damage and knockback if it is rolling at a fast speed, which is possible if one hits it with a fully charged smash attack (Forward Smash is ideal for this). Hitting with an Up Smash will cause it to fly into the air, but it won't go very high. Please note that an ice ball at this size can hurt your teammates. Also, fire attacks will destroy it, how fast it does depending on the strength of the attack.

**Final Smash: Perfect Freeze  
**Cirno shoots out a large amount of cold air and bullets all around herself, and they have a high chance of freezing opponents. The radius of the cold air is slightly smaller than the maximum radius of the smart bomb. After about four seconds, she will stop, and the bullets will stop in their tracks for about a second before slowly moving around the screen. The knockback of the bullets are like that of the red shell, dealing relatively weak hits and can trap and annoy opponents.

**Side Taunt: **Raises fist into the air and shouts, "I'm the strongest!"

**Up Taunt: **Hovers slightly into the air and spins several times with arms and wings spread out.

**Down Taunt: **Form an ice crystal in between her hands.

**Winning Stance 1: **Laughs with delight loudly with crossed arms while hovering a few inches above the floor.

**Winning Stance 2: **Crouched down in front of a frog, she tries to freeze it using a beam fired from her finger, but it keeps on jumping around. She eventually succeeds, however.

**Winning Stance 3: **With one hand on the hip and one eye closed, she stretches out her other hand and gives a thump up, saying, "I told ya I'm the strongest!"


	117. Mad Moon Rabbit

**Important Note: If you come across a BGM in this story and want to search for it on Youtube to listen while you read, please be warned that when searching for Touhou music, chances are likely that you will come across (slightly) NSFW videos. If you are offended by those and have already come across such things, then I deeply apologize to you… Also, please be warned that it's not only Touhou videos that will make you come across those.**

A friend of mines pointed out that I forgot Cirno's Ledge Attack (under 100%) in the previous chapter. It's added now.

**Chapter 116  
Mad Moon Rabbit**

* * *

After Youmu, Remilia, Marisa, and Reimu continued on their way when Reisen agreed to stay behind to face I.M. Meen, the self-proclaimed most powerful magician in the world said to the lunar rabbit, "Your friends have abandoned you! Are you going to cry?"

Pointing her finger at him, she replied, "My friends didn't abandon me. They know that I am able to deal with things myself here, so they left in peace. I will not disappoint them! I will defeat you here and then quickly reunite with them, and I'm going to make this fast!"

"I guarantee you that you won't be reuniting with them! I'm not like before anymore! I learn from my experiences, so I have planned well before I came to you for battle! If you are expecting an easy battle like before, then you're going to end up with lots of ouchies!"

"So you're admitting that you're actually much weaker back then?"

"Argh! You're not going to get away with that insult! I'll teach you to respect your elders!" With that, I.M. Meen pointed his arms at her and fired a burst of glittering dust. "Meen Magic!"

**BGM: Library Guardian Attack (I.M. Meen)**

Reisen jumped out of its way and then fired an energy bullet at her in a crouched position. I.M. Meen easily dodged it by stepping aside, and when the lunar rabbit fired at him constantly, he kept on jumping around in a way that resembled dancing to avoid getting shot. "Haha! You can't hit me!" he taunted.

"Don't get too cocky!" Reisen angrily said before three clones appeared on each of her sides. Despite all of them firing rapidly, I.M Meen managed to avoid them with swift and talented movements. He grazed by some, ducked underneath some, and jumped over some. "How can he be so good at this? It's as if he knows where the bullets are coming from! Either that or he's just really good at this thing!"

"Heheheh! Surprised?" I.M Meen asked. "There's nothing a little physical capability-enhancing magic can't do! I used such a thing to greatly increase my physical capabilities to the point where I am more or less a superhuman! Watch and behold!" The magician closed in on Reisen at a speed almost equivalent to the blink of an eye and kicked her head. This caused the clones to disappear as well.

Reisen cried in pain as she flew through the air and hit the floor, and when she looked up, I.M Meen was laughing at her. "Hahaha! Now you know how strong I am! Do you still think you can defeat me?"

"Don't get too full of yourself! You simply used magic to strengthen yourself! You're nothing without it!"

"I can say the same to you too! If you are unable to shoot stuff from your fingers and eyes, would you be able to stand up against an enemy?"

Reisen got up while dusting herself. "Don't underestimate me! I was a soldier back on the moon, and even though I expertise in shooting, I still do know the basics of self-defense when confronted up close. Also, rabbits are naturally good jumpers, and you won't believe how much that helps in battles!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I get it, you're not entirely a weakling, but such skills will not help you win against me! Die!" I.M Meen then swung his arm against the air over and over to hurl multiple energy balls at Reisen, who made use of her jumping capabilities to avoid them. After avoiding some of them, she open fired at I.M Meen, but he jumped out of the way before throwing another energy ball at her. She avoided it by stepping aside, however.

Both sides continued to trade shots for a while, and then I.M Meen said in frustration, "Argh! This isn't getting anywhere! Time for something new!" Then he took out a book and quickly opened it to make two large spiders appear. "Get her, my minions!"

The two spiders scurried in the lunar rabbit's direction very fast, but she jumped over them and spun around in midair to shoot them in the back, instantly causing them to disappear. She then turned around to face I.M Meen, who ran away to the far side of the room. "Trying to escape? You're not getting away from me!" She gave chase, but all of a sudden, an explosion occurred right in front of her and blew her back through the air. "Ya!"

"Hahaha!" laughed I.M. Meen, who appeared from the explosion. "You fell for it! Eat these!" Then he hurled energy balls at her, but she quickly got out of their way. Reisen fired another shot at him, but he dodged it. "I have a new idea! Rather than dodging your shots, why don't I just do this?" He raised his arms into the air and then lowered them from the sides to make a yellow translucent barrier appear around himself. "This barrier cannot be broken through so easily! Now I don't have to be afraid of your attacks!"

Shortly after Reisen turned to look at the magician, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and then reappeared behind her via an explosion to blast her forward. "Ah!" Reisen fell on one knee and then quickly got up, turned around, and fired at I.M. Meen, but his barrier protected him.

"I told you it's useless!" I.M. Meen said while charging up magic in his hand, and then he fired a cloud of glittering dust at her. "Meen Magic!"

Reisen jumped out of its way and then fired a large silver rocket at him. "Psycho Missile!" I.M. Meen remained standing in one place, confident of his barrier, but though it protected him from the missile, the impact and explosion was so strong that he was sent flying backwards.

"What the!" he said in surprise.

"If I use strong enough attacks, maybe I can destroy it," Reisen thought, and then she fired more Psycho Missiles at him. Getting hit several times eventually weakened the barrier, as evident of it becoming slightly distorted and fading in and out.

"Don't think you can get away with this! I can simply strengthen it again or create a new one!" I.M. Meen said. He raised his arms into the air and got ready to strengthen it, but just as he was going to bring them down, the barrier suddenly disappeared, so he was hit by a missile.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The magician was blown back through the air and bounced once on the floor when he landed. Wanting to make sure that he didn't try to do anything else, Reisen quickly ran behind him, restrained him by the neck, and then pointed her finger at his head. "Move and I'll shoot!" she said in a serious tone.

"Like I'm going to listen to you!" I.M. Meen said before suddenly becoming electricity and slipping away from her grasp, and she also got zapped a bit as a result. The trail of electricity traveled through the air and landed some yards in front of the lunar rabbit before changing back into the magician. "Hahaha! Betcha didn't expect me to pull off something like this, eh? I've got tons of tricks up my sleeves, so it'll take more than that to keep me in place! Let's see how you like getting hit by lightning!" Then he fired lightning bolts from each of his fingers.

Reisen quickly leaped out of the way and then ran as fast she could to avoid the lightning bolts. When I.M. Meen aimed for the part of the floor in front of her, she was blown slightly into the air and then fell on her front. When I.M. Meen tried to shoot her, she quickly rolled away from the lightning bolts as fast as she could before jumping back on her feet. She then fired at him while running from the lightning bolts, but he dodged her shots. "Argh! Stand still! You're annoying me with that constant running of yours!" the magician said in frustration. "I ought to keep you in place somehow first!"

Reisen was still running from his lightning bolts while firing at him when suddenly he warped in front of her in an instant, and caught off guard by this, she leaped back in shock, thus allowing him to throw glittering purple dust into her face. When she breathed in the dust, she felt weakened, and then she fell on her knees when her legs wobbled so much that they could no longer sustain the body. "What… What did I… breathe… in…?"

"Hahaha!" laughed I.M. Meen, pointing at her. "I sprayed magical dust that takes away strength at your face! Now you'll feel weak and helpless for about an hour, but you won't ever regain your strength because I'm going to put an end to your miserable life right now!" Then he kicked her across the face before zapping her with lightning bolts.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reisen screamed. When I.M. Meen was done, he ran up to her and kicked her again to send her rolling across the floor before laughing at her nonstop. In fact, he was laughing so hard that he had a hard time standing still. While he was laughing, Reisen took out a vial containing green liquid and then drank from it.

I.M. Meen was still laughing when he was suddenly blasted by energy bullets rapidly. He fell down and then sat up, asking in surprise, "What! How are you able to move! You shouldn't be able to feel strength for at least an hour!"

With her finger pointing at him, Reisen replied, "I kept a potion that cures most kinds of sicknesses and conditions with me before I came here in case it is needed. Thankfully, it was able to undo the effects of your spell."

"Why you! I can simply cast that spell on you again!"

"And let me add to the fact that once consumed, the potion will also grant immunity to all kinds of conditions for at least an hour."

"Argh! You cheater!"

"This is a real fight, not a tournament, so there are no rules."

"Then don't blame me if I go rough on you! You will regret it!" I.M. Meen said as electricity started to appear around his body, and then in an instant, he transformed into a trail of electricity that zoomed through the air while shooting lightning bolts at Reisen, who managed to avoid them with swift acrobatic movements.

While she was busy jumping around, Reisen tried to shoot down I.M. Meen, but the electricity-turned magician was moving way too fast to get hit. Even if the shots managed to hit him, they simply went through him. "What's the matter? Can't hit me?" he taunted. "Hahaha! You'll never be able to hit me as long as I stay in this form!"

I.M. Meen suddenly made a sharp turn and went for Reisen, trying to ram her, but she jumped out of the way in the nick of time. The trail of electricity returned high into the air and continued to move in circles around her while firing lightning bolts nonstop.

Reisen continued to do her best to avoid the lightning bolts, and eventually, one of them hit the part of the floor right behind her feet, and this caused her to jump forward slightly and almost lose her balance and fall forward. This allowed another lightning bolt to hit her and make her fall on her knees.

Seeing this as the opportunity for delivering a fatal blow, I.M. Meen attempted to ram her again. In an attempt to defend herself, Reisen fired a pair of eye beams at the front part of the incoming trail of electricity. "Illusionary Blast!"

BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Surprisingly enough, it was a successful hit that caused the trail of electricity to instantly revert back into I.M. Meen, who flew back through the air with his face charred. "GWAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Whoa… I honestly didn't expect that…" Reisen said while standing back up. "I guess the weak spot is the front part, which is your face."

I.M. Meen sat back up and said in anger, "You wretched girl! How dare you make a fool out of me! You're seriously making me angry! And I thought that bookworm was bad enough! This settles it! You're making me take out the big one! You're really going to regret that you ever made me do this!"

Reisen got into defensive stance as the magician stood up and moved his hands around in the air in front of himself, and then in a burst of smoke, a relatively large book appeared in midair for him to catch. "What?" Reisen wondered.

"This is a special kind of book that isn't to be read," I.M. Meen explained to her. "Instead, when you open up this book, you will be sucked inside it and into the magic labyrinth of I.M. Meen!" Then he opened the book and faced it at Reisen, who found herself slowly being pulled toward it.

"What the!" Reisen said in surprise, and then she took some steps back, but the pulling force became stronger and stronger. She turned and tried to run, but by this time, the pulling force had become so strong that she kept on moving backwards despite moving her legs the fastest she could. She then fell forward and desperately tried to crawl away, even trying to dig her nails into the floor. "No! Don't!"

Eventually, the lunar rabbit soared back through the air and went into the book feet first, and she continued to struggle in vain while her body disappeared into it, the hands going in last. Once Reisen was completely gone, I.M. Meen laughed loudly and manically for several seconds. "Hahahahahahaha! Serves you right! You are now inside my magic labyrinth! Let's see you try to get out of there! While I can leave you in there and either let you rot to death or get killed by the traps or monsters, you have annoyed me so much that I want to have the privilege of destroying you with my own hands! Therefore, I'm going in there to join you!"

With that, I.M. Meen placed the book onto the floor and then jumped into it.

* * *

Reisen found herself falling through darkness after getting sucked inside the book. Eventually, the sight of a floor and walls appeared underneath her, and she hit the former hard. After groaning in pain, the lunar rabbit stood up and looked around to find out where she was, and when she looked up, she saw a ceiling that originally wasn't there.

She looked around some more and then said, "Looks like I can't find my out from anywhere here… Better start looking for an exit… I hope it's not hard to find…" So the lunar rabbit set off in search for the way out.

Her trip within the labyrinth was anything but safe. As if getting lost and confused about which way to take wasn't bad enough, there just had to be monsters, such as trolls, giant spiders, and weird bald scientist-looking guys, lurking around, trying to claim the lunar rabbit's life. Deadly traps were also hidden in certain parts of the hallways, such as fire coming out from the walls, hidden pits with spikes at the bottom, crushers that either came down from the ceiling or came out the walls, and arrows that shot out from holes on the walls.

Despite all these, Reisen managed to fight off and escape everything that tried to get rid of her and eventually made her way into a large circular room. "What is this place?" she wondered.

Suddenly, the hallway she came out from got sealed away by a stone wall, and then I.M. Meen's voice was heard coming from nowhere. "Hahahahaha! It would appear that you managed to make your way into the final room! Congratulations!"

"It's you!"

"While I would usually be annoyed that a goody-goody managed to survive all the traps and monsters I threw at him or her, I have the urge to get rid of you myself currently, so in a way, I'm glad that you managed to make it here alive, even if not in perfect condition. That doesn't matter, however, as it only makes you easier to get rid of!"

"Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I can't fight at full power!" Reisen loudly said.

"Very well! I shall come out at once and get rid of you, and then after that, I'll get rid of your friends!" said I.M. Meen before appearing from a puff of smoke in the air in the center of the room. "Let me warn you, however, that I have made this magic labyrinth to give me an advantage. When I am in here, my magical power increases by a hundred times! I am now more powerful than before!"

"Just bring it!"

"You're asking for it!" I.M. Meen said as he made several knives appear around himself. "Sooner or later, you're going to have a look of horror with tears running down your eyes! I'm going to enjoy seeing you cry!"

**BGM: I.M. Crazy (remix of I.M. Meen's opening theme)**

I.M. Meen pointed his arms at Reisen to make the knives fly at her, and she quickly ran away from them. After the knives stuck into the floor and the wall, they pulled themselves back out and went after her again. Seeing that they were following her, Reisen pointed back her arm and fired at the knives to knock some of them out of the air. The remaining knives suddenly sped up, and she jumped out of the way when they were very close to touching her before shooting them.

She then turned to I.M. Meen and fired at him constantly, but he floated around to avoid getting shot. Suddenly, Reisen felt a large amount of pain in her back. She screamed in agony as she fell on her hands and knees. Stuck to her back were all the knives that she shot out of the air. "Hahahahaha!" I.M. Meen laughed. "You seriously thought you could get rid of those knives by shooting them? It's your fault for thinking so!"

Enduring the pain, Reisen reached to her back and pulled out the knives one by one. While she was pulling out the last one, I.M. Meen sent forth a trail of purple smoke that took the form of a snake with its mouth wide open, and it even had a pair of red "eyes". It reached her right when she took out the last knife and bit her in the shoulder. "Ah!" The smoke snake disappeared almost immediately after that, and Reisen placed her hand on her shoulder while grunting in pain.

"What bit you just now is created using the same magic used for weakening you when we were outside this labyrinth," I.M. Meen told her. "However, you said you drank a potion that grants immunity to various conditions for at least an hour, so you should be glad that you're not affected by that bite! Of course, I'm not happy about this!"

"I'm glad I took that potion," Reisen said as she stood back up while breathing heavily due to the large amount of wounds she received to her back. "Another thing I forgot to tell you is that it also makes the drinker more resilient to pain, which is why I'm still able to stand up even after getting hit by such a large amount of knives."

"Argh! How dare you use such a cheap thing! Doesn't matter! I'll just beat you up so hard that you will still feel a large amount of pain! You'll fall down dead soon enough!" I.M. Meen said, and then his hands were suddenly covered in blue fire. With his hands on fire, the magician flew toward Reisen at a fast speed and punched her across the face to send her tumbling across the floor. He flew at her before she fully sat back up and punched her the second time.

POW!

Reisen managed to fully sit back up this time, and when I.M. Meen closed in on her to deliver the third punch, Reisen quickly fired at his face, but he swooped into the air the last second and then struck her in the back of the head to make her fall forward. Gritting her teeth in anger, Reisen quickly turned around to shoot him, but he moved out of the way at a fast speed and gave her the fourth punch, which was stronger than before, as evident of the lunar rabbit flying all the way into the wall.

CRASH!

"Ow…" Reisen groaned as she slowly looked up after falling on her knees. She saw I.M. Meen charging up a large ball of fire in his hand, and when he was done charging it, the ball of fire became a large stream of fire that went in her direction.

"Meen Burner!" the magician shouted. Reisen managed to get out of the way in time. She ran in the direction of the magician and created multiple clones of herself as she did, some of them continuing to run at him and some of them jumping instead, and all of them were firing from their fingers.

Using magic that enhances physical capabilities, I.M. Meen managed avoid the incoming projectiles, and he threw a fiery punch at one of the clones when she approached him, but his fist went through her. "Uh? A fake one! Wait a minute… If attacks will go through the fake ones, then that means their shots won't hit me! I don't have to bother trying to avoid all of…" Then he was shot by some of the projectiles fired by the various Reisen clones. "Yeow! What the!"

"Sorry to break your bubble," all the Reisen simultaneously said. "Other people may not be able to hit the clones, but the clones themselves can still hit others with their projectile-based attacks."

"That's cheating!" I.M. Meen angrily said while moving around swiftly to avoid the shots. "If I can't tell who the real one is, I'll just get rid of all of them at once! Meen Burner!" He quickly charged up a ball of fire and then attacked with the stream of fire, hitting all the lunar rabbits.

While the attack had yet to end, an arm suddenly caught I.M. Meen by the neck like a hook, causing him to instantly end of the attack, and then forcefully pushed him onto the floor. It was the real Reisen who did this, and then she pinned him to the floor by the neck while pointing her finger at his forehead. "You're finished!"

"Not yet!" the magician said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. The lunar rabbit desperately looked around for where the magician warped to, and when she heard sound coming from behind, she turned around to see I.M. Meen swooping at her to punch her with fiery fists. She managed to roll out of the way, however.

I.M. Meen made a large turn in air and then headed for her again, and the lunar rabbit quickly took out a spell card and placed it in between her closed eyes. "Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon!" she shouted right before opening her eyes, and then a huge beam created by two beams merging together came out from her eyes and engulfed I.M. Meen.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the magician screamed as the beam burned him and pushed him back through the air until he hit the wall. When the beam disappeared, he was seen charred and flattened against the crater created on the wall, and then he fell over on his face.

"Did that do it?" Reisen wondered while putting her spell card away. She looked at the unconscious I.M. Meen for several seconds, and the magician eventually groaned while pushing himself back up.

"Ugh… You wretched rabbit… You'll pay for this…!" he angrily said. "You've made me really angry! Don't think that you have the upper hand just because you managed to hit me with a powerful attack! I have yet to unleash my full potential, and when I do, you're dead meat! Remember what I said about beating you up so badly that you will still feel pain, even though you consumed that potion? I mean it this time!" I.M. then flexed his arms once. "Macho Meen Transformation!"

Reisen watched in surprise as the magician "exploded" in a burst of smoke and sparkles. When they disappeared, he was seen with a very muscular body, and he was now wearing a pair of red boxing gloves, dark blue boxing trunks, and a pair of dark blue shoes. "What the!"

Now looking as if he hit the gym an insane amount of times, I.M. Meen showed off his new body by flexing his arms constantly and making poses as if he was in a photo shoot. "How do you like my new body?" I.M. Meen asked. "I always wondered what I would look like if I worked out more! With the help of magic, I finally found out!"

"I don't think you'll look like that even if you worked out like crazy…"

"Is that supposed to be some sort of an insult? Very well! For saying something like that, I will offer you some free boxing lessons! For the first lesson, we will start with the most basic thing in boxing: punching! Here I come!" I.M. Meen then ran at Reisen at a relatively fast speed and tried to punch her in the face, but she quickly moved aside.

I.M. Meen quickly turned to her and punched away in the face, however. Before Reisen had to chance to fully get back up and defend herself, the boxer-turned magician rushed up to her and gave her an uppercut that sent her spinning back through the air in an arc. Before she hit the floor, he punched her in the back to send her crashing face first into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAASH!

"Ow…" Reisen cried as she fell on her back.

"Hahahaha! Now you know my real power!" I.M. Meen said to her. "Do you think you can still win? I'd say that your chances of winning are zero! Even if you give up now, I'm still going to do away with you!"

"Who said I'm giving up?" Reisen said while slowly getting back up. "I cannot give up here! This is a fight that I cannot lose no matter what!"

I.M. Meen became annoyed upon hearing this. "You know what? I hate it when my opponents refuse to give up! You're starting to remind me of the persistent bookworm who defeated me back then! Thinking of this makes me angry, so I'm really going to beat you up brutally! Consider yourself dead!" I.M. Meen rushed up to her and threw a punch which she managed to avoid, so his fist ended up hitting the wall. The wall was hit so hard that a large crack appeared on it, stretching from the floor to the ceiling.

Reisen turned to him and fired a Psycho Missile, but the magician rushed at the missile and punched through it, going through the explosion unscathed, much to Reisen's surprise. He then punched her in the face, and when he ran at her again, she desperately fired a large amount of bullets, but the magician got rid of them through mere punching.

Reisen quickly jumped out of the way when she was about to get hit, and then I.M. Meen went after her while swinging his fists like crazy. Reisen managed avoid some of the punches at first, but eventually, a left hook got her in the face, followed by the rest of the punches. I.M. Meen punched her mercilessly, not giving her a chance to fight back. Reisen was eventually knocked down onto the floor, but I.M. Meen didn't stop there; he continued to smash her in the face over and over.

SMASH SMASH SMASH WHAM BAM SMASH WHAAAAAAM SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

Eventually, I.M. Meen wore himself out from the nonstop punching, so he stood up and panted heavily while looking at the badly beaten up and seemingly lifeless Reisen. "Now… you know… that I am… the strongest…" I.M. Meen said. "This is what you… get… for messing… with… me… I guess… no more… boxing lessons… Eh…?"

Despite not showing any movements at all, Reisen was still conscious and saying in her head, "I can't lose here… I can't… My friends must be fighting their hardest for their lives and also the world now… I can't give up here… I ran away once from my homeland because of a war… and as a soldier, it is a very shameful thing to do… Even until today, I still can't believe that I did something like that… I truly failed my duty as a soldier… A soldier must not back away from a fight… A soldier must fight until the end of his or her life… I am a soldier… I cannot lose here just yet… Everyone is waiting for me… The princess and my master are also waiting for me back in Gensokyo… I mustn't lose here… As a soldier, I must stand back up and keep on fighting… I must… I must…! I must! I MUST!"

Suddenly, lights of various colors came out from Reisen, much to I.M. Meen's surprise. "What the! What is happening to her!"

**BGM: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon (Touhou: Imperishable Night)**

Immediately after fully recovering, Reisen leaped back on her feet and fired nonstop at I.M. Meen's body, pushing him back with each shot. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow! Why you!" Before he could do anything, Reisen quickly got behind him, grabbed hold of his neck, and bent it to the side.

SNAP!

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" the magician screamed in agony upon having his neck snapped. While he was rolling around on the floor, crying in pain, Reisen continued to shoot him nonstop. Eventually, I.M. Meen stood back up and, trying to ignore the pain on his neck, faced her in anger. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" He rushed at her to punch her, but she jumped over him and shot him in the back of the head. When he turned around to face her, he was immediately pushed back through the air by the lunar rabbit's Illusionary Blast. The beam pushed the magician all the way across the room until he hit the wall, and she continued the shoot him with it.

When she finally ended the attack, I.M. Meen fell onto the floor and then changed back to normal form in a puff of smoke. He looked at the approaching lunar rabbit with a terrified look on his face and asked, "How…! How did you fully recover and become so powerful all of a sudden! Does this have anything to do with that potion you drank?"

"I believe this is the power of the Smash Essence," she replied. "It is something we obtained during our journey to the Smash World. Its true power has finally been unlocked."

"I don't care what sort of power you've obtained! I'm not going to lose to the likes of you! Meen Magic!" I.M. Meen fired a cloud of glittering dust at her, but she swiftly moved out of the way, rushed up to him to catch him by the collar, and then fell back to hurl him toward the other side of the room.

After the magician hit the floor, Reisen pointed her hands at him and shouted, "Final Smash! Leporiphobia Madness!" Then she fired several beams out of her hands, all of them with their front parts resembling rabbits.

I.M. Meen screamed in horror as the massive group of energy rabbits closed in on him. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The massive explosion quickly filled up the whole room, and at around the same time, the entire place was suddenly dissolved by bright light that shined in from behind the walls. Eventually, the smoke and the light made it impossible for Reisen to see anything.

When the smoke finally cleared away and the light died down, Reisen found herself back in the room she and I.M. Meen were fighting in before they went into the book. "What…? How come I'm back outside?" she wondered. "Must be because I defeated him… His death must've caused the magic of the book to be undone. That means I won! Yes! I did it! Wow! I didn't know the Final Smash is so powerful! This is also means I can now destroy Darkling with my usual attacks! All right! Now I feel a lot more confident of myself! Wait for me, everyone! I'm on my way to rejoin you!"

And so, she quickly headed for the staircase to catch up with the others.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I took the liberty of giving original moves to I.M. Meen in order to make him more powerful and threatening; otherwise, he's a really weak villain. It was also thanks to a Youtube video called Super Smash Brothers Brawl Character Moveset – I.M. Meen that I was able to come up with some of his attacks. Meen Magic is taken from there. And just so you know, the lightning bolt attack from the fingers is based off CD-i Ganon's attack he used in one of the cutscenes in Zelda: Wand of Gamelon.

Also, the part where he transforms into a muscular boxer is inspired by the video I.M. Joins Punch-Out, where I.M. Meen's head is put onto Super Macho Man from Super Punch-Out.

Lastly, the theme I.M. Crazy was originally made by a user named CommanderGwonam, but he is now defunct. Other people have uploaded the theme, however, so you can be sure that if you see a video entitled that, it is the one I'm referring to.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. Leporiphobia is the fear of rabbits.

**Next chapter: Half-Phantom Gardener**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Reisen's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 2/6  
Speed: 5/6  
Jump: 6/6  
Weight: 3/6**

**Entrance: **Fades into existence while leaping onto the stage from the background.

**A, A, A: **Slaps twice and then releases a burst of light from her finger.

**F-Tilt: **Roundhouse kick.

**U-Tilt: **Points her finger into the air and gives off red light from the tip.

**D-Tilt: **Shoots the ground to create a small explosion that's actually quite powerful and can even KO.

**Dash Attack: **A clone of herself is instantly created and dashes forward. The distance the clone travels is about the same as an average dash attack.

**Forward Smash: **Weak Heart "Demotivation"** – **attacks with a melee-ranged burst of energy. There's a 30% chance that opponents will become dizzy after getting up from getting hit by it.

**Up Smash: **Fires a pair of eye beams straight up. The thickness of the beam depends on high long you charge the attack. The beam is the same size as R.O.B.'s fully charged Robo Beam at its thickest.

**Down Smash: **Disorder Eye – two clones quickly come out from both sides of Reisen and then return to her in an instant. The distance traveled depends on how long you charge the attack. The maximum distance is about three steps away from her.

**Neutral Aerial: **Spins while releasing short-ranged electricity-esque beams from her eyes. Hits multiple times.

**Forward Aerial: **Ripple Vision – fires three energy rings that increases up to a certain size as they travel across the screen.

**Back Aerial: **Sticks back her leg and kicks.

**Up Aerial: **Points up her finger, which is glowing with red energy. Basically an aerial version of her U-Tilt, but it lasts longer and hits multiple times.

**Down Aerial: **Hits with the front sole of her feet three times very fast. While a meteor smash, you're better off trying not to KO someone with it due to how weak it is…

**Grab Attack: **Eye beam to his/her eyes!

**Forward Throw: **Burst of energy from the eyes that blasts opponent away.

**Back Throw: **Falls on her back to hurl the opponent backwards.

**Up Throw: **Lifts the opponent into the air by his/her collar/neck and then shoots him/her with eye beams.

**Down Smash: **Forces the opponent onto the ground and then shoots him/her in the face with eye beams.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Short-ranged energy blast from eyes while quickly climbing back up.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Sweeps the ground with one hand while climbing back up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Holds herself up on one hand to perform a spinning kick.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Leaps back on her feet, hitting opponents in front with her legs in the process.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Swings her hands in both ways while standing back up.

**Neutral B: Mind Bending  
**Reisen fires a total of six bullets if you hold down the B button. The bullets will not travel too far from her before exploding, and each of their distances varies. The farthest is slightly more than one-third of Final Destination, while the shortest is about three steps in front of her. The explosion stays on screen for about two seconds, trapping and hitting opponents multiple times.

**Forward B: Mind Explosion  
**Reisen fires a red energy missile that moves rather slowly through the air, causing a large explosion and dealing relatively massive damage upon contact. It moves at about the same speed as Samus's missile, the homing version. It's startup is quite slow, however, so you're not guaranteed to score a hit without getting interrupted when you use it right next to the opponent.

**Up B: Disbelief Aspect**  
Reisen leaps into the air, leaving behind a faint clone of herself that shoots six bullets rapidly before disappearing. The clone is completely invincible—all attacks will go through it. The leap into the air is the height of an average second jump in a double jump.

**Down B: Gas-Woven Orb**  
Reisen flings a test tube that releases a small cloud of green gas when it hits something. Opponents who come in contact with the gas will be poisoned and continue to take damage for about five seconds after getting away from it. The gas stays on screen for about six seconds. Throwing the test tube at the opponent will also poison him/her, not to mention dealing weak knockback that can't KO.

**Final Smash: Lunatic Red Eyes  
**Reisen releases circular waves from all around herself. This move comes out very fast and is very powerful, capable of OHKO'ing with ease. The radius of the waves is the same as the maximum radius of Luigi's Negative Zone. It only lasts about three seconds.

**Side Taunt: **Looks left and right with awareness.

**Up Taunt: **Pretends to fire from her finger with one eye closed.

**Down Taunt: **Playfully bends down her ears.

**Winning Stance 1: **With hands clenched underneath her chin, she looks around and says in disbelief, "I actually won…?"

**Winning Stance 2: **Pretends to fire from her finger at the left side of the screen before pointing at the player with a smile.

**Winning Stance 3: **Jumps up and down happily thrice and then points at the screen with one eye closed and a large smile on her face.


	118. Half Phantom Gardener

Sorry for the long wait… I got addicted to Touhoumon and thus procrastinated, even after I've finished playing one of them… I also had a hard time with this chapter and the SSB moveset at the end. Hopefully, this chapter is worth the wait.

Also, it seems that the fandom is starting to call phantoms "yuurei", despite the former having been established to some extent by ZUN. To my knowledge, this change is due to the terms "ghost" and "phantom" meaning the same thing in English, but in Japanese, those terms are not the same thing. Ghost refers to the spirits of the dead, while phantom refers to naturally-existing spirits. Speaking of which, some people are now calling the former kind "bourei". In order to prevent confusion among people unfamiliar with the concept of these terms, such changes were made.

Remember what I said about keeping Japanese terms in their original languages if it is an important term or if it is used in somewhere important, like with Super Youkai Warhead? Youkai has always been an established term among fans, but phantom has been established for quite a while before it got changed, and as said earlier, it seems to be established by ZUN as well. Therefore, this chapter's title will still use "phantom", not "yuurei". Even if yuurei was the one established first, I might just call them "phantoms" in the main story and normal conversations anyway.

**Chapter 117  
Half-Phantom Gardener**

* * *

Both Youmu and Exdeath had their swords out, ready to engage in battle. Unlike Youmu, however, Exdeath wasn't in any form of fighting or defensive stance. He simply stood in a casual manner with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, which was stuck into the floor. "I don't have all day to fight you," Youmu said to him in a serious tone, "so I'm going to defeat you fast!"

"You speak with great confidence," Exdeath said to her. "Such a talk is no use unless you truly have the power to make it happen. I've heard things like that before, and people who say that, even if they did win against me, wasted lots of time. You are going to be no different."

"You do not know me!" After saying that, Youmu charged straight at Exdeath at a fast speed.

**BGM: The Decisive Battle (Final Fantasy V)**

Exdeath quickly brought up his sword to block a strike coming from her, and then she rushed behind him. However, the villain spun around fast and blocked the blow as well, not to mention the series of sword strikes that came afterwards. "Delta Attack!" Exdeath suddenly shouted, and then a magical circle appeared in front of him. Seeing the magical circle, Youmu leaped out of the way before Exdeath thrust his sword into the back of it to cause a short range burst of energy to shoot forward.

The villain then turned to her and hurled a ball of fire at her. "Fire!" Youmu evaded it and then closed in on him again to attack with a series of sword strikes which he managed to block with ease. Exdeath then floated back through the air at a fast speed and fired a lightning bolt from his hand. "Thunder!"

Youmu managed to avoid it with swift movement, and then she swung both her swords twice to fire two energy blades. "Lotus Stance Cut!" Exdeath easily destroyed the projectiles with his swords, and then he suddenly warped behind Youmu and tried to take her by surprise there. The half-phantom swordswoman turned around and blocked a thrust from his sword before jumping back.

The villain went after her and swung his sword in large circles really hard, but she managed to block them all. However, the impact of his sword against hers was so strong that she was forced to take a step back with each hit. After swinging his sword a few more times, Exdeath suddenly pointed his hand at her face and shouted, "Thunder!" Fortunately for Youmu, she had quick reflexes, so she managed to avoid receiving a lightning bolt to the face and dashed past him, slashing him in the waist in the process.

"Ugh!" Exdeath grunted, and then he turned to face her and formed electricity in his hand, charging it up for a few seconds before firing three lightning bolts at once at her. "Thundara!" Youmu quickly leaped out of harm's way and then attacked with Lotus Stance Cut several times. Exdeath used his sword to destroy the incoming projectiles, and after destroying them all, he warped into the air above Youmu and tried to fall onto her with his sword, but she got out of the way in time.

As she stood back up, Myon went over to the other side of Exdeath and transformed into a replica of Youmu herself, and then they both attacked Exdeath from both sides. However, the villain warped out of the way the last second, and they ended up clashing swords against each other. They turned their heads to the side and saw that Exdeath had reappeared there with a dark energy ball in his hand. "Black Hole!"

Both Youmu and her clone felt themselves being dragged toward the black hole at a fast speed, so they turned and ran against the gravitational pull as hard as they could to get away. Suddenly, they felt themselves running forward at normal speed; it was as if the black hole had stopped trying to pull them in. Such a thing was proven true when Exdeath suddenly appeared in front of them and swung his sword. Youmu quickly leaped into the air while Myon bent back limbo style.

Youmu landed behind Exdeath and swung her sword at him, but he quickly spun around to block the attack. Myon used this opportunity to attack him, but Exdeath pointed his hand at her and fired a ball of light. "Vacuum Wave!" Myon was blasted back through the air and changed back its original form, and the phantom half getting hit also caused Youmu to feel the exact same pain it felt.

"Ugh!" the half-phantom grunted, but she never let go of her grip of her sword nor did she loose her footing. Exdeath then clashed his sword against Youmu's with an intense force several times, each hit causing her to take a step back.

After doing this a few times, Exdeath pointed his hand at her face and shouted, "Vacuum Wave!" Youmu ducked in the nick of time to avoid receiving a blast of light to her face, and then she quickly dashed across Exdeath, slashing him in the waist in the process. The villain grunted in pain as he turned around and fired black energy balls. "Grand Cross!" The energy balls flew at Youmu and moved in circles around her, slowly closing in on her every second.

When she tried jumping away from the energy balls, she was surprised to find that they followed her movement. She moved around as fast as she could to try to shake them off, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get them to stop following her, and they were getting closer and closer to touching her. "If running won't do, then I'll cut through them!" Youmu said before performing a spinning attack that actually cut the energy balls in half and made them disappear.

Shortly after she did this, she saw several fireballs flying in her direction, so she quickly avoided them while running toward Exdeath, who was firing those projectiles at her. When Youmu was getting close to him, he fired three lightning bolts at her. "Thundara!" However, she swiftly moved to the side and then attempted to dash past him while slashing him in the waist again, but she came to a stop when her blade met with his.

When Exdeath used his sword to push Youmu back, she fired pink rings from her sword upon landing, hitting the villain in the chest with them. "Phosphorus Slash!" Before he recovered from getting hit, Youmu ran up to him and slashed him in the same spot rapidly, pushing him back with each hit and not giving him a chance to counter or do anything at all. She then raised her sword, whose blade became covered in energy to give it a larger and longer appearance, and brought it down on him. "Rise from Delusion Slash!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"GUUUUAAAAAAH!" Exdeath screamed as the powerful slash inflicted a large amount of pain to him and sent him flying back through the air. Despite getting hit by such a powerful move, the villain slowly sat back up after lying down for only about four seconds on the floor. It was as if he didn't suffer all that much from the attack. "Quite impressive! I have to admit that you performed better than the last time we fought."

"You're durable… I'll have to give you that," Youmu said. "Also, the fact that you didn't bleed at all struck me as strange…"

"Trees don't bleed!" Exdeath said before charging at Youmu at a fast speed and clashing blades with her.

While pushing against his blade, Youmu asked, "And what does that has to do with anything?"

"Guess," replied the villain before swinging his sword against Youmu's rapidly, but each of them got blocked. After swinging at her a few more times, Exdeath jumped back through the air and landed a bit of a distance away from her before charging forward at a fast speed while inside a dark energy sphere. "Almagest!"

Despite the speed he moved at, Youmu managed to get out of the way in time. Even so, she wasn't able to fully escape the attack. While she was able to avoid getting hit directly, the radius of the dark sphere around him was too big for her to fully get away from, so her left elbow got scraped and burned by it. "Ngh!"

The dark sphere burst when Exdeath came to a stop, and then he turned to her with his arm raised into the air. "Blizzaga!" A swirl of ice and snow appeared all around him, and then several large icicles and chunks of ice were formed and thrown at her. Youmu dodged some and cut some, and then she slashed the air multiple times to fire several crescent-shaped sword beams at him, but Exdeath moved out of their way.

Youmu immediately charged at him and attacked him with a three-hit combo that left behind trails of pink energy whenever the blade cut through the air. "Slash of Life and Death!" After Exdeath was pushed back by the last hit, she swung her sword close to the floor to release a pink shockwave that knocked him off his feet. "Heart Carving Cut!" After the villain fell on his back, Youmu jumped at him with her sword raised over her head. "Slashing a Flower Upon One's Head!" But Exdeath rolled away before he got hit.

Exdeath tried to impale her head with his sword after getting up, but Youmu knocked his sword into the air and over his head. The villain quickly warped to where his sword was going to land and caught it, and then he quickly fired a large lightning bolt into the air. "Thundaga!" The lightning bolt came back down on Youmu, but she speedily dodged it and closed in Exdeath, slashing horizontally to unleash a large crescent-shaped wave while doing so. "Lunar Slicer!"

Exdeath quickly warped out of harm's way and reappeared next to Youmu, dashing at her the moment he appeared. "Sword Dance!" he shouted as he swung his sword rapidly, but Youmu blocked all of them and then parried the last one, quickly getting behind him and slashing him across the back. "GAH!"

"Crescent Moon Slash!" Youmu shouted as she performed a jumping slash the moment he turned around to make him take off slightly from the floor, and then she plunged her sword through his chest when his body leaned back slightly.

The villain screamed in pain as the half-phantom pinned him against the floor with her sword, but then he suddenly caught Youmu by the hand and forcefully flung her away, separating her from the Roukanken. He pulled the sword out of his body and flung it away before standing back up. "Enough is enough!"

Youmu took out the Hakurouken and got into fighting stance. "Can't believe you're still standing… Getting stabbed through the chest is supposed to be fatal for most living things."

"Reverse Polarity!" Exdeath shouted as he caused a ring of energy to come out from underneath his feet and move toward Youmu at a fast speed. When the ring touched the half-phantom's feet, the villain suddenly appeared in front of her in a blink of an eye and slashed her across the chest.

SLASH!

"GYAAH!" Youmu cried.

"Hurricane!" Exdeath shouted as he formed a cyclone around himself that carried Youmu around in circles. The villain then warped away from the cyclone and shot several fireballs at it. "Fira!" When the fire and the wind mixed together, a fiery cyclone was created, and Youmu found herself getting burned badly while still caught in it.

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Exdeath got ready to use Grand Cross, but when he had only said the first word, Youmu suddenly flew out from the fiery cyclone with her whole body on fire, so the villain was forced to stop performing the attack and avoid her instead. When Youmu swung her burning sword, a trail of fire was left behind in the air, and though Exdeath managed to avoid getting cut, the fire got onto his body. He quickly moved back from Youmu and used his hand to try to put out the fire, and while he was doing so, Youmu slashed the air to fire a fiery crescent-shaped projectile at him. "GUAH!"

With her body still on fire, Youmu jumped at Exdeath while spinning vertically like a buzzsaw, cutting him in the left shoulder when she went past him. "Fiery Roller!" Myon stayed in the air of the spot she was stood on before performing that attack, and after she landed, the phantom half transformed into a replica of her. "Two-Sided Assault!" Youmu and her clone then closed in on Exdeath from both sides and slashed him rapidly. They ended things by dashing past each other, slashing the villain in both sides in the process.

SLAAAAAASH! SLAAAAAASH!

Immediately after that, Youmu ran for the Roukanken and picked it up, and then she faced the villain and shouted at the same time Myon changed back to normal, "Obsessor: Slash of Eternity!" Then she dashed at Exdeath at a blinding speed to knock him straight up into the air. As he was falling down, Youmu dashed around him at a blazingly fast speed, so fast that one could only her as a green and white blur, and cut him all over the body.

SLAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAASH HACK SLAAAAAAAAASH SLASH SLASH HACK SLAAAAAAAAASH!

The powerful attack ended with Youmu striking him from below and going up with him to send him flying into the air and hitting the ceiling with such a force that they both went right through it. A few seconds later, Youmu fell back down from the hole on the ceiling and then got out of the way before Exdeath fell on top of her. Due to the high speed movement earlier, the fire on her body had gone out. "I'd like to think that the fire made the attack more powerful," she commented.

She then turned to look at the fallen villain, who started groaning after a few seconds, so the half-phantom got into fighting stance again. "It seems that you can still fight," she said. "No matter, I still have lots of energy to fight you, and I will do so until you stay down for good!"

Exdeath slowly got up, but remained on one knee instead. "Don't get too cocky of yourself… I have yet to use my full power!"

"A phrase heard way too often…"

"I will not tolerate a third loss this time around!" Exdeath said as he stood back up. "I shall teach you the meaning of fear! Get ready to be drowned within the depths of nothingness known as the Void!" After saying that, Exdeath raised his arm in the air, and electricity covered his hands for a few seconds before he slowly faded away.

Youmu got into defensive stance and looked around with awareness to see where Exdeath might show up from. There was silence for several seconds, and the half-phantom was starting to wonder what was exactly going on when suddenly the entire place shook. "What the! An earthquake?"

Suddenly, what appeared to be tree branches came out from the floor in front of her, and then several leafless trees came out from all around her, basically surrounding her. Youmu looked around in panic and confusion, wondering what on earth was happening, and then she turned to look at the largest tree at the front, which had a monstrous face with red eyes on it. "What the! What is this monstrosity!"

"Behold my true form!" the tree-like monster said in a voice that fitted its grotesque appearance. "There is no chance of victory for you any longer! It's time for you to disappear!"

Just then, Youmu remembered what Exdeath told her not too long ago. "A tree… So that's what you meant… So your true form… is a tree?"

"I was born from malevolent souls sealed into a tree in the Great Forest of Moore, and the souls eventually caused the tree to become self-aware, thus giving birth to me! Now that you have learned something about my biography, it is time I put an end to you! You can now die in peace knowing that you finally understood what I told you about trees not bleeding earlier!"

"On the second thought, I may actually have an advantage in this fight," Youmu said as she took out both swords. "For your information, I'm also a gardener, and trees are among the things that I deal with in my normal life!"

"Then the tree shall smite down the gardener this time around! Die!" After saying that, the trees around Youmu came down on top of her as if they were arms trying to crush her, but with a single swing of both swords, they were all cut into two. After that, she headed for Exdeath, but another tree suddenly came up in front of her and blocked the way forward. Wooden snake-like creatures with sharp teeth suddenly came out from the sides of the tree and tried to bite her, but she quickly jumped back and then fired a vertical crescent-shaped projectile that cut through the tree in a single blow and struck Exdeath, but he remained in one piece.

"Meteor!" Exdeath shouted, and then a portal appeared in front of him, and it shot out several fireballs. Youmu dodged the incoming fireballs and then ran to the side, but then more leafless trees came out all around her, some of them trying to block her way forward. When they swung at her to knock her away, she swiftly jumped around to avoid getting hit and cut down ones that were going to hit her.

When she ran in Exdeath's direction, the evil tree shouted, "Flare!" Then he opened his mouth to shoot a ball of orange energy that she managed to avoid. The energy ball hit the wall and created a massive explosion that took off a huge chunk of it.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Youmu only turned to look at the destruction it caused for a few seconds before turning to look at Exdeath again, as she knows that being distracted by something else during a fight is a mistake that could give the opponent an advantage. When she ran toward Exdeath, electricity suddenly appeared around his face, and out of cautiousness, she quickly backed away in order to avoid whatever was going to be thrown at her.

Suddenly, a ball of darkness appeared over her head and slowly descended, so she quickly moved out of the way. It touched the floor and stayed there a few seconds before disappearing. Another ball of darkness appeared above her, but she also avoided it. "You cannot escape the Void forever!" Exdeath said. "I will make you disappear into nothingness for eternity! Have at you!" Electricity appeared around his face again, and then two more balls of darkness appeared around Youmu and closed in on her.

Youmu backed off from them, and when both the dark spheres came in contact with each other, they merged together to become a larger sphere that slowly moved after her. She kept her distance from the approaching ball of darkness and fired some projectiles it, but the projectiles went into it as if it was a portal that led somewhere. "Whatever it is, I better avoid it…" she thought. "Something tells me that getting hit by that is absolutely no laughing matter… He mentioned about nothingness… What is that supposed to mean?"

She got out of dark sphere's way when it approached her again, and then she turned to Exdeath and fired some sword beams at him, but several leafless trees came up in front of him and served as shields, and while they managed to block the projectiles, they still got destroyed them. Large tree branches suddenly came up around Youmu and attempted to grab her, but she got out of the way in time and then headed for Exdeath. A root suddenly came up in front of her feet and caused her to trip, and then a tree resembling a hand came up from beneath and held her up in the air. "Hey!"

"Disappear into the Void now!" Exdeath said before having the "hand" hurl her in the direction of the dark sphere, but she acted fast and swooped up into the air just before she touched it. "Argh!"

"That was close…" Youmu said. "Am I correct in saying that the thing you summoned and tried to hit me with is actually a portal of sorts that leads to another dimension?"

"You are correct in saying that. It is basically a portal that leads one into the vast nothingness known as the Void! I will trap you for eternity inside it with no way out!"

"Then I'll have to avoid it at all cost! No way am I getting stuck in a place like that for eternity!"

"You won't escape the Void forever!"

Exdeath moved the Void in her direction again, but she swiftly flew around it and headed for the villain, slashing him across the face and making him cry in pain. This also caused the Void to disappear. The evil tree growled in anger as he made two of his roots come out from the floor and use them like the front legs of insects to attack her, but she easily cut down their front parts.

Suddenly, another root came up from underneath Youmu and catapulted her into the air, and then the roots that she just cut instantly reformed their front parts and tried to impale her, but she once again cut off the same parts, this time also flying toward Exdeath while constantly cutting up the remainders of the roots. She slashed the tree in the face a couple of times, and then with a single horizontal slash, she cut him in two and made the whole part above the root fall backwards.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Youmu then jumped at the face from above and readied to plunge her larger sword into, but Exdeath quickly shouted, "Flare!" Then he shot an orange energy ball out of his mouth, hitting her at point blank when her sword was only about an inch in front of his face.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The massive explosion propelled the half-phantom, who screamed in agony from the burning pain, into the air. Due the explosion happening at such a close range, Exdeath himself was also hurt by it, but seemingly not as much as her.

Exdeath slowly disintegrated, and then in place of the tree appeared his normally-seen armored form. This time, he was also wearing a clothing article resembling a skirt made of wood, and there was also a pair of what appeared to be his true form's eyes on it.

The villain slowly got back up while grunting in pain and then looked at Youmu, who had just fallen back down. "You're really persistent, aren't you?" he asked her. "I granted you a painless defeat, but you just had to throw away that opportunity and bring pain to yourself instead! Very well; I shall grant you the most painful kind of death! You will regret having ever made me do it!"

Youmu, despite being burned really badly by the powerful spell known as Flare, managed to get back up, though from the slow movement and the constant panting, it was obvious that her condition was far from being perfect. "If that's the kind of death I'm going to receive, I wouldn't mind…" she weakly said. "After all, pain is something to be expected if you go the way of a warrior, and dying is something that may happen as well… The day I first placed my hands around the hilt of a sword and started learning how to use it, I was well prepared for the battles and hardships I would go through in the future… Something like this was bound to happen…"

"Then I shall make it happen now!" Exdeath said before charging at her at a fast speed, so she quickly used both her swords to block a series of three-hit combo from him. "Sword Dance!" Due to insufficient amount of strength and the force of his sword swings, Youmu got pushed back quite a few steps from each hit and even almost lost her balance and fell back. After the third hit, a magical circle appeared around Exdeath, who then thrust his sword at it from behind to create a burst of energy coming from the front that blasted Youmu back through the air. "Delta Attack!"

The half-phanton gritted her teeth as she came to a skidding stop, and then Exdeath charged at her with his body inside a sphere of dark energy. "Almagest!" She was unable to get out of the way in time; the evil warlord's force field hit her, and the feeling was like getting burned and electrocuted at the same time

The force field then burst, resulting in a miniature shockwave that blew Youmu backwards, and then Exdeath quickly unleashed a fire, electric, and ice spell one after another. "Fire! Thunder! Blizzard!" All three elemental spells hit the half-phantom even before she touched the floor, and it propelled her farther back through the air.

Despite this, Youmu managed to position herself upright so that she landed on her feet, but Exdeath sent forth a ring of energy to her feet immediately afterwards, and when it touched the latter, he warped in front of her in an instant and slashed her body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Youmu grunted in pain as she endured the hit, and then she plunged the Roukanken into Exdeath's abdomen before pulling it out by the side to create a rather large wound. The villain cried in pain as he took some steps back, and then Youmu closed in on him and slashed him in the body nonstop. After getting hit a few times, Exdeath warped behind her and tried to cut off her head, but she brought her sword behind herself to block his.

Youmu then spun around, pushing his sword away in the process, and swung at him rapidly, each hit getting successfully blocked by him. Exdeath then floated back through the air at a fast speed and fired several dark energy balls that circled her. "Grand Cross!" Youmu was going to use the same method of destroying them, but then Exdeath launched a large lightning bolt into the air that came back down on top of her. "Thundaga!"

BZAAAAAAAAAAP!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Youmu screamed, and then the energy balls closed in on her from all sides and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

While the explosion had yet to die down, Exdeath used a spell that caused a large amount of heat to gather around himself before firing a huge ball of fire at her. "Firaga!" This powered up the explosion, and Youmu was blown back out of it, though she managed to come to a skidding stop. Immediately after coming to a stop, Exdeath flew through the explosion with a dark force field around himself, and he collided into her, plunging his sword through her abdomen and hurting her with the force field itself too.

The villain pushed her all the way across the room until they came to a stop in front of the wall, so the half-phantom found herself pinned against it by his sword. Exdeath pulled out his sword in the way so that Youmu was still impaled onto it and raised her diagonally into the air. "You're finished!" he said to her. "I will now make you die the horrible death that you so desired!"

Despite suffering heavy wounds, Youmu still had the strength to speak. "Normally… a warrior knows when he or she is losing a fight… I would say that I am losing this fight now…"

"Yes, so die already!"

"However… there are also times when a warrior knows that he or she cannot lose or die for the sake of something… I promised my friends that I will catch up with them… and we have several universes to save as well… Losing one member may make a difference… and that is a difference I do not wish to make… Therefore… I cannot… lose… here!" After saying this, her body glowed with the colors of the rainbow.

"What the!" Exdeath said in surprise.

**BGM: Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? (Touhou: Perfect Cherry Blossom)**

Youmu grabbed Exdeath's sword and got it out of herself by pushing it back, and then her wounds were instantly healed. Before the villain had the chance to fully comprehend what was going on, she rushed at him and slashed him in the body rapidly, the final blow making him fly back through the air quite a bit of a distance. "Ugh! What is this madness!" he said in shock. "How did she fully recover all of a sudden!"

Youmu took out a spell card and threw it at Myon. "200 Yojona in 1 Slash!" Myon then fired several bullets at Exdeath, and while he was trying to defend himself from them, she dashed past him at a speed equivalent to the blink of an eye and slashed him in the waist, leaving behind a trail of red energy in the air as well.

Shortly afterwards, the trail of red energy exploded into a large amount of bullets, and as Exdeath was standing right next to it, many of them hit him. Exdeath was made to take several steps away from where he was and almost fell over, and then he glared at Youmu. "How dare you! Where did you get this boost in power from!"

"The determination to stay alive and win this battle!" Youmu replied. "It's also thanks to the power of the Smash Essence!"

"I won't be defeated by the likes of you!" Then Exdeath charged at Youmu and swung his sword at her, but she blocked it and then slashed him once in the chest.

"Empty Perception: 6-Root Cleansing!" she shouted as she created four clones of herself, and then they all, along with the real one, ran in circles around Exdeath really fast, and the villain looked around in desperation. Suddenly, all five of them dashed into and past him to send him flying into the air, and then the real Youmu suddenly appeared above him and brought down her sword onto him to send him back onto the floor really hard.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

She then backed away from the fallen villain, but a few seconds later, he got back on his feet. "THAT DOES IT!" he shouted with a voice full of anger. "I'M SENDING YOU INTO THE VOID FOR REAL THIS TIME! CONSIDER YOURSELF DEAD!"

"The only person dying here is you!" Youmu said as she got into fighting stance at the same time Exdeath placed his palms in front of each other to begin forming the Void. "Final Smash! Eleven Slashes!" Myon glowed with various colors, and then in an instant, it transformed and split into ten clones of Youmu, all of them surrounding a bewildered Exdeath.

"It doesn't matter how many of you there are!" he said. "I'll banish you all into the Void together at once!" However, before he had the chance to do anything, energy appeared around the blades of all the Youmu's swords to give to make them a longer appearance, and then they slashed Exdeath rapidly nonstop together.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK SLAAAAAAAAAAASH HAAAAAAAAAAAAACK SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

After getting slashed like crazy, Exdeath lost focus in creating the Void, but it never disappeared from his hand; instead, it drifted to the side and increased in size, and the villain suddenly found himself slowly pulled toward it. "What! Noooooo!" he screamed as he struggled to move away from it. He even tried warping out of the way, but either it was due to the lack of strength from getting hit multiple times just or the Void's doing that he found himself unable to do so.

Eventually, he lost of his footing and found himself flying into the Void and through the dark starry sky within it. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE FULL CONTROL OF THE VOID! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING AGAIN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Youmu did not dare to go close to the Void, in fear of getting sucked inside as well. She continued to hear Exdeath's cry, and when the Void shrunk until it disappeared, so did the cry. "He became a victim of his own power of nothingness…" she said to herself while sheathing both her swords, and then the clones merged together, disappeared, and changed back to Myon. "Thanks to the power of the Smash Essence, I managed to win this fight. Let hope's that unlocking its power will be a big help to us all in the future. I have to go and catch up with the others now and fast!"

Then she exited through the door at the far end of the room to continue her way to the top of the castle and catch up with the others.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

His true form here doesn't actually look like the true form seen in the penultimate battle of Final Fantasy V, but since I don't think he's the kind of person to say things so precisely, I didn't let him bring this up. Also, the form he took after changing back from his true form is his EX Mode from the Dissidia Final Fantasy series.

Once again, I apologize for the long wait… I can't guarantee that I will update faster, but I will try my best. Gee, I wonder how times I said that already…

Oh yeah, Flower Crown Slash has been renamed Slashing a Flower Upon One's Head, by the way.

**Next chapter: Scarlet Infant Moon of Eternity**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Youmu's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 5/6  
Speed: 6/6  
Jump: 5/6  
Weight: 3/6**

**Entrance: **Lands from her flight while unsheathing the Roukanken.

**A, A, A: **Two horizontal slashes from the Roukanken and then a downward slash.

**F-Tilt: **A poke from her larger sword.

**U-Tilt: **Quickly swings the larger sword in an upward arc.

**D-Tilt: **A low kick.

**Dash Attack: **Slashes horizontally with both swords while sliding forward a bit.

**Forward Smash: **A slash from the Hakurouken and then the Roukanken.

**Up Smash: **Slashes above her head with both swords rapidly, dealing multiple hits.

**Down Smash: **Quickly slashes in both directions with the larger sword.

**Neutral Aerial: **Spins vertically with the larger sword sticking out. This is based off her Rolling Slash move in MegaMari.

**Forward Aerial: **Slashes twice quickly with the larger sword.

**Back Aerial: **Kicks the air behind herself.

**Up Aerial: **Swings up with the smaller sword.

**Down Aerial: **Positions the larger sword downwards in a manner similar to Link's Down Aerial, and it functions as a meteor smash.

**Grab Attack: **Kicks his/her shin.

**Forward Throw: **Strange Half-Body – throws the opponent into the air to let Myon shoot him/her rapidly. This is similar to Mewtwo's forward throw.

**Back Throw: **Falls back to throw the opponent over herself.

**Up Throw:** Knocks the opponent into the air by the chin using the hilt of the larger sword.

**Down Throw: **Smacks opponent onto the ground by the head using the larger sword's hilt.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly jumps onto the stage and brings down the larger sword.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Slowly climbs up while sweeping the ground with the larger sword.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Swings the Roukanken in both sides while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Quickly jumps up and then performs a spin with the Roukanken in hand to slash all sides.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Performs a quick spin while standing up to hit all sides with the larger sword.

**Neutral B: Lotus Stance Cut  
**A very basic projectile attack, Youmu swings both her swords to fire a pair of green crescent-shaped sword beams very close to each other, thus giving them the appearance of the letter 'X'. It goes all the way across the screen and moves very fast, moving at the same speed as Fox and Falco's Blasters.

**Forward B: 200 Yojana in 1 Slash  
**Youmu dashes forward at the same distance as Fox's Fox Illusion, leaving behind a trail of red energy in the process. The trail of energy will quickly disappear and release a total of six bullets in six different directions, each of them doing weak damage and knockback to opponents. Dashing into opponents will cause them to fly straight up, and if their damage percentages aren't high enough, they will fall back down onto the trail of energy and take damage from it before getting hit by the bullets. In short, this move is more damaging to those with low damages.

**Up B: Crescent Moon Slash  
**Youmu performs a jumping slash that releases a short-ranged sword beam. The range of the beam is very short, only about one step in front of the sword. This move functions exactly the same as Marth's Dolphin Slash in SSBB, just with that additional projectile.

**Down B: Wicked Soul  
**Unlike how it works in the original game, this move can be charged for more power and range. Simply press down on the d-pad and B to start charging it, and pressing the shield button or rolling to the sides will allow you to save the charge. When used, Myon will release beams of energy with limited range around itself, hitting opponents multiple times. The move's smallest radius is about the size of a character's shield at its largest, while the largest radius is about 2.5 times its size. Myon's position when you charge or use this move is always slightly behind you in the air. The power of the move is as powerful as Samus's fully charged Charge Shot in SSBB.

**Final Smash: 6-Root Cleansing  
**Youmu will swing her sword once at the opponent, and if it is a successful hit, the opponent will freeze in place while Youmu will split herself into five and then run around him/her really fast for a few seconds before closing in on him/her to send him/her into the air, and then the real Youmu will jump at him/her from below for a powerful finishing blow that can easily OHKO. While the attack focuses on one opponent, other opponents who wander too close will take damage from touching Youmu and her clones, and the finishing blow of the move is just as deadly to them if they get in the way. Unlike the original, this move isn't a counter-type move due to the Final Smash's aura making it too predictable for opponents, so they are likely to be cautious about hitting you or resort to using projectiles instead.

**Side Taunt: **Spins the Roukanken once and then sheathes it.

**Up Taunt: **Raises the larger sword into the air and looks at it.

**Down Taunt: **Myon floats around Youmu while she keeps her eyes on it. This is similar to one of Link's taunt in Brawl, the one involving the fairy.

**Victory Pose 1: **Slashes twice with the Roukanken and then sheathes it.

**Victory Pose 2: **Trims a bonsai placed on a table using both swords like a scissor for a few seconds and then looks at the screen with a smile.

**Victory Pose 3: **Swings both swords against the air once each and then stands still with them held to the sides.


	119. Scarlet Infant Moon of Eternity

**SBS Time!  
****FanBlaster64: **Not to be rude, and I know that I'm new here, but I thought it was gonna be Marisa vs. I.M. Meen. That would have been a more fitting Touhou character vs. organization member fight, considering Marisa's "love" for books.  
**Game2002: **You have a point there. Actually, when I thought of using Keine in this story, I thought having her fight I.M. Meen would be a great idea due to the former embracing education and the latter hating smart kids, but alas, she didn't make it. The reason I made it Reisen vs. I.M. Meen was because the former has the power to induce madness while the latter is like a madman. Madness vs. madness, get it?

You do have a point in Marisa fighting I.M. Meen, though, but what's done is done. The Emperor specializes in magic, and I sort of see him as being second-in-command or someone of high ranking, and since Marisa also specializes in magic and is the secondary protagonist of the series, I see it fitting for the both of them to fight each other. And no, you're not being rude at all, so don't worry about offending me or anything.

**FanBlaster64: **This'll be kinda out of this chapter's topic, but if you've heard of the visual novel/anime/manga series Umineko no Naku Koro ni, would you have an Umineko villain be a part of the organization? Then again, this is your fanfic, and you've already decided on who the members are, so you can stab me in the back if you want to. Still though, would you?  
**Game2002: **Heard of that series, but that's pretty much all. Don't know if I will, however. It mainly depends on whether or not the villain dies in it. And why are you, like, so afraid of me? Why would I get angry or annoyed (at least not a lot) by you saying all these? I'm glad that you reviewed my story! However, it's true that I usually don't take ideas from other people, but that doesn't stop me from listening to what they want to say.

Once again, I apologize for making you all wait so long… I knew that it was a while since I updated, but when I checked the date, I didn't realize that it was already nine days since the last chapter, so I tried my hardest on this chapter, typing as many things as I can. Still, I wasn't able to finish it on the day I checked the date…

Anyway, please enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 118  
Scarlet Infant Moon of Eternity**

* * *

After Reimu and Marisa went through the large door, Remilia continued to stand in the same place, fixing her glance at Dracula's eyes. Dracula then said, "You would risk your life for a pair of humans?"

"And what's wrong with that?" Remilia asked.

"Humans are nothing but a pile of miserable secrets, and the thought of a fellow vampire siding with them and fighting for them makes me sick! It's understandable why my son would side with them, but you are a full-blooded vampire, so such thing is incomprehensible!"

"Let's just say that vampires from my world aren't exactly the same as you. Admittedly, I look down upon humans and view them as something I use for quenching my thirst in the past, though I still do the latter once in a while, but honestly speaking, there are certain humans that can make interesting friends, such as the two that left earlier."

"Enough! It would appear obvious that there is no hope in converting you to our side!"

"It was a dumb idea trying to convert me to your side in the first place…"

"Well then, begone!"

**BGM: Dance of Illusions (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)**

Dracula pulled his cape to the side and shot some fireballs at Remilia, but she easily dodged them and then fired a ball of red energy at him. "Red Magic!" Dracula swiftly moved to the side and then sent more fireballs at her, but the young vampire avoided them and then charged at him to slash him with her claws.

Dracula easily avoided them by backing away and moving left and right. When she thrust her claws forward, he moved behind her and smacked her across the head before she could fully turn around to send her falling forward and landing on her face. When Remilia sat up and turned around, she saw him shooting fireballs at her, and since she didn't have time to get out of the way, she held up her hands in front of her face for defense instead.

After she got hit by the fireballs, Dracula dashed up to her, picked her up by the neck, and pushed her down the hallway until she was pinned against the wall. As Remilia tried to pry open his fingers, Dracula threw a powerful punch to her abdomen, a punch so hard that she was smashed through the wall and out of the castle.

Remilia quickly recovered and flapped her wings to stay airborne, and then she angrily attacked with Red Magic again. Dracula flew out of the castle to avoid the projectile and also to join her in a dogfight. "Curse of Vlad Tepes!" Remilia shouted as she formed and fired several knives at him, all of them leaving behind trails of red energy in the air. Dracula dodged them with ease, and then he avoided the large amount of bullets fired at him afterwards. "Scarlet Netherworld!"

In order to give himself an easier time avoiding them, Dracula transformed into a bat, and thanks to this form's smaller size, he was able to able to graze by the bullets more efficiently while closing in on Remilia. When he was close to her, he changed back to normal and quickly shot several fireballs at her, but she avoided them and then charged at him to attack with her claws. Dracula caught her arm, however, and flung her away before covering his body in fire and charging at her like a fireball.

Remilia quickly moved out of the way and kept her eyes on him as he made a large u-turn to come back for another attempt to hit her. Covering herself in red energy, she performed a similar attack and collided into him. When they hit each other, a shockwave was created, and then they bounced back from each other before charging into each other again. The both of them kept this up for a while until they finally decided to move far back from each other and fire their "cloaks" at each other, and an explosion of fire and red energy was created as a result.

"Servant Flier!" Remilia shouted as she formed several red bats made of energy and spread them in both directions and then having them close in on Dracula from the sides. He quickly moved back and allowed the bats to collide with each other, and then he saw Remilia flying at him from the side at a fast speed. He simply tried to block her charging attack, but her speed and power allowed her to push him back through the air and then the castle wall.

CRASH!

Dracula tumbled backward across the floor and then came to a stop on one knee. When Remilia closed in on him again, a beam of light came down on top of him and caused him to disappear. Remilia stopped at where he used to be and looked around for him, and then he reappeared behind her and sent forth a wall of fire that she avoided by flying into the air. Dracula swung his cape to the side and caused a pillar of fire to shoot up from underneath her, but she got out of the way in time.

More pillars of fire continued to shoot up from the floor, so the younger vampire had to keep on moving to avoid getting hit. Another pillar of fire appeared in front of her and stopped her from moving forward, and when she tried to move to the left, another appeared. Several more pillars of fire appeared around her and merged together to form a circular wall that trapped her inside, and then the "confined space" started to close in on her. "Burn to death!" Dracula said out loud.

"Like I'm scared of a little bit of fire!" Remilia said before recklessly charging through the fire and in a surprised Dracula's direction, but he warped out of the way using the beam of light before she collided into him. The younger vampire quickly rolled around on the floor until the fire was put out, and then she stood up and looked around for the older vampire.

"Enough hiding and fight me more seriously!" she angrily said. After saying this, Dracula appeared behind her all of a sudden and swung his claws at her, but she managed to catch his arm and then flung him forward, but he spun once and landed on his feet before turning around to shoot fireballs that she easily avoided.

"Demon Lord Walk!" Remilia shouted before jumping at Dracula at a really fast speed, slamming her claws into his shoulder, and then she spun back to fling him away. Dracula crash landed on his back, but he quickly got back on his feet, and the moment he did, Remilia dashed past him and then quickly spun around to slash him. "Trickster Devil!"

Dracula almost lost his balance and fell forward, but in the end, he managed to retain his footing. When he turned around, Remilia was charging at him to attack again, so he quickly swung down his arm to send down a series of lightning bolts that zapped her and sent her flying backwards. After that, he made a dark circle appear underneath her, and then a pillar of darkness shot up from it and engulfed her. While she was still engulfed inside it, Dracula shot a large ball of fire at her to blast her back through the air.

Remilia spun vertically once before landing in a crouched position, and when she looked up front, the Dark Lord was no longer there. She looked around and noticed several bats flying behind her, and when she turned around, she saw them gathering together and forming a dark cloud which eventually became the Dark Lord himself. Before she had the chance to do anything else, Dracula shot another ball of fire at her and blasted her backwards again.

Dracula then made several dark energy balls appear around himself and had them fly at her. Remilia quickly dodged them, but he fired several more. She was able to avoid them all with ease, but suddenly, Dracula warped in front of her with his hand in front of her face, and then a burst of dark energy came out from his palm and blasted her back through the air. He then swung down his arm to make a lightning bolt strike her body.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAP!

After that, he made a ring of fire appear around her that gradually shrunk in size, but before the fire touched her, she jumped out of the fire and in his direction. "Demon Lord Walk!" She touched her claws against his shoulder, but Dracula immediately pulled away her arm and flung her to the side before firing a dark energy ball that blasted her through the wall and into the room behind.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"I'm getting tired of your tricks!" Dracula said before making pillars of dark energy shoot up from the floor and in her direction, and she got out of the way before she got hit and then used Red Magic against him, but he warped away.

Dracula reappeared at the far end of the room and sent forth a large number of bats by spreading out his cape. Seeing this, Remilia used Servant Flier to send forth her own army of bats. The bats of both sides collided with each other, and as Remilia's bats were made of energy, they exploded and killed Dracula's bats when they came in contact with the latter.

Dracula then formed two balls of darkness on both sides of himself that exploded into energy spears that spread out to the sides before closing in on Remilia from the sides. The younger vampire quickly dashed forward to avoid getting hit and then threw three red spears at him. "Demon Lord's Dinner Fork!"

Dracula moved to the side by floating and then made a pillar of darkness shoot up right in front of her. She stopped just in time to avoid flying into it, but the tip of her nose still came in contact with it. She moved back from it, and when it disappeared, Dracula fired several dark energy balls at her that she managed to avoid.

"Mountain of a Thousand Needles!" she shouted as she fired several energy needles at him. Dracula quickly transformed into several bats, and each of them took advantage of his small size to graze by the projectiles, though some of them still got hit. When they got close to Remilia, they gathered around her to annoy her and attack her by either flapping their wings against her or biting her.

"Get lost!" Remilia shouted before spinning to release a burst of red energy that blew the bats away, and then they gathered together to become the Dark Lord again.

"I'm starting to grow impatient!" Dracula angrily said before bringing down his arm to summon a lightning bolt from above Remilia. She avoided it, and when he summoned even more, she kept on running to avoid getting hit. She eventually ran in the direction of Dracula and jumped over him when he shot a fireball at her, and as she was falling down behind him in an upside-down position, she used Red Magic against him to blast him forward before flipping right-side-up to land on her feet.

Dracula angrily turned around and sent forth a wave of fire that she avoided by quickly flying to the wall at the side and planting her feet against it. "Bad Lady Scramble!" She kicked off it and dived at him while enveloped in red energy, but he quickly warped out of the way.

Remilia hit the floor with her hand to come to a stop, and then she saw Dracula reappearing at one end of the room. "Blood Hydro Storm!" Dracula shouted as he raised his arm to make the whole room rain down blood that pelted Remilia as if they were bullets.

The young vampire held her arms over her head and endured the hits. "Don't you think that it's ironic using blood against a vampire?" she asked. "Blood is what they drink, so you're seriously out of your mind if you think you can take me out using it!" She tried to dash in his direction, but the downpour of blood struck her with a force that made her feel like she was getting pinned to the floor, so she was unable to move around easily.

"Indeed, but you shall die an ironic death anyway!" Dracula said to her.

"Death by my own diet? Yeah right!" Remilia mustered all her strength to stand back up and charge at him, ignoring the pain that she was receiving. Surprised by this, Dracula didn't get out of the way in time and was caught in the collar by the younger vampire. She slashed him in the face three times using her other hand and then flung him across the other side of the room. The rain of blood also came to an end when he was slashed in the face.

Dracula managed to land on his feet in a crouched position, but when he looked up, Remilia charged into him and slammed her hand against her body with a force that it went through him. The Dark Lord cried in pain as Remilia pulled out her arm and slashed him three times really hard. "Vampire Claw!"

SLASH SLASH SLASH!

The last hit sent him flying back and hitting the wall, and then he fell limp for several seconds in a sitting position. Remilia panted heavily as she watched the unconscious vampire, waiting for him to get back up. "I know you're not down for the count yet!" Remilia said to him. "Get back up and continue fighting like a man!"

Dracula slowly looked up and glared at her. "You've gone too far for your own good! Do you seriously think you are better than me, the Dark Lord? A youngster like you should know your place in front of someone superior to you! You shall now face my wrath!"

Dracula then spread out his cloak and floated into the air, and then red and orange energy that resembled fire appeared all over his body. The Dark Lord curled up his body and growled as if he was in pain, and then he spread out his limbs while crying loudly. The energy around him then took the shape of a sphere that concealed him entirely, and Remilia had to close her eyes due to the somewhat blinding light it was giving off.

When the light finally died down, Remilia saw that Dracula had transformed into a large winged beast with a pair of horns resembling a goat's on his head. She wasn't intimidated by the sight at all, however. "Pretty ugly, aren't you?"

**BGM: Black Night (Castlevania: The Arcade)**

The newly transformed Dracula let out a roar before slamming his fist onto the floor to not only cause the entire room to shake, but also sent out a shockwave that Remilia avoided by taking flight. He suddenly jumped at her at an unexpectedly fast speed and pushed her across the place with his body. When the beast landed, Remilia backed off from him and fired a ball of red energy at him. "Red Magic!" He easily destroyed it with a swing of his arm, however.

Dracula then breathed fire at her, setting a part of the floor on fire, but the vampire herself avoided it. The beast then ran through the fire and thrust his arm at her, but she quickly got out of the way before slashing him across the face. Dracula let out a loud roar after taking the claws to his face, and the sound alone pushed her back with her ears in pain. "Ugh!" Before she could do anything else, Dracula swung his hand into her and pushed her across the place and then through the wall.

CRASH!

Remilia shot back through the air and then came to a stop, growling in frustration while watching Dracula jump out of the castle to join her in the air. "Scarlet Shoot!" Remilia shouted as she fired several balls of red energy, both large and small, at him, but the beast plowed through them as if they were nonexistent. Remilia quickly dropped altitude when he swung his somewhat long arm at her and then quickly formed and threw an energy spear at his chest. "Rocket Kick Upper!"

The beast flinched a bit from the hit, but he quickly recovered and attempted to catch her with both hands, but she backed away while forming a larger spear that she threw at him afterwards. "Heart Break!"

After getting hit, Dracula let out a roar of anger before charging at her really fast to try to knock her out of the air with his hand. Remilia flew as far as she could from him and then fired several red projectiles at him, but like before, he plowed through them seemingly without feeling pain. She moved out of the way again when he tried to ram her down, but unexpected to her, he reached back his hand and caught her, flinging her in the direction of a large balcony.

CRASH!

"Ugh… I hate to admit it, but he's definitely more of a challenge than before now…" Remilia said as she slowly got back up. Dracula landed some feet in front of her, and the moment he moved in her direction, he transformed into the likeliness of a wolf. Remilia quickly moved out of the transformed Dracula's way, and then he turned around and pounced at her with a wide open mouth.

Instead of moving away again, Remilia caught the wolf by the upper and lower parts of his mouth, but the momentum of the pouncing pushed her onto the floor, and she struggled to keep him from taking away a chunk of her face. "Ngh! Get lost, accursed dog!" she angrily said before rolling to the side and flinging him away.

After landing from being thrown aside, Dracula leaped into the air and instantly changed back to his previous form at the peak of his jump, and then he took a deep breath before breathing a large amount of fire at her. She quickly flew away from the approaching fire, and eventually, quite a bit of the place was set on fire because of this.

Dracula eventually stopped and eyed the airborne Remilia for a few seconds before flying at her really fast speed to swing his arm at her, but she quickly avoided it and then the series of arm swings afterwards. "Man! He's fast for someone with a size like that!" she thought while constantly moving around. Eventually, she failed and was knocked out of the air. Dracula dived at her and tried to crush her against the floor with his hand, but she moved out of the way the last second and then fired Red Magic into the side of face before moving back from him.

"Heart Break!" Remilia shouted as she formed a red spear, but when she was about to throw it, Dracula suddenly leaped into the air and landed behind her in an instant, but thanks to her fast reflexes, she managed to avoid an arm smash coming from him by slipping in between his legs and behind him, and then she flung the spear at his back, in between the wings.

Dracula roared in anger as he spun around with a stream of fire coming out from his mouth, but Remilia avoided it by flying straight up. "Twin Breaker!" she shouted as she formed a pair of red spears in her hand, throwing them both at once at his head. Dracula tried to counter them by breathing fire, but they plowed through the fire like it was nothing and struck him inside the mouth and caused him to fall over on his back. While he was down, Remilia created a sword with a long blade and tried to plunge it through his chest. "Heart Piercer!"

However, with swift movement, Dracula flipped to the side and transformed into his wolf form the moment he did so. When Remilia landed and stabbed the floor with the energy sword, he jumped at her and bit her arm. "Let go of me!" Remilia shouted as she tried to shake him off, and then using her free hand, she slammed her claws into the part between the eyes to make him let go of her while howling in pain. Remilia quickly backed away from him and launched Red Magic at him to blast him away.

"Enough is enough! It's about time you know who's the better vampire around here!" Remilia angrily said before dashing at Dracula at a fast speed and holding his mouth close, and then she with a large amount of strength, she picked him up and slammed him against the floor left and right several times before flinging him away.

Dracula groggily got back up, and he instantly changed back to his monstrous form when Remilia dashed at him again. Because this happened too suddenly for Remilia to notice, she failed to get out of the way when Dracula closed his hands on her from both sides, and then he lifted her into the air before slamming her against the floor really hard. She quickly rolled to the side when he lifted his foot to stomp her.

Remilia quickly flew at his head and grabbed hold of his horns, pulling them and trying to break them by bending. Dracula roared as he constantly shook his head and body to try to get her off, but to no avail. He then tried to knock her away with his hand, and while he was successful in doing so, he used too much force and accidentally broke his left horn. Remilia landed from getting knocked away and looked at the broken horn before looking at him and said, "Blame yourself for this, not me, dummy."

"DIE!" Dracula shouted at the top of his mouth before slamming his hands onto the floor to send forth a wave of fire that she easily avoided by moving side.

"So you can talk in this form," she said. "Thought you became a mindless beast after the transformation… Or can you only say simply phrases?"

"I will not tolerate such an insult!" Dracula said, and then he shot several fireballs out of his mouth and at various spots on the floor, one of them landing underneath Remilia, who flew into the air to avoid getting hit when he started shooting them. Pillars of fire then came up from the spots that were hit by the fireballs, and Remilia managed to avoid getting hit by the one beneath her because she saw the others coming up first. Dracula continued to shoot fireballs at the floor while she tried to make her way to a place clear of the pillars of fire, so more came out and blocked her progress forward.

Since the safest way out was through the air, she did just that. When she was up in the air and out from among the pillar of fires, she saw Dracula in the same altitude as her and shooting fireballs at her. She grazed by them and eventually got close to him, and then she avoided various arm swings coming from him before charging into this chest and slamming her claws into it with a force strong enough to push him back through the air.

Dracula suddenly flipped himself over Remilia, much to her surprise. Before she had the chance to do anything after turning around to face him, he swatted her onto the floor and then tried to fall on top of her to crush her with his feet, but she got out of the way. Dracula jumped at her to crush her again, but she quickly moved back, only to get knocked away into the air when he instantly turned around and swung his hand at her. While she was flying through the air, Dracula breathed fire at her.

Remilia managed to escape without having her body caught on fire after getting engulfed by it for a few seconds, and then she produced six spears in her hands, three in each. "Demon Lord's Dinner Fork!" When she flung them all at Dracula, he jumped into the air and soared behind her, instantly shooting fireballs when he stopped moving. Remilia dodged them and fired a combination of large and small energy balls. "Scarlet Shoot!"

Like before, the shots did nothing to Dracula, and then he plowed through them to ram into her, but she quickly got behind him and pulled out a spell card and used it to create a massive spear. "Spear the Gungnir!" She took aim at Dracula's back and then threw it, hoping that hitting him from such a close range would make it a fatal blow, but the Dark Lord swiftly moved to the side and grazed it. "Darn it! Missed!" The Dark Lord turned around, caught her, and tightened his grip to crush her. Remilia mustered all her strength to push open his fingers, but his strength was as strong as hers, so she had a hard time trying to free herself. Eventually, he flung her at the balcony.

CRAAAAAAASH!

While Remilia was getting back up, some fireballs hit the parts the floor around her, and then she was struck by some in the back. She had no time to fully stand back up, so she tried to crawl away instead. Suddenly, another fireball struck the part of the floor in front of her and blasted her backwards. "Ya!" Dracula then came down on top of her at a fast speed and crushed her against the floor with his foot, and then he proceeded to stomp her over and over several times.

STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP!

The constant stomping gradually created a somewhat deep footprint of the Dark Lord on the floor, and Remilia was flattened at the bottom of it. Dracula eventually stopped stomping her and then flew high into the air. "DROWN IN DARKNESS AND DESPAIR FOR ETERNITY!" he shouted as he raised his arms, and then a ball of dark energy which gradually grew in size was formed over them.

Remilia was in too much pain to move due to the stomping earlier; she felt as if every bone in her body had been crushed. However, she could still turn around and look at the Dark Lord charging up the dark energy ball. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to avoid it in her current state, she cursed under her breath and readied to accept her fate.

When the dark energy ball grew to a size even larger than the Dark Lord himself, he flung it at the younger vampire. "DEMONIC MEGIDDO!" Remilia could do nothing but watch as the projectile come closer and closer to her.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion created by the projectile was so big that when it cleared away, the balcony was seen pretty much entirely destroyed. Some parts of the railing were still left intact, but almost every part of the floor was gone. In fact, the explosion was so strong that quite a bit of the castle wall was also blown away, revealing the interior. Dracula looked at the room below and saw Remilia lying at the bottom of it, slightly buried by the rubbles.

The Dark Lord landed in front of her with a stomp that caused some of the rubbles burying her to bounce away, and then he said to her, "This is the end of you! It actually saddens me to have to kill a fellow vampire, but it's either with me or against me! You will regret ever being on the same sides as humans!"

"You can go ahead and try to kill me…" Remilia said, "However, it's not like I'm going to lie here and do nothing at all… Much as I have confidence in my own strength, I still do know the limits of what I can do and also know when to surrender… However, this fight is different… It is one I cannot lose… Therefore, if you think you can destroy me that easily… think again…!" Upon saying this, the power of her Smash Essence was unlocked, and Dracula was surprised at the sight of the young vampire giving off various colors from her body.

"What's happening!"

**BGM: Septette for the Dead Princess (Touhou: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody)**

After feeling strength returning, Remilia got up and rammed into Dracula's chest very hard to push him back some steps. She then moved back and formed a pair of spears in her hands. "Twin Breaker!" She threw them both at him and blasted him backwards before firing several projectiles at him. "Scarlet Shoot!"

"Something like that won't be enough to take me down! You should know that by now!" Dracula said before breathing fire at her, but she quickly moved out of the way and went over to his head to forcefully close his mouth by pushing down the top part of it. After that, she grabbed his other horn and forcefully yanked it off, making him cry in extreme pain, and then she plunged it into his forehead.

Dracula cried in even more pain, and while he was trying to pull out the horn, Remilia landed a few away in front of him and fired a rapid burst of large energy balls. "Scarlet Meister!" Each shot forced Dracula to take a step back until he hit the wall, and then Remilia used a spell card to create a large spear to throw at him. "Spear the Gungir!"

The explosion caused by the spear hitting the Dark Lord created an explosion that tore down the wall and propelled him outside. After coming to a stop, Remilia flew at him really fast and slashed him in the chest nonstop. "ENOUGH!" Dracula shouted as he quickly backed away from Remilia to breathe fire at her, but she got out of the way.

"Scarlet Gensokyo!" Remilia shouted as she raised a spell card into the air, and then it released a huge amount of small red energy balls and large pink energy balls all over the place, and due to his size and the amount of projectiles coming out at once, Dracula was unable to avoid them, and these shots were more powerful than the previous ones.

After the onslaught of projectiles had ended, Remilia put away the spell card and said, "All right! Time to see what my Final Smash is capable of! Final Smash! Crimson Cyclone!" Then she dashed at Dracula really fast while spinning like a drill, and as she spun, a large amount of red energy appeared around her body, the spinning motion making it look like a giant drill.

When she came in contact with Dracula, she swung her claws like crazy and caused large streaks of red energy to be left behind in the air with each swing. Dracula was getting pushed back through the air while being slashed nonstop.

SLAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Final Smash came to an end when Remilia dashed past him while swinging her arms to the sides, and a large x-shaped energy streak was left behind on the Dark Lord's body. Dracula cried in intense pain, and then he plummeted toward the bottom, landing just in front of the chasm that separated the city from the castle.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Remilia panted heavily due to the exhaustion from performing the Final Smash. She looked at her hands and said, "Cool! Not bad!" Then she looked down to see Dracula changing back to his original form, and due to being the same species, she felt what could be said to be pity in her heart, so she went down to see him in his final moments. "So… how are you feeling?"

"I do not need pity from an enemy…" the Dark Lord weakly said. "I have lost… You win… Honestly saying… I'm used to losing fights already… It seems that I am always destined to lose in the end…"

"Maybe you should have a change of heart and do something nicer. Admittedly, I'm not the kind of person to do stuff like donating to the poor and helping out with charity, but at least I do know that crime and doing evil stuff don't pay. I learned that hard way once."

"I have thrown away my humanity… Why should I feel the need to take pity on humans…? No… Except the wives that I used to have… But those are of the past… There is no more need for me to attach myself to humanity…!"

"Suit yourself. It's not like I'm really trying to convince you anyway."

"You may have defeated me… but it's not over for you and your friends…" As Dracula was saying this, his body started to turn into dust and fade away. "I do not know if we will meet again… but remember this… so long as evil and darkness exist in the world… I will continue… to be resurrected…!" And the Dark Lord eventually disappeared.

"Clichéd…" Remilia commented a few seconds after he disappeared, and then she turned to look at the castle across the chasm. "Okay, time to get back to business." Then she headed for the top of the castle at a fast speed.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I always thought the original version of Septette for the Dead Princess is an unfitting final boss theme, even for a normal boss theme. When I heard that Touhou 7.5's version is more fitting as a battle theme, I went to listen to it and agreed, but then I heard Touhou 10.5's version and thought it sounds even better. In fact, the way that version starts off sounds just like Castlevania music! At least that's what I think…

Admittedly, I don't think Nitori's theme, Candid Friend, sounds like a boss theme either, but since there is only one official version of that theme, there's nothing I can about it, and I want to use official themes when the girls get powered up by their Smash Essences. Speaking of themes, the same reason is also applied to why I used Cirno's theme from Touhou 9 instead of Touhou 6. Actually, I think Beloved Tomboyish Daughter does fit as a boss theme; just that I find Adventure of Lovestruck Tomboy more fitting for a battle, or at least for my story…

**Next chapter: Oriental Western Magician**

**Trivia:  
**1. Dracula's phrase about a man being a miserable pile of secrets is a pretty popular video game phrase.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Remilia's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 5/6  
Speed: 6/6  
Jump: 5/6  
Weight: 2/6**

**Entrance: **Flies onto the stage as a bat and then changes back to normal.

**A, A, A: **Two claw swipes and then a claw thrust.

**F-Tilt: **A longer-ranged claw swipe.

**U-Tilt: **Swipes upward while doing a graceful spin.

**D-Tilt: **Low swipe.

**Forward Smash: **A claw swipe and then a claw thrust that moves her forward slightly, similar to Wolf's Forward Smash.

**Up Smash: **Spins with one arm pointing up, and in doing so, red energy is formed around her hand in the likeliness of a drill, hitting multiple times.

**Down Smash: **Spins multiple times with hands stretched out, hitting opponent with claws.

**Neutral Aerial: **Spins once with arms spread out.

**Forward Aerial: **A simple claw swipe.

**Back Aerial: **Turns back and swipes with claw.

**Up Aerial: **Demon Lord Cradle – spirals into the air slightly, dealing multiple hits. Because of the slight boost into the air, this move helps a bit in recovery, but the recovery time after performing it makes it so that you cannot rely on it indefinitely. The height is about the same as Wario's Corkscrew.

**Down Aerial: **Ceiling Fear – shoots straight down very fast and creates a miniature shockwave upon hitting her claws against the ground. Be careful not to use if there is nothing to land on below…

**Grab Attack: **Vampire Kiss – bites the opponent in the neck. One point of damage is restored with every bite. It should be noted that she has a long-ranged grab, which can be used as tether recovery, using Chain Gang, and it's the longest one at that, going as far as 2.5/3 of Final Destination. It doesn't seek out opponents like in the original, unfortunately, because that would make it too cheap. The chain comes back very fast too, so you don't have to worry too much about being left open to enemy attacks while waiting for it to come back.

**Forward Throw: **Lifts up the opponent and then flings him/her away.

**Back Throw: **Spins the opponent behind you to throw him/her away.

**Up Throw: **Carries the opponent off the top of the screen and then falls back down, slamming him/her back against the ground. This is similar to Kirby and Meta Knight's Up Throws.

**Down Throw: **Pushes opponent onto the ground and then slams her claw against his/her abdomen.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly flies onto the ledge and swings her claws.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Sweeps the ground with her claws while climbing back up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Jumps back on her feet and slams down her claws. The animation is somewhat similar to Remilia Stretch.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Slashes in both sides before standing back up properly.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Spins and hits with claws in all sides before standing back up properly.

**Neutral B: Demon's Dinner Fork  
**Remilia throws spears of red energies. An uncharged version only has her throwing one that doesn't fly very far and also moves quite slow, but a fully charged one has her throwing three, all of them having more range, though each has different ranges, and moving faster. The number of spears is reduced from the original so that it isn't considered too "overkill" for the gameplay.

**Forward B: Red Magic  
**Remilia shoots of ball red energy that travels across the screen very fast, and it leaves behind a faint red trail that stays on screen for about two seconds before fading away, and opponents who come in contact with it will take minor damage. The energy ball itself is quite strong, and combined with its speed and quick startup time, it's a very useful move.

**Up B: Dracula Cradle  
**Remilia spirals upwards in a 45 degrees angle, dealing multiple hits, and the final hit is pretty powerful. The distance traveled is about the same as Falco's Fire Bird.

**Down B: Stigmanizer  
**Remilia leaps up and throws an energy pinwheel that travels diagonally downwards and then rolls across the ground, disappearing when it hits a wall. The pinwheel moves as fast as a green shell. The height of the jump is half the height of an average first jump. She still jumps when you perform it in the air, thus allowing this move to be used in recoveries, and you don't go into helpless state afterward too. Due to its recovery time, however, you cannot use it to stay airborne forever.

**Final Smash: Spear the Gungnir**  
Remilia will remain in wherever she is, staying in midair if the move is activated there, and forms a large spear made of red energy in her hand. Letting go of the button will instantly cause her to throw it across the screen, but holding down the button and pressing up or down on the d-stick will allow you to aim it, and the radius of your aim is 90 degrees, though you cannot throw straight up or straight down. Like with Zelda and Sheik's Light Arrows, the camera will freeze and spin around any opponents who get hit by it for a few seconds. The spear travels a tad bit slower than the arrows, mind you, but it's still very fast.

**Side Taunt: **Spins gracefully three times.

**Up Taunt: **Hovers slightly into the air with arms crossed.

**Down Taunt: **Floats slightly in a leaning position and one hand placed slightly underneath her mouth.

**Victory Stance 1: **Spins gracefully three times and then hovers in the air with her arms placed on her hips.

**Victory Stance 2: **Says, "Bow down before the queen now!" while seated on a throne.

**Victory Stance 3: **Standing sideways with her head turned towards the screen and with crossed arms, she says, "Lost in words due to my charisma, aren't you?"


	120. Oriental Western Magician

**SBS Time!  
MagicalGamer64: **"… so long as evil and darkness". Isn't that another popular video game phrase?  
**Game2002: **It's more of a clichéd phrase said by most villains in almost every form of media.

**MagicalGamer64: **I can't help but notice that the Metal Gear arc is a bit more rushed compared to the one in the One Piece crossover. Is it because you don't know too much about that series?  
**Game2002: **That's quite true. The only Metal Gear games I've beaten are the MSX version of the original Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel.

**MagicalGamer64: **If Kid Icarus Uprising is out a little earlier, would you make that the last arc instead?  
**Game2002: **I made the Metal Gear arc the last arc because it is third party, and I thought saving third party arcs for the last would be a great idea. Since I wanted to get to the Sonic arc faster, I had Metal Gear be the last instead. And about Kid Icarus Uprising... There wasn't much stuff I can get out of from the first two games, but with the third game offering more stuff than those two, I might have considered a Kid Icarus arc, but for the reason stated earlier, it wouldn't be the last arc.

Sorry for the wait again... I wasn't aware that more than ten days have already passed... I'm very sorry... Procrastination and laziness... They really get onto you...

**Chapter 119  
Oriental Western Magician**

* * *

Shortly after Reimu left, Marisa took out her hakkero and began to approach the Emperor. "Even though I have confident in Reimu handling things alone," she said to him, "I still can't help but think that it's better to give her an extra hand. Therefore, don't mind if I make a short work out of you by going rough right from the start-ze!"

The Emperor looked at the part of the floor in front of her and said, "You know, I'd be more careful about where I'm walking if I were you."

"Pardon?" Before Marisa could get an answer, she triggered an explosion simply by placing her foot onto the floor and was blown back into the air. "YA!"

"There was an invisible mine right in front of you," the Emperor told her, "and it was planted before you both came in here. You said you want to take me out in the shortest time possible, did you not? Seeing how you are already injured before the fight actually began, I can't help but think that you won't be defeating me so fast."

Marisa sat up and put her hat back on. "How sneaky of you to prepare something like that, and before the fight even began…"

"One should always be prepared for a fight. It always gives the person who does so an advantage. Charging straight into a battlefield and only coming up with plans and strategies while in action isn't the best idea. You can learn a lot from me, you know."

"Maybe, but to my experience, I've always been the kind of person to come up with plans and strategies during a fight, and in the end, I still manage to win."

"Then I shall show you that such a method will not always work!"

**BGM: Boss Battle B (Final Fantasy II Origins)**

"I'll show you otherwise!" Marisa shouted as she took out her hakkero and a spell card, but when she placed the latter in front of the former to unleash Master Spark, the Emperor quickly fired a lightning bolt at her hands to knock them away. "Ya!"

"I know well what you plan to do," the Emperor said to her. "Our last meeting has made me acquainted with some of your attacks. While not much, it is still helpful in coming up with strategies and preventions."

"Don't think you can render me helpless just by doing that!" Marisa said as she rushed over to her the hakkero and the spell card, but after picking up the latter, she was forced to jump away from another lightning bolt fired at her. The Emperor continued to fire lightning bolts at her, and each time she dodged the shots, she found herself moving farther and farther away from her hakkero. "Enough of this! I'm fighting back! Meteoric Swarm!" Then she fired several star-shaped projectiles at him from her hand.

"Shell!" the Emperor said as he casted an energy wall in front of himself to block the incoming projectiles. "Thunder!" He raised his scepter to fire a large bolt of lightning into the air, and then it broke down into ten smaller lightning bolts that went after Marisa, each of them moving out at different times. The magician desperately ran around to avoid getting hit by each of the lightning bolts, and she was pretty successful in avoiding them, only barely getting hit in the feet a few times.

"You like electric spells, don't you?" Marisa asked after avoiding the last lightning bolt. "I'll show you something even more destructive and flashier than electric spells, my spells!" Then she raised a different spell card into the air. "Magic Sign: Milky Way!" The card released a large amount of colorful stars in every direction.

Once again, the Emperor used the defensive spell Shell to protect himself from the incoming stars, which shattered upon hitting it. "An attack pleasing to the eye, but what use is it if it cannot do anything noteworthy? You are doing nothing but putting up a show."

Marisa lowered the spell card and said, "Hey! It can't be helped that your shield is a strong one! Okay, I'm basically admitting that I'm the weaker one here by saying that… All right! I'll show you a stronger one if you insist! Witch Leyline!" She jumped onto her broom and zoomed at him really fast.

The Emperor barely avoided it due to the speed, and he turned to look at Marisa as she performed a u-turn to return to him, but he managed to avoid getting hit again. He held out his hand and formed a symbol of sorts made of light in the air. "Light Crest!" When Marisa returned for the third attempt, the strange symbol fired projectiles at her, but she quickly steered out of the way. The Emperor turned to her and shot a ball of blue fire. "Flare!"

Due to the slow-moving speed of the blue fire, Marisa had no problem outrunning it. She tried to ram into the Emperor again, but the latter quickly stepped away and allowed the Light Crest behind him to fire into her face and knock her off her broom. "Ow!" Shortly after hitting the floor, the ball of blue fire hit her from behind and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Marisa was propelled through the air by it and bounced three times before lying charred on the floor. "Thunder Crest!" the Emperor said as he slammed the back end of his staff against the floor to create an electric field that started to draw in Marisa. By the time she fully regained consciousness and realized this, it was already too late to get away. Marisa was pulled to the center of the electric field and got electrocuted.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Even after getting badly zapped, however, Marisa managed to keep herself held up using her hands and knee while panting heavily. She turned to look at the Emperor and glared at him for a few seconds before taking out and flinging a pot at him. "Magical Reusable Bomb!" The Emperor easily batted the pot away, however, and it exploded when it fell back down on the other side of the room. While he was looking at the explosion, Marisa used this opportunity to run for her hakkero.

"You're not having things your way here!" the Emperor said as he fired a ball of orange light from his scepter at her. "Dynamite!" The ball of light flew toward Marisa at a fast speed, but because she had her head turned back and saw it, she quickly threw herself forward and fell flat on the floor, so it went over her. She also came to a sliding stop just in front of her hakkero as well.

"All right!" she happily said as she picked it up and then stood back up to face the Emperor. "Now that I have my hakkero back, I can go at you with full power! Get ready to fall before me! Green Spread!" She fired several green beams that converged as they got near the Emperor, but he easily blocked them with Shell. After that, Marisa got onto her broom and zoomed at him really fast, but he managed to step aside in time.

Marisa flew high into the air and u-turned, firing stars from her hakkero at him when she did, and he used the same defensive spell for protection. As Marisa closed in on him to ram into him, he said, "The same old trick… If it doesn't work once, then chances are likely that it won't work the second time." He stepped aside again when Marisa got close to him, but the latter unexpectedly pulled off a move of getting off her broom and swinging it into his face as she was going past him.

The Emperor was knocked onto the floor, and then Marisa, floating a few inches in the air, pointed the back end of her broom at him and fired star rapidly. "Radial Strike!" The Emperor was shot in the face and body multiple times, and the nonstop rapid firing kept him from countering or defending himself. Marisa then pointed her hakkero at him to fire a beam that blasted him a few feet back. "Narrow Spark!"

"Grrr!" the Emperor growled as he stood back up. "Admittedly, you caught me by surprise and managed to land some hits on me, but that is not enough to take me out!"

"We'll see about that!" Marisa said as she charged at him and swung her broom, but he blocked it with his scepter. The both of them swung their so-called weapons at each other a few times, and then the Emperor fired an orange energy ball at her at point blank. Luckily, Marisa managed to avoid it by moving aside, and then she smacked him in the face with her broom.

After the Emperor was knocked down, Marisa enhanced her broom with magic and jumped at him with it held over her head, but the Emperor quickly used magic to make himself float backwards and escape a powerful broom smack that actually left behind cracks on the floor. "Thunder!" he shouted as he fired a lightning bolt at Marisa, but she grazed it and then swung her broom at him again. He tried to block it with his scepter again, but due to it being magically-enhanced, it was able to knock the latter out of his hand, and then the villain received a powerful smack to the head that sent him flying across the air and hitting the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

After the Emperor fell onto the floor in a sitting position, Marisa placed a spell card in front of her hakkero and then pointed them both at him. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" A huge beam was fired at him, and seeing this coming, the Emperor quickly casted Shell for protection.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the powerful attack came to an end, Marisa saw that the wall was, surprisingly enough, still intact, and the Emperor was seen still in a sitting position with his hands held out to the front. "Wow… Whoever built this castle sure knows how to make durable walls…" the witch commented. "And you managed to block my Master Spark too…"

"I must say…" the Emperor said, "that was an impressive attack! Even the highest level of Shell almost got broken through, but in the end, I was lucky that it managed to hold through."

"You won't be so lucky next time!"

The Emperor pointed his scepter diagonally into the air and fired several glowing objects. "Mine!" The objects flew through the air and landed all around Marisa.

"Judging from what I heard just now, these things are obviously mines that explode when stepped on. You seriously think something like this will work on someone who can fly? How dumb can you get?" Marisa then jumped onto her broom and went for the air, and the Emperor used the help of magic to make himself go airborne as well.

Both sides charged at each other and then stopped to fire projectiles which cancelled out each other. Marisa then attempted to ram into the Emperor, but he moved aside and then fired a lightning bolt at her, only for her to dodge it by flying aside. Marisa then moved in circles around the Emperor while firing stars at him rapidly, but he used Shell to protect himself.

Marisa then went above him, raised her broom into the air, and then dropped down to whack him with it. He quickly moved aside, and when Marisa landed, she spun her broom above herself a few times before slamming the back end of it against the floor to fire a large ball of energy upwards. "Star Sign: Gravity Beat!"

Surprised by this, the Emperor barely avoided it, but he did not expect the energy ball to fall back down on top of him, so he was blasted onto the floor. Marisa then jumped into the air and pointed her hands at him, spinning vertically while firing star-shaped projectiles. "Meteoric Spinner!"

The Emperor had no time to cast Shell, so he used his cape for protection, which was next to useless in terms of effectiveness. When Marisa stopped firing, she quickly got onto her broom and charged into him. "Witch Leyline!" After getting hit in the body, the Emperor found himself being carried upwards by the tip of the broom when Marisa swooped up. When Marisa stopped, the Emperor continued to fly upwards until he was close to the ceiling, and then Marisa combined a spell card with her hakkero to let loose her signature move straight upwards. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" The beam hit the villain before he could do anything.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Marisa moved out of the way as the Emperor fell back down. She landed a bit of a distance away from him and watched him as he lied there unconsciously. "So… is that all?" she wondered. After looking at the villain for several seconds and seeing no signs of movements, she started to think that she really had won when suddenly the Emperor twitched. "Geez… Make up your mind… Don't play dead when you clearly aren't dead, though I prefer that you're dead… Not that I like seeing people die, mind you… Rin likes to, I think."

The Emperor got up and dusted himself. "I'm not sure whether I should say I am impressed by your power or be angry at the fact that you have humiliated me."

"Humiliated by the fact that you got beaten up by someone whom you had little problem dealing with the first time? It's normal for the loser to become stronger and then win in the second round, you know. Who knows? You may end up being the winner in the third round-ze!"

A smile appeared on the Emperor's face. "I have to thank you for those words of encouragement! I am now convinced that I will indeed be the winner of the third round… once and for all!" As he was saying this, fire and darkness appeared around him and slowly covered him up, a sight that made Marisa curious.

"What the…? What's happening to him…?"

Eventually, the fire and darkness around the Emperor spread out like an explosion, revealing the villain himself in a new form—a monstrous being wearing gold armor and having hair that was consisted of snakes.

**BGM: Battle Scene 2 (Final Fantasy II Origins)**

"Behold the power I've obtained from the depths of hell!" the Emperor said in a loud voice. "You shall now suffer the kinds of consequences that can only be found there! This is your punishment for offending the emperor!"

The Emperor's new appearance made Marisa take some steps back in fear. "Whoa… I totally wasn't expecting this… Not at all…"

"Prepare to die!" the Emperor shouted as he jumped at Marisa with his scepter raised over his head, and the latter jumped back to avoid a powerful whack from his scepter that caused an explosion of fire when it hit the floor. The Emperor then closed in on Marisa and swung his scepter at her rapidly, but she managed to avoid each of the swings.

Eventually, Marisa enhanced her broom with magic and swung it at the Emperor's head from the side, and stars flew everywhere when he was hit. "Gotcha! You're going to feel that in the morning for sure!" Marisa said. However, the Emperor didn't appear to be very fazed by the hit, though he did grunt a bit. He grabbed the broom and then flung it along with Marisa across the room. "Whoa!" Unfortunately for her, she flew in the direction of the mines the Emperor previously planted and fell onto them.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Marisa cried as the explosion propelled her into the air, and then the Emperor jumped at her and brought down his scepter onto her to make her shoot down onto the floor. Marisa had no time to groan in pain at all, as she saw the Emperor falling onto her for another blow, so she quickly rolled aside and managed to avoid getting hit the second time by his scepter. "You sure became tougher! I'll give you that! Looks like I'll have to put more effort into this now-ze!"

"No amount of effort is going to get you through this alive!" the Emperor said as he turned to her and fired a large lightning bolt from his scepter. "Thunder!" Marisa dodged it and then jumped onto her broom to avoid the following ones. She flew through the air as fast as she could and then went in the Emperor's direction, planning to charge into him. When the Emperor fired another lightning bolt at her again, she swooped up the last second and pointed her hakkero and a spell card downwards.

"Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" Marisa shouted as she unleashed a huge beam, but the Emperor jumped out of the way. "Darn it! Missed! He also became agile!" The Emperor pointed his scepter at her and fired lightning bolts again, and Marisa kept on moving around to avoid getting hit. As the Emperor increased his fire rate, Marisa found it harder and harder to dodge them, and eventually, she was hit and knocked out of the air. "Waa!"

After she hit the floor, the Emperor raised his scepter into the air and shouted, "Starfall!" Immediately, a portal showing the scenery of space appeared directly above Marisa, and then fireballs rained down all around her.

"Yikes!" Marisa quickly attempted to escape, but one of the fireballs hit her in the head and knocked her back onto the floor, and this gave the following fireballs the chance to pelt her rapidly. "Yeow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" As she was continuously getting pelted, a large fireball slowly came out of the portal. Marisa managed to look up and was horrified at the sight of it, so she endured getting hit by the smaller ones, despite them trying to push her back down, and jumped out of the way before the large one crushed her. Shortly after hitting the floor, the large fireball exploded with such a force that the witch was propelled forward.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

After touching the floor and coming to a skidding stop, Marisa got up and looked back at the spot that got hit by the fireballs. "Phew… That was close… Man… What an attack…!" Suddenly, the Emperor appeared in front of her to hit her with his scepter, but she quickly levitated backwards in the nick of time. "That does it! You're starting to piss me off! Eat this! Narrow Spark!" She fired a beam from her hakkero.

The Emperor sidestepped it and then created clones of himself that surrounded the witch. "Blink!"

Marisa looked around in surprise. "Whoa! This is just like Reisen!"

"Can you tell which the real one is?" every one of the Emperors asked.

"I'll just hit all of them at once!" Marisa raised a spell card into the air to let it fire stars all over the place. "Star Sign: Milky Way!"

All the Emperors but one remained in one place, and the projectiles went through them. Knowing which the real one is now, Marisa quickly lowered her spell card to defend herself against the real Emperor, who tried to hit her with his scepter. She blocked the hit with her broom, but the hit was a powerful one that sent her flying backwards, though she managed to land on her feet. "You have more strength too this time… Durability, speed, power… Having an increase in all three of them at the same time is considered cheap…"

"Now you realized how hopeless you are before the powers of hell!" the Emperor said to her. "Know your limits and surrender before me at once!"

"Like I'm going to surrender myself to you! Even if I do surrender, I have the feeling that you're still going to kill me anyway, so what use is surrendering if that is the case? Whether or not you will do that, there's no way I'm losing this fight! I'm going to defeat you, and you better believe it-ze!"

"Then this shall be the end you! Regret ever making such a decision and die!" the Emperor fired several lightning bolts at Marisa, who desperately ran around to avoid getting hit, and at the same time, she fired beams out of her hakkero at him, but the Emperor seemed to shrug them off with ease.

Eventually, Marisa took out and threw a pot at him. "Magical Recycled Bomb!" But the Emperor, with a swing of his scepter, sent it flying away and exploding against the wall. Marisa threw more shortly after throwing the first one, and the Emperor wasn't able to counter them in time, so they fell around him and exploded. One of them struck him in the face and blasted him back some steps. While the smoke left behind had yet to clear away, Marisa stretched forth her arms and fired large blasts of stars rapidly. "Meteoric Buster!"

The Emperor was pushed back every time he got hit by the somewhat powerful shots, and then Marisa charged into him on her broom and performed a vertical spin to hit him in the chest with it and knock him into the air. "Up Sweeper!" While he was in the air, Marisa pointed her arms at him and fired stars rapidly. "Meteoric Buster!" Each of the shots pushed him diagonally upwards higher and higher. When she stopped firing, the Emperor fell down, but before he reached the floor, Marisa let loose her signature move. "Love Sign: Master Spark!"

Seeing the beam approaching, the Emperor quickly casted his defensive spell. "Shell!" Thanks to his new form, the magical shield became more powerful, so it managed to protect him entirely from the beam. In fact, he could even walk forward and push through the beam using it with little effort. When Marisa ended the attack, she was shock to see the Emperor standing unscratched right in front of her.

"What the! How is this possible!" she gasped.

"Anything is possible for me if I have the power to do so!" the Emperor said as he brought down his scepter onto her, so she held up her broom horizontally for defense. Due to having more strength, the Emperor easily overpowered and pinned her against the floor, but Marisa did her best to hold up her broom against his scepter.

The Emperor suddenly grabbed her by the neck, lifted her into the air, and tightened his grip to squeeze the life out of her. "You're finished!" While struggling to break free, Marisa aimed the back end of her broom at his body, and then it fired a burst of energy that caused him to drop her and take a few steps back. "Augh!"

"Phew… I thought I was a goner…" Marisa said while panting heavily. When she looked up, she saw the Emperor trying to attack her with his scepter again, and since she knew she couldn't block it with ease, she jumped to the side instead and fired some stars at him while in the air.

The Emperor swung his scepter at her again about two seconds before her feet touched the floor, so she desperately used her broom for defense instead of trying to get out of the way again. When the front end of his scepter came in contact with it, a burst of fire was suddenly released and blasted Marisa in the face, blowing her backwards.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Marisa cried in pain as she hit the floor.

"Cyclone!" the Emperor shouted as he made his scepter spin around himself really fast until a large tornado was formed, and then it flew over to Marisa and picked her off the floor, causing her to spin furiously in the center of it. While this was happening, the Emperor stretched his hand diagonally into the air and charged up a ball of energy in the palm. "Entice!" The energy ball then broke down into several beams that flew into the cyclone and struck Marisa from all sides, eventually causing an explosion of light.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The tornado was cleared away when the explosion occurred, and then Marisa was seen lying badly charred on the floor. Marisa groaned and tried to get back up, but she was feeling to fatigued and in too much pain to move. The Emperor went up to her and pinned her down by the forehead with his scepter. "You're finished! It's time for you to die, and without your friends to watch this happen! Begone, you lonely worm!" he said.

"Me? A lonely worm? Heh!" Marisa said, snickering a bit at that comment. "Right… Like I'm actually really a lone wolf… I'm actually very well known back in my world, you know? Tell my name to someone and he or she will most definitely know who I am."

"Then you will at least die a death where nobody from your world is aware of! Die in a place distant from your homeland and never getting the chance to be buried back there, not even having a proper funeral!" The villain raised his scepter and readied to plunge the bottom of it through her forehead.

Marisa sighed and then closed her eyes, waiting for the worst to come. "I guess this is it for me… I'm sorry, everyone… In the end, I don't think I ever lived a satisfying enough life nor did I accomplish what I want to do before my end comes… On the bright side, Alice, Patchouli, and whoever I borrowed books from will probably be glad that they'll finally be able to get back their books.

"Wait a second… I didn't borrow any books from Alice recently, and I doubt she knows that I borrowed a bunch of books from Patchouli… What if my death never reached Patchouli, and she continues to wait for them to return? I promised her that I will be borrowing them for a lifetime. Sure, my life is coming to an end soon, but I must at least make this known to her first! I cannot die just yet! In fact, I don't want to die at all! Not at all! There are still a lot of things I want to do in life! I don't want to die just yet! I don't want to die! No! Not at all! NOT AT ALL!"

Her determination to continue living caused the power of the Smash Essence to be unlocked, and like with the previous villains, the Emperor was surprised at the colorful light Marisa was giving off. "What is happening!"

**BGM: Love-Colored Master Spark (Touhou: Imperishable Night)**

After feeling strength returning, Marisa picked up her hat, which was just lying nearby, and then jumped back on her feet before putting it back on and adjusting it. "All right! I suddenly feel a lot better than before! Let's do this again-ze!"

"Interesting! I do not know what sort of trick you pulled off, but the result of this fight will still be obvious! You will still die by hands, you worm! You will not and cannot stand up to the power of hell!"

"We'll see about that-ze! Meteoric Buster!" Marisa said as she fired large blasts of stars at him, but he moved out of the way and fired a lightning bolt at her. Marisa swiftly dodged it while approaching him and thrust the back of her broom at him, but he dodged it as well. Acting quick, Marisa swung her broom to the side and managed to hit him in the waist, but the hit was considered a weak one to the Emperor, so he more or less didn't feel anything.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked.

"Nope!" Marisa said before magical energy appeared on the broom, and then the Emperor found himself forcefully pushed away and sent flying when the broom pressed against him really hard all of a sudden. Marisa then jumped onto her broom and held up a spell card. "Blazing Star!" The card glowed with yellow light, and then she zoomed forward at a blazingly fast speed, so fast that the Emperor almost had no idea what hit him.

He was knocked into the air and then fell back down, and Marisa came back to ram into him the second time, knocking him into the air again. Either Marisa's speed increase even more or she turned around earlier then before, the Emperor was knocked into the air for the third time before touching the floor, and the former zoomed past him over and over to constantly hit him and keep him airborne.

Eventually, Marisa stopped moving high above the Emperor and pointed her hakkero with a spell card in front of it downwards. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" And she fired a massive beam at him.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the Emperor screamed as he got burned by the beam.

After Marisa was done with the attack, she raised her hands into the air and said out loud, "All right! Time to this with a flashy bang-ze! Final Smash! Meteoric Armageddon!" A large amount of light formed over her hands, and eventually, a massive glowing star was formed. In fact, it was so big that it actually broke through the ceiling. She then hurled it at the villain.

The star came down at such a speed that the Emperor could not do anything. He couldn't even get the chance to finish screaming. "NOOOOOOOOOO-

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The powerful impact destroyed the floor, and the star kept on sinking downwards, crushing everything underneath it.

CRAAAAAAAAASH! CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Eventually, the star reached the first floor and stopped falling, and then a few seconds later, it suddenly exploded in a burst of light, and Darkling that happened to be nearby where eliminated by it. Marisa looked at the bottom of the castle with wide open eyes and mouth and said, "Whoa… Man… This is… This is… This is way too… AWESOME!"

"Marisa! Is that you? If so, then watch where you throw that thing next time!" shouted a familiar voice. Marisa looked down and saw Alice standing at the edge of one of the floors.

"Alice! It's great to see you safe and sound-ze!" the witch happily said.

"If I hadn't gotten out of the way faster, then I wouldn't have been safe and sound!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

It would appear that this fight is shorter than the previous ones. Even so, I felt I did what I could do for this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

So, it's only Reimu's battle left, right...? That's for you to find out in the next chapter!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Phantasm Battle**

**Trivia:  
**1. Not sure if this is worth mentioning, but the way Meteoric Spinner (I made up by this move, BTW) is used is the same as the way Deadpool's Happy-Happy Trigger from Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is used when in air.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Marisa's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 4/6  
Speed: 4/6  
Jump: 4/6  
Weight: 4/6**

**Entrance: **Flies onto the stage using her broom.

**A, A, A: **Two horizontal broom swings and then a thrust. The last hit has a long range.

**F-Tilt: **Horizontal broom sweep.

**U-Tilt: **Thrusts broom straight up. It has a lot of reach.

**D-Tilt: **Broom thrust that has a lot of reach.

**Dash Attack: **A shoulder bash.

**Forward Smash: **Swings broom like a baseball bat, releasing magical dust that deals small damage to opponents if they are short of the broom's range.

**Up Smash: **Gravity Beat – slams the back end of her broom onto the ground to shoot a ball of blue energy into the air, and the height of the latter depends on how long you charge it. It doesn't fall straight back down; rather, it falls slightly to the side you're facing instead. This move is just like Snake's Up Smash, and the maximum height of the energy ball is the same as his missile too.

**Down Smash: **Performs a spin with the broom and releases magical dust in both sides.

**Neutral Aerial: **Spins with broom sticking out.

**Forward Aerial: **An overhead broom smack that acts as a meteor smash.

**Back Aerial: **Rides her broom and releases a burst of energy from the straws to propel herself forward slightly. This move is similar to R.O.B.'s back aerial, so it can aid her in her recovery.

**Up Aerial: **Points her broom upwards and shakes it as if she's "sweeping" the air. Hits multiple times.

**Down Aerial: **Grabs onto her broom as if it is a pole and releases a burst of energy downward to propel upward slightly. It functions as a meteor smash and is similar to R.O.B.'s down aerial.

**Grab Attack: **Kicks him/her in the shin.

**Forward Throw: **Smacks him/her away in the face using her broom.

**Back Throw: **Smacks him/her away in the back of the head using her broom.

**Up Throw: **An uppercut using her broom.

**Down Throw: **Pushes him/her onto the ground and literally sweeps him/her.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly jumps back onto the ledge and slams down her broom.

**Ledge Attack (below 100%): **Slowly climbs up while sweeping the ground with her hand.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Jumps back on her feet and slams down her broom in front of herself.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Hits both sides with her broom while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Spins once and hits both sides with her broom while standing back up.

**Neutral B: Narrow Spark  
**Marisa takes out her hakkero and fires a beam of light that travels across the screen in an instant. The beam goes through everything and cannot be reflected or deflected, and while it can be absorbed, the beam itself is still seen going through those absorbing it. Even though it cannot be reflected, the beam will not deal damage to those who have reflectors activated.

**Forward B: Radial Strike  
**Marisa gets on her broom and zooms forward as far as Falco Phantasm, firing a single star-shaped projectile that zips across the screen while doing so. Getting hit by the ramming is more painful than getting hit by the projectile, which isn't powerful at all, but its speed is useful for disrupting opponents. The speed of the zooming is the same as Fox and Falco's Up B's, but it starts up faster.

**Up B: Escape Velocity  
**Marisa unleashes a powerful uppercut using her broom, which is coated in a large amount of magical energy. This move is pretty much the same as Mario's Super Jump Punch, except much more powerful and has slightly more height and range.

**Down B: Magical Recycled Bomb  
**Marisa flings a pot that bounces off things, and about three seconds after hitting the ground, it will explode and deal damage to anyone who touches it, including the user, so you should be careful when using this. The pot cannot be picked up, but melee attacks can move it around. As soon as it stops bouncing when thrown, it will explode no matter where it is. It's actually powerful enough to KO players.

**Final Smash: Master Spark  
**Marisa stands on her broom and charges up her hakkero to unleash her signature move, but loses her balance just before firing it. As a result, she ends up zooming across the screen multiple times while constantly spinning, the beam moving in a clockwise manner (or counterclockwise, depending on the direction you're facing when activating this move). She zooms back and forth a total of eight times, and after the eighth time, she will stop at the center of the screen and aim the beam in the direction you are pushing your d-stick in for a few seconds before ending the attack. Getting hit by her when she zooms across the screen is more painful than getting hit by the beam, which isn't very powerful. However, the beam after she stops moving is slightly more powerful than the impact from the charging. She travels across the screen as fast as Super Sonic in his top speed.

**Side Taunt: **Adjusts her hat and says, "Da ze!"

**Up Taunt: **Holds a mushroom into the air.

**Down Taunt: **Happily sweeps the floor while humming the part about thirteen seconds into one of her theme songs, Love-Colored Master Spark.

**Victory Stance 1: **Zooms across the screen on her broom, moves backwards to remain on screen, and then adjusts her hat with a smile and a wink.

**Victory Stance 2: **Twirls broom as if it is a baton and then place it by the back end against the ground while adjusting her hat.

**Victory Stance 3: **Holds up her hakkero in triumph, but unintentionally fires a beam into the air, which causes her to fall to the ground in shock and remain seated.


	121. Phantasm Battle

**SBS Time!  
MagicalGamer64: **Do you mind explaining what makes each of the members of the organization fitting opponents for the Touhou girls?  
**Game2002:  
**Alice vs. Sigma: Dolls vs. robots, and dolls are like robots without mechanical parts  
Aya vs. Rez: News reporter vs. TV maniac, and news reports are also on TV  
Sanae vs. Mr. King: One with knowledge of technology vs. user of technology for evil  
Meiling vs. M. Bison: Close-range combat specialists  
Cirno vs. Marx: Both act and/or look childish  
Nitori vs. Fawful: Both create mechanical stuff  
Reisen vs. I.M. Meen: Madness-inducing powers vs. mad man (I think he acts a bit like one)  
Youmu vs. Exdeath: Sword-wielding gardener vs. sword-wielding tree  
Remilia vs. Dracula: This is obvious  
Marisa vs. the Emperor: Magic users and also secondary main character vs. who I like to think is second-in-command  
Reimu vs. Tabuu: Main character vs. leader

**MagicalGamer64: **If Sakuya was in the final version, who would her opponent be?  
**Game2002: **I wanted her fight Dracula.

**Chapter 120  
Phantasm Battle**

* * *

Being a powerful and fearless demon, Yukari wasn't intimidated by the appearance of the Cruncher Darkling at all, even when he knelt down and moved his head close to her to get a better look at her, much like what large animals might do when they want to get a better look at something small. "My, what a big fellow you are," Yukari commented.

The Cruncher Darkling stared at her for a few seconds, and then without a warning, he opened his mouth and roared at the top of his voice, the sound causing Yukari to lose her footing and fly back some feet, but she managed to keep herself from falling.

"Now that was uncalled for!" she said in a somewhat angry tone. "Don't you know that it's not nice to shout into a lady's face?" Then she saw the Cruncher Darkling bringing down his hand onto her, so she quickly floated to the side. "This is even more uncalled for! You're not supposed to attack a lady for no reason and without saying anything first!"

The Cruncher Darkling wasted no time in bringing up his arm and swinging it at Yukari the second time, this time horizontally, but the demon managed to avoid it. The giant Darkling continued to try to swat her out of the air, but she managed to avoid them all with swift movements. Eventually, Yukari grew tired of dodging, so she made a gap appear behind herself and disappeared into it, reappearing from another gap that appeared behind the Darkling.

The mouth at the end of his tail, despite not having eyes, was able to see Yukari appearing in the new location, and it reached forward with its mouth wide open, but she got out of the way in time. "That's quite an odd body design," she commented. "So you basically have two heads, right?" The Cruncher Darkling then turned around and tried to knock her out of the air again, only for her to move out of his reach.

The Darkling, annoyed at constantly missing, let out a roar as he raised both his arms into the air and then reached forward to hammer her against the ground with them, but like all the previous attacks, it was a failure. "Try attacking faster if you want to lay a hand on me," Yukari said as she took out a fan to cool herself. "Even though I have some other business to deal with, I don't mind spending some time with you. I've never seen a creature like you before, so I'm curious about what you are capable of. If this is really all that you can do, then I'm going to fall asleep soon."

The Cruncher Darkling dug his claws into the ground and lift up a large piece of it, raising it over his head before throwing it at Yukari, but she disappeared into a gap and reappeared after the piece of the ground fell and broke into pieces. "My! What strength!" She suddenly felt as if her head was spinning. "Ugh… Why is it that I'm feeling sicker by the moment…? It's been like this ever since I came here…" Then she saw the Cruncher Darkling swinging his hand at her horizontally, so she quickly dropped to the ground before it was too late. "Phew! That was close! He almost got me there for second because of that feeling…"

She moved back from him and stood among the chunks of the piece of the ground he threw earlier. "You know? Maybe you'll perform more seriously if I fight back. Let's have some fun together now, shall we?" She made a gap appear underneath one of the chunks of the ground to make it drop into it, and then another gap opened up in the air in front of her, and the chunk of the ground fell down from there. Using her parasol like a baseball bat, she gave it a powerful swing to send it flying at the Cruncher Darkling, but he was completely unfazed when it hit him in the snout. The chunk of the ground was like a marble compared to him in terms of size after all, and getting hit by it felt like getting hit by a paper ball.

Yukari continued doing the same thing, and the Cruncher Darkling didn't do anything at all. It was as if he was either not amused by what she was doing or he simply wanted to see her performing an act that was considered silly and futile. While she was doing this, something picked up a piece of the ground and approached her from behind, but Yukari felt the former's presence, so without bothering to turn around to see who or what it was, she quickly jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting smashed in the head by the piece of the ground. She then looked at her attacker and saw that it was a large black creature with purple eyes. There was not one, but two of them—Tyrant Darkling.

"Hmmm… Same skin texture, and also the same colored eyes… Same species or what?" Yukari wondered. The Tyrant Darkling who tried to smash her head with the piece of the ground flung the latter at her, but she easily dodged it, and when he ran towards her to attack her with his hand, she got out of the way again and then avoided a punch coming from the second Tyrant Darkling.

She quickly moved away from the Darkling and said, "You're all together in this, aren't you? I would appreciate it if you would give me an explanation for why you're attacking me. That's not how you treat newcomers to this place, you know?"

"DESTROY! DIE!" shouted both the Tyrant Darkling before running at her to attack again, and she continued to dodge their attacks.

"I take that you are nothing but mindless monsters that only think of destruction. Looks like it's pointless trying to get you to say something more civilized. If that's the case, I don't mind if I teach you a lesson the hard way."

She moved away from the Tyrant Darkling and then opened up a gap next to herself, and out of the gap shot out energy balls at high speed that forced the Tyrant Darkling to take steps backwards when hit in the bodies. The Cruncher Darkling then moved forward, trampling the Tyrant Darkling in the process, an act that surprised Yukari. "Why would you do that? Aren't those two supposed to be your friends?"

She quickly moved to a safer distance and then opened up several gaps that fired energy balls and lasers at the Cruncher Darkling, but despite the large amount of projectiles fired at him at an intense rate, the Darkling appeared to be completely unfazed. He kept on moving forward like there was nothing trying to stop him and attacked Yukari with his hand, but she dodged it. "Pretty durable, aren't you?" she asked before opening another gap that fired a large amount of missiles, but they were just as useless as the previous projectiles.

Yukari was too busy paying attention to the Cruncher Darkling that she failed to notice something sneaking up behind her, so she was caught in the waist. "What the!" She looked back and saw that she was caught in the mandibles of a Centurion Darkling. "A giant centipede! Let go of me!" The Cruncher Darkling approached them, and the Centurion Darkling quickly turned around and scuttled away as fast as it could with the demon in its grasp. "I said to let go of me!" She tried to pry open its mandibles, and thanks to being a demon, she had more strength than an average human, so doing this wasn't a hard task for her.

She pried open the mandible wide enough for herself to escape by flying upwards. She turned to the Darkling and angrily said, "Die like a bug that you are!" She raised her arm to open up a gap that rained down a large amount of boulders that crushed and buried it completely. Yukari stared at the pile of boulders for a few seconds, and then she was surprised when she saw several small centipedes crawling out from the gaps. Those centipedes merged together to become one large centipede again. "Now that's quite a sight…"

She then sensed the presence of something behind her, so she turned around to see two more Centurion Darkling. "These things really are coming one after another… Just what is this place anyway?" She avoided the Darkling when they lunged at and reached out to her to catch her with their mandibles, but she was able to avoid them with ease. She moved away from them and then opened a gap to fire projectiles at them, but while the projectiles did manage to push them back, they got back up again as if they didn't suffer any pain from getting hit.

When one of the Centurion Darkling leaped at her, she stepped to the side and created gap that stuck out a buzzsaw. The Darkling was sliced vertically into two when it jumped into the buzzsaw. She turned to the other two Darkling and made a pair of gaps open up above them, and then large guillotine blades came down and cut off their heads. The sliced parts of the Darkling's body squirmed and trashed around for a few seconds, and then they moved toward each other to merge together again.

"Something should be said about their regeneration abilities," Yukari commented. Suddenly, she felt her head spinning again and then coughed, and it was during this moment that one of the Centurion Darkling lunged forward and caught her in its mandibles. "Hey! How dirty of you to attack me while I was feeling sick! Let go of me!" She tried to pry open the mandibles, but this time, she was feeling a bit weak, so she didn't have as much strength as before to get the job done.

Suddenly, the ground underneath the Centurion Darkling burst open, and then the Cruncher Darkling rose from underneath the earth. The former also let go of Yukari due to the giant Darkling's unexpected appearance, and the demon of boundaries quickly used this opportunity to fly away. "I'm really feeling under the weather for unknown reasons…" Yukari said with her hand placed on the side of her head. "I think I better get out of here… Ugh…!" She found herself coughing nonstop, and the more she coughed, the more she came closer to the ground. "I… have to… get out of here… now…"

Right after she said that, something grabbed her hair from behind, and the demon found herself being swung in circles by a Tyrant Darkling, and the latter eventually slammed her against the ground with such a force that she bounced up and fell in a sitting position against the wall. When the Tyrant Darkling threw a straight punch at her, she quickly got out of the way and moved away from all the ones that were trying to take her life for no reason. "That does it! I'm angry now! Bounded Field: Border of Life and Death!" She held out a spell card, and when it glowed, a large amount of gaps opened up in the air all around her, and then a ridiculous amount of energy projectiles of different sizes and colors shot out. There were so many of them that from afar, one could mistake them for a colorful mass of smoke.

The Tyrant Darkling and the Centurion Darkling were instantly blown away by the projectiles, but the Cruncher Darkling was only fazed a tiny bit by them, but for the most part, he had no problem moving forward. When he got close to Yukari to attack her, she quickly opened up a gap that made a large spiked column shoot out and hit him really hard in the head. The Cruncher Darkling almost fell back, but in the end, he managed to retain his footing.

Seeing that the projectiles weren't doing any good against him, Yukari closed the gaps and then pointed at him, opening a new gap next to herself in the process. "Obsolete Line: Trip to the Old Station!" Suddenly, a train came zooming out of the gap at a high speed and struck the Cruncher Darkling in the abdomen. Another train came out and struck him in the head, and then the third one in the leg.

The fourth and last train came zooming out, but the Darkling kicked the third train right into to knock it off course before shaking off the other two, and the one that hit his abdomen flew in Yukari's direction, so she quickly dodged it. Enraged, the Cruncher Darkling lunged forward, but she quickly moved back through the air as fast as could to avoid getting hit. Yukari felt even less comfortable than before. She clutched her head with one hand and cough very hard. "Ugh… I can't… handle it much… longer… What's happening… to… me…? My vision… It's starting to become distorted…" Due to her strength wearing out, she found herself unable to stay in air much longer, so she slowly and automatically came to the ground.

The Cruncher Darkling moved his hand close to the ground and in her direction, flicking his fingers upwards when they came in contact with her to send her flying high into the air. A Winged Darkling suddenly swooped down at her and caught her from behind, and then another one came in front of her to attack her. "Get away!" she cried while desperately using her parasol to defend herself. She eventually knocked the Winged Darkling out of the air with it, and then using all the strength she had left, she struggled until she freed herself from the grasp of the one grabbing hold of her and fell down. She tried to fly, but all she could do was slow down her falling speed.

The Cruncher Darkling was watching her as she fell, and in an attempt to protect herself, she pointed her fan at him and shouted, "Nest of Fireflies!" Blue portals opened up behind her and fired same-colored projectiles at him, but even before the portals were done shooting, the Cruncher Darkling brought down his hand onto her to make her to shoot toward the ground at a fast speed.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Yukari groaned in pain as she slowly pushed herself back up, and then she looked up with a terrified face at the Cruncher Darkling, who was staring down at her. A feeling she couldn't remember whether or not she had ever felt in her life suddenly filled her mind, and it was causing her whole body to tremble violently—fear. Yukari stood back up, but the shaking gave way and caused her to fall back down, and then she crawled backwards as fast as she could while saying, "No… Stay away…! No…! Don't come near me! No! Don't!"

The Cruncher Darkling stomped the ground in front of her hard. Any close and she would've been crushed underfoot. This scared Yukari even more than she originally was, and as much as she want to stand up and run, her legs were shaking so much that she couldn't, and it couldn't help that she wasn't feeling comfortable at all. "No! Please… don't…! Please stay away from me! Please! I don't want to die! Not just yet!" she desperately cried while moving backwards in the same manner.

She then turned around and crawled away as fast as she could. "I must get out of here now!" she thought. "I don't know what these are! All my attacks seem to be doing nothing against them, especially the big one! Furthermore, I'm feeling weaker by the moment just by being here! I don't know what's happening, but this is definitely not a good place to be in!" She reached out her hand to open a gap, but when she did, the size was even smaller than her hand. "No! I don't have that much energy left to open a big enough gap! This can't be happening now! I can't get out of here like this!"

Then she looked back just in time to see the Cruncher Darkling's tail coming at her at a fast speed. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

CHOMP!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm glad that I got this chapter out in a short amount of time! But then, this chapter isn't very long, so that's understandable.

It's true that Yukari is acting out of character here, but please keep in mind that she is up against opponents who she has no way of defeating, even though she is stronger than them, and she also has no protection from the evil atmosphere of the Forbidden Realm, hence the reason she felt sick and weak. Due to the latter reason, her loss was inevitable…

**Next chapter: Eternal Shrine Maiden**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW**  
Miscellaneous Information on the Touhou series in SSB**

Please note that this extra show contains foreshadowing of characters whose movesets I haven't created yet.

**Series symbol: **A yin-yang orb

**Victory theme: **A rendition of the title theme heard in the title screen of most of the Windows games. It sounds most like the one heard in Subterranean Animism. In fact, I intended it to sound like that version.

**List of characters who can crawl: **Cirno, Reisen, Ex-Keine, Nitori

**List of characters who can glide: **Aya, Remilia, Cirno**  
Aya's gliding attack: **Swipes with her fan.**  
Remilia's gliding attack: **Swings down her claws diagonally sideways.**  
Cirno's gliding attack: **Swings her hand, which is covered in an ice blade, horizontally.

**List of characters who can wall jump: **Meiling, Mokou, Sakuya, Remilia, Reisen, Aya, Reimu, Ex-Keine

**List of characters who can wall grip: **Sakuya, Remilia, Ex-Keine

**Length of swimming time from longest to shortest (names in the same line means same amount of time):  
**Nitori  
Aya, Cirno  
Reimu, Sanae, Meiling, Youmu, Sakuya  
Marisa  
Keine, Ex-Keine  
Alice  
Reisen  
Mokou  
Remilia

Like with Zelda/Sheik and the Pokemon Trainer, Keine and her were-hakutaku form appear side by side on the players' character slots, so you can choose who you want to start the match as from there.

In order to maintain her image, charisma, and reputation, Remilia swings the Hammer and Golden Hammer using only one hand, while the other hand is placed on the side of her hip. She doesn't move her body like the other characters while swinging them too, nor does she move her legs in place rapidly when not moving. She does, however, go crazy like everyone else when she eats the Superspice Curry.

**These characters make a "pichun" sound when KO'ed in any method: **Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Youmu, Sakuya, Cirno, Reisen, Remilia, Aya, Alice

**These characters make the "boss explosion" sound when KO'ed in all method but the star KO: **Mokou, Keine, Ex-Keine, Nitori, Meiling

**These following characters have power ups flying out when they get KO'ed in any method: **Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Sakuya, Youmu, Remilia, Alice

**Reimu's Costumes:  
**Default (red team costume)  
Dark blue and white outfit (blue team costume)  
Blue-white outfit with green hair, resembling Sanae (green team costume)  
Black-white outfit  
White outfit with gray hair  
White shirt, red skirt, and purple hair, resembling her PC-98 design

**Marisa's Costumes:  
**Default  
Blue clothes (blue team costume)  
Red clothes(red team costume)  
Green clothes (green team costume)  
White clothes  
Purple outfit with red hair, resembling her debut appearance

**Youmu's Costumes:  
**Default (green team costume)  
Black outfit and hair with red blades  
Pink outfit (red team costume)  
Pink hair and light blue outfit with butterfly insignia, resembling Yuyuko's outfit (blue team costume)  
Monochrome  
Yellow outfit

**Alice's Costumes:  
**Default  
Dark blue dress (blue team costume)  
Black-red dress, resembling Medicine (red team costume)  
Green dress, resembling Satoko from Higurashi (green team costume)  
White dress  
Grayish black and blue outfit with gray hair, based off a fan-made version of herself, Black Alice

**Meiling's Costumes:  
**Default (green team costume)  
Blue dress with brown hair, resembling Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series (blue team costume)  
Pink dress (red team costume)  
Brown dress  
Black dress  
Golden dress

**Nitori's Costumes:  
**Default (blue team costume)  
Soldier camouflage (green team costume)  
Red hair and orange outfit printed with maple leaves (red team costume)  
Dark brown hair and light brown outfit with sand-like texture  
Gray hair and outfit with rock-like texture  
Black hair and outfit designed for darkness camouflage

**Cirno's Costumes:  
**Default (blue team costume)  
Red dress and hair, resembling a fan-made version of herself called Achi Cirno (red team costume)  
Green dress and hair (green team costume)  
Pink dress and hair  
White dress and silver hair  
Yellow dress and hair

**Reisen's Costumes:  
**Default  
Green hair and tie and dark green skirt, resembling the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku (green team costume)  
Red-blue outfit with silver hair, resembling Eirin  
Pink shirt and red skirt with black hair, resembling Kaguya (red team costume)  
Light blue shirt and dark blue skirt (blue team costume)  
White outfit and hair, resembling a "traditionally-colored" rabbit

**Remilia's Costumes:  
**Default  
Red dress, white hat, and blond hair, resembling Flandre (red team costume)  
Light blue outfit (blue team costume)  
Green outfit (green team costume)  
Black outfit, resembling a traditional vampire  
Golden outfit

**Aya's Costumes:  
**Default  
Black-red skirt with white hair, resembling Momiji (red team costume)  
Blue skirt with black hair and yellow hat, resembling the titular character of the Haruhi Suzumiya series (blue team costume)  
Green skirt (green team costume)  
Checkered black-purple skirt, purple hat, and brown hair, resembling Hatate  
Black shirt and white skirt, an inversion of her default outfit

**Sanae's Costumes:  
**Default  
Red outfit and purple hair, resembling Kanako (red team costume)  
Blond hair and purple-white outfit printed with three frogs, resembling Suwako (blue team costume)  
Green skirt (green team costume)  
Black skirt  
Pink skirt

**Sakuya's Costumes:  
**Default (blue team costume)  
Light blue dress with green hair, resembling Ruukoto  
Red dress with blond hair, resembling Yumeko (red team costume)  
Green outfit (green team costume)  
Black dress  
Red hair, resembling VIVIT

**Keine's Costumes:  
**Default  
Pink outfit (red team costume)  
Green outfit, just like her were-hakutaku form (green team costume)  
Light blue outfit (blue team costume)  
Yellow outfit and purple-tinged hair, resembling Akyu  
White outfit and black-tinged hair

**Ex-Keine's Costumes:  
**Default  
Red outfit (red team costume)  
Dark green costume (green team costume)  
Blue outfit, just like her "human" form (blue team costume)  
Yellow outfit and purple-tinged hair, resembling Akyu  
Black outfit and white-tinged black hair

**Mokou's Costumes:  
**Default (red team costume)  
Blue overalls (blue team costume)  
Green overalls (green team costume)  
Golden overalls  
Blue overalls and red shirt, resembling Mario  
White outfit and black hair, resembling her "pre-immortal" appearance

When Marisa wins against Reimu, she says this while performing victory stance 2, "Looks like I win this time, Reimu!"

When Reimu wins against Marisa, she says this while performing victory stance 3, "You should know better than to challenge me to a duel, Marisa."

When Remilia wins against Sakuya, she says this while performing victory stance 2, "That entertained me a bit. Thanks, Sakuya!"

When Sakuya wins against Remilia, she says this while performing victory stance 1, "I'll compensate for your loss soon, milady."

When Mokou wins against Keine and Ex-Keine, she says this while performing victory stance 1, "Fighting isn't a good example for a teacher, Keine."

When Cirno loses, she pouts in anger rather than clapping hands like most of the others.

When Aya loses, she takes pictures of the winner/winners continuously.

When Sakuya loses, she is seen mopping the floor with her back facing the screen. A bucket is also seen next to her.


	122. Eternal Shrine Maiden

Sorry for the wait... Somehow, I didn't really feel as if ten days had passed since the last update... I'll be sure to keep an eye on how many days went by next time.

**Chapter 121  
Eternal Shrine Maiden**

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

Tabuu felt a large amount of burning pain all over his body. In fact, it was so painful that he felt as if he was going to burst into pieces any second. As the pain became more and more unbearable, Tabuu let out a scream of agony, and then the next thing he knew, a large amount of blue light blinded him from the view of the darkness of the Subspace's sky. After that, his vision slowly turned black, and he knew that death was approaching him.

There was nothing he could do now. He was defeated, and he had no choice but to accept it, much as didn't want to.

Tabuu, the embodiment of the Subspace, was dead.

Or so he thought…

When Tabuu came to his senses, he found himself floating in the midst of vast darkness, and it wasn't until a few seconds after shaking his head and looking around the place was he surprised to learn that he wasn't dead. "How is this possible? I'm still alive!"

As much as he was glad at the fact that he was still alive, he still could not help but wonder how he survived. The only possible answer he could think of was that he didn't actually die—he simply thought he was going to die. With the first question answered, the second question came up: where was he at the moment?

Being the embodiment of Subspace itself, he knew very well that this was not inside the Subspace. He also wondered how he ended up in a different place, and the only possible answer he could think of was that he must had unintentionally warped somewhere during what he thought were the last moments of his life. Whatever this place was, he was going to find out soon, and the first thing that grabbed his attention was the sight of what appeared to be buildings in the distance, so he flew over to it.

As he came closer to the buildings, it became clear that was, in fact, a city, but a desolated one that seemed to have been left in ruins by something. Wanting to know better about this place, he landed on the street and looked around for something noteworthy other than the city itself, and it didn't take him too long to catch the sight of what appeared to be purple eyes looking at him from within the alleyways, buildings windows, and the rooftops.

"Who's there?" he asked in a loud voice, hoping that it will intimidate whoever or whatever they were. "Show yourself at once!" Due to not feeling in top condition from losing to the Smashers, he hoped that if these things were going to attack him, they wouldn't be too hard to deal with.

The owners of the purple eyes came out from their hiding places and revealed themselves to be black creatures of various forms, some having humanoid appearances and some resembling animals. Tabuu got ready to defend himself as these strange creatures slowly approached him, some of them growling in a threatening way. "What are these?" the embodiment of Subspace wondered.

The creatures moved closer and closer to him, but then they all stopped and observed him from head to toe for a few seconds before doing something that surprised him greatly—bowing down to him as if he was someone of high position. "What is the meaning of this!"

The black creatures then started walking down the street, and one of them motioned for him to follow them. It was as if they wanted to take him somewhere. Curious as to where they were taking him, Tabuu followed the creatures, and after several minutes of walking, they finally came to a stone bridge that led to a massive castle, a sight that amazed the villain quite a bit.

* * *

After becoming familiar with almost every part of the castle, Tabuu spent his time to sit down and look through the old books and scrolls that were found in the bookroom. He spent hours and even days looking through as many of the books and scrolls as he could, as he wanted to know more about these black creatures, which he eventually learned were the embodiment of evil known as Darkling.

"Interesting! It would appear that the descendants of Master Hand and Crazy Hand fought a great war with these Darkling thousands of years ago," he said himself. "The war lasted for a really long time, and since evil is a part of the universe, the Darkling cannot be completely wiped out. A new Darkling is born every time someone is born somewhere in the universe. The Hands, in the end, sealed them away into this placed called the Forbidden Realm. None of the books and scrolls explained the existence of this city and castle, however…"

Tabuu continued to study more about the Darkling and everything they were capable of. The more he learned about them, the more he became interested in the thought of once again trying to do what he previously failed to do—taking over the world. With an undefeatable army that could never be wiped out, taking over the world would surely be child's play.

However, he also learned that Darkling were not capable of existing in "pure" atmosphere, so if they were to leave the Forbidden Realm and enter into any universe now, they would not be able to last long. In order for them to survive outside this place, the atmosphere had to be impure enough for them, and that was something he was trying to figure out how to resolve.

While he was still busy studying about this, he heard a strange sound coming from behind, followed by the voice of a person. "Yes! I did! I came into the Forbidden Realm! At last! The power of the Darkling shall soon be mine!"

Tabuu spun around and saw a man with a large mass of gray hair stepping out of a large door that appeared out of thin air. "Who are you! And how did you get here!" he asked the supposed intruder.

The person looked at him and said, "I didn't expect to see another person other than myself here. The Forbidden Realm is supposed to be the home of Darkling and no one else! Since you asked who I am, I will gladly answer you! I am the greatest magician in the world, I.M. Meen!"

Tabuu then looked at the door behind I.M. Meen for a few seconds. "That door… So you came here through one of the various entrances, didn't you?"

"I'm not surprised that you know this. After all, you must be someone who lives in this place, so it's no wonder that you know about this door! Yes! It's one of the various entrances to the Forbidden Realm, and you wouldn't believe how much trouble I went through to track it down and then get it to open! Just how on earth did the Hands come up with such a ridiculous pronunciation for the secret password to reveal the door anyway!"

"No, I am not a citizen of this place. I also came here from the outside, albeit by accident."

"Uh? I see… So… mind telling me your story? I'll tell you mines afterward, and if the both of us make a good chemistry, then I believe we can form a partnership!"

This plan sounded good to Tabuu, so he explained to I.M. Meen his story and how he ended up here. As it turned out, the Isle of the Ancients was very close to one of the entrances to the Forbidden Realm, and when the Subspace devoured the island, the "border" between the outside world and the Forbidden Realm was partially torn apart. As a result, one was able to go into the Forbidden Realm from inside the Subspace using teleportation, and that was exactly how Tabuu ended up in this place.

After he was done with his story, he listened to I.M. Meen's side of the story. According to I.M. Meen, he was a magician who despised smart children, so he locked several of them away into a magical labyrinth that was accessed through a "special kind of book". His servant, Gnorris, betrayed him, however, and freed one of the children. In the end, he was defeated by that child.

I.M. Meen escaped afterwards and vowed revenge, but not after acquiring great powers. He looked through old scrolls in hope of discovering something that could benefit him, and that was how he learned about the Darkling.

Seeing that both had goals involving Darkling, they shook hands, thus forming a partnership.

* * *

The villains spent days studying more about the Darkling, and they were fascinated by a great discovery. The life force of Darkling could be extracted and then used to resurrected people with evil hearts and minds. Such was a great discovery that the both of them started dreaming about resurrecting various notorious villains and then forming a huge alliance of evildoers. The idea sounded great to them, so they wasted no time in trying to figure out how to do so.

They came to the idea of building a machine that could help them find out which villains were dead or sealed away, and by using the life force of Darkling, they would resurrect the fallen villains and bring them to this place. They also invented a remote control that allowed them to summon a door leading to other universes wherever and whenever they wanted to, and using this invention, they were able to travel to various places to gather materials for building the machine, not to mention obtaining daily necessities.

For several days, Tabuu and I.M. Meen worked hard with each other on building the machine, and after a long time of hard work, their efforts finally came to an end. In front of their eyes was a large capsule-like machine with a computer in front of it. Also located at the sides of the room were various glass capsules containing purple smoke, and there were pipes leading from those glass capsules to the large machine in the center.

"At last! We can soon create an army of villains!" Tabuu said in delight. "This is the day I've been waiting for!"

"Yes! I can't wait to see what sort of baddie-baddy we can bring back to life!" I.M. Meen said. "In fact, I really want to start now!"

As Tabuu was about to step forward to use the computer, there was the sound of a roar coming from the distance. "It's the Cruncher Darkling…" he said. "I'll go and see what he's up to." Then he left.

After he left, I.M. Meen turned to the computer and approached it. "Let's see… I've learned how to use computer during my stay here, so I'm going to put those skills to use!" Then he began typing away on the keyboard. "Let's see… Okay… Yes… This guy's too ugly… This guy looks mentally impaired… This guy looks too girly… Eh? A clown! Hmmm… Okay… This guy doesn't look too bad… Hey look! A gorgon! Better not look into her eyes… There's too many to choose from… I think I'll just randomly pick villains by mashing the keyboard!" And that was what he did.

When Tabuu came back into the room and saw what I.M Meen was doing, he was shocked. "Hey! Don't do that! You'll mess things up! This thing was just built! We don't know how to fully use it yet!"

"What did you say?" I.M. Meen asked, turning around to face him. Due to the keyboard mashing earlier, the computer screen became a mess, and then the sound of machinery starting was heard coming from all around the room. "Eh? What's happening!"

"The machine! It has been activated!" Tabuu said in surprise. The smoke inside the glass containers started moving wildly as a seemingly endless supply of them went into the pipes, and then purple electricity came down from the large capsule-like machine. At the same time, the computer was giving off smoke and sparks. "Oh no! What have you done!"

"I simply mashed the keyboard because I don't know which villains to choose!" I.M. Meen replied.

"You shouldn't have done that! Now everything is a mess!"

The computer gave off even more sparks and smoke than before, and then it exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Both the villains were blown back, but they got back up again and looked at what used to the computer, a pile of burnt machine parts. However, they quickly shifted their eyes from the wrecked computer to the machine, which had stopped giving off electricity. There was quite a bit of purple smoke floating around in there, but they were able to make out silhouettes of nine people hidden inside. "Did… Did it work…?" I.M. Meen asked.

Tabuu and I.M. Meen watched in silence as the silhouettes inside the smoke started moving. "Where… Where am I…?" asked a one of the silhouettes. He stood up just as the smoke around his head started to fade away, revealing him to be none other than M. Bison.

"I'm… alive…?" asked another one of the person resurrected, the Emperor.

Rez looked at his hands with a surprised expression, though one couldn't really tell what his expression was due to the kind of face he had. "I can't believe it! I'm really alive!"

Tabuu and I.M. Meen watched in awe for several seconds at the newly resurrected villains, who were all confused about their current condition. "It worked…! It actually worked!" Tabuu said. "I can't believe it worked!"

"Hahaha! It's all thanks to me!" I.M. Meen proudly said. "I'm a genius! Sure, I may have destroyed the computer and maybe even the machine, but at least something fruitful was created in the process!"

All the villains turned to look at the duo, and Sigma walked toward them, saying, "Hey you! You better give me an explanation behind this! The last thing I remember was getting killed on a moon base, and now I'm in this… wherever this place is! As glad I am to be alive, I still demand an explanation for this!"

Tabuu raised his hands and said, "Please calm down. I will surely give you all an explanation behind this."

Thankfully for Tabuu, the villains were all considered civilized people, so they quietly and willingly listened to everything he had to tell them, about himself, the things he'd been through, the Darkling, and how they were resurrected. "And that is why you're all here."

"Incredible…! To think that such a thing is possible!" the said Emperor, almost not believing what he heard.

"Indeed," said Dracula. "I have never heard of such a thing called Darkling, and to think that it had the power to resurrect me once again when I thought I was really defeated for good."

"Geeheeheehee! Fawful has happiness!" Fawful said. "The great Fawful has once again risen to power!"

"Heeheehee! I'm so glad to be alive again!" Marx happily said while bouncing up and down on his ball. "I wonder how the folks back at Dream Land will react when they see me."

"Heheh! This is truly the greatest day of my life!" M. Bison said with a large smile on his face.

"But it boggles my mind that it was by fluke that we are here," Exdeath said.

"Were you hoping that you were resurrected because you are the chosen one or something like that? You should be glad that you're back to life!" Rez told him.

"As long as I get another chance to live, I'm glad!" Sigma said.

"I thought I was truly done for, but thanks to you, I'm back once again!" Mr. King said.

Tabuu and I.M. Meen showed the villains around the place a little more, not to mention showing them what the Darkling looked like. After the resurrected villains were starting to get used to this place, everyone settled down in a large room at the highest floor of the castle to share their stories with each other.

Mr. King was a man from a futuristic world where the Internet, cyberspace, and radio waves played a major role in everyday life. He went into a meteor that was heading for his planet and tried to use it to destroy the world, but he was defeated by a young boy named Geo and his Wizard, Omega-Xis. He was forcefully sent out of the meteor after the battle and had been drifting around aimlessly in space ever since in the form of EM Wave.

Rez was a megalomaniac villain obsessed with televisions and engaged in three skirmishes with his archenemy, an anthropomorphic gecko named Gex. He was ultimately defeated in a battle with him in his own space station.

Sigma was a powerful android called a Reploid. He tried to prove that Reploids were the ones fit to rule over humans and the world, but he was constantly defeated by his archenemies, X and Zero. Because he lived on as a virus every time he was defeated, he was able to come back with a new body each time, but after being defeated on a moon base, his virus was erased once and for all, so he became defeated for good.

M. Bison was the leader of an evil organization called Shadowloo. He had a special kind of power called the Psycho Energy, and in order to master it, he dispelled all the good energy within himself. When he was killed the first time, his soul lived on in the body of a woman named Rose, who was actually the formation of the good energy in him. He eventually obtained a new body that his scientists prepared for him, but was eventually killed the second time by a powerful man named Akuma.

Fawful used to be the pupil of a witch named Cackletta, who stole Peach's voice in order to awaken the Bean Star so that it could grant her wishes. They were both defeated by the Mario Bros., but Fawful survived and went to Mushroom Kingdom, eventually rising to power and then acquiring the power of an evil being called the Dark Star for world domination, but in the end, he was defeated by the Mario Bros again.

Marx was a citizen of a planet called Pop Star, Kirby's home planet. He tricked Kirby into summoning a powerful galactic being known as NOVA, because the sun and the moon were fighting each other, and only NOVA had the power to stop them. When Kirby finally did what he was told, Marx said his wish to NOVA, which was world domination. He also acquired tremendous powers that allowed him to fight Kirby, but he ultimately lost in the end. He also claimed to have memories of getting resurrected as a zombie, but he couldn't remember clearly about it.

The Emperor, also known as Mateus, once ruled the kingdom of Fynn with an iron fist, but a group of four defeated him. He went to hell after his death and became its ruler, and then using his newfound powers, he once again tried to rule Fynn, only to get defeated the second time by three of the same people.

Exdeath was originally a tree, but it came to life when a large amount of evil spirits was sealed into it. He was defeated by four warriors and then sealed away, but after several years, he was able to control certain people and get them to destroy the crystals that were keeping him sealed, and thus he became free. He was able to obtain a power known as the Void, but in the end, he was defeated by another group of four people, this time young ones.

Dracula was once a human, but because of the death of his wife, he abandoned his humanity and became a vampire as an act of going against God for allowing her to die. He was defeated several times by members of the Belmont family, though sometimes by other people. He was able to come back to life after each defeat, but in the year 1999, his powers and castle were sealed into an eclipse after his body was destroyed, thus putting an end to his resurrection once and for all.

After the introductions were over, they quickly got into the discussion of what they could do with the Darkling, and needless to say, they all agreed with the idea of using them to take over the universe, and to do that, they would need to make the universe impure first. How they were going to do that was something they still had to think about. However, before they could get into that discussion, a conflict came up among them: which of them was to be the leader.

"Obviously, I should be the leader," the Emperor said. "After all, I was an emperor back in my world, so who other than me is the most fitting person to rule over everyone here?"

"Fools! Reploids like me are easily more superior to every one of you here!" Sigma angrily said while pounding the table.

"None of you here will make a better ruler than me!" Dracula claimed. "In a universe that is soon to be filled with darkness and evil, only the Dark Lord makes a fitting ruler!"

"I will not allow anyone weaker than me to rule over me!" M. Bison loudly said.

The villains argued among themselves over this for about a minute, and then Tabuu silenced them all with his voice. "I know very well that each one of you here were once your own masters. However, those are of the past, and because the reason you all are here is because of me and I.M. Meen, it would only make sense that I am the leader here."

"Right!" I.M. Meen said. "I am the reason you guys are here in the first place, so I'm the second-in-command!"

Needless to say, the other villains weren't too fond about this idea. The Emperor, however, silenced everyone else and said, "He does have a point. After all, if it wasn't for them, we would never be here in the first place. While I am not saying that I am accepting him as the leader, I do think that we should still give him the respect he deserves."

"I'll give him that, but like I said earlier, I do not intend to be ruled over by someone weaker than me!" Bison said.

"Are you saying that I am weak?" I.M. Meen said to him. "You better watch what you're saying! Say something bad about me again and I'll teach you a lesson you're never forget!"

"Try and make me, you clown!"

Hearing this was basically the last straw for I.M. Meen, so he shouted in anger as he casted a spell at Bison. What happened next perhaps happened a bit too fast for the others to tell what was going on, but the end result was I.M. Meen seen badly beaten up and fallen on the floor. Bison dusted his hands and said, "Ha! Who's going to teach who a lesson now?"

"Honestly saying, I myself do not know his true strength either," Tabuu said while looking at I.M. Meen. "Not only have you given me the idea of how strong, or weak, he actually is, but you've also given me an idea of your strength."

Bison turned to him and said, "And now it's time for you to experience things yourself! Prepare to meet you maker!" With that, the dictator jumped at him.

* * *

Several minutes went by afterwards, and all the villains except Tabuu were seen weakened on the floor. All except I.M. Meen fought Tabuu, but in the end, each and everyone one of them were defeated. "You are all very strong," Tabuu, who was panting in exhaustion, said to them. "All of you coming at me at once forced me to use my most powerful attack. Before I used that, I was actually getting thrown around like a rag doll."

The Emperor used his scepter as support to help himself get back up. "Much as I hate to admit it, you really are powerful… I think we can all agree that you are fitting to be our leader after all…" The rest of the villains unwillingly agreed.

"While I may be the leader, it does not mean every one of you here must always follow my orders exactly. I understand that it is hard for some of you here to take orders from other people, so I will allow you all an adequate amount of freedom. In short, even though I'm the leader, I believe that every one of us is to be treated equally."

"I don't know if I can work with the likes of you," Sigma said. "But as long as I get to accomplish what I want, I'll have to live with it! None of you here better get in my way of doing things! I'm not taking orders from anyone so easily!"

"I can say the same thing to everyone too," Dracula said.

Tabuu smiled and said, "Good to know that we can all get along with each other! To some extent, anyway… By the way, there is one thing that we need to take care of first. There are at least two people who may be our biggest roadblocks to success."

"And who are they?" Exdeath asked.

"Take your time to recover from the battle earlier first. Once you are fully healed, I will take you to them."

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

**BGM: Boss Battle Song 2 (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Reimu quickly hid herself behind a pillar to escape an incoming trail of explosion, which stopped when it hit and blasted the pillar from the other side. With paper amulets in her between her fingers, she quickly came out from behind the pillar to throw them at Tabuu, but the villain warped behind her and swung his hand at her, leaving behind an energy streak in the air when he did. However, Reimu ducked down fast and then jumped away, turning around to face him in midair and throwing more amulets while doing so.

Tabuu destroyed the projectiles with arm swipes, and then he produced an energy whip to swing at Reimu, who ran as fast as she could away from it. She threw more amulets at him, but the villain destroyed them with the whip and also tried to hit her with it at the same time. Reimu jumped into the air and flung two large amulets at him. "Hakurei Amulet!"

Tabuu avoided them by warping behind her, ready to strike her from there. However, the amulets turned around and went after him, something he didn't expect. Reimu dropped to the floor and allowed the amulets to fly into Tabuu and blow him backward. He wasn't hurt very by it, however, so he quickly recovered and then swung his arms at Reimu rapidly to produce several energy needles that left behind holes on the floor, but none of them hit the shrine maiden.

Reimu moved far from him and then turned around to throw several blue amulets that split into smaller ones as they traveled toward him. "Spread Amulet!" Tabuu easily avoided them all by warping behind her. Before he could do anything to her, however, Reimu spun with her gohei sticking out to create a series of square-shaped shockwaves. "Spreading Border!"

"Ugh!" Tabuu was blown back into the wall by the shockwaves, and then she bombarded him nonstop with Spread Amulet, hitting him with such an intense rate that he was unable to do anything. When she was done, she immediately rushed up to him and placed her palm that had a card in front of it a few millimeters in front of his body. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" A burst of energy was created, blasting him back through the wall and into the air.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Tabuu recovered and threw a large shuriken at her, but she avoided it, both when it flew at her and when it came back. Tabuu then formed a blade on his hand and then charged at her, but she quickly stepped aside and turned to watch as he zoomed across the room and then turned around to hit her again. She quickly got out of the way, and Tabuu came to a stop after destroying another part of the wall with the blade. Tabuu turned to her and flung the blade at her, but she bent back her body to avoid it. Immediately after that, Tabuu warped into the air above her and attempted to fall onto her with his fist, but the shrine maiden acted fast and spun horizontally to the side in the nick of time to avoid getting smashed against the floor.

Tabuu stood back up and held out his hand, creating the same kind of blade after doing so. "Fighting you is as fun as I thought! Let's see how long we can last against each other!"

"I'm not here to have fun with you!" Reimu said to him. "I have to get rid of you fast and then stop the universe from being filled with evil!"

"Then you'll have to defeat me first!" Tabuu said before charging and swinging the blade at her. She ducked underneath it and then thrust her palm at him, but he quickly moved to the side and tried to hit her with the blade again, only for her to dodge it by quickly leaping forward. Reimu turned around just before she landed and threw several paper amulets at him, but he sliced them into bits and then charged at her again to hit her with the blade.

Reimu swiftly dodged each strike of the blade, and Tabuu kept on trying to hit her with it. Eventually, Reimu moved back from him and threw even more paper amulets, but Tabuu destroyed them all by swinging the blade rapidly, and each swing left behind a streak of red energy in the air. After he was done, he pulled back the blade before flinging it at her, but she avoided it by jumping and then tried to hit him with a dive kick. Tabuu caught her leg, however, and flung her across the room, but she planted her feet against the wall and then kicked off it and in his direction, throwing needles as she moved through the air.

Tabuu warped out of the needles' way, and Reimu touched her feet against the floor to come to a stop. She looked around for the villain, and then she noticed blue light coming from above, so without looking up, she quickly jumped out of the way before Tabuu fell on top of her to impale her with a blade. "Spirit Sign: Fantasy Orb!" She used a spell card to summon and fire five colorful orbs that Tabuu wasn't able to avoid. He used his arm and the blade to protect himself from them instead.

After all the orbs hit him, Reimu ran up to him and started attacking him with a series of kicks. "Foot of the Wind God Champion!" Tabuu managed to block the kicks, and when he saw an opening, he swung his blade at her, but she quickly leaped over him and placed her palm close to the upper back part of his head. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" Tabuu was blown face first onto the floor.

BAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The villain quickly got back up again and turned to her while growling in anger, the first time during the fight, and threw his blade at her. Reimu quickly took out a spell card and shouted, "Instant Dimensional Rift!" When the blade hit her, she disappeared and left behind several paper amulets in her place, all of them flying at Tabuu and hitting him. Meanwhile, Reimu herself was seen standing very close to where she was originally was.

"Demon Buster!" Reimu shouted as she ran toward Tabuu while throwing groups of three pink amulets nonstop, and when she was close to him, she tried to attack him with a palm thrust, but Tabuu avoided it and then tried to punch her. She dodged the punch, and then the both of them started trading blows against each other, though they were able to successfully block each of the blows.

During the midst of trading close-ranged hits, Reimu ducked and performed a leg sweep that knock Tabuu off his feet, and as he was falling forward, the shrine maiden quickly delivered a powerful palm thrust to his chin to knock him into the air. "Ascension Thrust! Interdimensional Rift!" She performed the latter right after performing the former to warp above Tabuu and bring down her leg onto his head to send him back onto the floor. She then spun her gohei in the air a few times before dropping down onto Tabuu, slamming the back end of it against his abdomen really hard. "Demon-Felling Crush!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Tabuu cried in pain as the powerful attack pressed him against the floor with such a force that cracks appeared on the latter, and a shockwave spreading throughout the room was also created. Reimu jumped back from him, spinning twice before landing, and then she took out some paper amulets in case she needed them.

Tabuu grunted in pain as he slowly got back up and glared at her. "Underestimating you was a mistake after all… In fact, I'm starting to think that I should've gotten rid of you when I had the chance during our first meeting…"

"A mistake made way too often by villains," Reimu commented. "I don't blame you for not thinking of doing something like that."

"You are a strong opponent indeed. However, you must be warned that I have yet to use some of my more powerful attacks against you. Once I do, you will surely go down easily!"

"The Off Wave…" the shrine maiden said in her head after hearing what he said. "Crazy Hand told us to be extra careful of that, especially when at close range…" Suddenly, there was the sound of what might be an explosion, and the whole place also shook rather violently. "What happened!"

"Either one of your friends or one of us went a bit too wild," Tabuu said. "Whichever the case is, you girls are the blame if this castle falls apart."

"What does it have to do with us? If this is your men's doing, then they are the blame!"

"They wouldn't have done something like this if it weren't for you girls interfering with our plans and coming here! Enough! Take this!" Tabuu created an energy whip and swung it at Reimu, but she dodged it. The villain swung it like crazy to try to hit her, but she was able to dodge them all with swift movements, and while doing so, she tried to approach him.

When she was close to him, she was suddenly caught from behind by the whip. As it turned out, Tabuu shortened the whip's length and had it catch her from behind. The villain swung the shrine maiden in circles several times before letting go of her and flinging her into the wall by her back. Not wasting any chance, he charged at her with a blade in his hand in order to impale her.

Reimu herself wasn't someone with slow reaction, so despite the villain coming at her at a fast speed, she was still able to move out of the way in time. Tabuu's arm went through the wall, but he immediately pulled it back out and swung it at her, only for her to avoid it by jumping back. Enhancing her gohei with spiritual energy, she closed in on Tabuu and clashed weapons with him over and over.

Tabuu tried to bring down the blade onto her head, but she held up her gohei to block it. After hitting the gohei four times and failing to cut through it, Tabuu brought up his blade from below to knock the stick out of the shrine maiden's hand, much to her surprise. She quickly avoided a thrust of the blade by stepping aside immediately after that. She then caught his arm and forcefully twisted and bent it, and after that, she kicked him back by the abdomen. Not bothering to go and get her gohei, since it might be a waste of time, she ran up to Tabuu while he was still in pain and slammed her elbow at the same part, followed by hitting her fist with the other hand. "Dream Piercer!"

BAAAAAAANG!

Tabuu was blown back across the room until he hit the wall. After picking up her gohei, Reimu threw several needles at him, but the villain pointed his finger at them and sent forth a trail of explosion that blew them away, and the explosion continued heading for Reimu, who quickly dodged it. Another trail of explosion was fired at her, so she dodged it again, and then the third one. Tabuu then created and threw two large shurikens at her. She jumped out of their way, but Tabuu teleported behind her to catch both the shurikens before throwing them at her again.

Reimu dodged them once again, but then Tabuu warped in front of her, caught the shurikens, and threw them again. Reimu dodged them yet again, but then the same thing happened over and over until she eventually failed to avoid getting hit by one of the shurikens and was cut slightly in the leg. "Ah!" Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, Tabuu brought down one of the shurikens onto her, but she managed to jump to the side in time.

Tabuu threw the other shuriken at her, but she ducked underneath it and then jumped at him, and the villain swung his arm at her, leaving behind an energy streak in the air in the process. However, Reimu used Dimensional Rift to warp out of the way before she got hit, and she reappeared in the air behind him to hit him with a drop kick. Tabuu quickly spun around, caught her by the leg, and flung her against the wall. He then sent forth two trails of explosion that Reimu wasn't able to avoid in time, so she was blown through the wall and out into the balcony.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The shrine maiden tumbled violently against the floor, and when she came to a stop in a crouching position, Tabuu appeared above her and tried to smash her against the floor with his hand, but she quickly leaped forward and then turned around. "About time I put an end to this!" Reimu said. "I don't have all day to mess with you!"

"While I do have the time to deal with you, just so I can delay you from stopping evil from being spread throughout the universe, I'm starting to get tired of this, so I might as well finish you off now!" Tabuu said, and then he shifted his eyes to the antenna visible from where he was on the roof. "Good thing I prepared things beforehand! No way is she getting to that thing so easily!"

"Reimu's not alone in this-ze!" shouted the voice of someone familiar. Reimu turned around and was surprised to see not only Marisa standing in front of the hole previously created on the wall, but also the other girls.

"Everyone! You're all right!" she happily exclaimed.

"Of course we're all right-ze!" Marisa said to her. "There's no way any of us would die so easily!"

"Even though we had a hard time, we still managed to pull things off in the end," Remilia said. "I did have a lot of fun too."

"I'm the strongest! There's no way I could lose!" Cirno loudly said.

"Things actually took longer than I thought, but I'm glad that we weren't too late in coming over to help you!" Aya said.

"This time, all of us are going to put an end to this together!" Alice said.

"I'm glad we're on time," Reisen said.

"I whipped up something new to replace my backpack," Nitori said, "and I can't wait to try it out!" Instead of her usual backpack, she was now carrying one that was whitish-silver and mechanical in appearance.

"We're here to help you, Reimu!" Meiling said.

"Even if he throws Darkling at us, there is no more fear for us, for we have all unlocked the power of our Smash Essences!" Youmu said.

"You villain! It's time for you to meet your end, just like all your followers!" Sanae said to Tabuu.

"So… it would appear that every single one of them failed…" Tabuu said. "Such a pity… I was hoping that they would all get the chance to enjoy in the new world, but it seems that I'm going to be alone in this. But then, I can simply rebuild the machine used for resurrecting villains to either bring them back to life or bring back to life new ones."

All the girls ran forward to gather with Reimu, and the latter said, "It's over for you, Tabuu! All of us are here now! There's no way you can take on all of us alone! This is the end of the line for you!"

"Right! Prepare yourself-ze!" Marisa said while getting into fighting stance.

Tabuu wasn't all that daunted, however, despite being outnumbered. "Do not be so full of yourself! Just because you have the number advantage doesn't mean I'm completely overpowered! Once I use my most powerful attack, all of you will fall before me!"

"We'll see about that," Remilia said.

The girls were ready to make their moves when all of a sudden, a large purple gap filled with eyes appeared in the air behind Tabuu, but the most surprising thing of all was who came out of it—the Cruncher Darkling. "What in the world!" Tabuu said in shock when he turned around from hearing the Darkling's roar.

"It's that giant monster again!" Cirno gasped.

"And I thought we finally got him off our tail!" Aya said.

Reimu noted the design of the gap and saw that it was very, very familiar-looking. "That gap! It's the exact same kind of gap used by Yukari!"

"You're right!" Marisa said after inspecting the gap. "The purple interior, the eyes, and the ribbons! It really is the exact same kind of gap Yukari uses!"

The Cruncher Darkling stepped out from the gap, and then several purple eyes appeared all around him. Seeing this, Reimu became shocked. "That's Yukari's The Magic Eye of Laplace!" Because the girls were within the eyes' lines of sight, purple beams were fired at them, but they quickly got out of the way, including Tabuu.

"How is he using Yukari's attack!" Marisa asked. "Maybe it's just a coincidence that one of his attacks looks just like hers!"

"Then how do you explain the gap?" Aya asked her.

"Um… Same thing…?"

Cirno shouted at the Cruncker Darkling while forming an ice spear in his hand, "Hey you, ugly! Look over here! I'm not afraid of you this time! I'm going to show that I can hurt you this time! Take this!" She hurled the ice spear at the Cruncher Darkling, but the giant Darkling was only fazed a tiny bit when the ice spear hit his snout. Growling in anger, the Darkling swung his hand very close to the floor to send forth a blue energy wave that the ice fairy managed to avoid.

"That's another move used by Yukari, Border Between 2D and 3D!" Reimu said when she saw that attack. "He really is using Yukari's moves!"

"I'm starting to think that this is more than just a coincidence…" Marisa said.

"So it's true that the Cruncher Darkling can copy the ability of the victim it captured with his tail after all," Tabuu said after hearing what the girls said.

Youmu turned to him and asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's exactly like I said. I read that if he captures someone with superpowers using the mouth on his tail, then the Darkling himself will obtain the exact same kind of power, and that power will be with him until the victim is fully digested by the tail."

"So you're saying that this giant Darkling caught Yukari with the mouth on his tail?" Nitori asked. "That doesn't make sense! Yukari isn't in this place at all! And it makes even less sense that he went to Gensokyo to do something like that!"

"Yeah! There's no way he can go to Gensokyo all of a sudden!" Aya said. "Plus, Yukari is really strong, so there's no way…"

"Don't forget that no matter how powerful you are, your attacks are useless against a Darkling if you do not have the ability to hurt one," Tabuu reminded her.

The Cruncher Darkling roared as he moved in the direction where there were people to attack with his arms, but everyone kept his distance from him and also avoided the projectiles that were shot out from gaps he created afterwards. "Tsk! At this rate, he may end up destroying this whole place and even the machine for spreading evil!" Tabuu said in his head. "It's a good thing I got everything prepared beforehand, though."

While the girls continued to avoid the Cruncher Darkling's attack, Reimu said, "The only possible explanation I can think of is that Yukari actually went through all the trouble of searching for us. If you think about it, she's not the kind of person to not do anything if Gensokyo is concerned. Without my shrine, the Great Hakurei Barrier cannot hold up forever, so I have every reason to believe that she came to look for us."

"And you're saying that she actually managed to come to the Forbidden Realm, but then got captured by the Cruncher Darkling's tail?" Marisa asked.

"It all makes sense if you ask me," said Alice, agreeing with Reimu's explanation.

Reisen noticed Tabuu heading for the antenna on the roof, so she told the others to look. Tabuu went over to the machine that the antenna was built on top of and pressed a button with the label "_TAKE OFF_" printed above it. When the button was pressed, the machine started to shake, and Tabuu hopped onto it and grabbed hold of the antenna tightly. The machine let out a large amount of smoke from underneath it, and then the whole thing took off into the air like a rocket.

"He's getting away!" Cirno said.

"We can't let him get away!" Sanae said. "That may be the machine used for spreading evil throughout the universe! He's trying to get it away from us!"

Reimu looked at the Cruncher Darkling and said, "But we can't leave him alone either! If Yukari really is captured by his tail, then we'll need to free her before she gets digested!"

"Then leave him to us!" Marisa said to her. "You go after Tabuu!"

"Marisa's idea sounds good," Youmu said. "The Cruncher Darkling is a gigantic foe, so there should be as many people as possible dealing with him at once, but since we cannot leave Tabuu alone either, you should go after him instead."

"You started a fight with him, right? Then you should finish what you started yourself," Remilia said to the shrine maiden.

Reimu nodded and said, "Understood! I'll leave the Cruncher Darkling to you all!"

"Okay! Now go ahead and take care of Tabuu and that machine!" Aya said to her. "You can rely on us to get the job here done!"

Reimu nodded again before flying into the air to go after Tabuu and the evil-spreading machine, and then the other girls turned to the Cruncher Darkling and got into fighting stances. "All right! Time to put an end to you, you monster!" Marisa said to her. "Let go of Yukari at once if you do not wish to be made to do so the hard way-ze!"

The Cruncher Darkling lowered his body to either get a better look at them or to intimidate them, and then it let out a roar that caused them to almost get blown back. This time, the girls weren't afraid of him, at least not as much as before, because they could now destroy Darkling with their attacks. However, they do think that it was a battle that shouldn't be taken lightly at all. It may even be the toughest battle of their life…

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As you can see, this chapter follows a different formula from the other Touhou girl vs. villain chapters. Surprised? Or did you actually expect some kind of twist to occur? I know that there is at least one person who saw a twist coming, but that's only because I told him about it on MSN.

About the villains I.M. Meen saw on the computer… The girly one is Sephiroth, what with his long hair and bishounen appearance, the clown is Kefka, and the gorgon is Medusa from the Kid Icarus series. Before anyone asks, they are not villains that I originally intended to use as part of the organization; they were simply mentioned for the lulz.

Also, I'm going on a church retreat this coming Friday, and if there is no update before that date, then there won't be one until I come back on Monday.

Oh, in case you're curious, the sound of the explosion and the castle shaking is Marisa's Final Smash's doing.

**Next chapter: Dark Fantasia**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Reimu's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 3/6  
Speed: 4/6  
Jump: 4/6  
Weight: 3/6**

**Entrance: **Flies onto the stage and lands.

**A, A, A: **Two swipes from her gohei and then a kick.

**F-Tilt: **Horizontal gohei swipe.

**U-Tilt: **Kicks up twice fast.

**D-Tilt: **Low kick.

**Dash Attack: **Sliding Ascension Kick – performs a flip kick while moving forward slightly.

**Forward Smash: **Yin-Yang Orb – creates a burst of energy from her hand. Comes out pretty fast for a very powerful move.

**Up Smash: **Demon Sealing Circle – slaps a spell card onto the ground to create a pillar of light around herself, but unlike the original game, its height is only slightly taller than her.

**Down Smash: **Spreading Border – spins to release a square-shaped shockwave that spreads out sideways. The radius of the shockwave depends on how long you charge the move, and the largest radius is about two steps away from both sides of Reimu. Hitting opponents with the gohei itself is more powerful than the shockwave, which is actually pretty weak, so this move is obviously best used at close range.

**Neutral Aerial: **Makes four miniature yin-yang orbs circle herself at fast speed.

**Forward Aerial: **Sticks out her leg in a way that looks like she is performing a flying kick.

**Back Aerial: **Swipes the air behind herself vertically using her gohei.

**Up Aerial: **Ascension Kick – a quick and spammable flip kick.

**Down Aerial: **Praying for Rain – flips upside down and spins her gohei to rain down projectiles that spread out to the sides as they move down.

**Grab Attack: **Kicks him/her in the shin.

**Forward Throw: **Thrust her hand into the opponent's abdomen to push him/her away.

**Back Throw: **Falls back to hurl the opponent backward.

**Up Throw: **An uppercut to the chin.

**Down Throw: **Smashes the opponent onto the ground by the back.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly gets back onto the ledge and slides forward a very short distance.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Slowly climbs up while sweeping the ground with her gohei.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Spins using one hand to kick opponents on both sides.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Hits both sides with her gohei while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Slaps an amulet against the floor to create a burst of light around herself before standing back up.

**Neutral B: Bright Orb Cast into Shade**

Reimu throws a yin-yang orb that bounces across the screen, and it will bounce back if it hits walls. The yin-yang orb will not disappear when it this something, but it will automatically disappear after bouncing around for ten seconds. The way this move is performed is the same as Marisa's weapon obtained from defeating Reimu in the fan game MegaMari, Yin-Yang Orb.

**Side B: Demon Buster  
**Or Youkai Buster, whatever you like to call it… Reimu throws three paper amulets that fly across the screen fast, and they fan out wider the farther they travel.

**Up B: Dimensional Rift  
**Reimu teleports in the direction you hold the d-stick in and attacks with her gohei (if attacking sideways or anywhere up) or leg (if attacking anywhere down) in the same direction when she reappears. She will always be facing the direction she was facing when performing the teleportation. The distance of the teleportation is the same as Mewtwo's Teleport.

**Down B: Cautionary Border  
**Reimu forms a blue wall that travels about two steps ahead of herself. The wall offers protection from all kinds of attacks except most Final Smashes, and it stays on screen for five seconds before disappearing. This move can also push items and people away, and it's also great for edgeguarding. This move has absolutely no damaging capabilities, however.

**Final Smash: Fantasy Heaven  
**Seven yin-yang orbs appear around and circle Reimu. Within a time limit of fifteen seconds, you must land a total of seven melee hits on any of your opponents to light up each of the orbs. If successful, Reimu will attack with a pink screen-filling flash that damages all opponents, dealing huge amounts of damage and then causing OHKOs. While shielding can protect one from the flash, the shield will be destroyed before the attack ends. However, victims of the broken shield will not be KO'ed; rather, they will be left in a dazed state, thus becoming vulnerable to getting hit by whatever may come afterwards.

**Side Taunt: **Places gohei on her shoulder and yawns with the other hand placed in front of her mouth.

**Up Taunt: **Takes out a rice cracker and munches on it.

**Down Taunt: **Takes out a yin-yang orb, throws it into the air, catches it, and then puts it away.

**Victory Stance 1: **Drinks tea while seated on a cushion in a seiza position.

**Victory Stance 2: **Bows down politely with a donation box in her hands while saying, "Donations please!"

**Victory Stance 3: **Spins her gohei like a baton while moving her arms around herself for a few seconds before posing with the palm of her other hand pointed at the screen. While doing all those, she says, "This is easier than solving any of the past incidents."


	123. Dark Phantasm

Two modifications were made to the previous chapter. The identity of the clown I.M. Meen mentioned is now stated at the end of the chapter. Also, the line regarding teleporting into the Forbidden Realm has been changed so that it doesn't sound too confusing. Originally, it sounded as if only people who can naturally teleport can go in there, but now it's been changed to sound like anyone can go in there using teleportation.

This chapter was originally intended to have over 12,000 words. However, that amount of words would result in the chapter taking too long too complete. It's been too many days since the last update already, and I didn't want to make my fans and readers wait for too long, so after asking some of my friends for suggestions, I decided to split the chapter into two parts instead.

**Chapter 122  
Dark Phantasm**

* * *

The evil-spreading machine eventually came to a stop after flying several feet into the air, and when Tabuu looked down, he saw that he was so high up into the air that the he could barely see anyone on the castle's balcony, though he could easily make out a black moving thing that was the Cruncher Darkling. A small speck suddenly appeared and moved closer and closer to him, eventually revealing itself to be Reimu. "I've caught up with you at last!" she loudly said.

"So you've decided to come after me while your friends deal with the Cruncher Darkling?" Tabuu asked her.

"While saving Yukari is important, foiling your plan is just as important," Reimu said when she flew to the same altitude as Tabuu. "Therefore, I will leave everything to my friends. As for you, I'll be taking you down myself! Prepare yourself!"

"You won't be having things your way here!" Tabuu said as he pressed a button on the machine that caused a force field to appear around it, and then he passed through the force field. "This force field is highly indestructible! There is about thirty minutes before the machine gathers enough evil energy from all over the universe, but there's no point in telling you how much time there is left anyway, since there is no way you'll be able to lay a hand on it!"

"Indestructible or not, you won't know until you try your hardest!" Reimu said as she took out some paper amulets. "Thirty minutes should be enough, and I'm going to make sure that everything is done and dealt with within that time limit!"

* * *

**BGM: Necrofantasia (Touhou: Perfect Cherry Blossom)**

Back down below, the rest of the girls were standing in front of the Cruncher Darkling, all of them in fighting stances. "Since Yukari is inside the tail," Youmu said, "I think we should aim for the tail first. I'll try to get there and cut it off to see if it will do any good. The rest of you try to distract him for me, okay?"

"Leave this to me!" Cirno said as she flew forward to perform the first attack, which was firing icicles. "Icicle Machine Gun!" The Cruncher Darkling made a gap appear in front of himself simply by thinking, and after the icicles flew into it, another gap appeared behind Cirno, and the icicles shot out from there. "Yeow!"

"Cirno!" Reisen gasped. The Cruncher Darkling then tried to smash her with his hand, but Aya quickly flew at Cirno and carried her out of harm's way. Luckily for the ice fairy, she wasn't badly injured by her own icicles.

Seeing this as a good opportunity, Youmu went for the tail, which had its mouth closed tightly, obviously to keep Yukari trapped inside. She jumped at it with the Roukanken raised over her head, ready to separate it from the body. However, the Cruncher Darkling quickly pulled his tail away the last second, and after Youmu landed from the unsuccessful attempt, he swung it into her to knock her back through the air.

Suddenly, a large amount of bullets struck the Cruncher Darkling from above, and he actually felt pain from getting hit. He endured the shots and looked up to see that it was Remilia firing projectiles at him, so he attacked by summoning blue portals that fired energy projectiles of the same color. Remilia swiftly dodged them and then threw a red spear at him. "Heart Break!"

The Cruncher Darkling's body was pushed back a bit from the hit, and it was starting to become clear to him that unlike before, the girls were now capable of hurting him, maybe even killing him. With this in mind, the Cruncher Darkling thought that he should start being more defensive than before. "Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa shouted as she fired a huge laser beam at him, but the Cruncher Darkling quickly ducked down, a speed that was rather unexpected for a creature his size.

He attempted to knock her out of the air with his hand, but she got out of his way. Alice, with a large amount of dolls around her, ordered them to fire projectiles at him nonstop, and Reisen also fired at him rapidly after creating multiple clones of herself.

"Behold the Robo-Backpack I created!" Nitori said as legs and arms sprouted from her new backpack, and a seat came out from the bottom side of it so that she had something to sit on. "I'll show you what this new invention is capable of!" The Robo-Backpack ran toward the Darkling while he was trying to defend himself from the onslaught of projectiles and delivered a powerful electrically-charged punch at his foot. The punch was so strong that the Darkling raised his foot and cried in pain.

Meiling flew above the Darkling and then fell toward him with her fist pointing downward. "Rainbow Meteor!" She punched the Darkling in the head really hard and forcefully pushed it down a bit, but then the Darkling raised his head back up to cause her to be propelled into the air, though she came to a stop without a problem.

"Nine Syllable Stabs!" Sanae shouted as she drew a large rainbow-colored net in the air and had it fall on top of the Cruncher Darkling to get him tangled up in it. While he was trying to free himself from the net, Aya swung her fan against the air rapidly to send forth a large amount of wind blades that cut him all over the body, but they also ended up cutting the net.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Sanae shouted at the tengu.

"Sorry about that…" Aya apologized to her. "But he's going to break out of it sooner or later anyway. I'll try to make up for it by doing something useful, okay?" She then remembered about the tail, so she quickly headed for it. However, the Darkling noticed her heading over there, so he quickly created a gap next to himself and punched into it. Another gap appeared in front of Aya, and the fist came out of it and sent her flying backward. Despite getting hit really hard by a giant fist, the tengu managed to come to a stop not too far away from the castle, and she wasn't badly injured by it as well. "Ow… That monster sure got used to Yukari's powers fast…"

Remilia flew high above the tail and tried to use Heart Break against it, but right before the spear hit the tail, a gap appeared above it, so the spear went into it. Another gap appeared next to Remilia, and the spear came out of it. As she was not expecting this to happen, she was hit and blown away by her own attack.

"Rise From Delusion Slash!" Youmu shouted as she attacked the Darkling from the front with a powerful slash from her lengthened sword. The Darkling let out a cry of agony and then took a step back, but he quickly recovered and swung his hand at Youmu, only to get his middle and ring fingers cut off.

The Darkling once again cried in pain, and then he was blasted in the side of the head by Marisa's Master Spark and pushed to the side, almost falling off the edge, but he managed to retain his balance. However, the moment he did so, he was rammed in front of the body by Aya. "Sarutahiko's Guidance!" And he fell off.

The Cruncher Darkling made a gap appear underneath him and fell into it, and then another gap appeared on top of the balcony, and he fell out from there and landed with powerful crash that made the girls standing on the floor almost lose their balance. Cracks also spread across the floor. "Whoa… I didn't expect him to use Yukari's ability in such a smart way…" Reisen said. "Looks like he actually has intelligence…"

The Cruncher Darkling got back up and roared in anger, and then several eyes appeared all around him, all of them looking in different directions. "Watch out! It's the Magic Eye of Laplace again!" Marisa shouted. The girls who happened to be standing in the eyes' lines of sight quickly got out of the way to avoid getting hit by the beams fired at them.

After avoiding getting hit, Remilia used the help of a spell card to create a massive energy spear, Spear of Gungnir, but while she was aiming at the Cruncher Darkling and getting ready to throw it, the Darkling swung his hand in her direction to make a beam shoot forward all of sudden and go through her body. This also caused the spear to disappear from her hand. While she was on her knees and in pain, the Darkling approached her and to trample her underfoot, but Nitori quickly rushed up next to her and used the arms of her Robo-Backpack to hold it up.

While she was trying her best to hold up the leg, Youmu dashed at the leg to cut it off. However, the Cruncher Darkling suddenly moved that leg in her direction to knock her away, and then he tried to stomp Nitori and Remilia again, but the former had already carried the latter away. "Are you all right?" Nitori asked the young vampire.

"That caught me by surprise… However, a little wound like this is nothing to me," she replied. "Anyway, thanks."

Suddenly, white light appeared above the Darkling, blinding him. "Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae, who was hovering underneath a ball of light, shouted, and then it rained down beams of energy at him.

While the Darkling was getting hit by the beams of energy, Cirno, with a large ice sword in her hand, flew toward the tail. "I'm going to cut it off!" When she swung down the sword, the tail moved out of the way, and it didn't look like the Cruncher Darkling moved it, since he was busy trying to defend himself from Sanae's attack. "Hey! Don't move!" She tried to hit it again, but the tail once again moved away. "I told you not to move!" She swung her sword like crazy to hit it, but every single swing was a miss. Eventually, the tail swung into her to send her flying. "Ya!"

Alice, who saw what happened, said, "It seems that the tail has an awareness of its own. At least that's what I think…"

"But the tail doesn't have eyes!" Marisa said. "How can it see?"

"There are animals that are blind and yet can still move around without problems using the help of other senses. The same must apply to the tail, or maybe it simply doesn't have visible eyes… I don't know…"

"If that's the case, then trying to distract him in order to get close to the tail is out of question now," Nitori said.

"Not necessarily," Alice told her. "Even if the tail has a consciousness of its own, it seems to rely mostly on the rest of its body for protection, so distracting the Darkling to keep him from protecting his tail properly is still a good strategy."

"You have a point there, Alice!" Marisa commented.

When the Cruncher Darkling saw Youmu coming for him again, he quickly produced a massive blade from his palm to block her sword strike, and she was surprised that he was able to produce something like this. The Darkling produced another blade in his other palm and then tried to hit the half-phantom, who dodged his strikes. While doing so, she managed to get a look at his palms and discovered that the blades were coming out of gaps located there. "That's quite a creative way of using the gaps…" she thought.

When the Darkling brought down both his blades onto her, she crossed both of her swords over her head to hold them up, but the force of the swing pushed her to the floor, and she struggled to keep herself from getting crushed and sliced. "Ngh!"

Suddenly, he was blasted in the side of the hand by a large eye beam fired by Reisen, and this made him pull his hands away, as well as making the blades retract into the gap, which disappeared immediately after that. Youmu dashed at his left foot and slashed it, leaving behind a rather deep wound. The Cruncher Darkling growled in anger and frustration as he made a gap appear behind himself to step into, and then it closed up and disappeared. "Oh no! We let him get away!" Cirno said.

"There he is!" said Sanae, pointing to where another gap appeared, in the air out of the front part of the balcony. The Darkling came out of the gap and grabbed hold of its side so that he wouldn't fall off from leaning too far out. He let out a roar and then pointed his hand in their direction to make a large gap appear over the balcony, and when the girls looked up at the former, tombstones started raining down from it.

"Watch out!" Marisa cried as the girls began running around like crazy to avoid getting hit by the tombstones. As more and more tombstones fell, the lesser places there were for the girls to run, and to make matter worse, the number of tombstones falling was increasing.

Eventually, the whole place was covered in tombstones. Some were still in one piece, some had cracks, and some were broken into pieces. The Cruncher Darkling scanned the place for signs of life, and when he saw that there were none, he disappeared into the gap and reappeared from another one that appeared on the balcony, crushing some tombstones underneath his feet when he came out. He snickered and then said, "Weaklings!"

* * *

Reimu threw a large amount of paper amulets at Tabuu, who countered them by forming a pair of blades in his hands and slashing them into bits. After destroying every single one of them, he charged at Reimu and swung one of his bladed hands at him, but she dodged it, as well as the second strike. She moved back as fast as she could and took out a spell card to summon several colorful energy orbs. "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!"

When the energy orbs flew at Tabuu, he quickly warped away, but they went after him. Tabuu kept on warping to escape them, but they followed him all over the place nonstop. Annoyed by this, he quickly created a cannon shaped like a dragon's head out of thin air and used it to fire a huge beam that eliminated the energy orbs, and then he aimed at Reimu. The shrine maiden quickly flew away from the approaching beam, and eventually, the cannon's attack came to an end. However, Tabuu took aim at her again and charge it up to fire the second time.

Reimu quickly took out a spell card and shouted, "Duplex Danmaku Bounded Field!" A box-shaped barrier appeared around her, and then she spread out her arms and made a large amount of amulets magically shoot out from the air around herself. When the amulets hit the interior of the box, more than usual amounts of amulets appeared from the outside, heading in every direction but up and down. When Tabuu saw one side of the amulets heading in his direction and that there was no time to finish charging up the cannon, he quickly curled up behind it in an attempt to protect himself.

When the onslaught of amulets finally stopped, Tabuu looked up from behind the cannon and saw that Reimu was no longer at the front. He looked around for where the shrine maiden might be, and then she suddenly appeared from where he didn't look at—below. By the time he realized this and turned around, he received a spiritually-charged axe kick to the head that separated him from the cannon, which disappeared shortly afterwards. Reimu flew down after him while throwing a large amount of needles.

Tabuu crossed his arms to defend himself, and then the shrine maiden landed the tip of her foot against his abdomen really hard. The villain grunted in pain as he shot down even faster, but he eventually came to a stop and growled in anger before disappearing. This time, it was Reimu's turn to look around for where we went to. She suddenly felt something approaching from the side, so without looking in that direction first, she stretched out her hand and created a translucent wall that protected her from an incoming trail of explosion.

After the failed attempt to blast her with that attack, Tabuu pointed his arms diagonally sideways and upwards into the air to unleash two trails of explosion, and then he brought down his arms in a v-formation to make the front parts of the trails curve down at the shrine maiden. However, she managed to protect herself with a barrier. She then threw four sheets of paper around herself to summon miniature yin-yang orbs, and when she pointed her gohei at Tabuu, they fired energy shots at him rapidly.

Tabuu pointed his arm at the incoming projectiles and fired a rapid spread of bullets, and both sides cancelled out each other. After firing bullets for a few seconds, Tabuu suddenly fired a large bullet, so Reimu quickly dodged it. Tabuu then transformed into something that resembled a golden cage and flew at the shrine maiden at a fast speed, and while she managed to dodge him the first time, she failed to do so the second time, because Tabuu turned around almost immediately after going past her and so caught her by surprise.

Despite there being nothing on two of the sides stopping her from going out, Reimu found herself unable to escape due to an invisible force confining her inside. "What is this! Let me out!" She then found herself being banged against the sides constantly when the cage shook violently. "Yeow! Ow! Ow! Yeow!" Eventually, the cage exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Reimu was blown high and far into the air, while Tabuu was seen in place of where the explosion was after it cleared away. He flew in her direction and then warped in front of her, attacking her with a hand swipe that left behind a streak of energy in the air.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The shrine maiden was cut across the abdomen and sent flying in the opposite direction, but she eventually came to a stop. Tabuu then created a whip to swing at her, and she used her gohei to deflect it. They kept this up for a while, and then Tabuu managed to catch her gohei, and because Reimu was holding her gohei tightly, she got flung through the air when Tabuu pulled the whip over his head.

The whip let go of Reimu's gohei, and she continued to fly through the air a few feet before coming to a stop. When Tabuu threw a large shuriken at her, she quickly used Cautionary Border and then pushed the wall at the incoming projectile. When the shuriken, which was moving at a faster speed, collided with the wall, it pushed it back in the shrine maiden's direction, so she quickly moved out of the way. The shuriken's constant spinning against the wall eventually caused the latter to be sliced into two and then disappear, and then the former went a few more feet forward before making a u-turn. Knowing already that it was going to come back, Reimu moved out of the way in time.

Tabuu rushed in the direction of the shuriken and caught it as he flew past it. He formed another one in his hand and tried to hit Reimu with the both of them when he got close to her. Reimu dodged the strikes and moved back from him before throwing several paper amulets that he cut into pieces with little effort. When Tabuu closed in on her to attack her again, the shrine maiden quickly threw several amulets around herself. "Barrier of Offense!" In an instant, the amulets became solid, translucent panels that moved in circles around her really fast, protecting her from Tabuu's shuriken strike.

Not willing to give up just yet, the villain swung his shurikens at the spinning panels over and over, hoping that he would be lucky enough to get one of his blades through the gap between two of them. However, he never succeeded. Reimu then spread out her arms to make the panels move out in every direction except up and down, and Tabuu was pushed away by one of the panels. After that, Reimu controlled the movements of the panels using her gohei, making them position themselves horizontally and flying around like blades.

Tabuu used his shurikens to deflect the incoming panels, which he wasn't having a hard time doing so. However, the panels kept on coming back to him, and he was starting to get annoyed at having to repel them constantly. In his rage, he made a pair of wings appear from his back, and then a red shockwave was unleashed, destroying all the panels. "That attack!" Reimu said in her head when she saw the shockwave. "It must be the one Crazy Hand described!"

Tabuu glared at Reimu and said, "You just had to make me waste my most powerful attack on pointless stuff! You have to know that I can't use this attack continuously. I need to give it some time to recharge in order to use it again. Luckily, I didn't use it at full power just now, so it won't take too long before I can use it again."

"That's good news, I think…" she said.

"It won't be good news for long!" Tabuu said before stretching forth his hands to fire a blast of energy that she managed to dodge with ease. The villain then started warping closer and closer to her, firing the same kind of energy blast each time he reappeared. Eventually, he started warping around her nonstop, continuing to fire blasts of energy with each appearance. Reimu, however, didn't have any trouble dodging the shots.

However, she did not expect it when Tabuu appeared behind her and gave her a sudden strike of his hand to her back to knock her forward. When he tried to impale her with a blade that he produced in his hand right after that, she swiftly moved to the side and then got behind him to hold him back by the neck using her gohei. Tabuu managed to escape her hold simply by warping, however, and it became his turn to do the same thing to her neck using his hand.

The villain tightened his grip in an attempt to both squeeze the life out of her and break her neck. While she was struggling to break free from his grasp and also grasping for air, Reimu took out three needles, holding each of them in between her fingers, and stabbed him in the waist with them, causing the villain to cry in pain while letting go of her. She immediately turned around and slammed her hand against his abdomen. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" And a burst of circular energy sent him shooting backwards.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When Tabuu stopped moving backwards, Reimu threw a yellow card that hit him in the middle of the chest, paralyzing him from head to toe while giving him a jolting feeling. While he was in pain and trying his hardest to move, Reimu took out a spell card and shouted, "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!" A large amount of colorful energy orbs were created and fired at him, every single one of them hitting its target.

After getting hit by the last energy orb, the card on Tabuu's body disappeared, allowing the villain to move again. Tabuu growled in anger, and then the purple energy sphere inside his body split into various smaller versions of itself and moved around the villain in the same manner electrons move around their nucleus. With the energy orbs moving around him, Tabuu closed in on Reimu to try to hit her with their movements, but the shrine maidens managed to avoid getting it by both dodging them and keeping her distance from them.

This combination of offense and defense proved to be a failure, at least when facing Reimu, when the shrine maiden closed in on him unexpectedly and slammed her palm against his chest, and there was an amulet taped to the back of her hand to help strengthen the palm thrust with spiritual energy. This resulted in the villain shooting back at a speed and distance faster and farther than when hit by a normal palm thrust coming from her.

When the villain came to a stop, the energy orbs around him went back inside his body and became one again. Enraged, Tabuu formed six long energy needles, three in each hand, and flung them at Reimu, who got ready to dodge them, but they disappeared halfway down the path, and this confused the shrine maiden. After those energy needles disappeared, Tabuu sent forth trails of explosions multiple times to hit Reimu, but she managed to dodge each of them.

After missing a few times, the villain moved in close on her to attack her with a rapid short-ranged bullet spray which she managed to avoid by keeping her distance. All of a sudden, the energy needles reappeared around her, and because they showed up way too suddenly for her to react, not to mention very close to her, she got pierced in six different locations. She was so shocked by this that she didn't scream, despite the intense pain she was feeling. While the shrine maiden was stunned by this, Tabuu used this as the opportunity to strike her with a series of arm swipes that left behind energy streaks in the air several times before quickly producing a blade in his hand to slash her diagonally across the body with.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

Due to the Cruncher Darkling's action earlier, the balcony was full of tombstones, and the Darkling was laughing with a huge grin on his face, thinking that he had killed the girls. Meiling stood up after moving a tombstone that was on top of her away and then started moving away the ones around her. "Is everyone all right? Hello?"

Youmu managed to remove the tombstone burying her by herself. "I'm all right… This Darkling sure knows how to use Yukari's ability…"

"I agree," Marisa said while dusting herself. "Yukari is no opponent to joke around with, now imagine her much larger… Man, that's scary…"

Aya looked at the Cruncher Darkling, who was both surprised and annoyed that they were still alive, and said, "No time for casual chatting now! This guy obviously won't stop until we're all dead, but we're also not stopping until he's dead, so let's give it our best shot, everyone! Reimu is fighting her hardest for sure now, so we have to fight our hardest too!"

"Right!" Sanae said. "Now that we have the ability to destroy Darkling, we should put it to good use and destroy the Cruncher Darkling! We have to fight our hardest!"

"Then let's get back into action right away! Maple Leaf Fan!" Aya swung her fan to whip up a large tornado to pick up most of the tombstones. The Cruncher Darkling pulled back his arm to get ready to knock away the tombstones in the incoming tornado, but suddenly, his hand was caught by Remilia's Chain Gang, and the latter pulled it back the hardest she could to keep the Darkling from swinging his arm.

Because of this, the tornado came in contact with the Darkling and smacked him rapidly with the tombstones. However, the tombstones obviously had no Darkling-destroying capabilities, so they weren't able to do anything to him. He didn't even feel pain. Youmu leaped at the Cruncher Darkling and quickly turned Myon into a clone of herself before slashing the Darkling rapidly together with her, leaving behind various cuts on him. At about the same time, the tombstones in the tornado had all shattered into pieces from hitting the Darkling, and the tornado had also disappeared, and then he turned to Youmu and Myon and tried to hit them with a large blade that came out from a gap on his palm, but they both managed to block and hold it back with their own swords.

"Electro-Rocket Punch!" Nitori shouted as she dashed at the Cruncher Darkling's right leg to punch it with the Robo-Backpack's electrified fist.

"Ice Log!" Cirno shouted as she flew at the other leg, carrying an ice pillar with her. They both collided into the Cruncher Darkling's legs and hit them really hard, though Nitori hit harder. The Darkling almost lost his balance and fell forward, but while he did manage to retain his footing, Alice had Shanghai fly in circles around his legs to tie them up with a string. No longer able to balance himself because of this, the Cruncher Darkling fell forward.

Meiling, Nitori, and Aya were standing underneath where the Cruncher Darkling's chin would land, and all three of them simultaneously lowered their fists and pulled them to the back, and when the Darkling fell closer and closer to them, rainbow-colored energy, electricity, and wind surrounded their respective fists, or in Nitori's case, the fist of her backpack. "Rainbow Uppercut!" Meiling shouted as she unleashed a jumping uppercut.

"Rising Lightning!" Nitori shouted as she did the same thing with her backpack.

"Twister Uppercut!" Aya shouted, performing the same kind of attack. All three uppercuts struck the chin of the Cruncher Darkling simultaneously, hitting it with a combined force that was strong enough to make the whole body rise back into the air and then fall backwards.

CRAAAAAAAASH!

While the Darkling was down on his back, Marisa flew above him and charged up a laser using the combination of her hakkero and a spell card. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" The massive beam headed for the Darkling, but acting quick, he created a gap that was big enough for the beam to fit into it. Another portal appeared next to Marisa, and knowing what was going to come out of it, she got out of the way fast to avoid getting hit by her own attack. "Phew… That was close!"

The Darkling managed to break the string by pulling his legs apart, and then he stood back up, only to receive a large amount of projectiles to the face. He looked at Reisen and swung his hand to send forth a beam of energy, but the lunar rabbit managed to graze it, though barely. She then moved in circles around him while leaving behind clones of herself, all of them shooting his head nonstop. The Darkling defended himself from the projectiles with his hands at first, and then he tried to swat the clones out of the air. However, the clones did not disappear when hit; his hands went through them due to them being illusions.

Suddenly, the Darkling felt his feet turning cold, so he looked down to see Cirno releasing a large amount of cold air at his feet in an attempt to freeze him in place, an idea that was slowly coming to fruition due to ice slowly building up around them. "Let's see you try to move after I turn your feet to ice!" the ice fairy said. Due to his size, the Cruncher Darkling was able to break the ice easily by moving his feet, but the ice fairy continued to do her best.

"Let me help you!" Nitori shouted as the arms of the Robo-Backpack became arm cannons that shot out blasts of water. The water combined with the cold air increased the speed of the freezing process, and the Cruncher Darkling eventually found his feet unable to move. The more Cirno and Nitori aimed for the higher part of his legs, the more he became unable to move.

While the Darkling was trying to break the ice, Alice had several dolls move in circles around him, carrying with them strings in their hands, and one string was carried by several dolls in different parts. They wrapped the strings around him and then grabbed hold of him tightly. "Bounded Sacrifice!" Alice shouted before snapping her fingers to make the dolls explode.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Seeing the massive explosion engulfing the Cruncher Darkling, Marisa exclaimed, "Yeah! That should make him feel it!"

"Are we forgetting the fact that we should be trying to free Yukari first?" Youmu reminded her.

"Oh yeah! Totally forgot about that! We got too carried off fighting him…"

"I'll be sure to succeed this time!" Youmu headed for the tail, which was the first to appear from the smoke when the latter started clearing away. She approached the tail from the front, but several gaps suddenly appeared around the part close to the mouth, and a large amount of projectiles came out from them and shot her. "Ugh!"

Alice had one of her dolls fly in front of Youmu with a large shield in her hand to help keep her protected from the projectiles, but due to the intense fire rate, the half-phantom wasn't able to find an opening for getting close to the tail. Though the tail was currently protected from the front, it wasn't the case from behind the gaps, so Remilia was able to come down onto the part of it behind them, slamming and digging her claws into the skin.

The Cruncher Darkling roared in pain as he turned and swung his tail, but the vampire managed to cling onto it tightly. With the gaps in front gone, Remilia slowly and carefully crawled toward the mouth of the tail, which wasn't very far away at all, digging her claws into the skin with each movement forward. However, a gap suddenly appeared underneath her, and she fell into it. The vampire fell down from another gap and hit the floor, and before she had the chance to see where she landed, the Darkling's foot came down on top of her.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"MISTRESS REMILIA!" Meiling gasped. When the Darkling raised his foot, it was found out that he stomped the floor with such a force that he made a hole on it, and Remilia fell to the lower floor in one piece, though with pain all over her body.

The Cruncher Darkling was suddenly struck in the back by multiple laser beams, and when he turned around, he received more to the face and the front part of the body by Marisa's Orreries Sun. The witch blasted him nonstop with the rather powerful beams fired by the different-colored orbs that were moving in circles around her, and the intensity of the beams made him take steps backward. While he was being shot, Meiling flew at his abdomen at a fast speed and delivered a powerful rainbow-powered punch against it, and the punch was so hard that not only was a shockwave created, but the Darkling also bent over quite a bit. "This is for Mistress Remilia!" the gatekeeper loudly said.

Suddenly, a large block of ice created by Cirno was dropped onto his head, and it was shortly followed by the second one. His head was pushed down quite a bit, but due to his strength, he had no problem lifting it back up and making both the blocks of ice fly high into the air. "Whoa!" Cirno cried after dodging them when they flew up, and then she watched them reach the peak of their flight and then their descent.

Youmu quickly flew at the falling ice blocks, and with sword swipes that were a bit too fast for the eyes of the untrained to see, she sliced them into small pieces. While the pieces of the ice were still falling, Sanae let go of her gohei and had it spin in front of her like a fan. "Transient Wind!" A powerful blast of wind was suddenly sent forward, catching the ice pieces that were in the way, as well as ones close to it, and struck the back of the Cruncher Darkling. It wasn't the ice pieces that hurt the Darkling, but rather, the piercing feeling of the wind that made him cry in pain, and then he turned around to swing his hand at Sanae with anger. However, Aya quickly got in front of the shrine maiden and used all her strength to stop the arm from hitting her.

She wasn't able to stop both Sanae and herself from getting sent flying, but she was able to soften the impact, so the both of them weren't hurt very much. "You all right?" Aya asked her.

"I'm fine… And you?"

"Me too, and I'm going after him again!" She took out a spell card as she flew in the Darkling's direction. "Illusionary Dominance!" Then she suddenly dashed forward at a ridiculously fast speed and went around the Cruncher Darkling, slashing him in the body with her fan every time she went past him. The Darkling tried to swat her out of the way, but not only was she moving too fast to be hit, but he also almost couldn't see her due to her speed. When she was done dashing around him, she moved back through the air in front of him and then shot forward with her body covered in wind. "Sarutahiko's Guidance!"

The Darkling raised his arm to swat her out of the air with correct timing, but all of a sudden, a red energy spear was thrown out of the hole in front of his foot and hit him in the leg, distracting him and causing him to get hit by the tengu in the part of the body between chest and the abdomen.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

While Aya wasn't able to make him fall back immediately, the force of her pushing was slowly making the Darkling move closer and closer toward the side of the balcony. The Cruncher Darkling pressed his feet hard against the floor to remain rooted in place, and then he pushed forward against Aya with relative ease, and he also reached his hand toward her to grab her.

Remilia crashed through a window of the lower floor and looked up to see the tip of the Cruncher Darkling's tail sticking out from the balcony, so she quickly fired a chain from her palm at it. "Chain Gang!" The mouth of the tail moved aside to avoid the chain, but then the latter successfully wrapped itself around it. Remilia gave the chain a huge yank to pull back the Cruncher Darkling, and the sudden jerking also stopped him from trying to grab Aya. The combination of the vampire pulling him and the tengu pushing him made his feet move closer to the side of the balcony faster than before, but the Darkling mustered all his strength to move inward.

"Eat this! Glacier Boxer!" Cirno shouted as she created and fired a large boxing glove made of ice at the Cruncher Darkling's face, and with that, the Darkling completely lost his footing and fell off the balcony. Remilia quickly made the chain disappear before she got dragged down along with him. The other girls quickly ran to the side and looked down to see the Darkling.

The Cruncher Darkling made a large gap appear behind himself and fell into. Seeing this, Marisa said while turning around, "Watch out! He's going to pop back up here again!" Sure enough, a gap appeared above the balcony, the Darkling fell out of it and landed on his back so hard that the floor broke apart. The girls quickly flew into the air, while the Darkling went down to the lower floor.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

After that, the Darkling lied down there without getting back up, and the girls watched him from where they were. Reisen said, "I think we really did quite a number on him this time…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Just so you know, the theme Necrofantasia plays both during the battles against the Cruncher Darkling and Tabuu.

**Next chapter: Dark Phantasm ~ We did it!**

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Sakuya's Moveset**

**Attack: 2/6  
Speed: 5/6  
Jump: 5/6  
Weight: 3/6**

**Entrance: **A clock hand made of magical energy appears and spins, revealing the maid as it does so.

**A, A, A, Infinite A: **Three slices from her knife and then a rapid series of slashes.

**F-Tilt: **A roundhouse kick.

**U-Tilt: **A quick swipe upwards.

**D-Tilt: **Slashes closes to the floor.

**Dash Attack: **Dashes forward while performing an x-shaped slash.

**Forward Smash: **Inscribed Red Soul - slashes rapidly, dealing multiple hits. The number of hits isn't as many as the original game.

**Up Smash: **Slices upwards thrice, similar to Link's Up Smash.

**Down Smash: **Slashes in one side and then the other side very fast.

**Neutral Aerial: **Crossup Magic – knives spin around her.

**Forward Aerial: **A horizontal slash.

**Back Aerial: **A slash to the back.

**Up Aerial: **Raises her arm with a knife held in a slightly angled manner while she spins, dealing multiple hits.

**Down Aerial: **A stall-then-fall kick sending her diagonally downward, ending just short of the length of Ganondorf's Wizard Foot when used in air. She bounces back a bit into the air if she hits an opponent.

**Grab Attack: **Stabs opponent in the side of the waist. Note that she grabs her opponent in the same way as Snake, from behind.

**Forward Throw: **Pushes him/her forward.

**Back Throw: **Turns around and throws him/her away.

**Up Throw: **Floats up slightly, carrying the opponent into the air before slamming him/her behind herself.

**Down Throw: **Forcefully pushes opponent to the ground and then stabs him/her in the forehead.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly jumps up and slashes.

**Ledge Attack (below 100%): **Swings knife close to the ground while climbing up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Spins using one hand to kick both sides.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Swings knife in both sides while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Spins with a knife in her hand while standing back up.

**Neutral B: Sense of Thrown Edge  
**Sakuya throws several knives that shoot across the screen at a fast speed, but if you press the B button before they disappear off the sides, they will freeze in midair for as long as five seconds, and they can hurt opponents who touch them. If you press B again, not only will Sakuya throw another set of knives, but the frozen knives will also resume moving prematurely.

**Forward B: Luminous Rocket  
**Sakuya throws a high-speed knife that bounces back and forth across the screen nonstop, slowly traveling upwards as it does so. The knife will bounce around the screen a total of twenty times before disappearing. If she throws another knife before the first one disappears, then the latter will disappear prematurely.

**Up B: Vanish Everything  
**A simple recovery move in which Sakuya warps in the direction you push the d-stick, the distance being the same as Mewtwo's Teleport. A card will be left behind when Sakuya disappears, but it's only there for looks and to be true to the original game.

**Down B: Luna Dial  
**Sakuya throws a stopwatch that freezes the opponent it hits. The time the victim remains frozen depends on his/her damage percentage—the lower, the shorter, and the higher, the longer. At its shortest, the victim only remains frozen for about one second, and the longest is about five seconds. The opponent will not move at all when frozen, even when hit by powerful attacks, but he/she will still take damage. Note that the opponent will be frozen in whatever position they are in when hit, and if they are hit in midair, they will stay there.

**Final Smash: Sakuya's World  
**Sakuya freezes time entirely, right down to stage hazards and the movements of scrolling stages. Only the match's timer remains unfrozen. Time will be frozen for ten seconds, and during this time, you can damage your opponents to rack up damage, though they will not receive knockbacks. Shortly after this move is performed, a medium-sized circle of knives will appear in the center of the stage. At first, they don't do anything, but when time returns to normal, they will spread out at a fast speed, hurting opponents. The knives aren't very powerful, however.

**Side Taunt: **Cleans one of her knives with a piece of cloth.

**Up Taunt: **Elegantly pours tea from over her head into a teacup held below her waist level. This is actually a reference to a manga series I can't remember the name of.

**Down Taunt: **Looks at her stopwatch while tapping her foot.

**Victory Stance 1: **Does a spin with a teacup placed on a tray on her hand and then performs a curtsey while saying, "Want to celebrate with a cup of tea?"

**Victory Stance 2: **Bows down politely and says, "Thank you very much for your applause!"

**Victory Stance 3: **Juggles four knives a few times before catching them and holding two in each hand.


	124. Dark Phantasm We did it!

Sorry for the wait once again… I didn't realize that it was already ten days, so I wasn't able to update in time. Also, I got distracted by quite a few things around these days, such as playing the demo version of Super Smash Flash 2 (probably the closest I'll ever get to playing SSBB), the new Touhou book Symposium of Post-Mysticism, and Playstation All-Star Battle Royale.

I hope this chapter is worth the wait.

Oh, and on the side note, the power of Youmu's Down B has been added to her moveset, in case you're curious.

**Chapter 123  
Dark Phantasm ~ We did it!**

* * *

**BGM: Necrofantasia (Touhou: Perfect Cherry Blossom)**

Reimu and Tabuu were in the air facing each other. Both of them were panting with exhaustion, but the former more so than the latter due to being badly injured by the latter. Tabuu said, "You have great stamina… To think that you would still have the energy to maintain your flight even after receiving a powerful blow just now!"

"You can say that I am talented in several kinds of things, and surviving happens to be one of them…" the shrine maiden replied. "I've resolved all the incidents that happened to my home world, and while those struggles aren't as violent as the ones I've been through ever since being sent to another world, I still do receive a bit of beating, but in the end, I always managed to pull through. To be honest, I sometimes don't even know whether it was luck or skill that I win my battles. You can say that it's both."

"You have done well surviving this long, but this is where your survivability record comes to an end! I will put an end to you here!" Tabuu fired an energy shot at her that she managed to dodge with ease, and after that, he charged at her to punch her, but she quickly moved out of the way, grabbed his arm, and then forcefully bent it. "Yeow!"

Reimu placed several paper amulets at the back of her arms, and then she threw several punches at Tabuu, each of them creating bursts of spiritual energy whenever they came in contact with the villain. She then grabbed his arm and spun him in circles a few times before flinging him across the air, and then she used a spell card to fire a large energy yin-yang orb at him. "Treasure Tool: Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!"

The large energy orb hit Tabuu and pushed him across the air, and slowly, his body was sinking into it, and the more that happened, the more pain he felt, but there was nothing he could do to escape the projectile. Eventually, his entire body went into the projectile and back out of the other side.

Tabuu glared at Reimu with gritted teeth, and then he created and sent forth a large number of clones from his body. The shrine maiden flew towards the clones and navigated through them to get to the real Tabuu, who was flying in the midst of them. He tried to punch her when she flew in his direction, but she quickly pulled down her head and then went behind him to strike him in the back with the side of her hand.

Tabuu quickly moved away from her to join his clones, which he commanded to stop moving and hover in place. He went into the midst again of them and called out to her, "Let's see if you can find the real me in here!"

"Look, I have no time to play hide-and-seek with you," Reimu replied. "However, if you insist, I'll leave behind something that may or may not track you down, while I go and do something about that machine." Then she took out a spell card. "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Jewel!" She fired a large amount of colorful energy orbs at the clones and then quickly went for the machine.

Most of the energy orbs struck the clones, causing them to explode. Tabuu, who was in the center of the army of the clones, quickly moved back and out from among them in hope of avoiding the projectiles, not to mention the explosion of the clones. Doing such a thing managed to keep him from getting hit by the projectiles, and once all of them were gone and only a few clones were left, he quickly went after Reimu.

Reimu came in front of the barrier surrounding the evil-spreading machine and enhanced her gohei with spiritual energy before hitting the former as hard as she could, but the barrier refused to break no matter how hard or how many times she hit it. "Looks like this won't break so easily… Good thing I know a lot about barriers and such, so I should be able to do something about this eventually. I wasted quite a bit of time with him already, so let's hope I don't take too long…"

Suddenly, she felt something approaching her from behind, so she quickly moved out of the way to avoid getting hit by a large shuriken thrown by Tabuu, and the shuriken bounced off the force field and returned to its master. "I told you it's useless," Tabuu said to her. "That force field is indestructible! No known attacks have been able to destroy it!"

"Like I'm going to listen to you and give up here! It doesn't matter what you say, I'm still going to try my hardest in getting rid of this force field and then the machine itself! You better not get in my way too much!" She took out several paper amulets and then turned to the machine to throw them at it. Some of the amulets taped themselves in the area around the front part of the force field, while some went all around it to tape themselves in various other parts. After that, Reimu turned around to face Tabuu, who created six needles in his hands and threw them at her, but they disappeared midway.

Knowing what this attack was already, Reimu quickly formed a box-shaped barrier around herself, and shortly afterwards, the needles reappeared and stopped when they hit the sides of it. The barrier then shattered into pieces, and then Reimu pointed her gohei at Tabuu to make the broken pieces fly at him, but he dodged them. She then took out paper amulets with their centers tied up into a knot so that they resembled bowties, and then she flung them at Tabuu. "Hakurei Butterfly!"

Due to the design of the amulets, they flew around in wavy and circular paths that made them hard to predict and dodge, so Tabuu was getting hit and blasted constantly. After there were lesser amulets flying around, Reimu charged at Tabuu and gave him a hand thrust to the abdomen while he wasn't paying attention, and then she followed up with a series of close-ranged attacks, such as more hand thrusts, punches, palm thrusts, kicks, and gohei strikes. She ended the combo with a strike to his chin with her gohei to send him flying into the air.

Immediately after that, Reimu took out a large piece of amulet and threw it downwards, and it grew in size and became a solid, see-through panel that she landed on. Tabuu started to fall back down, so Reimu quickly slapped a spell card onto the surface of the panel to form a pillar of orange light around herself, engulfing Tabuu just as he was about to fall onto her. "Divine Arts: Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!" The villain screamed in pain as the energy burned him, and when the pillar of light disappeared, Reimu jumped at him from below while performing a series of rising somersault kicks, hitting him in the back of the head over and over. "True Ascension Kick!"

After she was done, she raised her feet over Tabuu's face before hitting him with an axe kick that sent him crashing onto the panel, and then she dropped down with the back end of her gohei pointing at him. However, Tabuu turned over to the side before he got hit, much to her surprise, and then he smacked her across the face to send her flying off the panel. He angrily charged at her to punch her, but Reimu used finger motions to make the panel fly in between herself and the villain to protect her from the punch.

The panel then spun and hit Tabuu in the head, and then it shrunk in size until it was the same size as most of her amulets. Holding it in between her fingers, Reimu moved back and aligned herself with Tabuu, taking aim at the glowing orb inside his chest before throwing the amulet. It sped through the air as fast as a bullet, and Tabuu pretty much never knew what pierced him.

While he was in pain and shock, Reimu threw two orange amulets at him. "Hakurei Amulet!" After they hit him, she rushed up to him and caught him by the neck, and her other hand was pulled back to ready to punch him in the face with an amulet-powered fist. Tabuu's eyes suddenly glowed with pinkish-red light, and sensing danger, she quickly let go of him and bent down to avoid getting hit by a pair of eye beams. The villain then angrily threw a series of punches at her that she managed to skillfully block.

In the midst of blocking the punches, Reimu used Dimensional Rift to warp behind Tabuu, but he quickly spun around to block a kick from her before pushing her back and then firing an energy blast at her. She dodged the first shot and then took out a spell card when another shot was fired. "Instant Dimensional Rift!" She disappeared just as the energy blast was about to hit her and left behind several paper amulets that flew at him, but the energy orb inside his chest came out, split into two, and moved around in front of him in a way and with a speed fast enough to obliterate the amulets without making them explode when they came close to him.

The shrine maiden was seen not too far away from where she was originally was, and Tabuu had the energy orbs fly at her. Reimu was able to avoid the first one, but the second one managed to hit her in the side of the face, and then the first one came back and hit her in the back of the head. The energy orbs then moved around her constantly to hit her over and over. Eventually, Reimu created a circular barrier to protect herself from the energy orbs. "Counter-Blast Barrier!" When they couldn't break through it, Tabuu called them back into his chest.

The villain fired several energy blasts at the barrier, but they were unable to destroy it, so he went up to it and attacked with arm swipes over and over, eventually stabbing it with an energy blade. The barrier exploded and blasted him away when it was hit.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Tabuu was blown back through the air, and Reimu said in her head, "Those amulets should be done about now. I better put an end to him now and then go and see how things are! Time to pull out the big one!" She took out a spell card and raised it high into the air to make seven yin-yang orbs appear and orbit her, and then she quickly flew at Tabuu.

Tabuu was just about to recover from getting blown away, so he had no time to protect himself when Reimu flew into him and whacked him across the face with her gohei. When he was hit, one of the yin-yang orbs lit up with yellow light. Reimu continued to hit him with gohei strikes, punches, and kicks, and with each hit, another one of the orbs lit up. After the sixth hit, however, Tabuu caught her fist. "Don't get too full of yourself just yet!" the villain angrily shouted.

"Tsk! Just one more hit! Must do it before fifteen seconds pass!" the shrine maiden said in her head. Tabuu forcefully flung her away and then fired an energy blast at her, but she managed to graze it, though barely. She closed in on Tabuu again, but he warped behind her and tried to hit her with a hand swipe to the neck, but she managed to block it with her hand when she brought it to the back. Immediately after that, she spun around to kick him in the side of the head, but he pulled back his head just far enough to avoid getting hit. "Argh! So close! Almost no time left!"

Tabuu then threw a punch at her, and acting without thinking much, Reimu slammed down her head onto the back of his fist, and in doing so, the last yin-yang orb lit up just short of fifteen seconds. "Yes!" Tabuu pulled back his fist and shook it out of pain, and then Reimu moved back from him and did a pose of sorts. "Fantasy Heaven!" Suddenly, bright pink light came out from her and engulfed Tabuu, zapping him with powerful spiritual energy.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the villain screamed.

* * *

The girls landed on the debris covering the floor of the room underneath the balcony and looked at the fallen Cruncher Darkling. "Those attacks we threw at him must've hit him hard enough for him to stay down this long," Aya said.

"Shows how much stronger we've become-ze!" Marisa said.

"Don't celebrate over this just yet," Alice told everyone. "Sooner or later, he's going to get back up again." As soon as she said that, the Cruncher Darkling let out a growl, turned over, and then slowly got back up.

"You just had to say it, don't you…?" Reisen said to her.

"I was simply stating the truth."

After the Cruncher Darkling got back on his feet entirely and glared at the girls, the latter got into fighting stances for the next round. Suddenly, several other kinds of Darkling, ranging from Soldier Darkling to Centurion Darkling, showed up all around the room. There was even a kind of Darkling they hadn't seen before, one that resembled a frog—Wart Darkling. "Uh oh… Looks like we've got company…" Nitori said.

"Let's hope this doesn't make things harder than it already is…" Meiling said.

"We can now destroy Darkling, so we have no fear," Youmu reminded them. "These smaller fries shouldn't be that tough to deal with anyway, at least when compared to the Cruncher Darkling." Shortly after saying this, one of the Wart Darkling jumped at her, but with a horizontal swing of the Roukanken, the Darkling was cleaved in two, and then the two halves exploded into black particles after touching the floor.

Another one of the Wart Darkling jumped at Cirno, but she jumped out of the way and then fired an ice beam at it to freeze it. A Soldier Darkling approached her from behind and readied to swing its arm at her, but Meiling gave it a powerful punch to the side of the head to send it crashing into the wall, and then it also exploded into black particles. "Thanks a lot, Meiling!" Cirno said to the gatekeeper.

"Make sure to keep an eye on your surroundings!" Meiling reminded her.

Several Darkling tried to pounce onto Alice, but she quickly had her dolls surround her and fire projectiles to blast them away. When a Winged Darkling swooped down to attack Reisen, she shot it down with careful aiming, and when another one tried to swoop into her from behind, she shot backwards without turning around and took it out.

"Radial Strike!" Marisa shouted as she went trigger-happy against the group of Darkling standing in front of her. "Haha! I'm so having fun with this! It's great that we no longer have to run from them-ze!" Suddenly, the Cruncher Darkling let out a roar before swinging his hand to send forth a blue energy wave that traveled across the room. The girls who were in its way quickly fled for the air, and the Darkling that were in the way got hit. "I forgot about him for a moment… Got too carried off fighting the smaller fries…"

The Cruncher Darkling opened his hand and released a burst of square-shaped energy that spun rapidly, and though it didn't hit the girls, the intensity of its spinning was so strong that they were blown back by an unknown force and pressed against the wall. "Ugh…! It's Quadruple Barrier!" Aya said.

After that, the Cruncher Darkling opened two gaps next to his shoulders, and then trains came out from each of them. "Watch out! It's Trip to the Old Station!" Marisa shouted. The girls quickly got out of the way before the trains crashed into them, and the latter crashed through the wall and continued running through the air. The Cruncher Darkling opened up another gap to the side of the girls, and another train came out from there, but they once again avoided it.

The Darkling once again summoned another train to attack them, but all the girls except Youmu avoided it. The half-phantom, with a swing of her larger sword, cleaved the entire train horizontally in two.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Wow! That was awesome!" Nitori exclaimed.

"Youmu! Watch out!" Sanae shouted at her. Youmu turned and saw the Cruncher Darkling bringing down his hand onto her, but she avoided it and then jumped onto it. When she landed onto the back of his hand, she stabbed his skin with the Roukanken and then cut it as she ran up the arm. The Darkling cried in pain and shook his arm to get her off there, and while she was in the air and the same altitude as his head, she attacked with a large crescent-shaped sword beam that left behind quite a mark on the side of his face. "Lunar Slicer!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Darkling growled with intense pain after getting hit, and then he swung his arm into Youmu before she had the time to react and smashed her against the wall, breaking through the latter and sending her out of the castle. "Youmu!" gasped most of her friends.

The Darkling turned to them and tried to smash them with his arm, but they quickly got out of the way. "Red Cannon!" Meiling shouted as she fired a red energy ball at the Darkling's face, hitting the wound previously created by Youmu. The Darkling tried to smash her, but she jumped back while continuing to use Red Cannon over and over. Suddenly, a gap appeared underneath her, and she fell into it. She fell out from another gap in the part of the air in front of the Darkling's face, and then with a swing of his hand, he sent her flying into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Remilia used Chain Gang and managed to tie the chain around the Darkling's neck, and then she tightened it as hard as she could. The Darkling used one hand to try to break the part of the chain around his neck and the other one to hold onto the part that was in the air. While he was doing so, Nitori used her Robo-Backpack to spray a large amount of water at him, and Cirno was releasing cold air at the water to freeze his body. "Give it all you've got, Cirno!" Nitori said to her. "You don't have to worry about me running out of water either! My backpack absorbs the surrounding air to convert them into water, so as long as there is air, I never have to worry about running out of water!"

The Cruncher Darkling kept on moving so that he wouldn't be frozen so easily, and all the while, he struggled with the chain. He made a gap appear next to himself and reached his hand into it, and then his hand came out from another gap behind Remilia, who wasn't expecting this, though she did see him reaching his hand into it. When she was caught, the chain disappeared, and then the Darkling moved in Nitori and Cirno's direction to stomp them, so they quickly stopped what they were doing and then got away. He was able to use his free hand to break the layer of ice coating his body.

Remilia used all her strength to pry open his fingers, but the Darkling tightened his grip to crush her. While they were doing this, Reisen fired several red energy missiles from the air at him. "Lunatic Battery!" Getting hit made him let go of Remilia, who flew at his face and swooped up before she collided into him, slashing him in the snout in the process.

When above him, she formed and threw an energy spear at him. "Heart Break!" After that, she flew toward the tail with one hand pulled back to slash it with her claws, but it moved away the last second, so she hit the floor instead. When the tail swung into her, she tried to stop it with her arms, and because her claws dug into the skin when it hit her, she ended up being attached to the side of it. The Cruncher Darkling growled in anger as he shook his tail to get her off, even swinging it into the walls to crush her against them.

"Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted as she threw a spell card into the air that became a ball of light which rained down beams onto the Cruncher Darkling, the former blinding him and the latter stinging him and making him stop swinging around his tail. Remilia, still clinging onto the tail, formed an energy spear and readied to throw it at the top of the mouth, but then she remembered something.

"Yukari may be in there! What if I accidentally destroy her along with the tail? Even if she's very strong, I don't think she can take a hit from a range like this, and she may currently be in a weak state as well! I'll destroy the part in front of the mouth, then." Before she had the chance to carry out her idea, however, the Darkling swung his tail at Sanae, who failed to get out of the way and was hit, and the sudden movement caused Remilia to drop the spear onto the floor and make the former disappear.

A Soldier Darkling jumped at Remilia and grabbed onto her back. "Hey! Get your dirty hands off me!" she shouted. The Darkling slammed down his claws into her head and yanked her hair, eventually causing her to let go of and fall off the tail. The vampire angrily reached to her back and forced the Darkling to get off her before slashing his body to destroy him.

"Doll Carnival!" Alice said as she made a large amount of dolls circle the Darkling in a formation like that of a tornado, all of them firing at him nonstop. When the Darkling tried to take them out with his arm, they exploded on contact, and this caused a chain reaction that covered him in a series of explosions.

While the smoke had yet to fully disappear, Youmu, who came back into the room safe and sound, created four clones of herself and ran with them around the Darkling. "Empty Perception: 6-Root Cleansing!" Then they all dashed past the Darkling, but due to his size and weight, he didn't fly into the air at all, but that didn't stop the real Youmu from appearing in the air and falling down to slash him.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Tengu's Downburst!" Aya shouted as she stomped the Darkling in the snout really hard, and then she came down in front of him and swung her fan to attack him with a large horizontal tornado. "Wind of the Tengu Path!"

"Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon!" Reisen shouted as she used a spell card to unleash a huge eye beam, striking the Cruncher Darkling in the chin.

"Earthlight Ray!" Marisa shouted as she threw five pots that exploded into beams of light that went diagonally upwards, hitting the Darkling and causing him to fall on his back.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

By this the time, most of the girls were feeling rather tired from the constant fighting. "Phew… Much as I enjoy beating the lights out of him…" Marisa said, "I think it's time that we put an end to this… I'm not sure how Reimu is doing, but in case she needs help, then we should finish our fight fast and then go help her. Plus, we need to free Yukari before gets digested."

"It's easy to say, but this guy seems to refuse to stay down," Aya said.

"Then we'll have to strike him even harder than before," Remilia said, "maybe even going for the extreme."

The Cruncher Darkling let out a roar as he stood back up, this time really angry. The girls got into fighting stances again, and Marisa said, "If we really do have to go for the extreme, then I guess we have no choice. No need to hold back anything now! C'mon, let's go crazy and make sure that he stays down for good this time-ze!"

* * *

"This force field really is a tough one…" Reimu said while observing the evil-spreading machine and the amulets taped all over its force field. "Tabuu wasn't kidding when he said that it is indestructible, but luckily, my barrier-weakening amulets are strong enough to get the job done. Even if it may take a while, the amulets will eventually make the force field weak enough to be destroyed. I wonder if I can break through it now…" Suddenly, she felt something approaching from the behind, so she moved out of the way just in time to avoid a shuriken thrown at her, and the tip of one of its pointed parts pierced into the force field slightly before going back to its master.

Reimu turned around and was surprised to see that Tabuu was still alive. "Don't think that you've taken me out already!" Tabuu angrily said. "I'm not going to fall so easily! Never!"

"You sure are durable and persistent… It makes me wonder how much trouble the participants in the tournament had when dealing with you."

"I see that you have found a way to deal with that force field. This is indeed worthy of applause, but for someone who is looking forward to see that machine fulfill its duty, it's not something worthy of being happy about at all! I'm going to kill you right now to stop that from happening!"

Reimu took out some paper amulets and then got into fighting stance. "Like I'm going to get defeated by you so easily!"

Tabuu created and threw several energy needles at her, but she swiftly flew by them while taking out several paper amulets. "Dichromatic Butterfly!" She dashed past Tabuu at a fast speed and left behind tons of amulets in the air, more so than she was holding in her hands. Tabuu looked around and saw that he was surrounded from all sides, and they were slowly drifting around the place. When one of them touched his body a tiny bit, it exploded and made him jerk to the side and touch some more, triggering them.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

The villain quickly moved away from the amulets, but because the place was so crowded with them, he wasn't able to get to a safe spot without touching any of them. Annoyed at the amount of amulets and the fact that he couldn't escape them, he released clones of himself all over the place and had them fly into the amulets so that they would get rid of each other. Once the air was cleared of amulets, Tabuu formed a cannon shaped like a dragon's head and used it to fire a large beam at Reimu, and she quickly flew away from the latter.

Remu flew as fast as she could from the beam, but at the same time, she tried getting close to Tabuu and even threw amulets and needles, but they got wiped out by the beam. Eventually, the cannon stopped firing the beam, and Tabuu quickly made the former disappear to get ready to counter Reimu, who was heading for him. He brought down his hand to hit her, but she stopped just short of the attack and moved back slightly, and then she threw some paper amulets which he avoided by warping away.

He reappeared some feet behind her and fired an energy blast, but she reached out her hand towards it and formed a wall to defend herself against it. Tabuu then created clones of himself and had them fly to the sides of Reimu before having them kamikaze into her, but she escaped by flying straight up.

She summoned four miniature yin-yang orbs using four pieces of paper and had them fire at Tabuu, but he transformed into a golden cage-like thing, and the shots went through the opening in between the "walls". Having experiencing getting caught by this attack before, Reimu quickly moved out of the way when the cage flew at her and then flew away as fast as she could with it coming after her. While escaping, she threw some paper amulets at it, but they also went through the opening in between the walls.

"There's got to be some way to counter that!" she thought. The cage was slowly catching up to Reimu, and when it was close to her, she quickly formed a box-shaped barrier around herself. The cage widened its walls so that it was able to "contain" the barrier inside, and then it shook violently, but Reimu didn't feel or experience anything at all due to the barrier protecting her, even though the barrier itself was shaking. "Heh… To think that it would be this easy to counter…"

The cage eventually exploded, but thanks to the barrier, Reimu was safe. Tabuu reappeared in front of the barrier with an angry expression. "Don't think you're safe just because you're in there!" he said, and then he moved back through the air a bit of a distance before transforming into something that resembled a shark fin. He shot forward at a fast speed and collided with the barrier with such a force that the latter shook and flickered a bit.

"Such power!" Reimu thought. "He may actually break through this! I have to strengthen it!" Reimu clasped her hands together and concentrated on using her mind power to keep the barrier stable. At the same time, Tabuu, still in the aforementioned form, was moving back and ramming into it over and over. After hitting it five times, he moved back through the air farther than before and then zoomed forward while spinning like a drill. When he came in contact with the barrier, it shook and flickered even more than before, and finally, it disappeared. Reimu managed to move out of his way in time, however.

Tabuu moved a forward a bit of a distance before quickly changing back to normal and throwing a shuriken at her, but as it was still heading for her, he quickly tied it by the hole in the center with a golden chain. Using the chain-and-shuriken combination, he swung it to hit Reimu. She sometimes dodged the attack and sometimes deflected it with her gohei.

Annoyed that he wasn't able to land a single hit on her, Tabuu threw another five shurikens into the air around himself and tied them up using the same method with the same number of chains, and then he swung his weapons like crazy at her and sometimes performed spinning attacks with them. This time, Reimu was having a harder time avoiding and deflecting them, so she got hit a few times.

When another one of the chained shurikens was swung at her, she quickly moved aside and struck the chain with her gohei and severed it. Tabuu was surprised by this, but he continued to attack her with the remaining five chained shurikens. Reimu continued to dodge them and eventually cut the chains one by one until there was only one left, which Tabuu retracted until the chain was gone and the shuriken was in his hand. "Instead of simply channeling spiritual energy into my gohei," Reimu explained to him, "I also molded the energy into the shape of a blade so that it can be used like a sword, or a knife."

"You sure know how to use your ability in unexpected ways, but that is not going to save you!" Tabuu said while spinning the shuriken above his head by the hole in its center using his finger. As he spun the shuriken, it became bigger and bigger, and when it was about thrice its original size, he threw it at her, but she dodged it with ease, both when it went toward her and when it came back. Tabuu managed to stop it with no effort simply by catching its side, and then it quickly returned to its original size.

"Just so you know," Reimu said while taking out pinwheels that appeared to be made from paper amulets, "you're not the only one with a weapon like that." Then she threw the paper pinwheels at him, but he was able to cut them up using his shuriken as a melee weapon.

"But mines are more powerful!" he claimed.

"Okay, I'll give you that…"

"Admitting that you're inferior to me now, aren't you?" the villain said before charging at her to hit her with the shuriken, but she used Dimensional Rift to warp out of the way. She reappeared not too far away to the side of him and threw some paper amulets and needles before warping away to another location to do the same thing.

"I never implied such a thing!" she said while repeating the action over and over to bombard Tabuu from all sides except upward and downward. Tabuu protected himself by letting the energy orb inside his chest come out, split into two, and circle him at a fast speed. Eventually, Reimu took out handfuls of amulets in both hands and then dashed past him at a fast speed, leaving behind a large amount of them. "Dichromatic Butterfly!" She took out handfuls of amulets again and did the same thing.

Tabuu looked around and growled in frustration upon seeing that the air was filled with even more paper amulets than last time. "You really are trying to annoy the heck out of me, aren't you!" he angrily shouted. "Don't think that your paper toys can get rid of me! You'll need to try harder than that if you want to actually defeat me!" He spread out his wings to perform an attack that would get rid of all the paper amulets, but then something came to him. "No… There's no point in using Off Waves to do something like this. If I miss her, then I'll have to wait again for it to finish recharging, and I don't want to wait again! I'm going to save it for her and make sure that it's a worthy hit!"

When Reimu saw the wings appearing, she got into defensive stance, for she believed that he was going to use Off Waves, but she lowered her guard when he never used it and asked, "What's the matter? Scared that you'll hurt yourself if you set off those amulets using that move?"

"Your taunting will not provoke me," Tabuu said to her. "I simply chose to save this attack for you instead. What point is there in using it to get rid of minor annoyances and possibly missing the important target?"

"You have a point…"

"I can still use other ways to…" Before Tabuu could finish speaking, one of the amulets touched him and exploded, causing him to jerk to the side and touching and setting off some of the other amulets. All the amulets were set off, and the villain screamed as the series of explosions engulfed him. "GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Reimu even had to get away so that she wouldn't get caught in the blast.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Reimu watched as the explosions and smoke filled up the air and said, "I think I may have overdone things… Though it's not a bad thing right now…" Suddenly, Tabuu came down behind her with a blade in his hand and cut her down the back. "Ack! Darn it! I let my guard down!" The shrine maiden quickly turned around while moving away from him, and she saw that he had his wings out. "Oh no!"

"Off Waves!" Tabuu shouted as his wings released huge bursts of shockwaves at Reimu as she escaped.

"I can't get away in time!" the shrine maiden said in her head while looking back at the incoming shockwaves, and then she was blasted forward at a fast speed.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed as she shot through the air until she hit the machine's force field. Luckily for her, there was quite a bit of a distance between her and Tabuu when the attack was unleashed, so she wasn't injured that badly by it, but she still felt lots of pain.

She groaned as she turned around, and before she had the chance to do anything else, Tabuu charged into her and stabbed her in the middle of the chest with blades in his hands. Then villain then moved the blades up and down to cut her skin and innards, making her scream in agony. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

"Twin Breaker!" Remilia shouted as she created two energy spears. Instead of throwing them right away, she quickly went close to the Cruncher Darkling's right eye first before slamming them one after another into it, effectively blinding him on one side.

While the Darkling was crying in pain with his hand over his ruined eye, Sanae shouted to Nitori and Cirno, "The moment I use this move! Now! Transient Wind!" She let her gohei spin like a propeller in front of herself to unleash a blast of wind, and when the move was used, Cirno and Nitori fired cold wind and water respectively at it. The combination of all three attacks resulted in a sharp ice pillar that stabbed the Darkling through the area just below chest.

The Darkling cried in agony and was going to use his right hand to break the ice, but Youmu quickly cut the hand before he could do so. After that, Reisen and a large amount of her clones bombarded him nonstop with projectiles.

"Maple Leaf Fan!" Aya shouted as she created a large tornado. "Now, Alice!" Alice nodded and then sent several dolls flying into the tornado to allow it to take them for a spin, and then it moved in the Darkling's direction. As the dolls were filled with gun powder and made to explode when struck hard, they effectively turned the tornado into an exploding tornado, and the Darkling was badly blasted when it came in contact with him.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The Cruncher Darkling took some steps back, and then Meiling went to the tail as fast as she could and caught it by the part in front of the mouth, squeezing it hard with her arms. The tail struggled to shake her off, but she forced it onto the floor with a punch to the top of it and then punched the same spot over and over nonstop. "Open your mouth at once!" she shouted while doing this. "Let go of Yukari at once!"

"Meiling! You're going to end up smashing Yukari to bits if she's really in there!" Nitori reminded her. "Here! Let me show you how it should be done!" Nitori ran up to the mouth and used both her and the Robo-Backpack's hands to try to pry it open. The mouth was shut really tight, so even the combined force of the kappa and the backpack weren't able to open it. "Ugh! Open up, will ya!"

At the same time, Meiling was punching the mouth from above, but in a spot not too far away from where she was originally hitting in fear of hurting Yukari. While she and Nitori were doing their things, Youmu brought down the Roukanken from behind the gatekeeper and cleanly cut off the tail, causing the Cruncher Darkling to cry with intense pain. "Yes! You did it!" Nitori exclaimed. The tail, despite being cut off, remained closed, and it trashed around like the tail of a lizard shortly after it was cut off.

"I'll cut it open myself if it refuses to open by itself!" Youmu said as she approached the tail, but it slithered away like a snake. "Hey! Get back here!" She went around it and got in front of it in an instant.

"Youmu! Watch out!" Meiling shouted when she saw the Cruncher Darkling swinging his remaining hand at Youmu, but the half-phantom cut it off when it came close to her with no effort.

SLASH!

The Darkling cried in pain again, and then he was struck in the front by Aya's Sarutahiko's Guidance and Remilia's Bad Lady Scramble. While the Darkling had his mouth opened and his head raised into the air, Marisa zoomed as close as she could to his mouth and then threw several pots down his throat. After that, she used her hakkero and a spell card to aim a laser sight into his mouth and then said out loud, "It's all you can eat! Enjoy-da ze! Sure-Fire Master Spark!"

And a humongous beam was fired into the Cruncher Darkling's mouth, not only damaging him from the inside, but also setting off the pots that were thrown down his throat earlier.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

* * *

The pain was too much for Reimu to bear. It hurt her so much that she was no longer able to scream. An evil smile appeared on the villain's face, and then he said to her, "Heheh! Now you know you've made a grave mistake of crossing my path! This is what you deserve!"

Reimu gritted her teeth and then weakly said, "I… can't… lose… For… the… sake… of the… world… I… cannot… lose…"

"You're finished! You're done for! There is no more hope for you! You're going to die, and then your friends will join you shortly afterwards! The machine will then spread evil throughout the universe, and then the Darkling will be able to leave the Forbidden Realm and unleash chaos all over the place! The universe will become their playground! They will enjoy killing and torturing everyone, and all the evildoers will rejoice at the fact that there will never be anyone to stop them again! It will become a paradise for evildoers! A paradise! A paradise!"

"You've… totally… lost… it… A paradise… for evildoers…? Such a thing… doesn't… and will never… exist…! My friends and I… will stop you… We will definitely stop you… We will… We definitely… WILL!" Immediately after raising her voice, rainbow-colored light appeared around Reimu, much to Tabuu's surprise.

"What the! What's happening!"

**BGM: Maiden's Capriccio ~ Dream Battle (Touhou: Imperishable Night)**

Reimu grabbed Tabuu's hands and pushed them and the blades out of her body, and then her wounds healed at a fast rate, something that surprised Tabuu even more. While the villain was too surprised to pay attention to anything else, Reimu punched him straight in the face with a force that was strong enough to send him flying back through the air quite a bit of a distance, and she didn't even have an amulet taped to the back of her hand. "What's with her sudden boost in strength! And how did she fully recover too!" Tabuu said in his head.

Reimu then charged at Tabuu, who swung his blades in a crisscross formation, but she caught both his arms and then kicked him in the chin. After that, she went over and behind him to hit him in the back several times with palm thrusts and kicks. After kicking him forward, the shrine maiden threw paper amulets rapidly at him like firing a machine gun when he turned around, and each hit blasted the villain backwards until he touched the force field around the machine.

With spell cards in her palms, Reimu flew up to him and struck in the chest over and over, each hit creating bursts of orange energy that also caused small cracks to appear on the force field. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Strike!"

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

After hitting him several times, she spun back through the air and then stretched out her limbs while shouting, "This is the finale! Final Smash! Fantasy Zone!" In an instant, a large see-through circle appeared around her, with Tabuu and the evil-spreading machine both inside it.

"What is this!" Tabuu said while looking around in surprise. All of a sudden, incredibly bright blue and white light came out from Reimu, completely filling up every single space inside the circle and zapping Tabuu and the machine. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

From outside the circle, the blue and white energy inside it gave the entire thing the appearance of a yin-yang orb that was spinning in place constantly. The giant ball of light was so bright that when seen from a distance, it was like seeing a star in the night sky.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Youmu's Lunar Slicer was actually used during her final battle against Exdeath, just that I never gave it a name. It's been added now.

Also, the title for the next chapter is purposely left out in order to avoid spoilers.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is a reference to the phantasm stage theme of Perfect Cherry Blossom, Charming Domination ~ Who done it?

2. The name of Reimu's Final Smash is the same as the cute 'em up (shooters with colorful, usually lighthearted themes) series made by Sega.

3. The move Dichromatic Butterfly is actually a move used by Reimu in the first Seihou game, Shuusou Gyoku, but since that move isn't given a name, I made up a name for it, naming it after her theme in that game, Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Keine's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 2/6  
Speed: 2/6  
Jump: 2/6  
Weight: 3/6**

**Entrance:** Warps onto the stage using a kind of magic where an unrolled scroll made of energy is encircling her.

**A, A: **Double slap.

**F-Tilt: **Whacks with a book.

**U-Tilt: **Claps two chalkboards together over her head. It's actually very powerful.

**D-Tilt: **A low slap.

**Dash Attack: **A ramming headbutt.

**Forward Smash: **Pulls back her head and then delivers a powerful headbutt.

**Up Smash: **Jumps up slightly to hit with her head. It can only hit above her.

**Down Smash: **A relatively weak compass kick, just like Zelda's Down Smash.

**Neutral Aerial: **Encircles herself with a scroll that is releasing energy from its paper.

**Forward Aerial: **Whacks with her hat.

**Back Aerial: **Whacks backward with her hat.

**Up Aerial: **Claps two chalkboards overhead. It's as powerful as her U-Tilt.

**Grab Attack: **Headbutts the opponent in the forehead.

**Forward Throw: **A powerful headbutt that sends him/her shooting flying backwards.

**Back Throw: **Brings the opponent to the back and then headbutts him/her away.

**Up Throw: **Smacks him/her in the chin with a book.

**Down Throw: **Headbutts him/her onto the ground.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Rams with her head as she quickly gets back onto the stage.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Sweeps the ground with her hand while climbing back up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Does a weaker version of her Down Smash as she stands back up.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Kicks in both sides while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Throws a chalk, which flies about three steps ahead, while standing back. This is the only Floor Attack that is a projectile.

**Neutral B: First Pyramid  
**Keine fires three energy orbs in three directions—one directly upwards, one diagonally downwards to the left, and another one diagonally downwards to the right. Keine will stop moving in air if it is done there, much like when Fox uses his Reflector in midair (and also Falco in Melee).

**Side B: Rain in Showa  
**Keine fires three laser beams, one of them flying straight forward, while the other two flying at slight upward and downward angles. When charged, Keine will also fire a spread of small bullets, and it only takes about two seconds to finish charging.

**Up B: Amaterasu  
**Keine floats into the air while giving off bright light, and beams of light are fired in eight directions twice, one shortly after activating the move and the second time just before the move ends. She floats around in the same manner as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado, and the duration is the same too. Instead of trapping opponents, however, it knocks them away.

**Down B: Hakutaku Transformation  
**Keine takes out a model of a moon to transform herself into her hakutaku form. In this form, she is faster and stronger, not to mention having an almost completely different moveset. However, she will change back to her human form after three minutes or when she gets KO'ed and respawns. Like Zelda changing into Sheik and vice versa, she is invincible during the transformation sequence.

**Final Smash: Phantasmal Emperor  
**Keine sends out three balls of light into the air, one flying straight up, one diagonally to the left, and another one diagonally to the right. The balls of light will stop after moving seven steps away from Keine, and then they will fire a large amount of laser beams and energy bullets all over the screen nonstop for eight seconds. The knockback from the lasers is stronger than the bullets, but it's not incredibly powerful either. The sheer amount of projectiles can rack up lots of damage and screw with whatever your opponents are doing. This move lasts for ten seconds.

**Side Taunt: **Reads a book.

**Up Taunt: **Brushes her hair with her hand and says, "Learned your lesson yet?"

**Down Taunt: **Takes off her hat and spins it around using her finger.

**Victory Stance 1: **With books in her hand, she says, "That's all for today's lesson!"

**Victory Stance 2: **Knelt in front of a table, she writes on a scroll while saying, "Better record this victory into history."

**Victory Stance 3: **Reads a book, but looks up at the screen with a smile shortly before the victory theme ends.


	125. Surprise Ascendant

**SBS Time!  
MagicalGamer64: **No Giga Bowser, huh?  
**Game2002: **The Cruncher Darkling is the Giga Bowser of this story.

Anyway, sorry for the wait… This is one chapter I'm looking forward to most to show you all, yet it still took me ten days to complete… Now that it's out, I highly anticipate what you will say in your reviews after reading it!

Enjoy!

Oh, and one last thing... The duration of Keine's Final Smash has been added to the previous chapter.

**Chapter 124  
Surprise Ascendant**

* * *

Reisen opened her eyes and lowered her hands after realizing that the explosion had cleared, and what she saw shocked and made her jump back a bit. "Yikes!" What she saw was the Cruncher Darkling, or rather, the upper torso of the Cruncher Darkling, which had been separated from the lower torso, and the latter was now in pieces all over the place.

Aya looked at the seemingly dead Cruncher Darkling and said, "That's sure a painful way to go… You sure went rough on him, Marisa."

Marisa landed next to the tengu and said, "Well, there's really no way to defeat him unless I play it rough."

"I agree…"

Suddenly, the Cruncher Darkling let out a growl, but other than his mouth, which opened slightly, his whole body didn't move at all. Even so, this was enough to scare the girls and get them into defensive stances. "He's still alive!" Meiling said in shock.

His growl was a long, painful-sounding one, and also one that sounded sad. When the growling finally ended, his eyes became pitch black, and then his entire body exploded into a huge burst of black particles.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The pieces of his lower torso lying all over the place blew up into black particles too, some together and some one after another. Eventually, all that was left was the tail, which trashed around with its mouth still closed. The girls gathered around the tail and wondered why this one hadn't blown up yet. The tail trashed around for several seconds, and eventually, it stopped moving, but it jerked three times before openings its mouth all of a sudden. Before the girls could get a better look at what's inside, the tail exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

They were blown back slightly by the sudden explosion, and then something fell down in the center of them. "It's Yukari!" Youmu said.

The girls quickly gathered around the unconscious Yukari, and Marisa said, "What do you know? It really is her! I can't believe I'm actually seeing her in this place!"

"Is she all right?" Sanae asked.

Reisen bent down next to Yukari, lifted her hand, and searched for her pulse. "She still has pulse, but it's rather weak. Looks like the atmosphere of this place really hurt her, and judging from her appearance, she took a bit of beating as well. Good thing I have something that should be able to do the trick." She took out a vial containing red liquid. "This potion can make the drinker return to perfect condition in a short amount of time."

"You have to keep in mind that even after she returns to top condition, she will weaken again due to the atmosphere here," Remilia reminded her.

"We'll just have to convince her to leave this place, then," Reisen said as she lifted Yukari's head and made her drink from the vial. "There! That should do the trick! She'll get back up after a while." After standing back up, she looked up and noticed something falling, so she informed the others about it. They looked up and saw two things falling. One was the evil-spreading machine, which landed on top of the roof, its original location, while the other one was Tabuu, who fell to the same floor as them.

The girls gathered around the unconscious villain, and Marisa exclaimed, "All right! Reimu defeated him! She did it! I knew she wouldn't have a problem with him!"

"And you were saying that she may need help earlier," Remilia said to her.

"Speaking of Reimu, she's here," Aya said while looking up to see the shrine maiden descending to where they were. When she landed, they quickly gathered around her.

"Great to see that you're back safe and sound!" Nitori said to her. "You had us worried for a moment!"

"Thanks for showing concern towards me. You didn't have to worry too much about me, though. Admittedly, I was in danger of losing, but the power of the Smash Essence kicked in at the right moment and saved me, and then I was able to use my Final Smash to both defeat him and destroy the machine. At least I think it's destroyed…"

Aya looked at the machine at the roof and said, "Maybe we'll have to go up there and get a better look at it to clarify things. Nitori is good with machines, so she should be able to give us a definite answer."

Reimu noticed Yukari lying on the floor and asked, "So you managed to save Yukari. How is she?"

"She still has pulse," Reisen replied. "I also gave her a potion that will replenish one's strength, so she should be able to stand back up after a while."

"Good to hear that. Still can't believe that she would actually lose a fight… She may be a troublesome and annoying person, but she's still a good friend. Hope she recovers soon."

"I can't believe that she actually went through all the trouble of looking for us too…" Marisa said. "She really must've had it hard… Something tells me that she's going to sleep for months after all this is over…"

Just then, they heard the sound of groaning, so they turned and saw Tabuu slowly and weakly getting back up. "What! He's still alive!" Sanae said in shock. The girls got into fighting stances to get ready to face him, in case he was going to attack them.

"I can't… believe… that I lost…" he said. "However… it's not over… till I actually… drop dead… As long as I can still breathe… I will continue to struggle… You girls… will never defeat me…!"

"Say all you want! There's no way you're going to beat us in your current condition!" Aya said to him. "It's eleven against one! If Yukari does get back up, then it's going to be twelve against one. Plus, she can easily take you down all by herself within seconds, I'm sure!"

"Oh… My head…" said the voice of Yukari all of a sudden. The girls turned and saw the demon of boundaries slowly pushing herself back up with her hand on her forehead.

"What do you know? She really is up in a short amount of time," Remilia said.

The girls gathered around her, and Reimu placed the demon's arm over her shoulders to help her stand up. "Are you all right?"

"Is that you, Reimu?" Yukari asked, still with her hand on her forehead. "So all of you are here after all… Glad that I finally found you… and it sure took me a while… I think I must've had a horrible nightmare just now…"

"It's all over, Yukari!" Marisa said to her. "Your nightmare is over! We woke you up from it!"

"If that's the case, then I'll really have to thank you…"

"How are you feeling?" Reisen asked Yukari. "I gave you potion that should make you return to top condition soon."

"As a matter of fact, I'm feeling more and more revitalized every second," Yukari said while letting her arm off Reimu's shoulders. "I can actually stand up without support now! Your potion sure did wonders, Reisen! Thanks a bunch!"

"However, you probably can't last long here," Youmu told her. "The atmosphere of the Forbidden Realm isn't suitable for you. We are protected by the Smash Essences, even after they are used up, so we are fine."

"I will need catching up to do later, but what you said explains why I was feeling sick when I first came here. If that's the case…" Yukari created a portal, stepped into it, and then shrunk it until only her head is seen. She then put on a gas mask that covered only her mouth. "This should do the trick!"

"Smart thinking, though I'm not sure if it will really work…" Alice said.

The girls then turned their attentions back to Tabuu, who was back on his feet, but at the same time, he looked like he was going to fall over out of exhaustion any moment. "So where were we?" Reimu asked.

"I believe he still wants to fight," Marisa said. "If that's the case, then let us give him what he wants! Twelve against one should make things short!"

All the girls except Yukari got into fighting stances, and seeing this, Tabuu took a step back. He knew he was in a disadvantage at the moment, and he couldn't think of what to do. He could try to run, but he feared that they would catch up with him with ease, especially when there's someone among them who can move really fast. He could also fight back, but in his current condition, he wouldn't be able to use his full power, and it would be suicide trying to take on all of them at once.

While he was worrying about this, a ball of darkness with what appeared to be stars inside it suddenly appeared next to him, surprising him and the girls. "What is that!" Cirno asked.

"That thing! I think I know what it is!" Youmu said. Everyone backed away from the ball of darkness, and a short while later, an arm reached out from it, followed by the entire body. "I knew it!"

"Exdeath!" Tabuu said in surprise upon seeing who came out.

Indeed, it was the tree warlock himself, Exdeath. Looking tired and beaten up, the villain said in between heavy panting, "Finally… Freed from the Void… I can't believe it turned against me once again…"

"He's still alive!" Reimu asked. "Youmu, didn't you kill him?"

"To be honest, I didn't actually give him the finishing blow," Youmu replied. "He got sucked into that ball of darkness you see behind him instead."

"Exdeath! You've showed up at the right time!" Tabuu said to him. "You must get rid of the girls for me! They've destroyed the evil-spreading machine and weakened me!"

"They what!" Exdeath said in shock. "Grrrr! I can't believe that they've gone this far! This is as far as they go!"

"Indeed! Our plan to fill the world with evil was just a step away! But don't worry; I can rebuild it, so long as you buy me the time to escape and replenish myself in some way. I'll come back to help you after that! Try to buy me some time!"

"You don't have to tell me that!" Exdeath said as he got into fighting stance. "This time, I'm not going to lose to little girls! Not at all!"

"Right, you're not going to lose to little girls," Aya said to him. "Instead, you're going to lose to attractive girls!"

"Firaga!" Exdeath shouted as he created and threw ball of fire at them, but they all got out of the way. Yukari simply closed her gap to avoid it. Youmu landed from her jump and charged at him to clash swords with him, and while they were pushing their blades against each other, Aya dived at him and hit him in the head to knock him back, allowing Youmu to slash him in the chest a couple of times.

Exdeath recovered from the hits and fired a ball of light at Youmu. "Vacuum Wave!" She swiftly dodged it and approached him again, but he quickly warped out of her way. The moment he reappeared, Remilia charged at him and struck him across in the face with her claws, and then Meiling gave him a roundhouse kick to his neck from behind. The villain angrily turned to the gatekeeper and tried to hit her with his sword, but she ducked and then attacked with a leg sweep to knock him off his feet. Remilia then picked him up by his hand and flung him across the place. While he was still flying through the air, Nitori came down on top of him and smashed him onto the floor with her Robo-Backpack's fist.

"ENOUGH!" Exdeath shouted as he stood back up and threw a punch at Nitori, but her backpack's arm managed to catch it. While Exdeath was trying to pull his fist away, Marisa and Reimu jumped at him from behind to hit him with their broom and gohei respectively, but he spun around and smacked them away with Nitori, sending the kappa flying away as well. When Aya dived at him, he attacked with Thunder when she was close to zap her out of the air.

While she was down, he used this opportunity to impale her, but Cirno smashed him over the head from behind with an ice hammer. He turned around to face her, but Reisen immediately blasted him in the face with a rapid burst of bullets. While he was being blown back by the shots, Alice had her dolls impale him in the back with spears. The villain cried in pain as spun and shook his body to get them off, and he eventually did.

"Fortune Bomb!" Sanae shouted as she threw three packets at him, all of them exploding like fireworks to blast him backwards.

Marisa then shot him rapidly using Radial Strike, and while he was getting shot, Reimu threw several amulets that moved in circles around him at a moderate speed. "Orbital Amulets!" After a few seconds, the amulets flew into him really fast and blasted him. Exdeath came out from the explosion in rage and sent several lightning bolts into the air.

"Thundaga!" he shouted. The lightning bolts rained down all over the place, taking out chunks of the floor when they struck parts of it, and the girls ran around to avoid getting hit. Nitori, however, stopped running after a while and raised her backpack's arm into the air and used it as a lightning rod to absorb the last lightning bolt.

With its fist charged with electricity, Nitori pulled back the arm and then dashed at Exdeath using the help of boosters at the back of her backpack. "Light-Speed Electro Punch!" She charged into Exdeath at a speed too fast for him to avoid, and the villain was sent flying back through the air and going through walls.

CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!

"Wow! That was cool!" Cirno exclaimed.

"It's just as you saw just now! The Robo-Backpack's fist absorbed the lightning bolt to strengthen itself, though it can already produce its own electricity," Nitori explained. "A bit of help from the outside is still nice, however."

Suddenly, Exdeath appeared out of thin air behind her. Marisa shouted for her to be careful, and just as Exdeath was going to cut off her head, Reisen caught his arm and forcefully bent it to the back and twisted it. The villain cried in pain and then turned to her to hit her with his good arm, but she jumped back while firing at him. A pair of dolls then flew in circles around him and bounded him with a string. While he was struggling to break free, Alice had her dolls fire laser beams at him. "Hourai Doll!"

While he was taking the beams to his body, Exdeath continued to struggle with the string and eventually freed himself using force. He quickly warped out of the way and then fired Vacuum Wave at Alice, but Meiling got in front of the ball of light, absorbed it with Water Taichi Fist, and then return a rainbow-colored projectile at him, but he easily got rid of it with his sword. After that, she rushed up to him and punched him hard in the abdomen, followed by an uppercut to the chin. However, Exdeath lacked a visible chin, so her uppercut ended up being a failure, as her fist went up in front of his face instead.

Exdeath tried to stab her afterwards, but Cirno quickly smacked him over the head with a block of ice to cause him to flinch. This gave Meiling the chance to strike his hand to disarm him. After that, she unleashed a series of punches using one hand against him. "Radiant Rainbow Fist!" After punching him enough times, she used Red Inch Punch to send him flying backwards. As he was flying back through the air, Remilia caught him by his shoulder from behind and then flip forward to slam him on his back against the floor. After that, she flew above him and then dived down with her claws pointing at him.

"Ceiling Fear!" she shouted. Exdeath quickly spun to the side and escaped the attack. He shot a large ball of fire, Fira, at her after getting onto one knee, but she dodged with ease and then closed in one him to knock him away with a claw slash.

Exdeath growled as he slowly stood back up, and then he quickly went for his sword. Immediately after picking it up, he was hit by Sanae's Forgotten Ritual, though he managed to remain standing aftewards. He faced the girls as they got close to each other. "Argh! I can't believe I'm getting trashed around by the likes of you!" he said in anger.

"He's definitely much weaker than before," Youmu said. "At this rate, we should be able to defeat him in no time without much effort."

"A pity that he can't put up more of a challenge anymore," Marisa said. "However, after going through all those fights, I have to say that I'm starting to get tired, so it's not a bad thing that this fight is easy and possibly short."

All the while, Tabuu was secretly watching from not too far away, from behind a torn down wall. "It seems like Exdeath isn't holding up by himself very well… Whatever the case is, I need to get out of here first!" he said to himself before turning to sneak away, but suddenly, a gap appeared in front of him, and Yukari was seen standing inside it. "What the!"

"Going somewhere?" she asked. "It would appear that you started all this mess. You really gave me a rough time traveling from place to place looking for those girls, you know? Let me tell you what I think about this. I… don't… APPRECIATE THIS AT ALL!" Without saying anything else, she pointed her hand at him and created a large spinning square that blew him backwards. "Quadruple Barrier!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tabuu cried as he flew in Exdeath's direction, and the latter, without bothering to see what was approaching him, swung his sword at him.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

It was only after slashing Tabuu did Exdeath realized that he made a mistake. "Oh no!"

Tabuu fell forward on his chest and coughed while saying in pain, "Exdeath… You… Ugh… Augh… Gah… Ack…! No… I… can't… I… can't…!" Suddenly, a large amount of light came out from his body, and he felt even more pain than before. "GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Then he exploded in a huge burst of light.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the light died down, Tabuu was nowhere to be seen, but everyone continued to stare at where he used to be for several seconds. Finally, Marisa broke the silence. "So… you think this is the last we've seen of him…?"

"Let's hope so…" Reimu said.

Exdeath then turned to the girls and said, "You! What have you made me done!"

"Hey, don't blame us," Aya said to him. "It's your fault for not looking at what you're hitting, and if there really is someone else to blame, it's Yukari."

Yukari showed her face from a gap that appeared next to her and said, "Yeah, blame me when you should be thanking me that I helped got rid of an annoyance!"

"I never said what you did was wrong…"

Exdeath then thought things over for a while, and then he said, "Now that he's gone, and I'm the only around here left… That means… I am my own leader now! Looks like I'll have to thank you for something!"

"Boy… You really are trying to look on the bright side, aren't you?" Marisa asked.

"Honestly saying, I never really liked the idea of being ruled over by someone. There were times when I wished I could overthrow him and become the leader myself, but the differences between our powers prevented that from happening. Plus, I even have to fight with the others to claim the spot of the leader! Now that Tabuu and all the others are gone, nobody is going to stop me from being the leader behind all this! I can simply destroy you girls and then recruit more people to follow me!"

"How about you save your brilliant plan for until you actually win?" Remilia told him. "It's good to look on the bright side, but you have to realize that your chances of winning are slim to none at the moment. You seriously think you can beat us all by yourself?"

"Don't mock me! I'll do whatever it takes to get rid of you all!" Exdeath angrily said before making several dark energy balls appear around them. "Grand Cross!"

The girls got into defensive stances when they saw them, and since she experienced this move before, Youmu told them how this move was like. They moved their backs closer and closer to each other as the dark energy orbs closed in on them, and they wondered what they could do to protect themselves. When the orbs were very close to hitting them, Yukari made several gaps appear in front of the former for them to go into. Gaps appeared around Exdeath, and the orbs came out and hit him, much to his surprise.

"That was close…" Reimu said. "Thanks a lot, Yukari!"

"Since you lot must be tired from your constant traveling and fighting," Yukari said while moving in front of the girls so that she was directly facing Exdeath, "I might as well do the favor of putting an end to things for you. Plus, I came this far only to get beaten up the first time. Don't you see fit that I should have more fun than that? Nest of Fireflies!" She created portals that fired projectiles at Exdeath. He endured the shots and then charged at her to attack her, but she swung her hand horizontally to attack with a purple shockwave that struck him in the midsection. "Border of Brains and Feet!"

He came to a skidding stop on his feet, and he looked up just in time to see closing her gap to make herself disappear. Suddenly, she flew out from a gap that opened up next to him and smacked him hard in the side of the head with her umbrella. "Why you!" Exdeath angrily said as he tried to stab her with his sword, but she stepped to the side and then disarmed him by hitting his hand with her parasol. After that, she disappeared into a black portal that appeared underneath her feet.

The portal went to the part of the floor right in front of Exdeath, and then Yukari shot up from it, spinning vertically like a buzzsaw, hitting him rapidly and knocking him into the air with each hit. "Flying Dismantler!" After knocking him high up into the air, Yukari stopped and pointed her hand at him to attack with a spinning energy square. "Quadruple Barrier!" Exdeath was blown back by it and went flying into the evil-spreading machine.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Exdeath crashed inside the machine and got himself tangled up by its wires, and purple electricity, which were actually evil energy, was traveling all over his body as a result. "GWAAAAAAAAAAH! GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The rest of the girls flew to the same altitude as him and watched him suffer. "Ow… I'd hate to be in the same shoe as him right now…" Nitori commented.

As Exdeath trashed around, he cried out at the top of his voice, "THE EVIL ENERGY! THE EVIL ENERGY! IT'S GOING…! IT'S GOING… IT'S… IT'S… GUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"What's he saying?" Cirno asked.

Exdeath continued to scream and trash as the evil energy seemingly did harm to him. Eventually, his body started to bulge in various parts, and cracks appeared on his armor as well. Such a thing disgusted and shocked some of the girls, as it looked like his body was going to burst apart any second. All of a sudden, a burst of purple light engulfed Exdeath completely, and the girls moved back in fear of getting caught in it.

The girls kept their eyes on the purple smoke that was left behind when the burst of light died down, curious at what happened. As the smoke began to clear away, they could make out the silhouette of a relatively large figure within it. "What… What happened to him…?" Reimu asked.

Eventually, the smoke cleared away to reveal Exdeath in a form slightly different from before. His body build was taller and larger, and certain parts of his armor were broken because of the size change, and his skin was gray. Spikes made of wooden material were sticking out from various parts of his body, such as his shoulders, the back of his arms, the front part of his legs, and his back. Also, purple glowing eyes were seen inside his visor. Finally, his finger and toes had sharp claws at the end of each of them.

"What… What in the world…?" Youmu said in awe.

"What happened to him…?" Reisen asked.

"Um… Did I do something bad…?" Yukari asked.

Exdeath didn't look like he was surprise by his transformation at all. "The power and knowledge of evil… All the evil in the universe…" he said in a voice that echoed throughout the place. "It has been absorbed entirely into my mind and body. An unexpected turn of events, but one that I gladly welcome!"

"He absorbed the power and knowledge of all of the evil in the universe into himself…? I have a bad feeling about this…" Reimu said in fear.

Exdeath stretched his hands to the sides and emitted electricity from them, and then pieces of the evil-spreading machine's remnants flew to him and merged with his armor to patch up the parts that were broken. Some of the parts gathered at his right hand and became a sword that was comparable to his size. He raised his newly-created sword high into the air, and purple wind circled its blade, so the girls got into defensive stances. When he swung his sword, a powerful blast of wind sent them hurtling back through the air uncontrollably, only coming to a stop when they were above Dark City.

"Whoa! That's quite a wind!" Aya commented.

Exdeath suddenly appeared in the air directly above Reimu and tried to fall onto her with his sword pointing at her, but she quickly moved out of the way. The villain fell all the way to the city and landed so hard against the street that cracks spread throughout it. He then raised his hand into the air and formed a ball of darkness that grew in size until it was half the size of him. The girls suddenly felt a powerful gravitational force pulling them down, and because it was very strong, they weren't able to fight back at all; they instantly found themselves being pulled towards the bottom at a fast speed.

Yukari, on the other hand, retreated into her gap when she felt herself starting to get pulled down, so she was fine. She showed up from another gap down at the city with a large piece of mattress for the girls to fall onto.

"Phew… Saved by Yukari again…" Aya said while getting back up.

Exdeath took a step forward and made every one of them turn to look at him. "With the power of absolute evil within me," he said while pointing his sword at them, "I will destroy each and every single one of you! After I'm done with you all, I shall go for the entire universe! None shall escape the clutches of evil! The Darkling shall take over and fill every single place there is with the darkest and foulest of all evil!"

**BGM: Flawless Clothing of the Celestials (Touhou: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody)**

All girls except Yukari got into fighting stances, and Reimu said, "It doesn't matter what sort of powers you have, we're not going to lose to you! We'll do whatever it takes to defeat you!"

""Yeah! You better not underestimate girl power-ze!" Marisa said.

"The things my swords cannot cut are next to none!" Youmu said. "My swords shall cut through your evil!"

"We'll definitely come up with a way to defeat you!" Alice said.

"I will fight to protect everyone and the world!" Meiling said.

"Don't look down on us! There's no way we're going to lose to the likes of you!" Nitori said. "My invention will surely take you down!"

"I'm the strongest! Your power of evil is no match for me!" Cirno said.

"We've come this far, so we're not going to give up or die anytime soon!" Reisen bravely said.

"You better not disappoint me with your new power," Remilia said. "I'm looking forward to a fun and challenging fight!"

"I'm really going to have a lot to write about after all this is over!" Aya said with enthusiasm. "Of course, I'll have to get through this alive first, and I'm more than ready to win this fight! Don't underestimate the fastest in Gensokyo!"

"Your power of evil is no match for my power to bring forth miracles!" Sanae said while pointing her gohei at him. "I shall smite you down with the power of miracles and the goddesses!"

"Since I am responsible for creating him, albeit by accident, I guess I really can't say no in sitting back and doing nothing…" Yukari said.

Exdeath stomped the ground hard to make them all lose their footing and fall on their knees, except for Yukari, since she was mostly inside her gap, and then he swung his sword around in front of himself a couple of times and then said, "Very well! Then all of you shall perish here! You shall realize the hopelessness of the situation you are currently in! Prepare to be drowned in the depths of darkness and evil for eternity!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

So anyone saw this coming at all? Exdeath being the final villain? I had in mind for him to the "final boss" of the story ever since this was supposed to be a Negima story. Why did I make him the final villain? I don't know, actually… It just came to me that I want to make him the final villain, like, all of a sudden. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I think he has good potentials for a final form that I made him it. Well, there's Dracula and his transformations, but I'm more familiar with Exdeath than I am with him, so… Anyway, it also does make sense for Exdeath to be the final villain. The Darkling is the driving force of this story, and he's, like, the embodiment of evil from his own world. In a story where the embodiment of evil is the main driving force, a final villain who is the embodiment of evil makes perfect sense!

Whether or not you are surprised by the outcome of this chapter, I hope you look forward to the final battle of the story, something which most or all of you are probably looking forward to ever since this arc started, or when the organization was first revealed.

Exdeath's new design is inspired by the Shredder from the Ninja Turtles series. I also intended for him to be called Exdiablo after the transformation (even had that name in this chapter at first), but then scratched the idea of giving him a new name when I thought there wasn't a point in doing so, and I'm more used to using his original name too.

I also originally intended for his new form to resemble his third outfit's Ex Mode in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, which in turn is based off the humanoid front portion of Neo Exdeath. However, I suddenly thought of modeling him after the Shredder after becoming interested with Ninja Turtles around those days.

**Next chapter: Embodiment of Evil**

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after the trope Dragon Ascendant, a term referring to the enemy leader's servant/henchperson becoming the new leader after the former's defeat.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Ex Keine's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 5/6  
Speed: 5/6  
Jump: 4/6  
Weight: 5/6**

**Entrance: **Warps onto the stage in her human form using that form's entrance, but a ball of light resembling a full moon is seen to the upper side of her, causing her to change into her hakutaku form a second after appearing.

**A, A, A: **Right claw swipe, then left, and then right.

**F-Tilt: **Swings down claws.

**U-Tilt: **Jumps up a tiny bit to hit with head.

**D-Tilt: **Claw swipe close to the ground.

**Dash Attack: **A running headbutt.

**Forward Smash: **Pulls back head and then swings it from bottom to top, similar to Charizard's Forward Smash.

**Up Smash: **Jumps up slightly while swinging head in an arc.

**Down Smash: **Does a quick spin to slash in both sides.

**Neutral Aerial: **Slashes around herself twice.

**Forward Aerial: **Swings down both claws to meteor smash opponents.

**Back Aerial: **Slashes to her back.

**Up Aerial: **Hits with her head.

**Down Aerial: **Thrusts down both claws. It's a meteor smash.

**Grab Attack: **Headbutts the opponent in the head.

**Forward Throw: **A powerful headbutt that sends him/her flying away.

**Back Throw: **Lifts the opponent into the air using her horns and then hurls him/behind herself.

**Up Throw: **Grabs and throws him/her into the air using horns.

**Down Throw: **Headbutts him/her onto the floor.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Flips onto the stage and brings down claws.

**Ledge Attack: (below 100%): **Sweeps with her claws while climbing back up.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Spins on one hand to kick opponents around herself.

**Floor Attack (facedown): **Slashes in one side and then the other while standing back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Does a small spin jump to slash in both sides.

**Neutral B: Ancient History -Old History-**  
Ex Keine fires a ball of light that spins and fire bullets in four directions as it does so. The ball of light stays on the screen for two seconds, and during these two seconds, it will fire four sets of three bullets. There can only be one of it on the screen at a time. The ball of light itself can trap opponents and hit multiple times.**  
**

**Forward B: History of Locomotion  
**Ex Keine dashes forward, and if she hits an opponent, she will fling him/her straight up. The range of her dash is the same as Captain Falcon's Raptor Boost. Hitting an opponent in the air will cause her to dive down with the opponent caught in between her horns, so doing it off the stage will result in a suicidal KO where you will end up winning if the both of you are down to your last stocks. This move leaves her in a helpless state.

**Up B: Returning-Bridge Ichijo  
**Ex Keine creates an energy bridge that only she can come in contact with without getting harmed. Her partner will not get hurt by it, but he/she will go through it. The bridge can either go straight up, straight to the sides, or diagonally upwards. The moment the move is activated, quickly tilt straight sideways or diagonally sideways on the d-stick to make the bridge go in the respective directions. Not holding any direction will result in the bridge going straight up. If the bridge does straight up, then Ex Keine will be hanging onto the bottom of it and can climb up or down it as if it is a ladder. If it is sideways or diagonal, then she will be hanging onto it like a ledge, and then she can climb onto and stand on it. The bridge's length is the same as the maximum length of Zero Suit Samus's Plasma Whip, and she can only have one bridge on the screen at a time. The bridge stays on screen for about six seconds, and it hurts enemies who touch it. Because of this, it can be used as an edgeguarding tool.

**Down B: Buried History  
**Ex Keine slams her head against the ground to make her victims sink into the it, just like when they get hit by Donkey Kong's Headbutt, get hit by a Pitfall or step on it, etc. This move can be charged, and it takes five seconds to fully charge up, after which she will automatically perform this move. When fully charged, all opponents standing on the ground will trip, given that the part of the ground they are on is connected to where she is standing, no matter the distance. This move functions as a powerful meteor smash when you hit an airborne opponent, and you cannot charge it if you use it in the air.

**Final Smash: New History of Phantasm -Next History-  
**This move is similar to Keine's Phantasmal Emperor. Ex Keine releases eight balls of light into the air, and they are arranged in the shape of a fan. The balls of light will then spin and fire a large amount of projectiles all over the place. The projectiles have very weak knockback, but because there are a large amount of them, they are very hard to avoid and can rack up tons of damage. This move lasts for ten seconds.

**Side Taunt: **Raises her head and cries in a way that sounds like howling.

**Up Taunt: **Raises a ball of light into the air and lets it explode like a firework.

**Down Taunt: **Slashes the air twice and then roars.

**Victory Stance 1: **With her hands behind herself and looking embarrassed, she says without fully looking at the screen, "Hope I didn't frighten you earlier…"

**Victory Stance 2: **Kneeling down in front of a table, she writes on a scroll while saying, "A new history has been created today."

**Victory Stance 3: **Holds up a ball of light to the side and lets it explode like a firework while she looks at it with a smile.


	126. Embodiment of Evil

Yeah, the same old reasons… Sorry for the wait once again…

Just so you know: Exdeath's current form stands about three meters tall.

Also, in Chapter 5: Testudines Terror, the part where Morton sits on Reisen's face has been changed so that he's sitting on her body. Sitting on the face sounds arousing and wrong, at least for me…

**Chapter 125  
Embodiment of Evil**

* * *

Darkling of various kinds appeared from within the buildings and alleyways to watch the battle that was about to unfold, the battle between twelve of the girls from Gensokyo and the person who could be said to be their new leader, Exdeath, who had absorbed the power and knowledge of all the evil in the universe into himself.

The villain raised his massive sword into the air, and dark energy in the form of electricity traveled around its blade. "This place shall be your grave! I will make sure that there is nothing left of any of you once I'm done with you all!"

"We're not going to fall so easily to the likes of you!" Reimu said.

"Your so-called confidence shall be the reason for your fall!" Exdeath shouted before bringing down his sword to send forth a crescent-shaped electric blast.

**BGM: Neo Exdeath (Final Fantasy V)**

The girls quickly moved out in separate directions to escape the incoming projectile, and then Youmu charged at Exdeath with both her swords out. When she jumped at him and brought them down at him, he blocked it with his sword, and shortly after her blades clashed with his, a shockwave came out from his blade and blasted her back through the air, but she managed to land on her feet.

"Spiral Light Step!" Meiling shouted as she ran up to Exdeath to perform a rainbow-powered punch, but Exdeath managed to block it with the flat part of his blade in time, and like with Youmu, a shockwave happened and blasted her backwards. She managed to remain on her feet, and then she cupped her hands together at the side to form and fire a colorful fireball that Exdeath managed to destroy using his sword with ease.

Remilia appeared behind his head with her claws pulled back, but Exdeath, sensing that there was someone behind him, warped out of the way before he got hit. He reappeared in the air above Remilia and tried to flatten her underneath his feet, but she quickly moved forward and then spun around to face him when he landed. She quickly moved back when he swung his sword, but a projectile was fired from it when it was swung, and since she wasn't expecting this, she was blown back by it, flying into Meiling in the process.

Several dolls and clones of Reisen appeared all around Exdeath and fired at him nonstop. In fact, there were so many bullets fired at him that when he got hit, a large amount of smoke was created. Exdeath was nowhere to be seen when the smoke cleared. Alice looked around for where he was, and then he suddenly reappeared behind her, ready to slice her in half from top to bottom. Before he had the chance to do so, Nitori's Robo-Backpack's arm caught him by the neck from behind and electrocuted him.

Exdeath cried in pain, but then managed to pull off the hand before cutting off the arm, much to Nitori's horror! "Oh no!" Exdeath thrust her sword at her, but suddenly, a gap appeared in front of Nitori, and when his sword went into it, another gap appeared behind him, and the part of the blade that went into the first gap came out from there and stabbed him in the back.

Exdeath cried in pain again as he pulled out his sword and turned around to look at what stabbed him, and then several gaps from which missiles flew out from appeared all around him. While Exdeath was getting blasted nonstop, Yukari opened up a larger gap in front of him and fired a large blue beam out of it. The beam struck him in the body and pushed him down the street.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The villain planted his feet against the ground to keep himself from moving back any farther, and then he swung down his sword to send forth a crescent-shaped beam that caused the laser to split into two and spread out diagonally in both ways. When Yukari saw the incoming projectile, she quickly got out of the way. After that, Exdeath plunged his sword against the ground to send forth a series of explosions. The girls who were in its way quickly escaped, and then they saw Exdeath approaching them at a fast speed by hovering.

With a single swing of his sword, Exdeath unleashed a shockwave that cut down all the surrounding streetlights and damaged the buildings, but the girls either ducked or jumped to avoid getting hit. Reimu raised her hand into the air and formed an energy yin-yang orb the size of a basketball while jumping at him. "Descending Yin-Yang!" However, Exdeath caught it with his hand and caused it to disappear, much to her surprise, and then released a burst of energy from his palm to blow her backwards.

"Star Sign: Gravity Beat!" Marisa shouted as she slammed the back end of her broom against the ground to send a ball of energy into the air. When it fell toward Exdeath, the villain quickly stepped to the side and swung his sword at the energy ball before it hit the ground to send it flying at her and hit her.

"Frost Pillars!" Cirno shouted as she slammed her hands against the ground to send forth a series of icicles. Exdeath countered by plunging his sword into the ground so that a series of explosions went in the direction of the approaching icicles and blew them up, and then it headed for the ice fairy, who quickly flew to the side. Exdeath quickly rushed at her when she jumped to the side, but before he could hit her, Aya swooped at Cirno and carried her out of harm's way.

"Thanks, Aya!" Cirno said to the tengu as the latter placed her at the sidewalk before going for Exdeath.

"Gale of Chaos!" Aya shouted as she swung her fan multiple times to release a strong gale that was filled with wind blades. Exdeath formed a force field to protect himself from the attack, and then he pulled back his sword and swung it to produce his own gale, only the wind was purple and scorched Aya when it touched her. "Ya!"

Suddenly, bright light shined onto Exdeath and blinded him. "Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted as she blinded him with one of her spell cards. Beams rained down from the ball of light in the air and struck Exdeath, who quickly formed a black hole in his palm to suck in the beams and then the ball of light itself.

"Even light cannot escape the gravitational pull of the black hole!" he said before firing the black hole at Sanae, pushing her back through the place and even breaking through walls. Nitori jumped at Exdeath with the remaining arm of her backpack pulled back, but Exdeath quickly turned to her and punched the fist with such a force that it instantly broke into pieces.

"OH NO!" Nitori gasped in horror. Exdeath then caught her by the body and tried to squeeze the life out of her when suddenly he was blasted in the back by Cirno's ice beam. However, he wasn't fazed by the attack at all nor did he let go of Nitori. He simply turned to her and threw the kappa at her, but she got out of the way.

"Sorry for not catching you," Cirno apologized to her. "I… didn't want to end up hurting myself trying to do so…"

Exdeath faced Cirno and pulled back his sword, charging up its blade with dark energy. Youmu and Marisa, with their weapons pulled back, jumped at him from both sides while he was doing so, and Reimu also dropped down from above to hit him with a dive kick. Exdeath quickly spun to form a whirlwind around himself, and the three girls were caught up in it and went for a few spins before being flung in various directions.

"Scarlet Shoot!" Remilia shouted as she fired a combination of large and small red projectiles at Exdeath from one side.

"Curse of Dreams and Reality!" Yukari shouted as she fired two balls of light that exploded into a large amount of small projectiles, one set flying in various directions while another set heading for Exdeath.

The villain stuck his sword into the ground and spread his arms to both sides to form a dome-shaped barrier that protected him from the projectiles, and then the spikes on his shoulders lengthened and went into the ground. They came back out from the part of the ground in front of Remilia and Yukari while they were still firing at him, and Remilia was pierced through the abdomen, while Yukari barely dodged it. The spikes retracted back into the ground and went back to their normal length, and seeing that Remilia was injured, he went for her.

Yukari suddenly popped up from a gap in front of the vampire and attacked the villain with Quadruple Barrier, blasting him back a few steps. Meiling then jumped at him from the side and kicked him in the waist with Sky Dragon Kick, and then she jumped at his body and punched him rapidly with rainbow-powered fists. "Spiral Light Step!" she shouted as she unleashed a powerful punch that pushed him into the side of the building, and he crashed through it.

"Argh!" Exdeath growled as he got back up and swung down his sword to send forth a sword beam that Meiling managed to avoid. He then noticed Yukari opening up a gap to do something, and since he didn't want her to succeed, he pointed his hand at him and formed a black hole on his palm that sucked her forward. He caught her and said, "To thank you for making me into this, I will kill you first!"

"I'd prefer a better reward," Yukari said, and then she cried in pain when Exdeath tightened his grip.

"Let go of Yukari at once!" Marisa shouted as she ran at Exdeath, and Youmu ran at him from the other side. The spikes on Exdeath's back suddenly lengthened and became insect-like legs that flicked them both away when they got close. Reisen suddenly came down from behind and kicked Exdeath in the back of the head, and then she bounced back into the air and fired exploding projectiles at him rapidly, blowing off the "insect legs". Getting hit also made Exdeath let go of Yukari, who quickly floated to a safer distance while coughing.

"Ugh… The gas mask doesn't seem to help, it seems…" she said. "At least it's helping me stay out here longer than usual… I better retreat into the gap zone for a while until I feel better…"

After opening a gap, Nitori ran up to her and said, "Let me in there as well! I need to fix my Robo-Backpack!" Yukari nodded and let her inside.

Meanwhile, the constant shooting from Reisen caused Exdeath fell forward, and she continued to shoot him nonstop. After she was done, Alice ordered her dolls to fall onto him with their swords pointing at him. However, the spikes on his back turned into branches, extended upwards, and caught the dolls while they were on their way to stabbing him. As if they were fingers, the branches tightened their grips and crushed the dolls into pieces, and after Exdeath stood back up, the branches shrunk and changed back into spikes.

Alice quickly summoned more dolls, while Reisen pointed her finger at Exdeath from the air, but suddenly, a Winged Darkling caught her from behind and pulled her ears. Exdeath charged at Alice before she could summon any dolls and swung his sword at her, but she ducked down in the nick of time, only to get kicked back through the air quite a bit of a distance. The magician crashed onto the ground and grunted in pain while watching Exdeath jump at her, ready to fall onto her with his sword. Aya suddenly flew over her and charged into Exdeath, pushing and knocking him out of the air.

The tengu then moved back from him and unleashed a horizontal tornado that pushed him backwards. "Wind of the Tengu Path!"

While Exdeath was being pushed back through the air, Marisa readied her hakkero and a spell card from behind him and shouted, "Aya! Alice! Whoever is in the way! Get out of the way at once! Love Sign: Master Spark!" She unleashed a beam that pushed Exdeath back where he flew from, and Aya and Alice quickly got out of the way before he flew into them.

Exdeath growled in anger as he turned around in the midst of being pushed and planted his feet firmly against the ground to remain in place. He let go of his sword and amazingly kept the beam from moving forward using his hands, which were covered in dark energy. The dark energy became larger and larger until a huge black beam was fired, instantly pushing back the Master Spark. "YIKES!" Marisa cried when she saw the dark beam overcoming her own beam, and she jumped out of the way the last second.

After ending the beam attack, Exdeath picked up his sword before jumping high into the air in the direction of the girls and stretched out his hands to both sides. As for his sword, it was floating next to him. He charged up dark energy in both hands for a few seconds before bringing them together to form a ball of darkness that gradually grew in size. While he was charging up this attack, Reimu and Aya flew at him to try to stop him, but he fired the dark energy ball at them before they could get too close. They quickly moved out of the way, and the dark energy ball struck the ground, creating a large dome-shaped explosion.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Buildings and streetlights were obliterated, but the girls had gotten out of the explosion's radius distance in time, so they were safe from the blast. When the explosion finally cleared, a large crater was left behind. Marisa looked down at the crater and said, "Thanks goodness none of us were in the blast… I can't imagine what would happen if someone living gets hit by it…"

"How about I do it again?" Exdeath said as he stretched out his hands to perform the same move. Suddenly, colorful energy orbs struck him and interrupted the charging process. Reimu stopped him using Fantasy Jewel, and then she flew at him at a fast speed and moved in circles around him while throwing paper amulets nonstop.

Exdeath endured the exploding amulets for a while before trying to hit her with his sword, but she got out of the way and then let Aya fly past him really fast, hitting him when he did. Before Exdeath could get a better look at the tengu, she flew back at an equally fast speed, hitting him the second time. "Illusionary Dominance!" she shouted while flying back and forth, increasing her speed every time.

Exdeath was struck in various parts of the body over and over nonstop, and when he could no longer tolerate it, he swung his fist and, as if luck was on his side, landed a powerful punch against the side of Aya's head, sending her through a building wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Aya!" Reimu gasped.

"Your turn!" Exdeath said as he turned to her. Suddenly, Marisa flew into him from below and attacked him with an uppercut using her broom. "Ugh!"

"Escape Velocity!" she shouted. She then used Radial Strike against him, and when the villain tried to hit her, she quickly went over him and struck him in the back of the head after enhancing her broom with magical energy. Exdeath quickly turned around and caught her broom, and then he swung her along with it away.

He was then hit by colorful energy orbs when Reimu used Fantasy Seal again, and then he fired sword beams at her, but she casted a barrier to protect herself. Cirno flew at Exdeath from behind to hit him with an ice "log", but he turned around and cut off the front part of it. The ice fairy backed away from him out of shock, and when he was about to bring down his sword onto her, Youmu quickly flew in from below to block the attack.

While the half-phantom was holding back his sword, Cirno went to the side and used Icicle Machine Gun, while Reimu threw more paper amulets at his back. Annoyed, Exdeath spread out his arms to the sides while letting out a cry to create a burst of dark energy that blew Youmu away and eliminated the projectiles. He then pointed his sword at Reimu to fire a dark lightning bolt from its tip at her, but she dodged it. He them aimed the same attack at Cirno, but she also dodged it.

Suddenly, a gap appeared above and behind him, and Nitori jumped out of it with a chainsaw arm on her Robo-Backpack. Exdeath turned around, but before he could do anything else, she brought down the chainsaw onto his shoulder. The villain cried pain, and then he grabbed the mechanical arm and forced the chainsaw off of him before slamming his palm into Nitori to push her away. Another gap opened up in front of him, and several laser beams came out from it and shot him.

Yukari appeared from another gap that appeared next to the aforementioned one and said, "Trip to the Abandoned Station!" And a train came out from that gap. Despite getting cut and shot previously, Exdeath was still able to react in time and bring down his sword, sending forth a sword beam that sliced the train entirely in half, and the two halves went past him harmlessly. "My! What skill!"

"I'm getting tired of this!" Exdeath said while pulling his sword to the side, and all of a sudden, Nitori brought down her chainsaw onto his hand and cut it off in a single swing. "GYAH!"

A total of eight gaps appeared around Yukari, and skinny hands that looked like it belonged to some sort of a monster came out, each of them holding cutlasses. Yukari dashed at Exdeath while he was in shock and pain from getting his hand caught off and slashed him.

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Exdeath cried, and then he fell to the street.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The girls at the bottom, who were fighting the Darkling, turned their attentions to the fallen Exdeath, and the Darkling also stopped fighting them to look at him. "Did they do it?" Meiling asked.

Exdeath slowly got back up again, while the airborne girls came down around him. "Looks like you're not in a good shape any longer," Reimu said.

"I actually thought you would put up a challenge," Marisa said, sounding a bit disappointed, "but it seems that it isn't the case after all… You are tougher than before, however."

Exdeath simply growled in anger, and suddenly, wooden material grew out from where his hand used to be, much to the surprise of the girls, and then he slammed it into the ground, instantly causing a large amount of leafless trees to shoot up from various places. "What the!" Reisen said in shock, and then she was thrown into the air when a tree came out from below her. "Wah!"

Some of the girls and Darkling were knocked into the air, but some managed to avoid getting hit. The trees then returned into the ground, and then Exdeath pulled out his arm. "Don't be so sure of your victory just yet!" he angrily said. He pointed his arm at where his severed hand and sword were, and then wooden material similar to that of vines came out at a fast speed at the hand. When it was connected to the hand, the latter picked up the sword and then retracted to its normal length.

"Whoa! That's quite some… regeneration there!" Aya commented.

Exdeath raised his arm into the air and then slammed it against the ground hard to make large wooden spikes shoot out from it, but all the girls managed to avoid getting hit because the ground bulged before those things came out. Reimu looked up at the wooden spikes and said, "What's with that guy and things made of wood?"

"He's a tree made sentient by evil spirits!" Youmu explained.

"Really? That explains things…" Marisa commented.

While the wooden spikes were in the air, Exdeath charged up dark energy in his hand and then fired it upwards, where it exploded and blasted the woods into black burning pieces that rained back down like fireballs. "Yeow! Hot!" Cirno cried when one of them got onto her head and set her hair on fire slightly. While she was running around, a Wart Darkling pounced at her and pinned her to the ground, but before it could harm her, Cirno touched the underside of its mouth and froze the Darkling in a burst of whitish-blue light, and then she shoved it aside to get back up. The cold air released from the burst of light also put out the fire on her hair.

Yukari opened up two gaps and had them fire a pair of buzzsaws that spun through the air in a zigzag path, but Exdeath easily knocked them out of the air before firing a sword beam at her, so she quickly retreated into a gap.

Alice had several dolls surround him, and then they opened their mouths to breathe fire at him. "If you're a tree, then it only makes sense that I fight you with fire!" Alice said. "Good thing I've created dolls capable of breathing fire before coming here!"

"Things won't be as easy as you think they are!" Exdeath said as he swung his sword in a circle to destroy the dolls before heading for Alice, but Nitori got in between them and swung her chainsaw at his right leg, cutting it off in a single slice and causing him to fall forward, and the two girls quickly got away to avoid getting flattened by him. Exdeath growled in anger as he pushed himself back up, and then vine-like material came out from his leg to connect the severed part together again.

"You brat!" Exdeath said as he pointed his hand at Nitori, and then vines came out from around it and headed for her, but she used her chainsaw to slice them away constantly. While he was doing this, Meiling jumped at him from behind and roundhouse kicked him in the side of the head. Aya immediately followed up with a shoulder bash to the side of his body to send him tumbling down the street.

From the air, Marisa aimed down with her hakkero and a spell card to fire a huge beam. "Star Sign: Dragon Meteor!" Exdeath quickly rolled away to the safety, but the shockwave and explosion created by the beam hitting the surface blew him away. He managed to position himself upright and land in a crouching position, and then he noticed a shadow above him when Cirno tried to drop a large block of ice on top of him.

"Ice Cube: Great Crusher!" the ice fairy shouted before dropping the block of ice, but Exdeath easily destroyed it by firing a blast of energy straight upwards.

BANG!

Exdeath watched the pieces of the ice fall down around him, and suddenly, a chain fired by Remilia caught his sword by its blade and then pulled it away from him. Meiling ran up to him and pulled back her fist to ready to punch him, but spikes pointing forward came out from the back of Exdeath's hand, and when he tried to hit her with it, she stopped and jumped back in time.

With spikes coming out from the same place in the other hand, Exdeath tried to punch Meiling several times, but she swiftly dodged each of the blows. While he was trying to land a hit on her, Youmu rushed at Exdeath from the side, but the villain saw her coming and so quickly lengthened and hardened the spikes before swinging his arm at her, both blocking her attack and pushing her back a bit. Seeing this as a good chance, Meiling jumped at him with her rainbow-powered fist pulled back, but a Centurion Darkling suddenly pounced at her from the side and caught her in its mandible.

Meiling struggled to free herself from its grasp, and then Youmu came and cut off the Darkling's head, killing it. Soldier Darkling appeared and surrounded them, so they got into fighting stances to face them.

Exdeath said out loud, "Darkling! I am your new master! Serve your master by killing these girls! Leave none of them alive!" Even though the Darkling were already fighting the girls, they nodded after hearing him and then attacked more viciously than before. Shortly after Exdeath made his proclamation, Sanae and Kanako came charging into him from the side and sent him flying through a building wall.

CRAAAAAASH!

"So you're the one Sanae and the others have to defeat for the sake of the universe, eh?" Kanako said to Exdeath as he stepped back out, growling angrily. "Indeed, I can tell that you are someone dangerous and have to be eliminated at once."

"You won't be defeating me! Not at all!" Exdeath said, not caring who she was. The villain let out a cry as he ran at Kanako and threw punches at her, but she easily dodged them.

"You can do it, Mistress Kanako!" Sanae cheered for the goddess. "Please do as much as you can with the remaining time you have!"

"You can count on me!" Kanako replied, still casually dodging the punches. She then stopped his fist with her hand with little effort, and then she jumped at him and punched him in the chest really hard to send him flying back into the hole he created on the building wall earlier.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"What a joke!" Kanako said while dusting her hands, and then she disappeared.

Sanae took out a spell card and said, "Now it's Mistress Suwako's turn!" Exdeath suddenly warped behind her, and Youmu shouted for her to be careful. The shrine maiden managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed by his fist, and then she summoned Suwako. "Earth Goddess: Iron Wheel!"

Suwako appeared in an instant when the spell card flashed, and the earth goddess threw iron rings at Exdeath, which he easily deflected with his hand. "Let's see if you're really as pathetic as Kanako said!" Suwako said before slamming her hands against the ground to make a large slab of rock stick out diagonally, hitting Exdeath in the body and pushing him back through the air.

Exdeath managed to land on his feet, and he angrily slammed his fists against the ground to make trees grow in Suwako's direction, but she quickly jumped out of the way. While in the air, she raised her arms diagonally forward into the air to make a tree appear out of thin air. It fell on Exdeath, but he caught it and then flung it at her, only for her to slice it cleanly in half with an iron ring, a feat that was quite amazing due to the ring lacking a sharp edge. Shortly after this, Suwako disappeared.

Exdeath growled in anger as he looked around for Suwako, thinking that she teleported somewhere. Suddenly, he was struck in the back of the head by something, so he turned around in time to see a gap disappearing. Another gap opened up behind him, and a log came out and struck in the head. When he looked around for the gap the second time, several gaps suddenly opened up around him, and a large amount of projectiles came out and shot him.

When the gaps stopped firing and disappeared, Yukari appeared from another gap in front of him and rested her chin on her palm while saying, "So… not feeling so confident about your new powers anymore, eh?"

"Your mouth will be the end of you!" Exdeath angrily said as he tried to punch her, but she retreated into her gap and made it disappear in time.

"Over here!" she said after appearing from another one next to his side. Exdeath tried to hit her again, but she did the same thing over and over to avoid his fist, taunting him all the while too. When Yukari reappeared behind him after several seconds of avoiding him, she stuck out her tongue and pulled down the skin underneath her eye a bit to mock him, but all of a sudden, one of the spikes at his back stretched forward and pierced her forehead.

Exdeath spun around, and because she was stuck to the spike, she was pulled out from her gap and sent flying away when he stopped turning. Yukari cried in pain while placing her hand over the wound created on her forehead, and when she looked up at Exdeath, she saw him bringing down his hands together like a hammer and smashed her over the head hard. He then raised them back up to hit her in the chin and knocked her into the air. As she was falling back down, he readied to impale her with the spikes on the back of his hand when suddenly Reimu flew into him from the side, kicking him in the head and causing him to fly away in a burst of spiritual energy.

BAAAAAANG!

Reimu landed and bent down next to Yukari, helping her stand back up and asking her, "Are you all right?"

"Just a small wound… At least for demons…" she said, still with her hand on her forehead. "I got too careless…"

Exdeath got back up and came running at Reimu in rage. Yukari quickly retreated into a gap, while Reimu jumped away from his "hammer attack". The shrine maiden took out several paper amulets and threw it at him to engulf him in multiple explosions. She then jumped back into the air and used Bright Orbs Cast into Shade to smack him in the face and body with yin-yang orbs. Exdeath swatted some of the orbs away and then released vines at her, but she cut them using her spiritually-enhanced gohei.

When she landed, Exdeath charged forward to punch her, but she swiftly stepped aside and then jumped at his body to slam a spell card against his chest. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" And Exdeath was blown back by a circular blast of energy. After that, she took out a different spell card and used it to summon seven yin-yang orbs around herself before flying at him at a fast speed. She struck him three times in the belly before flying away to avoid getting hit by him and then struck in the side of the waist.

Reimu continued to fly around and struck him in other parts of the body three more times. With all sevens orbs lit up, she floated away from him a little bit and struck some poses before shouting, "Fantasy Heaven!" Then she released bright pink light from herself, engulfing the villain and hurting him greatly.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Exdeath screamed.

"Whoa! It's bright!" cried Marisa while she and the other girls shielded their eyes.

When the light ended, Exdeath was charred from head to toe, and he took some steps back in an awkward manner before falling on one knee. Reimu moved away from him to join the other girls and said, "Give it up! It's clear that you're not winning against us anymore! You've lost!"

"Right! Admit defeat already-ze!" Marisa said. "Even your army of Darkling is no match for us!"

"Do not be so sure of your victory, which will never come!" Exdeath angrily said in between heavy panting.

"Villains say that often, but do they win? Nope," Remilia said.

Exdeath then warped over to where Remilia dropped his sword and picked it up. "I shall make you all see true fear! You shall realize what true evil is! I will do whatever it takes to destroy you all! ANYTHING IT TAKES TO DESTROY YOU ALL! !" With its blade covered in dark energy, Exdeath raised his sword over his head and then stabbed himself in the abdomen, an action that surprised the girls' greatly.

"What's he doing killing himself!" Cirno asked.

Shortly after stabbing himself, Exdeath felt an intense heat inside his body, and then he cried in pain as his entire body started shaking in a way that looked like it was going to explode. The sword shattered into pieces, and then the villain cried at the top of his voice as dark energy came out from all over him. The girls watched in shock while taking steps back, and then they noticed parts of his armor cracking.

More and more cracks appeared on his armor, and then Exdeath fell on his hands and knees while continuing to feel intense pain. A pair of red bull-like horns pointing forward suddenly grew from the top sides of his head, and then his helmet broke apart, revealing his face to the girls for the first time—a humanoid face with black markings and gray hair.

The villain's cry became more and more like the roar of a beast as his appearance became more and more like one. He grew larger in size, and then wooden extensions similar to trees, some of them containing a bit of leaves, grew from his back, and lastly, he sprouted a long and thick reptilian tail.

Now taking the form of a beast with four "trees" covered in a few leaves and vines growing out of his back, and the size of a double-decker bus, Exdeath let out a ear-shattering roar that could be heard for miles and then slammed his front feet against the ground so hard that cracks spread forward and made the girls lose their footing.

SMAAAAAAASH!

The girls looked at Exdeath's new form in horror, and Aya said, "Oh… Oh my god… This is… This is… terrifying…!"

"Why do I have the feeling… that we're not going to get out of this one… so easily now…?" Marisa asked while trembling violently.

Exdeath raised his head and then took a deep breath before releasing a blast of black fire from his mouth, but the girls quickly got out of the way in time. After avoiding the fire, Remilia charged at him to attack with her claws, but Exdeath swung his front leg at her and knocked her into the building wall before slamming the same leg into her to push her through it.

From the other side, Meiling create and fired a ball of rainbow-colored light at Exdeath, but the villain quickly turned around and ram through it with no effort using his head, and then he hit Meiling and pushed her through several building walls. He eventually came to a stop and swung his head upwards to toss her into the air. A branch of one of the trees on his back extended upwards and impaled her through the abdomen before flinging her back to where the others were.

CRAAAAAASH!

"Meiling!" Reisen gasped as she and Alice ran up to the injured gatekeeper. Suddenly, Exdeath came charging through the building in front of them, but then a gap appeared underneath them all of a sudden and dropped them inside. They fell down from another gap next to Yukari, who wasn't standing too far away. "Phew… That was close… Thanks, Yukari!"

Youmu ran towards Exdeath from the side, and the monstrous villain turned to her and used his horns to block her swords. A branch from each of two trees on his back then stretched forward and took the form of blades, swinging against her swords. While she was constantly blocking them, Exdeath opened his mouth and pulled his "blades" away the last second to breathe black fire at her, but she managed to graze it. However, she failed to avoid getting cut by one of the "blades" afterwards.

Fire suddenly blasted him in the side. "You're a tree, right?" Yukari, who opened up a portal that was releasing fire, asked. "Then I'll fight you with fire!"

"Your fire is nothing compared the flames of hell!" Exdeath shouted before breathing black fire that overcame her fire in an instant, and she quickly moved away to avoid getting hit. Pots fell down around Exdeath, and then they exploded together and engulfed him in the explosions.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"How'd you like my Magical Recycled Bombs?" Marisa asked him from above. "I've got a lot more here if you don't have enough!" Vines came out from the smoke at a fast speed all of a sudden and caught her body and her broom. "Yikes!" Then the vines swung her down onto the ground really hard. While she was still getting back up, Exdeath moved forward to trample her, but Aya quickly got in between them and gave him a powerful elbow thrust to the snout.

"Are you all right, Marisa?" the tengu asked her.

"I'm all right," Marisa replied. "Watch out!"

Before Aya could react, Exdeath caught and lifted her into the air with his vines. "Hey! Let go of me!" The vines then pulled and twisted her in ways that made her cry with intense pain.

"Aya! Let go of her at once!" Marisa shouted as she took aim with her hakkero, but before she could fire anything, Exdeath opened his mouth and fired a blast of dark energy that blasted her across the place. "KYAAAAAAAA!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Meanwhile, Aya was still being twisted and turned by the vines, and at the same time, she was struggling to break free. Another vine wrapped itself around her forehead, and then it forcefully bent her head to the side, resulting in a sickening crack. At this moment, Aya became motionless. "AYA!" Nitori gasped in horror

Exdeath flung the seemingly lifeless tengu at Nitori, who managed to catch her with her arms, though she fell back as a result. "Aya! Say something!" Nitori said in panic while shaking her. When she checked for her pulse, she was relieved to know that it was still there. When she looked up, she saw Exdeath's vines coming for her, but Remilia suddenly flew into them from the side and tore them up with her claws.

"Get her out of here first!" she shouted at Nitori, who nodded and then carried Aya to a safer place. Remilia continued to tear away the vines that came at her, but she was caught when one of the trees on his back reached forward to catch her. "Grrrr!" While Remilia was struggling to break free, Reisen fired exploding projectiles at the tree grabbing her to destroy it, allowing the vampire to escape.

The tree quickly grew back, and then Exdeath angrily turned to Reisen and fired a blast of energy from his mouth at her, but she swiftly jumped to the side and then fired at his face rapidly. She got out of the way again when he charged at her. Remilia performed Heart Break against Exdeath when he turned around, but he wasn't fazed by it all that much when struck in the side. He raised his front leg and then slammed it against the ground hard to make branches grow out in a blink of an eye. Both Remilia and Reisen were unfortunate enough to get impaled through the chest and abdomens respectively by them.

"REISEN! REMILIA!" Sanae gasped. "YOU FIEND! YOU'LL DIE FOR DOING THAT TO MY FRIENDS!" The shrine maiden angrily threw a large amount of paper amulets at Exdeath, who plowed through them without a problem. She quickly leaped to the side and then used Sky Serpent against him, but like with the amulets, they did nothing to him.

When Exdeath turned around to face her, Youmu dropped down onto his head and plunged the Roukanken into his skull. The villain cried at the top of his voice and shook his head violently to get her off, but she held tightly onto her sword to prevent being shaken off. Suddenly, she felt a large amount of pain when a branch of one of the trees on his back impaled her through the chest. Sanae watched in horror as the branch flung the half-phantom into the air, and then Exdeath raised his head to fire a blast of energy at her.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YOUMU!" Sanae gasped.

"DIE!" Exdeath shouted as the vines on his trees reached for her. One of the vines also pulled the sword out of his head and flung it away

"Sanae!" Alice shouted when the vines caught Sanae. She quickly had her dolls fly towards the vines and breathe fire at them, and they manage to burn them and free the shrine maiden. However, another set of vines quickly caught the dolls and crushed them into pieces by tightening around them, and then they went for Alice, catching her by the neck and legs. "Oh no!" Before she could do anything, the vine lifted her into the air and bent back her body to make a loud sickening crack. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"ALICE! NOOOOOOOOO!" Sanae screamed upon seeing another one of her friends being taken out.

"Enough! I won't let you hurt my friends any longer!" Cirno angrily shouted as she flew at Exdeath with an ice sword in her hand.

"Me too!" Meiling shouted while running toward him from the other side. After throwing Alice away, Exdeath performed a spin and managed to knock them away with his tail just like that. After Meiling hit the ground, he jumped at her and crushed her underfoot.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Meiling!" Cirno gasped. Enraged even more than before, she created an even larger ice sword and flew as fast as she could at the villain from behind, but Exdeath turned around and fired a blast of energy right into her face. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

After the ice fairy was blown away, Nitori jumped onto his back and used her backpack's chainsaw to begin cutting down one of the trees. While Exdeath was trying to get her off, Reimu threw several yellow amulets at him to cause him to freeze in place. "This is as far as you go!" Reimu angrily said to him. "I will not let you hurt my friends any longer!"

Two gaps appeared in the air around Exdeath's head, and then spears came out from them. Yukari showed her face from a gap next to Reimu and said, "You've gone too far for your own good! It's about time you pay for what you did!"

"NOBODY WILL MAKE ME PAY!" Exdeath said while struggling to break from the amulets' restraint. His struggling eventually caused the amulets to break into pieces, much to Reimu's surprise. Nitori, who had already cut down one of the trees, lost her balance and fell off when he moved. Yukari quickly made the spears stick out to stab his head, but he moved back in time and then breathed black fire at them. They got out of the way, however.

"He's strong! To be able to break free from the restraint of that many amulets… I can't believe it!" Reimu said.

"I agree… I can sense a powerful aura coming from him…" Yukari said. "He's definitely not someone we can take lightly at all…"

Nitori quickly tried to crawl away, but Exdeath crushed her underfoot before she could get too far. Suddenly, a large rainbow-colored net fell on top of him, and the villain trashed around to get it off. "I need to summon Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako to help at once!" Sanae thought. Still with the net around himself, Exdeath stomped the ground to cause trees to grow in Sanae's direction at a fast speed. The shrine maiden failed to get out of the way and was thrown into the air by them, and then Exdeath sent a vine after her, hitting her in the abdomen so hard that it went through her. The vine then swung to the side to send her flying against a building wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"SANAE!" Reimu gasped.

With Sanae down, the rainbow-colored net automatically disappeared. "It's just the both of you now!" Exdeath said as he turned to Reimu and Yukari. He stomped the ground hard before opening his mouth really wide to release purple light from the inside.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Quick! Let's cast barriers to protect ourselves!" Yukari suggested. Reimu nodded, and then they both casted several layers of barrier. When Exdeath was done charging, he fired a huge purple beam that sped in their direction really fast, and the girls hoped that their barriers would be strong enough to protect them.

Unfortunately, the beam shattered every single layer of the barrier in an instant and scorched them from head to toe. Acting fast, Yukari grabbed Reimu's hand and pulled her out of the beam before they got vaporized by it. Exdeath closed his mouth shortly afterwards and then ran at the two of them. Yukari quickly pushed Reimu aside, but she got impaled through the stomach by his horn. "YUKARI!" Reimu gasped.

Exdeath's horn then glowed brightly in the same red color, causing Yukari to feel an intense burning pain. Screaming in agony, the demon of boundaries tried to free herself from her impalement, but to no avail. A burst of energy was suddenly shot from the horn, blowing Yukari away.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"YUKARI!" Reimu gasped again.

Exdeath turned to her and said, "You're next!" Then he ran at her and swatted her to the side before she could counterattack. She hit her head against the side of the sidewalk and groaned in pain, and when she looked up, she saw Exdeath falling towards her, ready to crush her underfoot. The shrine maiden closed her eyes, brought her hands over her face, and screamed, waiting for the worst to come.

But the worst never came, as a giant hand came swinging into Exdeath with such a force that he was sent flying to the side and tumbled along the street. Reimu opened her eyes and lowered her hands to see what happened, and she was surprised to see two large, white hands floating in the air.

"That was close… Looks like we made it in time, Crazy Hand," the hand that attacked Exdeath said.

"Yep! Totally on time, big bro!" the second hand said.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The hardest thing about depicting a fight against an overpowered villain who has sharp things is trying to keep him/her from cutting and tearing the protagonists into pieces. Had I not care about keeping the girls alive or toning down the level of violence, then the part after Exdeath transformed again would've been an M-rated gore fest.

Exdeath's second transformation in based off the Behemoths and the more beast-like kinds of Ultima Weapon found in some Final Fantasy games.

Anyway, I think I did pretty well with this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and will wait patiently for the next chapter!

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: ****Journey to the Smashing Beyond**  


**Trivia:  
**1. The part where Exdeath stabs himself to transform is based off the scene in Hard Corps: Uprising where the final boss stabs himself with his sword to trigger a transformation. His face before the transformation is Neo Exdeath's face and may be what he actually looks like underneath the helmet.

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
**Mokou's SSB Moveset**

**Attack: 6/6  
Speed: 4/6  
Jump: 4/6  
Weight: 5/6**

**Entrance: **Appears from a burst of flames.

**A, A, A, Infinite A: **Two punches, a kick, and then a series of super-fast kicks.

**F-Tilt: **"Spartan" kick similar to Ganondorf's F-Tilt, except it sets opponents on fire.

**U-Tilt: **Kicks upwards with both feet very fast.

**D-Tilt: **Low kick.

**Dash Attack: **Charges forward with body covered in fire.

**Forward Smash: **Pulls back fist and then slams it against the ground to create a burst of fire. Very powerful, but slow startup.

**Up Smash: **Kicks straight up, similar to Ganondorf's Up Smash, but with fire effect.

**Down Smash: **Releases a burst of fire around herself.

**Neutral Aerial: **Covers herself in fire, dealing multiple hits.

**Forward Aerial: **Kicks three times, the last hit setting opponents on fire.

**Back Aerial: **Kicks upwards to the back.

**Up Aerial: **A flaming somersault kick.

**Down Aerial: **Drops down in an attempt to grab the opponent by the face and then push him/her downwards until the both of you hit the ground. This move has no knockback whatsoever; instead, it forcefully forces the opponent onto his/her back. While you can only grab one person at a time, you can damage other opponents on your way down when you have someone in your grasp. This move functions as a suicidal KO if used off the stage, and you will win if the both of you are down to your last stocks.

**Grab Attack: **Burns the opponent with the hand you are grabbing him/her with.

**Forward Throw: **Punches him/her away by the abdomen really hard.

**Back Throw: **Over-the-shoulder throw to the back.

**Up Throw: **Throws him/her straight up and then punches him/her into the air.

**Down Throw: **Jumps up and then punches him/her to the ground by the back of the head.

**Ledge Attack (under 100%): **Quickly flips onto the stage and hits with a burning heel.

**Ledge Attack (over 100%): **Sweeps with a burning hand while climbing back onto the stage.

**Floor Attack (face up): **Jumps forward to stand back up, hitting opponents with her feet in the process.

**Floor Attack (facedown):** Does a horizontal spinning jump once to stand back up.

**Floor Attack (sitting): **Swings out her hands to both sides to release fire before standing back up.

**Neutral B: Fire Bird -Flying Phoenix-**  
Mokou fires a large projectile shaped like a phoenix. It starts off moving slow, but will zoom across the screen at a fast speed shortly afterwards.

**Side B: Fujiyama Volcano  
**Mokou charges up and then dashes forward to unleash an explosive punch that propels opponents backwards. The longer you charge it, the farther she will travel, not to mention the stronger the move becomes. She doesn't dash forward if it is completely uncharged, and when fully charged, she dashes forward a tad bit farther than Captain Falcon's Raptor Boost. It takes four seconds to fully charge, but she will only pull off the move if you let go of the B button. This move leaves her in a helpless state if you charge it even a little bit.

**Up B: Wings of Fire  
**Mokou sprouts of a pair of fiery wings and gains the ability to fly around for three seconds. This move is just like Pit's Wings of Icarus, the main difference being that you can hurt opponents with the flap of your wings, giving that they aren't pulled back when your enemies are in front of you. When the wings come out, nearby enemies will get blown away in flames, thus making this move useful in clearing crowds.

**Down B: Phoenix's Tails  
**As long as you hold down the B button, Mokou's finger will be lit up. To use the move, move the d-stick in any direction to make her "draw" a trail of fire in the air which will instantly turn into four fireballs that shoot outwards in directions depending on how you "drew" the trail. The trail can either be a straight line, a diagonal line, or a curved line. There is a lot of freedom for drawing the trail of fire, but the length of the drawing time is only about 0.5 second. Letting go of the button will cause her to cancel the move without performing it. You can also hit opponents close by with the movement of her finger, though it's very weak in terms of knockback.

**Final Smash: Possessed by Phoenix**  
Mokou floats into the air and surrounds herself with a fiery phoenix-shaped aura the same size as Moltres from SSBM. Like Moltres, the phoenix-shaped aura will stay in place and flap its wings constantly, but it will also release fireballs in random directions as it does, not to mention releasing shockwaves the same size as Donkey Kong's Conga Beat's biggest ones. The aura itself has a higher chance of KO'ing people on contact than the shockwaves and fireballs, the latter of which isn't even capable of KO'ing at all.

**Side Taunt: **Lights her finger on fire for a few seconds and then blows out the latter.

**Up Taunt: **Crosses her arms and taps her foot while saying, "Get serious, will you?"

**Down Taunt: **Lights her body on fire, similar to Fox and Captain Falcon's Up Taunts.

**Victory Stance 1: **Kicks twice and then performs a roundhouse kick while saying, "That was no challenge at all."

**Victory Stance 2: **Facing slightly sideways with crossed arms, she says, "Boring…"

**Victory Stance 3: **Moves a lighted finger around the air in a way that could be said to be artistic before posing with one hand on her waist.


	127. Journey to the Smashing Beyond

Sorry for the long wait once again… I had a hard time with this chapter, not to mention procrastinating… I came up with an idea and had that typed out a bit, but because that idea was too hard to "convert into detailed words", I deleted those parts in favor of something new. In the end, I managed to come up with something easier to type. Hopefully, you will enjoy this chapter!

BTW, the title of this chapter has been changed.

**Chapter 126  
Journey to the Smashing Beyond  
**

* * *

The two large hands floated in front of Exdeath as the latter got back on his feet and glared at them while growling. Reimu looked at the two hands in awe for several seconds, and then the one that saved her from Exdeath turned to her and said, "Sorry for coming late… You're the one Crazy Hand talked about, right?"

Reimu nodded in response. "If it's about eleven girls being taken out of the world totally by chance and all, then yeah… You're… Master Hand, right?"

"Yep! That's me! Good thing I recovered in time to learn about this and then come over here to help! We figured that you girls wouldn't be able to handle things alone, so we rushed over to help, and it seems that our hunch was correct after all…" Then he turned to the other hand. "Crazy Hand! Hurry up and use the Team Healers on the injured ones! We'll need all the help we can to get through this!"

"Yes sir!" Crazy Hand said before flying away to find the other girls.

"Don't worry; we won't let any of your friends die! So long as they are still breathing, then there's hope for them in surviving!" Master Hand said to Reimu before turning to face Exdeath.

"That's good to hear!" Reimu said.

"Now… What should we do about you?" Master Hand said to Exdeath.

"So you're still alive," Exdeath said. "It doesn't matter! With my current powers, nobody will be able to stop me! I will destroy you all and then aim for the world! Nobody shall stand before my ultimate power of evil!"

"You have allowed evil to corrupt your mind. I really do pity you… Looks like there is no hope in trying to change your way of thinking anymore… For the sake of the universe, someone like you must not exist! You shall meet you end here!"

**BGM: Final Destination (Super Smash Bros. Melee)**

Exdeath let out a roar before charging at Master Hand, who flew in his direction. The Hand swung at him in an attempt to backhand him, but Exdeath jumped and landed behind him, firing a blast of energy from his mouth the moment he landed, but Master Hand quickly moved out of the way and then turned around to fire bullets from his finger at him after folding himself into the shape of a gun, blasting him in the face.

Exdeath roared in anger as he pounced at him, but Master Hand quickly flew up and then tried to fall on top of him with fingers spread out. The branches of the trees on Exdeath's back pointed straight up when he came down, however, but Master Hand saw this and managed to stop in time. He moved away from Exdeath as the villain turned to face him, and then leaves grew from the branches. The leaves then pointed at the Hand before shooting off the branches to fly at him, but Master Hand avoided them with ease.

After that, Master Hand folded himself into a fist and shot forward at a fast speed, hitting Exdeath before he could get away and pushed him across the place. Exdeath planted his hind legs into the ground to try to come to a brake, but when it wasn't doing any good, he grabbed the Hand using his front legs and then flung him against the building at the side. He then fired a burst of energy at him, but Master Hand quickly flew out of the way and then folded himself into a fist before swinging himself at Exdeath to knock him against a building.

CRASH!

Meanwhile, Reimu watched from afar the two of them fighting intensely. "Whoa… And the twelve of us were more or less helpless against him… Master Hand sure is holding pretty well against him…"

"That tells us a lot about our differences in strength, don't you think?" said Remilia's voice. Reimu turned around to see that the others had recovered.

"You're all right!" she said in joy.

"I can't say I'm in perfect condition, but compared to before, I'm much better now-ze!" Marisa said.

"It thanks to those things called Team Healers!" Crazy Hand said, holding in his palm a blue sphere with a pair of yellow rings around it. "These were used during the third tournament for participants to heal their teammates during team matches, though if one throws them at enemies, they may deal damage to them instead. They're not the best healing items, but at least they get the job done pretty nicely. By the way, you should have one too." The Hand threw the Team Healer at Reimu, and she was going to catch it, but it disappeared when it touched her hands. Sparkles appeared around her, and then her wounds healed.

"All right, now that we're back in good condition," Youmu, who had both her swords out, said, "it's time we put an end to this!"

"I appreciate your determination to defeat that guy, but for now, we should just sit back and watch big bro deal with things himself for the moment. As you can see, it's easy for one to get pummeled to death if he or she were to get into their fight now."

Master Hand and Exdeath continued to fight each other furiously. The villain, using one of his trees as a hand, swung at Master Hand and slashed him in the side, but he endured it and then grabbed the tree before it returned to its original length and ripped it off his back. Exdeath cried in pain while backing away from him, but then the tree instantly grew back.

Two of the trees reached forward to grab Master Hand, but he quickly flew into the air and came down on top of him as a fist, ready to crush him. The trees quickly huddled closely together and became like that of a shield, protecting Exdeath from the crushing attack. Master Hand pressed against them as hard as he could, but he was ultimately unable to break through them and then bounced away as if they were a trampoline.

Before Master Hand moved back far enough, two of the trees quickly caught him and then slammed him against the ground hard. With the Hand pinned down, another two of the trees formed themselves into insect-like legs and readied to stab him, but the Hand quickly fired bullets from his fingers to blast them into bits. Exdeath cried in pain and backed off due to this, and then Master Hand got back up and punched him across the face.

POW!

Exdeath crashed through the building wall and all the way out of the other side. He got back up and growled in anger before making an amazing leap to the top of the building he crashed through. Everyone looked up at him, and then Exdeath opened his mouth to charge up purple light. Master Hand quickly flew to the top to try to stop him by slapping him, but he swiftly jumped out of the way and then fired the beam at him upon landing. The beam engulfed the Hand and pushed him across the place.

The Hand grunted in pain as the beam burned him all over, and while he wasn't one to be destroyed so easily by such an attack, it still left him in a weakened state, as evident of him slowly floating down to the street. "Ugh… Didn't expect that to be so powerful…"

Exdeath jumped down from the building and landed with a powerful crash, and then he opened his mouth to perform the same move again when suddenly he was caught by the tail by Crazy Hand. "Leave my brother alone!" the Hand shouted as he spun Exdeath in circles several times before hurling him in the direction of the girls.

"Watch out!" Reimu shouted, and then they got out of the way before he crashed into them. When Exdeath stopped tumbling down the street and then slowly got back up, he was met with several projectiles fired into his face by the girls.

"Give him all we've got!" Marisa shouted. "With the Hands on our side, we can surely defeat him with ease this time!"

Exdeath growled in anger and frustration as he endured the shots, and the sheer amount of them was blocking his view, stinging his skin, and also pushing him back little by little. Still getting blasted in the face, he stomped the ground to make trees grow in their direction at a fast speed, and seeing this, the girls quickly got out of their way. When Youmu landed, she immediately ran at him to attack with both her swords, and when Exdeath swung his tail at her, she jumped into the air. The trees on his back went up after her, but she sliced them into pieces.

Exdeath was going to jump out of the way to avoid getting stabbed by her, but a large amount of water suddenly came rushing at him from a gap created by Yukari, and then Cirno released cold air at the water to freeze it, and Exdeath found himself unable to move due to his feet being in the ice. Youmu came down on top of him and plunged her sword deep into his back, making him cry in intense pain.

Marisa pointed her hakkero and a spell card at his face and said, "Let's see how you like the big one! Sure-Fire Master Spark!" Youmu quickly left, and after taking aim with a laser sight, the witch fired a massive beam at him. Exdeath quickly opened his mouth to counter with his beam attack, but her beam came too fast for him to finish charging, so he was engulfed completely by it. The ice holding him in place was instantly melted, but he planted his feet firmly against the ground to keep himself from being pushed back

Despite getting hit, Exdeath continued to keep his mouth open, even though this caused portions of the beam to go inside his mouth and damage his insides. When he was done charging, Exdeath released a huge purple beam, bigger than the previous ones, and it instantly pushed back Marisa's beam. Seeing this, Marisa put more magical power into her hakkero to try to push back his beam, or at least try to hold it for as long as she could.

While their beams were pushing against each other, Remilia used a spell card to create a large energy spear to throw at his back, but while she was taking aim, the trees on his back went after her. "Spear the Gungnir!" She threw the spear when they were close to her, and it instantly plowed through them and struck Exdeath in the back, causing him to end his beam attack and then getting engulfed by Marisa's beam again.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

A villain was pushed down the street by the beam until he flew across the chasm and into the castle, crashing through its set of doors. The beam ended, and the villain was lying injured in the center of the first room inside. Marisa let out a sigh as she knelt down. "Phew… That was tiring… Hope that did something to him…"

Everyone ran over to the edge of the chasm and looked inside the castle to see Exdeath getting back up. "It's obvious he's not going to go down so easily," Master Hand said. "However, with all the beatings we gave him just now, he shouldn't be as tough as before, given that he doesn't do anything to heal himself…"

"Almagest!" shouted Exdeath as he shot out of the castle with his body inside a large sphere of dark energy. The girls and Master Hand managed to get out of the way in time, but Crazy Hand was unfortunate enough to get hit and pushed across the place by it, getting burned by the dark energy as well.

**BGM: Final Destination (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Exdeath came to a stop, but Crazy Hand continued to fly backward quite a bit of a distance before falling onto the street. The former then turned to see the girls and Master Hand approaching him, and then he roared in anger before jumping in their direction, landing in the midst of them and instantly using the trees on his backs as whips to both knock and keep them away. Marisa pulled out her hakkero and was going to use it against him, but she was knocked away by one of the trees.

"Ow…" Marisa groaned after hitting the ground. Reimu and Nitori were standing not too far away from her, and then Yukari showed up nearby from a gap and said to them, "I'm looking for the three of you. Got a minute?"

"What is it?" Reimu asked her.

"I believe I have a plan. Come inside first."

The three girls shrugged, and then they went into the gap, which closed up afterwards.

Master Hand launched himself at Exdeath in the form of a fist, but two of the latter's trees came in front of him and stopped him. Master Hand then pulled back and tried to hit him with a series of karate chops, and Exdeath countered by attacking with his trees continuously. While he was doing this, the other two trees on his back dug into the ground and came up from below Master Hand, knocking him into the air. Exdeath then jumped up in front of him and fired a blast of energy at point blank, sending him in the direction of the chasm.

"Get ready to be chopped down! Hiya!" Crazy Hand shouted as he charged at Exdeath from behind, but the trees on his back caught him and flung him over the villain and in the direction of his older brother. They collided with each other and flew deeper into the chasm.

Exdeath landed from his jump with a powerful thud, and then he saw Remilia with a pair of red energy spears in her hands. "Twin Breaker!" she shouted as she threw them at him, but he grabbed them with his trees and destroyed them by gripping hard.

When he saw Youmu, Meiling, and Aya trying to jump onto him from various sides, he stomped the ground to cause trees to shoot up from around him, both knocking them up into the air and also forming a shield around himself. Aya stopped moving and then came down lower to be in the midst of the trees, and then she spun and swung her fan hard. "Expanding Gale!" This caused a tornado that expanded to large proportions in a short amount of time to be produced, and the trees were instantly torn up from the ground and blown away.

Youmu landed in front of Exdeath and instantly charged at him, slashing him across his face and cutting off the front parts of his horns. The villain roared in pain as he stood up slightly on his hind legs, and when he came back down, he quickly fired a blast of energy from his mouth at her, but she dodged it. His horns grew back immediately after that, and then they glowed before firing a rapid burst of shots at her, and she kept on running from it.

Exdeath suddenly thought of something, and then the trees on his back merged together, and slowly they changed shape and color until a replica of Exdeath's previously seen knight-like form was created, though it was much larger.

"Whoa!" Cirno exclaimed.

The replica held its hand to the side and created a sword out of nowhere, and then Exdeath ran in the direction of the girls so that the replica was able to hit them with its sword, but they all jumped out of the way. Aya charged at the replica, and when it tried to hit her, she swiftly moved to the side before slashing him in the neck with her fan. The replica pulled back, but didn't appear to suffer from it that much, and when he tried to hit her again, she quickly moved behind him to slash him in the back of the neck.

Growling angrily, Exdeath moved away from her and then had the replica fire a blast of electricity into the air. "Thundaga!" The electricity came back down in the form of a lightning bolt, but Aya was able to get out of the way in time, though barely. The tip of her left wing got singed a bit.

"Phew… That was close…" she said in relief.

Youmu jumped at the replica with both swords raised over her head, and when she swung them down, it blocked her with its sword. While they were blocking each other's blades, several of Alice's dolls, all of them armed with large swords, flew at Exdeath and clashed blades with him. While they were holding back the blade, the magician told Youmu to "go ahead". The half-phantom understood and nodded, and then she went over the blade and cleanly cut off the replica's head.

SLAAAAASH!

With the head cut off, the replica's appearance changed back to wood and then into four separate trees. Exdeath growled in anger as he tried to attack Youmu and the dolls with them, but they cut them up instead. Suddenly, a large amount of gaps appeared all around Exdeath, and Youmu and the dolls quickly moved away to avoid the blue flames that came out from them.

Yukari, who was sticking her upper half out of a gap not too far away, motioned for Alice to do her job, and the magician nodded before sending forth a large amount of dolls into the flames. Being filled with gun powder, the dolls exploded upon touching the flames, and one could imagine how big it was from the number of dolls.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"That's got to leave a mark," Yukari commented while fanning herself. However, Exdeath came running out of the explosion with his body on fire, but the demon didn't look all that surprised. She withdrew into her gap and made it disappear when the villain ran in her direction.

Exdeath stopped and then let out a roar that caused a burst of dark energy to come out from him, and this made the flames fly in various directions. Marisa stuffed her hakkero into the straws of her broom and somehow made it to stick in there, and then she got onto the broom and used the help of the hakkero to zoom forward at a high speed, leaving behind a trail of stars when she did. "Blazing Star!"

The witch zoomed past the side of Exdeath, scraping him and hitting him with the stars that were left behind. She zoomed around him several times, and when Exdeath tried to impale her with one of the branches of one of his trees, she quickly flipped into the air and went over it, and the broom also went over the branch. She caught her broom while she was upside-down, and when she flipped right-side-up, she quickly turned around, raised it over her head, and slammed it down onto his back really hard, creating a magical explosion upon impact. "Magical Earthquake!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Exdeath roared in pain as the attack caused all his trees to be obliterated. However, the villain recovered quickly and turned around before Marisa had yet to get away from him far enough. With a swing of his front leg, he knocked her into the building at the side.

CRASH!

Icicles struck Exdeath in the head, and then he turned to Cirno, who was in the air, as she took out a spell card. "Freeze Sign: Perfect Freeze!" The card released a large amount of cold air all over the place, and bullets were formed within them, hitting Exdeath. The villain then released a stream of black fire that cleared away the mist and snow, and he also aimed it at Cirno, but she got out of the way in time.

A large amount of red bats made of energy struck him in the back and caused him to stop breathing fire. From the air, Remilia had her arms stretched forward, firing a large amount of bats at a rapid pace. "Servant Squadron!"

Then a large amount of paper amulets gathered very close to each other and traveling in a spiraling path of sorts struck him in the side. "Path to Extermination!" Reimu shouted while throwing amulets constantly.

"Mad Machine Gun!" Reisen shouted as she fired from both her fingers rapidly. When the projectiles were fired, they also split into two.

Exdeath was struck in three different sides by a large amount of projectiles. Annoyed, the villain stretched three of his trees at the tree girls, but they all got out of the way. Remilia spotted a fallen streetlight on the sidewalk, so she quickly rushed over to it, picked it up, and then flew over to Exdeath to whack him across the face really hard. The villain angrily tried to hit her with one of his trees, but she went for the air and then smacked him over the head.

Shortly after this, Meiling punched him in the side of the face with Spiral Light Step, and when he turned to her, she punched him rapidly with Radiant Rainbow Fist before jumping into the air and falling back down onto his head to hit him with an axe kick. "Descending Flower Slam!"

Remilia moved back from Exdeath a few yards, pulled back the streetlight, and channeled red energy into it to form the shape of a spear around it. "Heart Break: Streetlighter!" She threw the streetlight at Exdeath, and it went through his body and out of the other side.

While the villain was crying in pain, Meiling pulled back her fist and charged it up with rainbow-colored energy to get ready to perform a devastating punch, but Crazy Hand suddenly flew into him from the side in the form of a fist and sent him flying into a building.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"You thought I was down for the count?" Crazy Hand asked him. "Too bad!"

Suddenly, trees came out from the hole on the building and caught Crazy Hand by his pinky finger and thumb. Holding the Hand in place, Exdeath opened his mouth to charge up a beam. Crazy Hand struggled hard to break free, but the trees were too tough to be torn apart by strength. Seeing his predicament, Meiling and Remilia attacked the trees with karate chops and claw swings respectively, but they weren't able to destroy them in a single hit.

"So you don't want me to get away?" Crazy Hand asked the villain. "Very well! Then I'll come to you instead!" He charged forward and slammed his palm into Exdeath's face, and this interrupted the charging process and caused a burst of energy that damaged the inside of the latter's mouth, not to mention hurting former. "Yeow!"

Master Hand then crashed through the wall and gave Exdeath a powerful uppercut that sent him shooting through all the floors of the building and out of the roof. While the villain was in the air, Sanae flew below him and raised a spell card into the air. "Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars!" A ball of light came out from the card, hit Exdeath, and exploded in a burst of light that blinded those nearby.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

When the light disappeared, Master Hand flew out from the hole on the roof, caught him, and hurled him towards the street.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

While the villain was down on his back, Reimu jumped at him with her gohei raised into the air, ready to plunge it into his underside using the help of spiritual energy. However, Exdeath rolled to the side in the nick of time, so the shrine maiden landed onto the ground and plunged her gohei into it instead. She turned her head to the side with a look of horror as Exdeath raised his foot over her to stomp her, but a gap appeared underneath the foot, which went into it. Another gap appeared over Exdeath's head, and his foot came out from there, so he ended up stomping himself. Reimu quickly pulled out her gohei and then moved to a safer place, thanking Yukari at the same time.

When Exdeath turned to Reimu, he was immediately greeted by Crazy Hand appearing in front of him from the side and then punching him square in the face.

POW!

The punch made the villain take several steps back, and then the Hand followed up with a series of finger jabs, slaps, and poundings to his back. The Hand was laughing while he did all this—it was as if he was having a fun time. When Crazy Hand shot forward with his index finger pointing at him, Exdeath quickly moved aside and bit that finger as he was going past him. The Hand screamed in pain, but before he had the chance to try to free himself, Exdeath flung him across the air and then fired several blasts of energy at him while he was still airborne.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Shortly after this, he was struck from below by a rainbow-powered uppercut from Meiling. As it turned out, Yukari made a gap appear underneath him, and the gatekeeper went into another gap from somewhere else to show up from there. The gatekeeper fell back into the gap before the villain fell back down on top of her. Another gap appeared next to him, and then a large amount of bullet-shaped projectiles shot out from their and struck him in the face. Yet another gap opened up at the other side of his head, and stars shot out from that one.

Exdeath growled in anger as he moved back from the gaps, and then he looked up ahead and saw Yukari, Reisen, Marisa, and Meiling standing there with gaps around them. "Don't get too cocky with that power of yours!" Exdeath said out loud before stomping the ground to make trees grow in their direction.

Youmu ran in front of the incoming trees and swung down the Roukanken to send forth an orange energy wave that cleaved through the trees. "Slashing a Flower Upon One's Head!" Exdeath did not get out of the way, so he was struck in the middle of the face. She then ran at him and slashed him with a series of super-fast slashes. "Sword of Cycles!"

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH HACK SLASH!

The finishing blow of the combo was a dashing slash that had the half-phantom going past him.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Like the classic scene of a person armed with a sword dashing past the opponent, Exdeath remained standing for a few seconds before collapsing, and shortly afterwards, his trees fell limp to the sides and touched the ground. Youmu turned around with a skeptic look on her face, while the others came up to the fallen Exdeath. "Did we…?" Reisen asked, but she was quickly interrupted by Remilia.

"You seriously think he would be defeated so easily?" the vampire said. "Either he's simply knocked out or just faking it. I think it's most definitely the latter, since all our previous attacks seemingly did nothing to him, so it makes no sense for Youmu's attack to suddenly do something to him."

"You do have a point there," Yukari said. "Assuming that he is down, however, then all of Nitori's effort would come to naught. Speaking of which, I wonder if she's done." Then she opened a gap and walked into it.

Crazy Hand went up close to Exdeath and stared at his face for several seconds before saying, "Oh, come on! Opossums do a better job at playing dead! I can still feel your breath in my face, even though I don't have one! At least not a visible one…"

"You don't have a face at all!" Cirno said to him.

"Like I said just now, at least not a visible one! Don't look at me like this, but I do wash my face, brush my teeth, and even eat!"

"Ooookay… Those would be sights worth seeing…" Reimu said while looking at various parts of the Hand to see if she could find anything even remotely similar to a face, or at least a mouth. Suddenly, a really small gap opened up next to her ear, and Yukari's voice spoke out of it.

"It's almost ready," she said. "You know what to do, assuming that he isn't down for the count yet…" The shrine maiden replied with a soft "yes" and nodded slightly.

All of a sudden, thorny branches shot out from the sides of each of the girls and the Hands and quickly formed cages that were covered in purple aura around them. "What the!" Sanae said in shock.

"I knew it was a trap!" Master Hand said. He punched the side of the cage. Not only was it very tough, but the thorns and the dark aura also stung him badly. "Yeow!"

Exdeath then stood back up, but his trees remained limp. It turned out that the tips of each of their branches were sticking in the ground, and they came back up from underneath everyone to form cages. "Your carelessness got the best of you all!" he said. "The power of evil is not something that can be destroyed so easily!"

The girls and the Hands tried to break through their cages using projectiles, but none of them succeeded in doing so.

"From underneath the ground, Centurion Darkling after breaking down into smaller forms are grabbing onto each of the branches and channeling their powers into them to strengthen the hold of the cages. They may be small, but great power can come in great numbers! You won't be breaking out of them so easily!"

"Don't think you can trap us so easily!" Master Hand angrily said to him. "We Hands are the ones destined to overcome the Darkling, so no matter how strong you are, you will not stand a chance if you use the power of the Darkling!"

"I have more than just the Darkling as part of my powers! The evil of the universe is at my disposal! Can you face the combined power of all the evil in the universe? Can you stand its overwhelming power? No! Evil exists in the hearts and minds of every living soul! So long as humanity exists, I will always be filled with power! There is no way any one of you can hope to defeat me!"

Exdeath then turned to Reimu and said to her, "You… You're the leader of the girls. I don't know whether to thank you or curse you. If it weren't for you, then none of what is happening right now would take place, meaning I would never become my own master. However, if you had not led your own little army all the way here, then we would've taken over the world and become rulers of the universe by now!"

"It's not like we wanted to come all the way over here!" the shrine maiden replied, sounding angry. "If given the choice, I might have chosen to skip this world-saving quest and given this burden to someone else, but of all the possible choices in the universe, we just happened to be the ones forcefully taken out of our world during an important occasion! All we wanted to do is to get back home, but then you guys showed up and caused all this mess to make things take longer than intended! You're talking as if we did all this willingly and enjoyed it!"

"It doesn't matter. I have already decided that you will be the first to die!"

Hearing this, Reimu took a step back, and then she took out a yin-yang orb, which she held behind herself. Suddenly, the cage around her retracted into the ground. The branches forming that cage came back out of the ground and returned to their original length for only a split second before heading for Reimu. The shrine maiden quickly stepped to the side to avoid getting caught, and then she kicked the yin-yang ball high into the air. Immediately after that, the branch wrapped itself around her and squeezed her hard. "Ugh!"

"Reimu!" Marisa shouted. "Let go of her at once!"

Exdeath raised Reimu into the air and then made his horns glow. "I will give you a slow and painful death! Everyone shall witness me tearing you from limb to limb in the most painful method possible! Get ready to go down to your grave!"

**BGM: Though the Scent Lingers, the Flower Scattered (vocal remix of The Gensokyo the Gods Loved by Yuuhei Satellite)**

"C'mon! Almost!" Reimu said in her head while looking up at the yin-yang ball, which grew in size and then fell back down with a blue aura around it. By the time it was close to hitting Exdeath, it grew to the size of a boulder and hit his back really hard, pushing him to the ground and crushing the trees.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The cages around the girls and the Hands quickly crumbled into pieces, and then the yin-yang orb shrunk as it rolled off Exdeath's back from the front. Reimu picked it up and said to him, "No matter how much power you have, we're going to do whatever it takes to defeat you, so get ready!"

"No! You are the ones who will be defeated!" Exdeath said before stomping the ground to send forth trees.

"Maple Leaf Fan!" Aya shouted as she used her fan to create a large tornado that traveled forward and uprooted the trees. It then caught Exdeath and sent him for a wild spin in the air several times before flinging him away.

"Red Eye: Viewing the Circle Moon!" Reisen shouted as she used a spell card to enhance her eye beams, striking Exdeath in the underside and pushing him higher into the air with a powerful blast.

As Exdeath was falling back down, Remilia positioned herself where he might fall with one hand pulled back and covered in red energy. "Remilia Stretch!" When he was close to the ground, she slammed her hand into him and created a large burst of red energy that sent him flying forward.

Cirno then used a spell card to create and drop a large block of ice onto him. "Ice Cube: Great Crusher!" The ice block broke into pieces when it hit him.

Meiling ran up to him from the side and slammed her palm against his body really hard. "Rainbow Brilliance Palm!" Exdeath felt as if something exploded inside him, so he cried with intense pain.

"Hanged Hourai Dolls!" Alice shouted as she ordered several dolls that had nooses floating in midair around their necks fire a large amount of projectiles at him.

"Summon Takeminakata!" Sanae shouted while firing a large amount of red and blue stars.

While he was getting blasted nonstop, Youmu increased the length and size of her Roukanken, and when Alice's dolls and Sanae stopped shooting him, she ran at him and slashed him with it. "Rise from Delusion Slash!"

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Master Hand and Crazy Hand flew at him, and the former said to the latter, "C'mon! Time to get more serious than before!"

"You bet I will!" Crazy Hand replied. He slammed into the Exdeath's back really hard to press him against the ground, and then he picked him up and hurled him at Master Hand, who punched him back to Crazy Hand, and the younger hand swung at him like a tennis racket back to his older brother. This time, he swatted him to the ground, and then the Hands held each other tightly. They went up high into the air before shooting straight down onto him. "DRAGON PUNCH!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The punch was so powerful that a crater was formed around Exdeath. Reimu then took out two handfuls of amulets and threw them at Exdeath, and they traveled very close to each other to form the appearance of paths. "Two Paths of Extermination!"

After Exdeath got hit by them, Yukari popped her head out from a gap next to Reimu and said, "Get him to stand up! Nitori designed it so that it holds him in place best when he is standing!

Marisa heard it and then ran towards the villain. "Want him to stand up? Leave it to me, then-ze!" And she attacked him with a powerful uppercut using her magically-enhanced broom. "Escape Velocity!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The attack caused the villain to forcefully stand up on his hind legs, and then Yukari immediately opened up a huge gap. "NOW!"

A train with a futuristic look to its head came out, going underneath Marisa and ramming Exdeath in the body while he was still up on his hind legs, and the villain was pushed in the direction of the castle. A pair of claw-like extensions at the front of the train's head also closed around Exdeath so that he wouldn't fall off or escape. Gaps appeared next to Reimu and Marisa, and they quickly entered it and found themselves in the control room of the train, and Yukari and Nitori were there.

The train flew into the air. "All right! We got him where we want him now!" Nitori said. "Hurry up and channel your spiritual and magical energies into this pad! Your powers will then be powered up by a special device Yukari provided me with that I installed into this train, and then…"

"Yes! We know that already!" Reimu said. "We need to act fast before he manages to break free or destroy the train!"

Down on the streets, the Hands and the others girls looked at the train as it carried Exdeath in the direction of the castle. "What are they doing?" Reisen asked.

Exdeath angrily slammed his front legs against the head of the train over and over, trying to break it. Reimu and Marisa were worried that he was going to destroy it, but Nitori said, "Don't worry; I've made sure that the exterior is super tough! Rest assure that he won't be destroying anything so easily!"

"Whatever the case it, we must get this done now!" Reimu said as she tried to balance herself amidst the shaking, and then she went over to the control panel and placed her hands onto a circle pad on it. "Marisa! Quick!"

"I'm on it!" Marisa said as she quickly came over to do the same thing.

"You won't be taking me out so easily!" Exdeath said as he hit the train again, this time with a force that was stronger than before, and it caused the train to travel downwards, heading for the castle.

Inside, the girls fell forward and hit the glass, but Reimu and Marisa quickly reached their hands to the pad and pressed hard against it. "Now! Give it all we've got!" the shrine maiden shouted.

"I'm on it!" the witch replied loudly.

The duo channeled as much spiritual and magical energies as they could into the pad and shouted loudly, "JOURNEY TO THE SMASHING BEYOND!" Exdeath noticed blue light coming out from the front of his underside, and suddenly, a powerful beam that spun like a drill shot out of a cannon built in front of the train and pierced his body in an instant. Exdeath screamed in agony as the claw released its grip on him to make him get "carried" down the beam. "!" He fell into the castle and went through every single floor of it.

CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!

Because the train was getting closer and closer to the castle, Yukari used her ability to help everyone get out of the former before it was too late. From the outside, the others watched from in front of the chasm as the sound of crashing could constantly be heard from inside the caslte. Eventually, a loud explosion was heard.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

At this, the entire castle shook, and then pieces of it started to fall apart. "We better get away from here!" Master Hand said, and then everyone backed away from the collapsing castle.

Windows shattered, walls broke apart, towers fell over, and balconies fell down. The entire castle was no longer able to support itself after the sound of the explosion. A large amount of dust filled the air as the entire architecture slowly collapsed.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

It was a process that took about an entire minute, and even after the sound of the castle collapsing had stopped, there was still a large amount of dust in the air, so much that one could even barely make out a silhouette within it. Everyone waited patiently for the dust to clear, but Crazy Hand helped sped up the process by using himself like a fan to blow it away, and Aya helped him using her fan a few seconds later. Obviously, her action helped cleared the dust faster than Crazy Hand's, who, in fact, made next to no progress at all.

When the dust finally cleared, all that could be seen of the castle was a pile of rubble that, strangely enough, seemed to be rather small, considering how big the architecture was. Everyone flew across the chasm to join Reimu, Marisa, Yukari, and Nitori, and they learned that a hole had been created underneath the castle. As a result, most of its rubbles had fallen into it, effectively filling it up.

Everyone watched in silence for several seconds, and then Reisen asked, "Is… Is it over…?"

"I don't sense anything other than Darkling that are buried underneath," Master Hand said. "No signs of his life coming from down there… None at all…"

"So… Does that mean…? He's dead?" Sanae asked. "Exdeath is defeated for real?"

The Hand nodded in response, and then Crazy Hand said out loud in excitement, "ALL RIGHT! WE WON! WE WON! WE DEFEATED THAT MEANIE! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The others girls also cheered excitedly. Nitori placed her hands on Reimu and Marisa's shoulders and happily said to them, "All right! You did it! The two of you did a great job!"

"I knew the two of you were up to the job!" Yukari said while fanning herself. "You really met my expectations!"

"We couldn't have done it if you never thought of this first," Reimu said to her. "You also provided Nitori with those equipments and machine parts to make things possible in the first place."

"I simply thought that if someone is standing still while getting hit by a powerful attack, then the damage would be more fatal. Using my ability, it's possible for me to obtain almost anything."

"Let's not forget that everyone lend us a hand too-ze!" Marisa said while adjusting her hat. "Without them helping with weakening Exdeath, then there's a chance he might survive that attack."

"Great work, girls!" Master Hand said to them. "You did a great job! You managed to save the entire universe from the Darkling!"

Sanae looked down and saw various Darkling looking at them. "But the Darkling are still there. What do we do about them?"

Master Hand looked at them and said, "Just ignore them. They aren't exactly the most intelligent beings in the world, and without someone to guide them, they're more or less like wild animals, doing whatever they like. There's no way we can rid of all the Darkling too. They are created from the sins of humanity, and so long as humanity exists, Darkling will continue to exist. Hey, don't go thinking that you haven't won this battle yet. Like I said earlier, they're more or less like wild animals without anyone guiding them, so rest assure that we can leave this place without fear of them causing trouble again. Of course, to prevent something like this from ever happening again, something has to be done so that it becomes even harder for people to access this place…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Flower Crown Slash (I think that was what I called it…) has been renamed Slashing a Flower Upon One's Head.

Please leave everything you have to say about this final battle in your reviews. That's all I have to say for now. And yes, the attack used for defeating Exdeath is named after this story. This explains the chapter title too.

God bless you all!

**Next chapter: Girls' Homecoming**


	128. Game2002 Extra Show

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW  
Touhou Stages

* * *

I originally didn't intend to make an extra show for Touhou stages in a SSB game due to there not being enough chapters left. Even after splitting the battle against Tabuu and the Cruncher Darkling into two chapters, I still didn't feel like making one, but now I actually feel like making one. Because this extra show is longer than the previous ones, and the fact that I took too long with the previous chapter, I made it a separate chapter instead.

**Hakurei Shrine  
Description: **A completely flat stage with the Hakurei Shrine visible in the background.  
**Size: **Medium  
**Music:  
**Maiden's Capriccio ~ Dream Battle  
Love-colored Master Spark  
Broken Moon  
Faith is for the Transient People  
Native Faith  
Reincarnation  
Doll Judgment ~ The Doll who Played with People's Shapes  
The Gensokyou the Gods Loved  
Hakurei Shrine Grounds  
The Ground's Color is Yellow

Imagine Bridge of Eldin… Yeah, that's pretty much how this stage is like: a completely flat stage with nothing getting in your way at all. The gimmick of this stage is the weathers. Every thirty seconds or so, the weather will change, and each weather causes changes to gameplay elements.

**No weather: **You start off with this, and it has no effects whatsoever.  
**Sunny: **Jumping causes you take damage continuously, and fire attacks deal more damage.  
**Rain: **Increases the chances of tripping.  
**Snow: **Damage percentages become invisible.  
**Windy: **You get pushed in certain directions constantly, just like when Whispy Woods blows air at you in Green Greens.  
**Fog: **The screen becomes whiter, thus making it harder to see.

* * *

**Scarlet Devil Mansion  
Description: **Takes place atop the roof of Scarlet Devil Mansion, with the clock tower to the left and the balcony underneath the clock. For a better idea of what this stage looks like, please type "Scarlet Devil Mansion" in Touhou Wiki and look at the first picture of that page.  
**Size: **Big  
**Music:  
**Septette for the Dead Princess  
Centennial Festival of Magical Girls  
U.N. The Owen was Her?  
Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial/Flowering Night  
Voile, the Magic Library/Locked Girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room  
Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea/Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17  
Beloved Tomboyish Girl  
Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye

This is simple stage that lacks hazards whatsoever. The clock is real-time, so the stage is daytime when you play the game during daytimes and night when played during nighttimes.

* * *

**Bamboo Forest of the Lost  
Description: **Taking place in the bamboo forest, this stage scrolls at a slow pace to the right nonstop. Occasionally, Mokou and Keine's house and Eientei come into view in the background. Rabbit demons as seen in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth are seen jumping around the place often, serving nothing more than parts of the scenery.  
**Size: **Scrolling  
**Music:  
**Kagome Kagome ~ Caged Cinderella  
Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim  
Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon  
Gensokyo Millenium ~ History of the Moon/Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess  
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke/Plain Asia  
Song of the Night Sparrow ~ Night Bird  
White Flag of Usa Shrine

Being a scrolling stage, you have to keep on moving to catch up with the screen in order to avoid getting left behind and dying. Luckily, the speed of the scrolling is easy for everyone to catch up with. Other than the various bamboo platforms floating around the place, there are also hidden pits that can KO whoever falls into them. Certain bamboos in the background will also fall forward and hurt players, and they're quite powerful, capable of KO'ing at around 50%, so be careful.

* * *

**Hall of Dream's Great Mausoleum  
Description: **A vertical-scrolling stage taking place in front of the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum.  
**Size: **Scrolling  
**Music:  
**The Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum  
Shoutoku Legend ~ True Administrator  
Starry Sky of Small Desires  
Legend of the Great Gods  
Rigid Paradise  
Old Distant Hermit  
Let's Live in a Lovely Cemetery  
Desire Drive

This stage is similar to Rumble Falls in the way that you need to jump up platforms to catch up with the scrolling of the stage, but unlike that stage, the scrolling speed here is slow and never changes, so there are lesser worries for characters with poor jumping skills. Every once in a while, Tojiko and Futo will show up to harm players. The former will fire lightning bolts that travel in zigzag paths, while the former will simply zoom across the screen at a relatively fast speed on her boat. Once you reach the top of the stage, you will see Miko inside the window of the mausoleum, but she doesn't do anything other than watching the fight. At this point, the stage stops scrolling, and then the platforms will descend together to the bottom of the stage in a spiraling path around the tower, and once at the bottom, the screen scrolls to the top of again.

* * *

**Palanquin Ship  
Description: **A battlefield taking place on a rescaled Palanquin Ship. The places to stand on are the decks on both sides of the ship and the cabin or whatever you call it in the center.  
**Size: **Large  
**Music:  
**Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind  
A Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander  
UFO Romance in the Night Sky  
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever  
The Traditional Old Man and the Stylish Girl  
Interdimensional Voyage of the Ghostly Passenger Ship  
Wind God Girl  
Crimson in the Black Sea ~ Legendary Fish  
Catastrophe in Bhavaagra ~ Wonderful Heaven  
Sky Ruin

As mentioned in the description, the Palanquin Ship has been rescaled so that it is smaller than its usual size, much like the Great Fox in the SSB series. Basically, this stage has the same concept as Sector Z and Corneria in the SSB series (its size is closer to the latter's)—you fight atop the ship, and UFOs are flying around, harming players. There are four different kinds of UFOs, each of them doing different things. Red UFOs fire multiple bullets at once, blue UFOs fire multiple laser beams at once, green UFOs stop in place to fire a constant beam straight down for a few seconds, and color-changing UFOs damage players on contact. With the exception of the last kind, all other UFOs can be stood on, but please watch that they do not carry you off the screen and kill you… Also, the stage becomes nighttime if UFO Romance in the Night Sky is the background music.

* * *

**Netherworld  
Description: **A floating platform with a tree on the left side, and three of its branches has platforms made of leaves arranged in a "less than" formation. On the right side is a single platform that slowly moves up and down. The Saigyou Ayakashi is seen in the background.  
**Size: **Small  
**Music:  
**Eastern Mystical Dream ~ Ancient Temple  
Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When?  
Ultimate Truth  
Bloom Nobly, Ink-black Cherry Blossom ~ Border of Life  
Ghost Lead  
Charming Domination ~ Who done it!  
Necrofantasia  
Night Sakura of Dead Spirits

The main gimmick of this stage is the Saigyou Ayakashi damaging players. Every once in a while, the tree demon will fill the screen with pink energy, and everyone will take damage every second. While this is happening, a circle that is devoid of the energy will appear on a random part of the stage, and by standing there, one can avoid taking damage. The circle is very small and can only fit about two players, so it's going to be a fight to steal that spot, unless you don't mind taking damage… The duration of the Saigyou Ayakashi's "spirit draining" attack lasts for about ten seconds. If Border of Life is the theme playing, and you are down to fighting the last CPU, and s/he is down to his/her last stock, then the theme will change to the second version heard during the survival section of the battle against Yuyuko in PCB.


	129. Girls' Homecoming

**Chapter 127  
Girls' Homecoming**

* * *

The girls and the Hands were back inside Smash Mansion on the same day they defeated the villains and saved the universe, eating a hearty meal to replenish themselves. After a series of long battles, all of them were worn out. Even though the Team Healers did a good job healing them, their injuries still had to be treated. Luckily, none of them were gravely injured and in danger; all of them were still in good condition, even if not perfect.

"Phew… I think I ate a three days' portion already…" Yukari said as she reclined against her chair after finishing her meal. "All those traveling and fighting really worn me out…"

"And next is the week or month long sleep!" Marisa said.

"I am planning on taking a good snooze after everything that must be done is done."

"If you hadn't told me that she was from your world back there. I would've passed over her, thinking that she's with the villains," Crazy Hand said. "Good thing we brought more Team Healers than needed…"

"It's quite amazing that she can enter the Forbidden Realm with ease!" Master Hand said. "It seems that really something has to be done about this… At this rate, someone may become the next ruler of the Darkling again!"

"Something really need to be said about that, indeed," Yukari said. "Seriously, I had a hard time believing that the place I went to is supposed to be heavily protected! I stepped into it as easily as I step into other worlds!"

"Indeed, something has to be done… Despite this, nobody managed to break into the Forbidden Realm for so long. Until now, that is… Whatever the case it, the entrance to the Forbidden Realm will have to be secured even more…"

"All right, let's not talk about this anymore! We defeated the baddies and saved the universe from getting taken over by the Darkling! We should talk more about happy stuff! Now that we're done with the meal, it's time to celebrate with dessert! I'll go get the cake!" Then he rushed off to the kitchen.

"Great! I can't wait for the cake!" Yukari happily said.

Reimu gave her a weird look and said, "Did Yuyuko infect you with her habit or what…?"

"So why don't you girls stay here for a few days?" Master Hand asked them. "Consider this a reward for your efforts in saving the universe! I'm sure you'll like it here!"

"That would be great!" Sanae said. "This place actually looks like fun, so I wouldn't mind staying here for a week or so!"

"Sounds like a great idea to me too!" Aya said. "I want to bring home some photos of this place!"

"As much as we would love to stay here, we simply can't," Reimu said. "My shrine and I have been gone from our world for too long, and the barrier protecting it should be in danger of disappearing by now."

"Which is exactly why I came to look for you all," Yukari said.

"You're right… I totally forgot about that…" Marisa said. "Aye… Such a pity… It would be nice to stay here for a little while and relax…"

"We can at least stay for a day, however."

"We are glad that you are allowing us to stay here," Youmu said to Master Hand, "but as you can see, we really cannot. Reimu and her shrine cannot be gone from our world for too long, so we have to get back as soon as possible."

"I see… Such a pity… It's understandable, however. You girls have been gone from your world for so long against your own will, so perhaps you wish to go back home already. Surely your friends and relatives are all concerned about your safety. Indeed, you should get back as soon as possible. Very well, I shall send you all back home tomorrow. For the meantime, please get the most enjoyment you can out of today!"

"Thank you very much!" Sanae happily said.

"Yay! Let's go and have fun now!" Cirno exclaimed.

Crazy Hand came back with a large platter on his hand. "I'm very sorry to tell you all… The cake is, unfortunately, a lie…" He placed it onto the table and then took off the lid. "Instead, I brought you a pie! Hey! That rhymes!"

"What is he talking about? What rhymes?" asked a confused Reisen.

"Well, since you are hearing us speak Japanese, you won't get what he said. We speak English, so it's a gag of sorts that only speakers of that language can understand," Master Hand explained.

"I understand," Yukari said. "I can speak English."

"Me too," Remilia said. "In fact, it's my native language, though I don't speak it very often ever since moving to Gensokyo."

As Crazy Hand was cutting the pie and handing pieces of it to the girls, Alice asked, "There is something I am wondering about. It's about the Light Essences…"

"What about them?" Master Hand asked her.

"Why is it that each of the essences has color schemes that match each of us? Also, when the essences transformed into Smash Essences, they went to those with matching color schemes."

"That's what I've been wondering as well…" Nitori said.

"Well, the best way to explain this is… the Light Essences actually have a mind of their own. I do not know the exact answer, but perhaps they knew that you girls would arrive at the worlds they were in. They were originally silver, but then they transformed into colors that match one of you, because… Well, because… Maybe it's because they think that particular person did something important or left a lasting impression in that world. That's my theory… I can't be sure, though… There are actually some things about the Light Essences I don't know about, mind you…"

After hearing this, the girls started to wonder what was it that they did in each of the world that warranted the Light Essences taking color schemes that matched each of them and also becoming their respective Smash Essences.

"The only thing I can think of is defeating Bowser…" Reimu said in her head. "Mario did say he's been troubling them for some time… Maybe I defeated him once and for all or something? Dunno…"

"All I did was finding Wario's handkerchief… I also fought the thieves who broke into his castle…" Marisa thought. "Maybe that's why the Light Essence took up my color schemes?"

"Perhaps my battle with Ganondorf had something to do with this?" Youmu wondered. "Maybe it has to do with my determination to not give up when I was badly injured by him too…"

"All I can think of is that I battled Cyrus," Alice thought. "Maybe there are still some other reasons…"

"Defeating Black Shadow? Maybe that's why…" Meiling thought.

"Um… Does defeating that Fassad guy have something to do with this…?" Nitori wondered. "Or does it have to do with expressing my thoughts about technology shouldn't being used for destruction?"

"I think I know! I'm the only one who has the power to defeat those strange flying monsters!" Cirno thought. "And I also defeated a giant monster! No wonder the Light Essence took up my color schemes! It's so amazed of me that it wanted to be like me and also lend its power to me! Haha! I knew I'm the strongest!"

"Well, King Dedede has been an annoyance to Dream Land… Guess teaching him a lesson is the reason…" Reisen wondered.

"Because of my charisma? Or because I defeated some guy who wanted to take over the world using dragons?" Remilia wondered.

"Don't think racing Sonic has anything to do with this… I even lost the race for crying out loud!" Aya thought. "Maybe fighting Eggman was the reason?"

"Maybe it's because I expressed my thoughts about freedom and controlling people's life to Ocelot that the Light Essence took up my color schemes?" Sanae wondered. "Or maybe it has to do with surviving a supposedly fatal bullet wound? Or both?"

"Well, you lot sure must be something to be able to prove yourselves worthy!" Yukari said to them. "Makes me wish that I was there to witness everything myself too…"

"Yeah, and you would've made everything a breeze too," Marisa said. "This also makes me curious if there is anyone out there who is strong enough to take on you. Well, the Cruncher Darkling…"

"Please do not bring that up again… And ABSOLUTELY do not bring that up to anyone back in Gensokyo!"

"Geez… Can't take a loss, can't you? It's not like you're the most powerful person in Gensokyo anyway…"

"A lady would prefer that something embarrassing be kept a secret forever."

"All right, as you wish…"

"Yukari's loss would make a fun article to write about, however," Aya said, and then she got a threatening glare from the demon of boundaries. "Calm down… I'm just saying… I'm not brave enough to get on your bad side, you know…"

* * *

For the most of the day after that, the girls spent their time watching some recorded footages of the third tournament. For the first time, they managed to see how the tournament was like. Hearing about it was exciting, but actually seeing it was even more exciting.

They had good laughs at some of the funnier moments, such as Wolf activating his Final Smash in the Melee version of Yoshi's Island, only to fall into the hole in the middle of the stage the moment he showed up and thus lost. There was also an awesome and funny moment where Captain Falcon, right after respawning, jumped at all three of his opponents while they were beating up each other and finished them all off with Falcon Punch, and he became the winner.

Another funny moment was when Ganondorf and Ike went underneath the floating platform of Delfino Plaza as it was going to make its landing. The former grabbed the latter with Flame Choke, dropped down, and landed onto an umbrella. Ganondorf was safe, but Ike fell down the umbrella and was considered KO'ed because, according to Master Hand, the platform did not go low enough for the ground of the plaza to be considered safe to stand on yet. The latter complained about this, but the Hand kept on insisting that he lost a stock and would not listen to him.

They also took their time walking around the city to look at the things they missed out when they first came and also enjoyed playing in some of the entertainment centers. Perhaps the most fun thing they played with were video game versions of the three tournaments, each of them split into three different games. According to Crazy Hand, they made video games based on each of the tournaments so that they can "re-experience" their moments without feeling pain.

* * *

The next day, after finishing breakfast, the girls, both the Hands, and some alloys were outside the city. The former was in front of the Hakurei Shrine, while the latter two were standing in front of them. "Good to see that this is still in one piece and also in good condition," Yukari said while inspecting the shrine.

"Guess this is the end of our journey…" Aya said. "To think that we would go through something like this… It's not something that normally happens to someone, you know."

"Yeah, and as much as I had fun, I kinda feel homesick already…" Marisa said.

"Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako must be worried about me…" Sanae said. "We really should go back. Everyone must be worried about us already."

"I sure do hope that everything is fine back at my mansion," Remilia said. "Hope Flandre managed to cope with my absence…"

"So are you all ready to leave?" Master Hand asked the girls. "Once you are, I will give the command to the alloy in the control room to activate the World Light to send you back. Don't worry; it's fully fixed, so nothing is going to go wrong on your way home."

"I sure do hope nothing will go wrong…" Reimu said.

"Once again, we sincerely apologize for bringing you through this mess… We're not sure if we can do anything to repay you…"

"It's all right," Youmu said to them. "In fact, we ended up saving the universe because of this, so it's all worth it in the end!"

"Yeah! Imagine what would happen if this never happened, and the whole universe gets taken over by evil!" Cirno said.

"It's not like we're the only people who can save the universe…" Reimu said to them. "Anyway, you don't have to apologize for anything." She looked at her donation box. "The fact that I managed to fill up my donation box with lots of valuables makes this worth it in the end!"

"Of course, you can keep all the treasures you've collected," Master Hand said. "Please consider it as our apology…"

"C'mon, there's no need for you to keep on apologizing!" Aya said to him. "You really showed us the world, so it's not a bad thing!"

"Really? I'm glad that you're not angry about this anymore!"

"Okay, a long good-bye is good and touching, but there's still one more world we have to save," Yukari reminded the girls. With that, the girls said good-bye to the Hands and the alloys before walking into the shrine. Once they were at the porch, Master Hand told an alloy to contact the control room using a walkie-talkie to activate the World Light, and the alloy did as commanded.

A vortex appeared above the shrine, and then a beam of light came down on top of the latter and started pulling it upward. While this was happening, the girls said their last farewells to the Hands and the alloys.

"Good-bye, everyone! It was really nice to know you all!" Sanae said while waving her arm.

"Thanks for giving me the opportunity to take lots of great pictures!" Aya said with her camera raised into the air. "I'll be sure to write lots of great articles about you all and everything that we've been through!"

"Perhaps fate will allow us to meet again. Take care," Remilia said with her arms crossed.

"Good-bye!" Reisen called out.

"See ya all! I had a great time thanks to you all!" Cirno shouted.

"Good-bye, everyone! It was great seeing other worlds!" Nitori said.

"I will never forget you all! Good-bye!" Meiling said.

"Farewell," Alice said, and Shanghai waved good-bye for her.

"This adventure made me realize that I have more to improve on, so thank you very much for making me realize that," Youmu said.

"I'll never forget this adventure! I would say that this is the most exciting thing to ever happen to my life-ze!" Marisa called out.

"Thanks for everything," Reimu said.

"Take care! Let's hope that we meet again!" Master Hand called out while waving his whole self.

"I'll miss you all! I'll really miss you all!" Crazy Hand said in a way that implied he was crying. "Please never forget about me! My good looks and awesome personality! Please! Please never forget about me! I'll never forget about you too! How beautiful you are and all! I promise"

"Now there's someone who understands beauty!" Yukari commented when she heard the second to the last phrase.

Everyone continued to wave good-bye to each other until the light became too bright for both sides to see each other, and when it died down, the shrine was gone. The Hands and the alloys continued to stare at where it used to be for a few seconds, and then Master Hand said, "Well, there they go… Let's wish them a safe trip home!"

"Of course they're going to have a safe trip home!" Crazy Hand assured him. "The only thing they need to worry about is the possibility of arriving at the wrong world."

"Nah, that won't happen. I triple-checked the coordinates to make sure that they will be sent to their world, so nothing can go wrong, but you're right, they will surely have a safe trip home." Everyone then turned to head back into the city. "You know, I suddenly thought of a great idea!"

"What is it?"

"I'm thinking of starting the fourth Smash Brothers tournament! What do you think?"

"I thought you said one can have enough of Smash Brothers and that you didn't want another one."

"Did I say that? Eh, whatever… All right, time to get brainstorming! Instead of just inviting more people, there has to be enough changes to make it feel different from the previous three tournaments!"

"Heh… Whatever… Not like another tournament is a bad thing… After all, I get the chance to go crazy again! Yeehaw!"

* * *

Back in Gensokyo, several of its inhabitants were looking at the sky with a worried look. The crack had became larger and longer, a sign that the barrier was becoming weaker. "This is bad…" Ran said. "If the shrine maiden and the shrine don't come back soon, it may take only about a day or so before the barrier fully breaks… Mistress Yukari has been gone for a long time too… I wonder if she's all right and if she found them…"

At the shrine grounds, Suika was leaning against a tree and looking at the crack in the sky while drinking from her gourd. "C'mon, Reimu… Come back already…" she said before taking a drink from it. "If you don't come back soon, you're going to mess up our beautiful land, you know? It can't be that hard to find your way back here, can it?"

She took another sip and sighed. Suddenly, she noticed bright light coming from where the shrine used to be. "Whoa… What the…?"

The bright light grabbed the attention of all those who were nearby, so they immediately rushed over to see what it was.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know!"

"It sort of reminds me of when that shrine disappeared weeks ago!"

"Is that so?"

When the light finally disappeared, everyone was surprised to see the Hakurei Shrine in its rightful place once again. The sight of it made them become lost in words. The building that disappeared before their eyes weeks ago had finally reappeared.

As everyone watched on with wide open eyes and mouths, the twelve girls inside came out, and this surprised the onlookers even more. "We sure caused a scene, didn't we?" Marisa asked when they saw their expressions.

Yukari took a look at the sky and noticed the crack. "As nice as it would be to greet them all, there's something that should be done first."

The girls noticed the same thing, and Reimu nodded and said, "Yes, I know. C'mon, Yukari, it's time to get to work!"

"I'm ready when you are!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

**Next chapter: Eastern Blue Sky**

**Trivia:  
**1. Exdeath's defeat is inspired by the episode of the 2003 Ninja Turtle series Same As It Never Was, where Donatello defeated the Shredder of the alternate future by pulling him into the energy drill of a drilling machine.

2. The recorded footages mentioned are actually SSBB videos I saw on Youtube.

3. I don't really think I need to tell you where the "cake is a lie" meme originated from, but in case you don't know yet… It's from the original Portal.

4. During their discussion about the fourth SSB, Iwata reminded Sakurai that the latter once said that one can have enough of SSB, but he claims that he doesn't remember saying that. He also said that he wants the fourth installment to have more changes than just having more characters and stages. Yeah, Master Hand is Sakurai in this story… Haha…

* * *

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

As you know, stories and other forms of media go through various forms of changes during production. My story is no different—the final version is somewhat different from what I originally came up with. The roster of villains was different back then, and these are the villains that didn't make the cut.

**Colonel Bahamut: **He's the main villain of Contra: Hard Corps and also supposedly the main character of Hard Corps: Uprising. I can't say I remember the exact reason I didn't use him in the end, but it may have been something to do with his final form being too disturbing. I wanted him to transform into the alien form that he calls the Ultimate Super-Being after infusing himself with the alien cell. Those who played that game and went for that route should know what his final transformation is. I don't want to bring it up here… Just go look it up on Youtube if you dare…

**Ogre: **He's the main villain of Tekken 3. I simply lost interest in him and thus replaced him with M. Bison.

**Utsuho: **Believe it or not, I actually intended for our beloved Okuu to be one of the eleven villains! My interest in Touhou developed while this story was still supposed to be a Negima story, and then I thought of converting the latter into a Touhou story instead. At the same time, I didn't want to change things due to having shown a preview of the story in its original form to the public already, so I decided to throw in Touhou stuff instead. The reason for Utsuho joining the organization was because the power of the Darkling resurrected the Yatagarasu she swallowed, and being very simple-minded, she was easily convinced and manipulated by the evil deity to join the organization. With the story eventually becoming its current state, this idea was scratched.

**Kefka: **I don't exactly remember if I really did consider using him… If I really did, then the reason he got scratched was because I didn't want too many of the villains used in Specter24's One Piece: A Smash Adventure.

**Albert Wesker: **Actually, I didn't plan for Resident Evil's villain to be in the story at all until after he got revealed in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and the story was already posted on the site. I simply thought he would've been a great addition if I hadn't started the story yet. I'd imagine him making a great opponent for Eirin, if the latter is one of the main characters, that is…

**Shredder: **The 2003 version of the Shredder, Ch'rell, was considered for the story after being fascinated by the animated Ninja Turtles movie Turtles Forever, but since he is a cartoon villain, and I only want video game villains, he instantly fell off the list. As you already know, I did reference him in the final battle…


	130. Eastern Blue Sky

Well, the last chapter…

Sorry for the wait… Procrastination and other things to deal with are both issues. I might have been able to update a day earlier, but then I got too busy reading fan fics…

This chapter's title is named after Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dream's ending theme, by the way.

Oh, way back in the prologue, the part where Aya takes a picture of Reimu's armpit has been removed. I want this story to be devoid of innuendos and anything considered suggestive.

**Chapter 128  
Eastern Blue Sky**

* * *

As Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae approached the Moriya Shrine, the latter said in a happy voice, "It's so nice to be home again! Nothing beats coming back home after being gone for so long from it!"

"Indeed! It's really nice to have you back!" Kanako said to her.

"It's more fun when you're around, Sanae!" Suwako said. "I miss your cooking a lot!"

"Then let me prepare dinner! You must be dying to eat my cooking!" Sanae said.

"No, on the other hand, let us do the cooking tonight. After all, you must be tired from being gone for so long, so let us do you the favor of treating you with our cooking instead!" Kanako said. "Just sit back and relax! We'll get busy for you today instead!"

"But…"

"As much as I want to eat your cooking, I do agree that we should be doing the cooking today instead. Consider this a homecoming gift from us!"

"Thank you very much, Mistress Suwako and Mistress Kanako! You're so nice to me!"

* * *

At the foot of Youkai Mountain, Aya was sharing her photos with Hina, the Aki Sisters, and Momiji. Nitori was there with them as well, also looking at the photos. "Wow! You sure had quite a trip!" Hina said while looking at them. "It must be quite an experience!"

"You bet!" Aya said. "I can't wait to get busy with the articles after getting back to my workroom! There's totally going to be a lot to write about, so much that a single day's newspaper won't be enough!"

"You know you're going to exaggerate stuff and make yourself sound cooler and more awesome than you actually were," Momiji said while looking at the photos.

"Why would I do that? I was already cool and awesome there!"

"See? You're exaggerating the truth again."

"Hey! You weren't there yourself, so what right do you have to say that I did exaggerate the truth?"

"For all I know, you probably got beaten up half dead, messed things up, and such!"

"Trying to make a fool out of me, will ya!"

"Can you two please not fight…?" Nitori asked them. "I know the both of you don't get along with each other and all… Aya wasn't actually bluffing when she said she did cool and awesome stuff there. Granted, I didn't see her do everything, but she still helped us a lot! She did get captured once, and we had to help her."

"See? You weren't that awesome!" Momiji said when she heard the last part.

"Just because I got captured once doesn't mean I'm a hopeless loser or anything like that!" Aya said in frustration.

Hina and the Aki Sisters ignored the two tengus as they continued to argue with other and continued to look at the photos.

* * *

"Sister!" Flandre exclaimed with tears in her eyes as she threw herself into her older sister's open arms, and they embraced each other tightly. "I miss you so much, big sis!"

"I miss you too!" Remilia said to her. "Have you been a good girl while I was gone?"

"Yes! I've been a good girl! I've listened to everything Sakuya said!"

"She really has been obedient," Sakuya said to Remilia. "I was worried that she would become emotionally unstable because of your absence. Surprisingly, she didn't become anything like I thought she would at all!"

"Flandre may be immature and a bit unstable when she lets her emotion get the best of her," Remilia while letting go of Flandre, "but she does know when to be obedient and cooperate peacefully. As long as she is kept company, you don't have to worry about her too much."

Flandre ran up to Meiling next and hugged her as well. "I miss you too, Meiling!"

"I miss you too!" Meiling said to her. "If you want me to tell you the story of what I've been through, feel free to let me know!"

"I want to! I want to! I can't wait to listen to your stories now!"

"Okay! I'll tell you now if you want to! Why don't we go over and sit on your bed first?"

As they both headed for the bed, Remilia said to Sakuya, "So… why not make a feast tonight? It's a good way to celebrate both Meiling and my return, don't you think so?"

"That is exactly what I plan to do," Sakuya replied.

"Very well, then I'll leave it all to you!"

"As you wish, milady."

When they left the room, they saw Patchouli standing outside the door with a book in her hand. "What is it, Patchouli?" Remilia asked her.

"I looked up on what you said, but I simply couldn't find anything related at all," the magician replied.

"Well, let's just say that Smash World is the universe's greatest secret, only known to certain people in certain worlds. We sure are lucky to be one of those people!"

* * *

When she heard the sound of footsteps and talking, Kaguya quickly rushed out of her room and to the entrance to see Eirin, Tewi, Reisen, and several rabbit demons there. "Reisen! You're finally back!" the Lunarian princess cheerfully said.

Reisen waved at her and said, "It's nice to see you again, princess! Are you all right?"

"You had me worried! Next time, don't leave without my permission!"

"It's not like I was given a choice to leave… It all happened so suddenly…"

"So where did you go to? What happened there? Have you brought back anything?"

"It's a long story… Trying to tell you everything may take whole day… As for bringing back anything, no… Reimu, on the other hand, brought back treasures from the worlds we visited. Aya also took photos of our trip, if you can call it a trip…"

"Really? I can't wait to go and look at those treasures and photos now! Eirin! Let's go over to that shrine maiden and tengu at once!"

"Please calm down, princess," Eirin said to her. "Why don't we accompany Reisen as she takes her rest first? She's been gone for so long, so she must be tired. We can talk about this tomorrow or something."

"I don't care! I want to see them now, or at least one of them!"

"Well… Maybe we can at least call the tengu over… It shouldn't take too long for her to get here. Tewi, you go and get her."

"Why me? No way! It's too much trouble!" the rabbit demon said.

"Reisen just got back, so she needs rest."

"Now that Reisen is back, I won't be taking orders from you again, so go ask someone else!" And Tewi left.

"Heh… That's the way she is… She's not the kind to listen to other people so easily."

"If nobody's going, then I'm going by myself!" Kaguya said before rushing out of Eientei and taking flight.

"Princess! Don't leave so suddenly and recklessly like that!" Eirin shouted as she went after her, leaving Reisen by herself at the entrance.

* * *

"And then I used Perfect Freeze to defeat the monster before bursting out of her stomach!" Cirno said to the Three Mischievous Fairies.

"Wow! You're so strong, Cirno!" Sunny Milk exclaimed.

"Cool," Luna Child said in a somewhat emotionless tone.

"Really?" Star Sapphire asked, sounding somewhat skeptical.

"Of course! That monster is like the mother of those flying creatures I told you about, so it's obvious that she's weak to ice as well!" Cirno explained. "Using ice is my specialty, so it's obvious that I won! Never doubt the strongest fairy in existence! Hahahahaha!"

"How much of what she said can be taken seriously?" Luna Child quietly asked her friends.

"Knowing her, she probably had help from some of the others to win the fight," Star Sapphire replied. "Cirno may be stronger than the three of us combined, but I can't see her being that strong."

"You have a point, but what if that monster is actually weaker than her?" Sunny Milk asked.

"Hey, I heard what you're saying! Do you doubt me or what?" Cirno said.

* * *

Alice entered her house and said, "It's good to be back. This place got pretty dusty while I was gone. Well, time to get cleaning. It feels more comfortable to rest after doing a bit of work." She immediately summoned several dolls equipped with cleaning equipments, and then she used them to clean up the place.

* * *

Youmu and Yuyuko were seated at the porch at the side of their house, watching the garden. "Feels good to be home, doesn't it?" Yuyuko asked the former.

"It sure does, Mistress Yuyuko!" the half-phantom replied with a nod.

"Well, then let me prepare dinner today! You must be tired after all those traveling! Go ahead and take a rest! You deserve it!"

"But making dinner is my job!"

"Like I said, you go and take a rest. I'll handle dinner myself today instead! I taught myself how to cook while you were gone, so rest assure that you will be able to eat something tasty tonight!"

"Really…? I hope it's not the kind of food that only suits your taste…"

"Oh, you'll definitely like it! Heehee!"

* * *

"Man! What a mess!" Marisa said while looking at the interior of her house. "This place sure becomes dirtier and dirtier by the minute! Well, I don't clean my house often, so there's actually nobody and nothing else to blame… Heheh… Time to get cleaning! I'll go over to Alice and get her to come over to help me!" Then she ran in the direction of Alice's house.

As she was heading in that direction, she wondered about what Suika told her, about an evil spirit showing up at the shrine grounds. "Can't believe that Mistress Mima would show up all of a sudden… and while I was gone too… I wonder where she is now… Maybe she'll come back someday! I hope so!"

* * *

"Heehee! This is way too good to be true!" Reimu said while looking at the treasures inside her donation box. "Never has my donation box been this filled up! I'm so happy! What should I do with them? I'll use them to reconstruct my shrine to make it bigger and more beautiful! I'll also buy lots of goodies!"

"It's nice to see your donation box being so filled up and all," Suika said, "but have you considered that the currencies of other worlds may not be usable in our world? I remember Sanae saying something about different countries having different currencies that can only be accepted there…"

Hearing this, Reimu became silent and started to wonder if what the oni said was true, and then she shook her head and said, "So what if the currencies of other worlds cannot be used here? How can anyone resist such beautiful and shiny treasures? Nobody is going to turn down valuables like these!"

"Well, let's hope for the best…" Suika said before drinking from her gourd. "By the way, now that you're back, why don't we have a celebration tonight? Let's invite everyone over and have a wild night!"

"Not a bad idea!" Reimu said while putting the donation box's lid back in its place, "but I think we should save that for tomorrow. I'm sure that after being gone for so long, they all want to spend some more time with people they know. Let's give them some time together, and then we can gather as many people as we can tomorrow for a celebration."

"Okay, if that's what you want. I can't wait for tomorrow! Better start spreading the word now!"

* * *

The next day's afternoon, several people were gathered at the shrine grounds, and more and more were coming by the minute. Almost immediately after suggesting this idea in the previous day, Suika wasted no time in telling Aya, who was showing Kaguya the photos she took, about what the party she had in mind. Thinking that this was a good idea, Aya quickly spread the news to almost every part of Gensokyo. Because of this, several people came over to participate in it.

Reimu casually walked around the place, looking at the guests making themselves comfortable. Many of them brought there own food, but some, like Mystia, had set up stands in order to make business.

"Hey! Shrine maiden!" shouted someone, and Reimu turned to see that it was Kaguya, who was approaching her with the rest of the Eientei crew.

"What is it, Kaguya?" she asked her.

"Hey! I'm a princess, so you should address me properly!"

"Okay, princess…"

"That's better! I heard that you brought back lots of treasures, right? I went to the tengu yesterday to look at the photos she took, and I was really amazed at all the unfamiliar setting and strange people I saw! I can't wait to see what sort of cool stuff you brought back!"

"They're definitely more interesting than your lunar artifacts, I guarantee. Just sit back and wait, okay? I plan to display them once everyone is here."

"All right, you heard the shrine maiden, princess," Eirin said to Kaguya as she placed her hand on her shoulder. "Now let us go and find a place to spread out our cloth and sit down."

"I can't wait! I'm really excited about this!" Kaguya said as she walked away with the others, but Reimu stopped Reisen.

"How are you feeling?" she asked the lunar rabbit. "Feel good to be home?"

"It sure does!" Reisen replied with a smile, and then she quickly caught up with the others.

Reimu smiled as she watched them leave to look for a place to sit down, and then the Prismriver Sisters approached her from behind, and the Merlin said to her, "Hey there, Reimu! Prismriver Sisters at your service! Good to see you again!"

"Oh, you're here," the shrine maiden replied. "Just hold on to your instruments. You can perform anytime you want to after our presentation is over."

"Presentiation?" Lyrica asked.

"Yeah, those who disappeared with me from this world plan to talk to everyone about our experiences and also show some stuff first. After that, you can perform your music."

"Sounds good to me! It's good to have you back!" Merlin said. "For a moment, I was afraid that we'll have to move somewhere else if Gensokyo will really become an unsafe place to be in."

"It can't be that bad, can it? It's not like the humans of the outside are going to come and instantly take over this place and ruin everything…"

"You'll never know what they'll do," Lunasa said.

"Yeah, you like to say negative things… I know that already…"

After the sisters left, Reimu walked away and saw Suika and Yuugi sitting on a piece cloth that had bottles of sake and bento boxes. "Hey Reimu! Over here!" Suika called out to her while waving at her.

The shrine maiden went over to them, sat down, and said, "You sure came fast, Yuugi. I thought the underground folks would come a bit slower because it takes longer to come from the bottom of the earth to here."

"You know I would never come late to a party!" Yuugi said before giving Reimu a pat to the back, but she used too much strength and caused her to bend forward quite a bit.

"Ow!"

"Nice of Suika to come up with this idea, and it's even better that you approved of it! So you ready to have fun until your heart's content? Let's rock until tomorrow morning!"

"It's afternoon… How long is that going to take…? Nah, I'm ending it before evening, but you can continue your own party somewhere else if you still don't have enough."

Aya then came over to Reimu and said to her, "I'm here, Reimu! Are you ready?"

"Oh, you're here. I guess we should get ourselves ready now."

"Entertain us the best you can!" Suika said to Reimu as the latter got up and left.

The two of them walked side by side toward a chalkboard with a piece of white cloth hanging in front of it and came across Ran and Chen, and the former had a sack containing a bento box. "It's nice to meet you again after a long time, Hakurei shrine maiden," Ran said to Reimu.

"Hello!" Chen cheerfully greeted.

"Nice to see the two of you too," Reimu said. "Where's your mistress? It's not everyday that the two of you travel around without her."

"Unfortunately, she fell into a deep sleep ever since coming back home yesterday," the nine-tailed fox demon replied. "I fear that she is going to miss out this party. In fact, she may very well sleep for an entire week or more than that…"

"Typical of her… Can't say I didn't see this coming… It's a pity that she's going to miss this out… Oh well… Can't be helped…"

"Reimu!" shouted the voice of Marisa as she approached the shrine maiden and Aya. "All of us are here! I think most of the guests are here already too, so maybe we can start now?"

"Well, if you say so."

"Sounds good to me!" Aya agreed.

They went to the chalkboard, where the girls who traveled together to the different worlds were gathered. Sakuya was there as well, holding a parasol for Remilia. "So… is everyone ready?" Reimu asked them.

"Ready when you are," Remilia said. "I took the liberty of coming up with what I want to say before coming here too."

"I also brought this!" said Nitori, pointing to a projector-like machine placed on a table in front of the chalkboard. "This machine can enlarge pictures put into it and project them onto something!"

"Thanks to her invention, I can now show my photographs to everyone much more easily!" Aya said. "She sure is a genius to come up with something like this!"

"Actually, something like this exists in the outside world too," Sanae told her, "but it only works with pictures printed only clear sheets of plastic."

"C'mon! Start already!" shouted Kaguya from her crew's location. "I want to see those treasures already!"

"Please have patience, princess…" Eirin said to her.

"There's someone impatient to see us begin…" Aya said. "Well, since I'm also a bit impatient to start, why don't we…?"

"I don't see why not," Reimu said, interrupting her.

"All right! Let's get started!" Marisa happily said.

The guests quieted down after Aya announced to them that they were going to begin. Sitting way in the back was Hatate, and she had her cell phone pointed at the eleven girls at the front. "If I can get this onto my newspaper first, then Kakashi Spirit News is totally going to beat Bunbunmaru!" she thought.

Standing even farther in the back, Kyouko was peeking out from behind a tree. "Wow! Lots of people are gathered here! Parties must be very fun!" she thought. "I want to join too, but I don't know anyone here…"

Nitori handed Aya a megaphone for her to speak into. "Hello, everyone! Welcome to the special celebration of our return to Gensokyo! As you all know, all of us here except for Sakuya disappeared all of a sudden during the day of the festival, along with the shrine. In reality, we were taken to another world, and from there, we traveled to even more worlds before finally returning home! We had a really exciting adventure, not to mention dangerous! In fact, we even almost lost our lives several times! I would like to show you all photos that I took, but before that, may we allow the Hakurei shrine maiden to say a few things?"

Everyone clapped hands as Aya handed the megaphone to Reimu. "Um… Thanks, everyone…" she said. "I'm not very sure what to say… I guess I should thank you all for being concerned about me and my shrine… I apologize for making you all worried. Without me and the shrine, Gensokyo will without doubt be in danger of being exposed to the outside world. Luckily, things didn't happen immediately, and we were able to return before that happened, and it was a close call too. So… I guess you can just sit back and enjoy our presentation. Oh, before that, I would like to show you the treasures I brought back. Feast your eyes upon these never-seen-before valuables!"

She went over to her donation box, which was placed next to the chalkboard, and moved it in front of the audience with the help of Meiling. She then opened it and took out some of the treasures to show them, and many of them were amazed.

"Wow! They're so beautiful!"

"They're so shiny!"

"Awesome!"

"They must cost a lot!"

After the audience had settled down a bit from being amazed at the valuables, Aya said to them, "Okay! I'll now show you a slideshow of the photos I took! Enjoy what you see!" After Nitori was done putting the photos into the projector, she turned it on and gave Aya a brief explanation of how to use it, and then the tengu proceeded to show everyone the enlarge photos on the white cloth hanging in front of the chalkboard.

**BGM: Oriental Memory of Forgathering Dream ~Hatsunetsu mix~ (vocal remix of the theme of the same name, sung by Michiyo)**

The crowd was amazed when they saw the unfamiliar settings and such, and many of them pelted Aya with questions regarding various things, such as what the names of the worlds they went to were, the identity of the people in the photos, and more. Aya had to tell them to slow down with the question asking so that she could reply them one by one.

When the slideshow was over, each of the girls took their time to share their experiences, and their tales proved to be very attention-catching for the audience.

After the presentation was over, everyone spent the rest of the party having fun by eating, drinking, playing, and doing all sorts of other fun activities.

The Prismriver Sisters were in charge of the music, like always, and Mystia was being the lead singer. Suddenly, she noticed smoke coming from a grill not too far away, and she suddenly remembered that she was grilling lamprey, so she hastily rushed over to it before it was too late.

Yuyuko was happily enjoying the food she and Youmu bought. The latter was reaching her hand to the bento box to get something to eat when someone called out to her, so she turned to that person to respond to her. When she turned her head back to the bento box, she found that it was already empty. Her mistress had eaten everything, so the half-phantom nagged her. She apologized with a smile on her face and told her that she enjoyed the delicious food too much that she forgot about her.

The crew from the Scarlet Devil Mansion had set up a large parasol in order to protect Remilia and Flandre from the sun. They even brought their own table. As they were happily eating and chatting, Koishi came walking past their table and snatch away a piece of food without saying anything and ate it, but because of her ability to manipulate the unconscious, nobody noticed it.

Cirno and her fairy friends were talking and eating with each other happily when suddenly a frog jumped past them, so Cirno immediately got up to go after it. Suwako showed up almost immediately afterwards and ran after her, shouting for her to leave that frog alone.

Rinnosuke was sitting with Reimu's group, which consisted of Marisa, Suika, Yuugi, and Alice. He showed great interest in the treasures Reimu brought back and wished that he could be keep some of them. The shrine maiden agreed to let him take a few of them, under the circumstance that he pays for them.

* * *

**BGM: Ground Theme (Mario series)**

Mario and three Toads ran up to a peculiar tree that had raccoon ears and tails to inspect it, and then they noticed a winged envelope flying not too far away. Curious, they ran up to the envelope, and when Mario opened it and saw its content, he and the Toads were shocked. It was a photograph of Peach captured by Bowser.

Knowing that the princess was in danger and in need of rescue, Mario and the three Toads immediately ran down the road that would eventually take them to Bowser's castle.

* * *

**BGM: Wario Ware, Inc. (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Wario and the other employees of his company were sitting around the table of the meeting room, talking about what their next big product was going to be. Dr. Crygor, with a baton in his hand, pointed to the drawing of a game pad of sorts on the whiteboard while explaining to the others everything about it.

The more Wario listened, the more he became fascinated at the thought of earning lots of money due to the success of this product. He rubbed his hands and nodded over and over with excitement as he listened on to Dr. Crygor's explanation, an action that made everyone stare at him. They knew too well what the chairman was thinking, and they also knew that he would without doubt keep most of the income they've earned for himself.

* * *

**BGM: Main Theme (Legend of Zelda series)**

Shouts from Niko, who was on the crow's nest, was heard, so everyone quickly ran to the deck and then to the front of the ship to see if it was true that he really discovered a large piece of landmass.

Sure enough, way in the horizon was the sight of a massive piece of landmass that stretched so far to both sides that they couldn't see the edges at all. Tetra and Link were overjoyed, for they believed that they had finally found a landmass large and worthy enough to become the new Hyrule. The king of Hyrule would definitely be proud of them.

* * *

**BGM: Main Theme (Pokemon series)**

After throwing his Pokeball onto the top of the cliff and releasing Saur, Red ordered his Venusaur to use his vines to bring him to the top, which the Pokemon did. The Pokemon trainer petted the Venusaur before continuing on his way with him, and then they suddenly saw several wild Pokemon, such as Onix, Tyranitar, Golem, Donphan, and other kinds of Pokemon that usually lived in mountains, staring at them from behind rocks and bushes, though some were standing in plain sight.

Red knew he would encounter something like this, because this was, after all, Mt. Silver, a place thriving with powerful and dangerous wild Pokemon, and only the most skilled trainers were given privileges to come here. He came here before and trained himself to be a powerful trainer, though he lost to another trainer who came here afterwards. Red sent out his remaining five Pokemon and ordered them to fight the wild Pokemon. It was time to train to become stronger again.

* * *

**BGM: Story Mode Ending Theme (F-Zero GX)**

The time has come for another F-Zero competition, and Captain Falcon was once again one of the competitors. Being a famed racer who won most of his races, his rivals were giving him glares from within their vehicles. The bounty hunter and racer didn't feel threatened at all, however, for he knew that being famous would mean having several rivals who seek to bring him down. He wasn't going to let them take him down so easily, however.

When the race began, the Blue Falcon took the lead in an instant, and the crowd cheered for the ever-so-popular Captain Falcon. Samurai Goroh, the man who claims to be his rival, caught up with him not too long afterwards and shouted at him, but the cockpits kept the latter from hearing what he was saying, though he knew that it was nothing but trash talk and how he was going to beat him in the race.

Samurai Goroh pulled his F-Zero machine to the side to get ready to ram into him, but before he had the chance to do so, Captain Falcon rammed his machine into his instead to send him crashing into the railing at the side. This slowed down Samurai Goroh, and he quickly found himself in the last place.

* * *

**BGM: Love Theme (Mother 3)**

Lucas, Boney, and Flint, after gathering some sunflowers, went over to Hinawa and Claus's graves to pay respect to them. They placed the flowers in front of their tombstones and then bent down in front of the latter in silence for a while.

Even though a long time had passed since they both passed away, Lucas still felt grief whenever he came in front of their graves and thought of the things that happened in the past. As tears came down the corner of his eyes, Flint placed his arm over his shoulders, while Boney licked away his tears as an act of comfort. Lucas smiled and told them that he was fine, which made them both smile.

After they were done paying respect to the dead, they stood up and then headed home.

* * *

**BGM: Credits Theme (Super Metroid)**

Samus was back in the caverns of SR388. Because the Space Pirates had successfully cloned Metroids, the once-extinct species of the planet was once again thriving. Like her first mission to this planet, she was to eliminate every single Metroid in order to prevent them from being misused again.

She was quietly walking through the darkness when suddenly she felt a presence coming from behind. She turned around in the nick of time to see a Metroid trying to latch onto her, but she managed to get out of the way in time with swift movement and then froze it with her ice beam before shattering it with a missile.

After that, she looked up ahead and saw several Metroids of all evolutionary stages except the Queen standing before her. She wasn't fazed at all, however; instead, she pointed her arm cannon at them with a face that seemed to say, "Bring it! I'm not afraid of you at all!"

* * *

**BGM: Green Greens (Super Smash Bros. Melee)**

Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and the Waddle Dee with the blue bandana ran up to the mysterious starship that crashed after flying out of a portal. They went inside the ship and found a small being in blue clothing lying unconsciously on the floor.

When he woke up, he quickly ran up to the ship's computer to check for signs of damage, and he was shocked to learn from the monitor that several of the ship's parts were missing. After telling Kirby and the others who he was, he asked them for help in finding all the ship parts in order to take flight again.

The four of them agreed, and then they set off to look for them.

* * *

**BGM: Main Theme (Fire Emblem series)**

Roy, Lilina, and Merlinus were walking around in one of the castle courtyards, watching the prisoners being taught lessons and skills that would prove useful to them in life. After what Yukari told him, Roy came to the decision to train these prisoners so that they could lead a more interesting and useful life, and if their performance was good enough, they could even be released earlier and put their newfound skills to use rather than going back to a life of crime.

The prisoners didn't seem to mind all that much. After all, being able to come out to the sun and do something instead of sitting all day in the dark dungeon was definitely more fun. The guards and trainers overseeing them were strict, but none of them abused them.

* * *

**BGM: Credits Theme (Sonic the Hedgehog)**

Sonic and Tails stood at the edge of the cliff facing the sea, watching Eggman building what appeared to be a tower that was really high. In fact, it reached so high up into the air that it looked like it was heading for outer space.

Though there was a sign next to them saying that an intergalactic amusement part was being built as an act of apology from Eggman for the troubles he's caused, Sonic was skeptical. It wasn't the first time that the mad scientist apologized for his mistakes, so there's no reason to believe that he was going to do the same again, even if it's something a bit too grand-scaled, like building an amusement park.

* * *

**BGM: Metal Gear Saga (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)**

Snake walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He took a good look at his hair and noticed something he never thought he would have at his current age—gray hair. He pulled off a strand of hair and inspected it, and it indeed was gray hair. He heard of certain people developing gray hair at an early age, so he simply shrugged and told himself that he was simply one of those people and so didn't think too much.

Still, he couldn't shake off the thought of the truth being far worse than it actually was.

* * *

**BGM: Credits (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and several alloys were sitting around a roundtable, discussing stuff related to the fourth Smash Brothers tournament. There was a whiteboard behind Master Hand, and "Super Smash Bros. Universe" was written on it. There were also photos of Mario, an older-looking Link, Pikachu, and Kirby taped onto the whiteboard.

A red alloy raised his hand and spoke his mind out about what he thought about the name, and then a blue alloy, who appeared to have objections, spoke her mind out. Crazy Hand then offered a suggestion and appeared to be very happy about it, but Master Hand and the alloys instantly dismissed his idea, which caused him to rest his fingers on the table in depression. The others ignored him and continued on with their discussion.

* * *

**Producer  
**Game2002

**Story Inspiration  
**One Piece: A Smash Adventure  
by Specter24

**Most characters and settings are owned by their respective companies and owners, such as Team Shanghai Alice, Nintendo, Sega, Konami, etc.**

**All soundtracks are owned by their respective companies and owners as well.**

**I own the Darkling, all versions of Wart except for the one from Super Mario Bros. 2, and Big Boy.**

Well, what can I say? After two years, this story is finally finished! It goes without saying that this story is the one that took me the longest to complete. It feels both sad and glad that this has finally ended, sad because such a great story has finally come to an end, and happy because I finally got something big out of the way! That's not to say I didn't enjoy working on this story, mind you…

Thank you very much for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed everything you've read! I'm aware that some parts could've been done better, so I apologize for any parts that you found disappointing…

Oh, I think I should explain some things first. Since I like to pretend that my stories are movies, I imagined the "ending theme" to be a medley of the all the BGMs listed. The ones with origins listed like Mario series, Zelda series, etc. mean that I have no particular version of that theme in mind and might actually be imagining an original remix.

As you can tell from the parts showing what the various Nintendo, Sonic, and Metal Gear characters are up too, most of them depict the beginning to one of their games. Mario's is Super Mario 3D Land, Wario's is Game & Wario, Link's eventually leads to the events of Spirit Tracks, Kirby's is Return to Dream Land, Sonic's leads to Sonic Colors, and Snake's leads to MGS4. Also, Super Smash Bros. Universe is the supposed name for the fourth game in the series, though it turned out to be false.

I originally intended for Master Hand to put Morshu back into his own world, but after working on this chapter, I couldn't find the opportunity to do so, so let's just say that Master Hand is going to eventually put him back into Koridai…

If it's not too much for you, will you please leave behind a lengthy review of what you think of the story? It doesn't have to be very long; about a paragraph would do, though it's your choice if you want a short one or a long one. I would love to hear your thoughts on each of the arcs too!

And one last thing, the SSBB credits theme is still playing even as you are reading this.

Well, I guess that's everything I have to say. Once again, I thank you all for reading my story all the way to the end! This is not the last time I will be making fan fictions, however. I am still going to make more fan fictions, so please keep an eye on possible new stories that I am going to churn out from time to time!

Thank you very much!

God bless you all!

* * *

**BGM: Last part of the aforementioned Oriental Memory of Forgathering Dream remix**

The shrine grounds had become quite a mess when the party came closer and closer to an end. All the food was eaten, and some of the people were drunk and sleeping.

Reimu sighed in frustration as she looked at the mess, even though she was quite used to it. After all, it wasn't the first time parties were held at the shrine grounds, and it surely wasn't the first time she had to do cleaning afterwards too. It's just that it's a tiring job that she rather not find herself busy with, but it couldn't be helped either.

Marisa placed her arm over her shoulders with a cheerful look, as if trying to tell her to cheer up. The shrine maiden smiled too, and then she looked up at the clear, blue sky. Despite having to do work afterwards, it was still nice to have parties, especially one after coming back from a long and unbelievable journey.

It was a journey to be remembered.

A smashing journey…

* * *

**BGM: Theme of Eastern Story (Touhou series)**

_**THE END**_

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_The embodiment of death and destruction smiles_

_as he looks down at the lives being lost…_

_His resurrection draws closer every day…_

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_Life…_

_It was never meant to be treated so cruelly…_

_Taking it easy…_

_That's all they want to do…_

_But the harsh reality…_

_is uneasy for them…_

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SUPER SMASH BROS. X YUKKURI SHITEITTE NE

**STRIVE FOR EASINESS**

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"_This world…_

_if all this abusing doesn't stop…_

_It will destroy itself…"_

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Coming Soon


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